Bay Leather Republic

The Worst Leather Lounge Suit we Have Ever Purchased – Cheap poor quality items used to manufacture our expensive leather lounge suit. After spending almost $6000 on a new lounge suit in 2016 we now have an issue with one of the electric recliners. After delivery of the suit we had to put it in storage for 12 months while we built our new home, the suit as far as usage is concerned is only 4 years… Read more

and 9 months old. after having a visit from the Bay Leather service agent (The Leather Doctor) we have been informed that the mechanism on one of the lounges has links that are worn out. You cannot replace components you have to buy the whole mechanism. ( how long before the other three fail??????)

Just for your information we are two retired people husband and wife who are extremely house proud. Our lounge suit consists of four electric recliners and the one that is leased used has failed.

Check your warranty before you purchase from this company. (bay Leather of their owner Freedom Furniture) The ten year warranty you are told about is a false statement The only part of your new lounge that has ten year warranty is the frame. The leather covering, nails , screws and glues are two years and everything else is one year ( that includes the recliner mechanism) Poor quality products, No support or assistance provided. You are now the owner of garbage.

Not great – I bought a Bay Leather Republic couch second hand. The people I bought it off had it a year (with proof of purchase handed over). The RRP of the couch was around $4,000 and I got it for $800 - what a steal for me and it was in excellent condition. The people who bought it decided to get a bigger couch because they were expecting a baby, not due… Read more

to any functional issues.

I have now had the couch for about 3 years - meaning it is 4 years old. I live with one housemate, we both are very tidy and careful people and for a while it looked really nice in our flat.

After about a year of having it (around 2 years old), the legs started to come loose and the upholstery on the back of the cushions wore out completely so the cushions do not stay upright - it was designed to have velcro go straight onto soft fabric (seems like an obvious design flaw?!).

Given that I paid $800 and it is a LEATHER couch (IKEA fabric couches retail at the same price) I am not upset about the issues. However, if I had paid $4,000 I would be absolutely furious that the couch did not even last 2 years. This is a warning for people out there looking to buy from here - if you are going to spend a few grand, spend it elsewhere.

As someone who bought this couch basically new for $800, I have no reason to be upset or complain, so I'm really just trying to forewarn others about the longevity of these products!

If there was a zero rating i would give 0 – Had "leather" couches for 2 years, after the first year they started peeling, they had someone come look and apparently it was classed as wear and tear, now 2 years later its peeling so bad and they wont do anything. BLR doesnt exsist anymore apparently and is now being dealt with by freedom, husband spoke to the rudest lady alive today, will be taking this further to fair trading. Absolutely disgraceful. 5k in the toilet Show details

After almost three years of use – We purchased the Grand Lodge 2.5 seater + chaise in New Club leather from Auburn. After almost three years of use, the couch still looks almost brand new. Very happy with this and would buy the exact same model if ever we needed a replacement. Show details

Excellent value for money – We purchased our lounge and armchair in 2007 and they have both worn extremely well. We occasionally use leather conditioner on them but aren’t super fussy and they have ‘grown up’ with our two boys. I couldn’t be happier with how long they have lasted with barely any wear considering how rough my kids are. I won’t buy from anywhere else when it is time to replace. Show details ·  1

Very good service – I am very pleased with my purchase. Store staff were very friendly, but not' pushy', let us browse on our own but with an offer of help as and when required. We had 2 visits to the store and on each occasion were served by different staff but with the same helpful attitude. Delivery was on target even in these difficult times, were notified a few… Read more ·  1

days beforehand and again 1/2 hour before delivery. The two men who removed all packing did so with minimum of fuss and with a cheerful demeanour although late in the evening. All together a successful purchasing experience.

Useless care plan – Bought $6k od worth of leather couches and protection plan (extra $200+) but when my cat scratched the couch (light surface scratches, fully covered apparently according to the booklet), they denied me the ability to make a claim saying because I waited 2 months to call it was no longer fixable or covered. Apparently they can only fix scratches… Read more

immediately as they happen. They didn't make me aware of this at any point prior to attempting to claim. The couch is lovely, although the seat cushions are very hard after 7 years of sitting on it (I am less than 50kg and live alone, do not have guests over).. I definitely expected more for $6k. I could have bought 6 x 1k couches instead and it would definitely be in better condition cushion wise and now with the light scratches.

