TMC Restoration

My elderly mother was intercepted by TMC Restoration at a mall display. (I believe this is TMC's only way of finding customers these days, as anyone with an internet connection will very quickly discover the bad news about this company's sales tactics.) The salesman visited my mother at her very modest rental apartment, and a couple of hours later, had her committed to spend $8,000 on refinishing a worthless old dining set. The contracts were so confusing that my mother was unable to tell me how much she owed these people. I say "contracts" because the grand total was spread across THREE contracts, obviously to hide the size of the commitment my mother was being induced to make. Of course, she was told that she was saving big thanks to a seniors' discount, but the reality was that she was being gouged for services. For example, she was charged $500 per cloth seat cover on her dining room chairs.

When I learned what had happened here, I confronted the salesman, who tried his sales pitch on ME! He said that this beautiful dining set would be a source of pride to my mother for the next 20 years. Really, TMC? Given that my mother is 88 years old, she would be statistically fortunate to be around for the next 20 MONTHS!

So, the long and short of it is that my naive, trusting and cognitively impaired 88-year-old mother got ripped off to the tune of $8,000. She's fortunate that she has me to help her. Otherwise, she would have ended up like that poor woman in Pat Foran's Consumer Alert on CTV News.

Shame on you, TMC. If it's true that you reap what you sow, you've got a bumper crop of karma coming your way.

TMC Restoration reupholstered my recliner and they did an awesome job, I wouldn't change a thing! they kept there promise and returned my chair on time and within budget. Thanks again.

TMC did a great job, I received phone calls to advise the progress and it made me feel part of the complete process. The estimator was great, the job got done on time and within budget. Thanks TMC!

Thank you T.M.C. for taking care of the problems we had initially with the re-upholstering of our sofa and loveseat. I am glad to see you now have a customer service department that cares for the customer.

3. Was the Estimator knowledgeable? Yes
4. Did the work get completed on time? Yes
5. Did the work get completed within your budget? Yes
6. Is there anything that sets our staff apart from other furniture restoration companies you have dealt with in the past? Great staff.

7. What could we have done to serve your needs better? Nothing.

3. Was the Estimator knowledgeable? Yes
4. Did the work get completed on time? Yes
5. Did the work get completed within your budget? Yes
6. Is there anything that sets our staff apart from other furniture restoration companies you have dealt with in the past?

7. What could we have done to serve your needs better?

Better packing upon delivery... had to send some stuff back to get redone twice before everything was all good as it was chipped every time they delivered it.

I feel as though my furniture was held hostage for three months. I was so happy when the delivery truck arrived and my table was returned that I just paid the exorbitant fee. I am dissatisifed with the result. The stain they used does not match the set. They only accepted payment in the form of a certified cheque, which is not what I was told initially. And they only deliver between the hours of 3 and 11pm. Rather late. Buyer beware. I wish I had read the comments on this site before I ever dealt with this company. Please do your homework. Their work is overpriced and their business practices are very suspect.

ripped off! 30 year old classic modern set beautiful lines, Tino at tmc ruined them. called me up blabbering about the beautiful set, and recommended jute lining at his cost of $1000. I agreed. when the set was delivered, I had to install the arms, and noticed that instead of jute he used scraps of leftover materials.the set is overstuffed, the stitching is crooked, and the workmanship substandard. They even reused some of the foam which they were supposed to replace..I wouldn't let these people reupholster a bean bag. I read some of the reviews, and noticed a pattern here. From the over priced estimate to the drop in price, then the phone call to the office to consult on a better deal, to the follow up calls raving about the great piece then the upsell for "better quality"...It's a con! don't use this company. If you have an eye for detail, you will be disappointed with the results.These people do not deal in good faith. I would have been better off dumping the set and buying a new one.The whole experience has left me feeling violated.

