Anthem Center Sofas Damaged or Defective?
Most of the Anthem Center refurbishment project is moving along as expected, but some of the new furniture items have generated many strong objections. Most of the concern has been about the new sofas and chairs for the main entrance area. Some members have been overheard saying they disliked the new sofas so much that they would not even allow them to be placed into their garages!
Many members believe the sofas are very poorly designed and constructed. They do not appear to be sturdy, and they do not appear to be capable of holding up under the heavy use of our facility. The color is not attractive, the fabric is cheap-looking, and all of the sofas appear to be damaged and/or defective in various ways. At least, we certainly hope the overall appearance is not what was intended!
Many members have said that even if the fabric was replaced, the sofa style is so cheap-looking that they seriously detract from the elegant feeling of our unique facility. For those of us who attended the project team and Cleo contractor presentations during the past few months, we were shocked at what was delivered. Neither the style, nor the color, nor the fabric type was anything like what we were expecting. Considering the generous budget available, we all were expecting much better items.
Board President Roz Berman was challenged on this matter by Rivka Wolf during last week’s Town Hall, but Roz refused to admit there was anything amiss. She claimed the items were satisfactory, and that regardless, there was nothing that could be done about the situation. But, Property and Ground Committee member Carol Siebel reported that the project team was investigating the situation and would be reporting soon on what could be done.
In the meantime, if you missed the last Town Hall meeting, an audio clip is enclosed of the discussion about the furniture between Rivka and Roz and others. Defective Sofas Discussion
Some photos taken on August 22, 2008 are included below for your review and comments. Please note that the spots, scrapes, creases, and other blemishes that show up in the photos look even worse when seen first-hand. Most of these sofas do appear to be defective.
In our opinion, Board President Roz Berman is seriously mistaken. These new furniture items are unsuitable for use in our main entrance. Bob Berman, Rita Berman, Linda Krivic, or and/or the Cleo Design team members who ordered the items need to resolve this matter immediately. We believe the sofas and chairs need to be replaced with items that are clearly suitable for the grand foyer of our elegant Sun City Anthem Center.
Please take a look at the below photos and tell us what do you think. Have we over-stated the problem? Do you agree that the sofas and perhaps the chairs need to be replaced with more suitable items?
(PS. Since the above was written, we have been advised that the old sofas were just recovered with new material, and they look so different because of the change from dark to light material. The defects in the new material are very obvious because in the past the backs were covered up by other furniture and there were some pillows on the front that made the sofas look quite different.)
4 Responses to “Anthem Center Sofas Damaged or Defective?”
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August 23, 2008 at 07:35
I remember that P& G reviewed the decorators that submitted bids to RMI to work on the first phase of this project. The committee and RMI both recommended another company, the low bidder at $12,000. Bob Berman, board VP, insisted that the board accept the Cleo bid at $33,000 instead, and the board over-ruled the P&G committee and RMI recommendations.
Bob Berman said that Cleo would ensure we get a quality project in the delivery stages, as well as the planning stage, and it had worked for casinos on the strip and were more qualified to plan and recommend suitable choices for our high quality facilities. So, our homeowners paid almost three times the necessary amount for the plans and recommendations by a decorator, and we have still not been protected from receiving some substandard work.
This low quality sofa and its material should never have been recommended nor accepted by the Cleo project team when it was received. I am sure the volunteers on the Cleo project (relying on the assurance of Bob Berman that Cleo was a highly qualified firm that understood the needs of an elegant facility like ours with high traffic use) never anticipated that Cleo would recommend such ugly material on cheap-looking sofas. But, something must be done to correct the problem.
I urge members to look at the sofas first hand–the photos do not show the detail including the HOLE in the sofa on the far right of the first row of pictures. The old sofas in the condition they were in looked better the last day they were there than the new sofas look today. We deserve and require better.
Board President Berman may believe that those who object have a “subjective” opinion on the sofas, but members objecting to a substandard product is always appropriate. She states “it is, what it is”. I ask you to look at the sofas, and their conditions, and tell me if you want to live with them for the next 5-7 years?
August 24, 2008 at 14:44
Return them and get our money back. WHAT? YOU DIDN’T BUY THEM WITH A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE? OMG!
August 24, 2008 at 18:02
We have been notified by a Cleo team representative that contrary to the initial report, the sofas are the same ones as before, but they have been recovered with the light material selected by the designer, the many pillows are no longer there, and the other furniture that used to cover the back sides of the sofas has not been returned.
This makes the new, substandard fabric really obvious, and the result is that everything looks quite different from before.
However, the good news is that there appears to be general agreement that the new material is not acceptable, and a review is being held with Cleo to see what should be done to correct the situation.
August 30, 2008 at 16:29
Who or what is CLEO? A web search of that name came up empty. Who picked CLEO, and why?