Worst follow up service of any company I've dealt with – If you want to spend your hard earned money to buy from either BLR or Freedom, as this company is owned by Freedom and you'll be at their mercy if you need a rectification under a warranty. Think again. I have a $7000 modular lounge which is 18months old. One of the recliners has broken down twice. The first time it took 2 months to get it fixed.… Read more

After 7 weeks the second time I'm still waiting to get my lounge functional. All it needs is a new recliner motor.

Freedom after sales service is non existant. They do not acknowledge receipt of your claim nor do they keep you informed. SHOP ELSEWHERE because if you have an issue be prepared to wait months for a repair.

Disgraceful. Read this before purchasing from Bay Leather Republic – Deposit place in June. 10-12 week ETA confirmed by sales assistant and written on the invoice. 13 weeks pass, still no update. No contact from Bay Leather. 18.5 weeks later, someone from Bay Leather finally contacts us to inform that they need the rest of the payment as the lounge is now available. When questioned on the delay, the response was… Read more

"I don't want to get involved in the "he said she said"". Our ETA was clearly written on the invoice, and if we had of known we would be waiting almost double the amount of time, we would not have placed the order in the first place. Lounge is delivered damaged and in abysmal condition. Never went through quality control. Scratches, stretch marks, discoloration etc. Barely resembles the demo model that was in store. Takes 4 weeks for Bay Leather to agree on a refund and to pick up the lounge. Courier company badly mistreats the lounge on its way out, dragging it through our apartment and leaving standing on its side (leather side standing on the ground). I immediately send a confirmation email to Bay Leather informing the lounge has just been collected. We then receive a call from Bay Leather the next day informing that the refund will be deposited within the next 10 working days. 10 working days pass, still no funds deposited. Contact Bay Leather to question the delay, am informed that they were unaware the lounge had been collected, so we can expect the funds after the new year.

Once again - deposit placed in June 2020. This pathetic ordeal will not be resolved until January 2021.

Original sales rep was a pleasure to work with. However as soon as our deposit was received, every possible interaction with Bay Leather thereafter has been nothing short of deplorable.

Do not waste your time or money with this company.

Very impolite careless and irresponsible – Their sales person was very impolite even when my little son was crying look badly also irresponsible and careless, she invoiced an item incorrectly and then convict us telling lie and we changed our mind, also every time I called them they were impatient and impolite never had experience like this, I will make sure never ever purchase from them… Read more

and recommend whoever I know not to do so, also their customer service are hopeless, one of the sofas they delivered was faulty, after sending technician 2times they could not fix the problem and have to exchange it ,however they told us over the phone that once they accept to exchange the sofa we can also change the model to get What we ordered originally however later they refuse to do that although both model have same price ,the only reason I see is they insist not to make their customer happy and satisfied with their services!

Terrible service. Awful quality – I purchased a lounge from BLR about 10 months ago. It was delivered with faults which took around a month to fix. 6 months after having the lounge, the colour started peeling off the lounge. I submitted a claim for repair under warranty 2 months ago and have received nothing more than an email to say “they’ll get to it”. There is no customer… Read more

service phone number, and in fact no customer service at all. The staff in the stores are lovely people who genuinely seem to care, but their hands are tied and they can’t offer any help or assistance at all. The entire experience has been absolutely dreadful and I would seriously caution anyone who is thinking of purchasing from such a dishonest, deceitful company. They charge a premium price, but offer a very budget experience.

UPDATE: Repair took 3 months to action. Repair was 'ok' but the peeling of leather is still visible.

UPDATE: More peeling has occurred, and now it seems Bay Leather Republic do not exist anymore...

