An "Un-Fortunoff" situaton

By Andrew Ehinger

    Spring is on the minds of many Long Islanders, and lots of people are starting to think about heading outside and enjoying the outdoors - maybe even on some patio furniture. But last week people who bought patio furniture from Fortunoff got a call from the company saying their orders would not be delivered. To add insult to injury, Fortunoff was still selling the same furniture in their store today that people ordered and now were told they weren't getting.

    You can imagine how folks got angry. Some people had thousands of dollars invested in their orders. A few weeks ago Fortunoff declared bankruptcy and began liquidating assets.  After that was announced, the company started calling customers with outstanding orders saying Tough Luck... Well late this afternoon New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced he had negotiated a deal with the failing retailer.  For customers who had fully paid orders--if their furniture was in stock, Fortunoff would deliver the goods. However, if the bill was only partially paid, or the furniture is not currently in stock, those customers would be out of luck. They'll have to file as a creditor to bankruptcy court to hopefully get their money back. Click here for the release. 

    Obviously this is not good news from everyone, but you have to applaud the efforts of Cuomo's office to at least get something for a few customers. However you have to wonder what was Fortunoff was thinking when they chose to leave so many paying customers out in the cold.

   

Comments

[John]

Who, exactly, has to wonder what they were thinking? Either they weren't thinking at all, or they were thinking that people buying in a final liquidation sale were good marks for a scam.

If they sold the same items multiple times, I hope that Mr. Cuomo is looking to see where that money went. I'm guessing that it's not paying off creditors.

[BIG Bad Bob]

I'm glad that Cuomo stepped in. What terrible blemish Fortunoff's would have on their record. Sad that it's going out but now with that memory! I'll really miss the CHRISTMAS STORE...It has always kicked of the holiday season for my family and many of our friends. Let us know if someone else picks up the holiday ball okay?
Thanks BIG Bad Bob