I saw TMC's display in a mall and arranged for someone from TMC to give me a quote to reupholster my sofa. When the salesman came to my home, he claimed that he was also an antique appraiser for Antiques Roadshow. He admired my sofa and asked me what I thought it was worth. I told him that it had been given to me and I had no idea what it was worth. He then told me that to buy a sofa of such quality would cost me close to $8,000. He then said that the regular price to reupholster the sofa would be close to $6,000, but since he was “corporate” and did not rely on commissions, he was willing to give me a deal for $4,800. Needless to say, I was totally shocked and told him so. He asked me how much I thought it would cost and I told him that I didn’t know. When I told him that I could not afford anywhere near $4,800, he said that he would call his boss to find out if he could reduce the price. He them called his boss (or at least he sounded like he was speaking to someone on his cell) and said that although TMC mainly did high end furniture refinishing, they didn’t have a lot of reupholstery work at the moment so they might consider doing it for less. He hung up and told me he had great, news – the boss said he would do it for $3,600, providing I agreed to write a letter of recommendation to the company after the job was done. He went on and on about what a fantastic deal this was and I found myself signing a contract and giving him a cheque for a deposit of 50%, which he said was standard.

As soon as I had signed the contract, he took out a pair of scissors and cut a piece of fabric out of the sofa and then took out a permanent marker and wrote my name on the sofa in big black letters. I was shocked and said “well, I guess I’m committed now”, to which he replied “of course you are committed, you just signed a contract”. (I later learned that there are consumer protection laws in place in Ontario that allow you to change your mind within 10 days of signing any such contract, and in fact, this is stated in the fine print on the back of the contract). Then the salesman told me that as luck would have it, they had a truck in the area picking up someone else’s furniture and they could pick up my sofa within the hour. Sure enough, as soon as the salesman left my home, the truck showed up.

During the following weekend, I had a very uneasy feeling about the whole thing. I strongly suspected that I had been scammed. So I went online and found some reviews of the company. Some customers sounded happy, but many more of them didn’t. Other people had experienced the same slick sales pitch that I had, and some people complained about the poor quality of the workmanship. I then called another upholstery company in my area, described my sofa, and asked them what they would charge me. I was told that it would cost between $1,200 and $1,500, depending on the quality of the fabric. The following Monday I called my bank and found out that my cheque had not yet been cashed by TMC. I put a stop payment on it and sent TMC a registered letter advising that I was canceling the order. I was relieved that I had gotten out of the contract and decided to just forget about my destroyed sofa and buy a new one.

A few days later I received a call from the salesman and he wanted to know why I cancelled the order. I didn’t really want to talk to him, but ended up telling him that I felt the price was too high and that I was worried about all the negative reviews. He told me that the negative reviews were not true and were written by ex employees who had been fired. Then a couple of weeks after that, I received a call from another man at TMC who wanted to know why I canceled the order. When I told him about my experience, he said he completely understood why I cancelled the order and he said that the reviews were all real and not written by disgruntled employees. He said that he was aware of the image problems the company was having and he had been hired to turn things around. He said that if I would give them another chance, they would reupholster my sofa for $1,500 + HST and that he would personally oversee the process and assure the quality. My hunch was that this man was on the level and based on my conversation with him, I agreed to proceed and to also pay another $180 + HST for Fabriguard. I was of course worried that I had made another bad decision, but within two weeks my sofa was returned to me and I must say it looks beautiful and I am very happy with it.

The reason I decided to write this review now is that tonight I watched a story on CTV news about an elderly woman who was charged over $14,000 by TMC to have a sofa and some chairs reupholstered. The Toronto School of Upholstery subsequently provided her with a quote in the $3,000 range. She apparently borrowed the money and was just sick about the fact that she had been overcharged so much. The CTV news team went to TMC’s offices with their cameras and the owner stated that they stood by the quality of their work, but there was no indication that they were going to do anything for this woman. It made me very angry to think that had I not done some investigation of my own and initially canceled the order, I too would have been overcharged. It is especially horrendous that this company is ripping off elderly people who can ill afford it – shame on TMC Restoration.