Very rude and dishonest – Very disappointed with their service, very rude . I will never purchase again from this store again . Delivery was charged and they failed to deliver the promised services. Left a mess behind called to complain and their reply was sorry you wanted your purchase ASAP. Incompetent !! Because of your delivery manner I will not purchase again and wish I can give u back your couch !!! And get better service somewhere else. Show details

My worst online experience ever – After shopping with Bay Leather Republic in the past, I was happy to support them again. But after purchasing a sofa online, I was advised three weeks later that the sofa had arrived in Brisbane (about a month early! Wonderful...) but that it had been damaged in transit and that the sofa I had ordered was no longer available! I requested a… Read more

replacement from interstate and when told that was not possible, I asked to see pictures of the damaged piece (maybe we could come to an arrangement). But BLR did not allow me that option and have been completely uninterested in looking at alternative solutions. I have wasted my time in shopping with them, am still waiting for my refund and very much feel as though they just want me to go away! I have never before had such poor service and such an unpleasant online shopping experience.

Shame of customer service of an Australian company – This brand has perfectly demonstrated a good customer service at a sale time. However, once you pay the deposit and place the order, you are not going to get any what so ever customer service except for chasing you up to pay for the remaining cost even when there is no confirmed date of the delivery. We placed the order back in early Feb, and was… Read more

told the leadtime was 14-16 weeks. Now we are at 21 week mark and yet we haven't heard anything despite the fact that they told us last week the delivery would be arrived this week(not the first time)... Like many others who wrote reviews here, we called them numerous time and the only answer we get was either 'next week' or 'the person who can get into the system will call you back' but no one ever called back. The point here is that no one/not a single person from the store has ever proactively approached us on any updates/delay on the delivery. We have been sitting on a mattress watching tv for the last 2.5 months as we don't want to be penalised from their policy requiring customer to organise the delivery date within 14 days of arriving at the warehouse. Had them given us a heads up we would have kept our old couch longer.

Now I want to ask BLR, do you also have a policy for customers on the delivery delay? To be fair to customers who have paid the deposit without getting the goods in the promised time frame, you should: 1. Provide a confirmed delivery date (even though it's way outside of the promise) as you have no excuse but to set a true expectation rather than a false expectation causing customers anxiety and stress; and 2. In the interim, provide a display/warehouse replacement for the customers who are experiencing delay as they have no reason to bear your under performance and potentially experience health issue or mental stress; or 3. Offer a compensate to the customer experiencing the delay (I.e. discount on the sale price; refund the interest on the deposit you have collected but not delivering the couch promised on the sales order)

Please do not come back with an excuse on covid as it's not the delay itself we are unhappy about. It's your arrogance and 0/10 customer service and how you ignore your customers that has caused us stress, disappointment and anger.

It is kind of reassuring that it's not only us dealing with this kind of situation. This would be more than the 10 times I have called, visited the store and tried to contact via the 'contact us' on their website. My one sent piece of advice is: good luck dealing with them and don't regreat when their true face is revealed.

6 months on and we still have no lounge – We ordered a lounge in January which was supposed to arrive in April. No call or contact to say it’s been delayed we had to follow up twice and still no answers to where our purchase is. You should be paying us interest for the half we have already paid you! Show details

DO NOT BUY!!! – Purchased leather lounge (load of rubbish) and the special cleaning kit (also a load of rubbish) from BLR in 2012. Within 12 months it showed signs of bad wear and tear. Raised this as a concern as we had used the cleaning kit as prescribed, they sent out the Leather Doctor - clearly a conflict of interest here too, who stated we’d failed to use… Read more

the kit properly (goodness knows how it would have look otherwise and how does one fail to use a spray bottle and cloth appropriately to clean. Had a professional leather reupholster come out this week and said this is not proper leather. So after spending 8k on a product that is inferior, take my advise and stay away from this mob!

Appalling customer service – I ordered 3 pieces from bay leather to add on to my existing couch in July last year. The pieces arrived in October, however somehow they managed to stuff up the order. One of the pieces was in the correct colour, however the other two were a completely different colour. Not sure why that was not questioned earlier on? Why would someone order… Read more

different coloured pieces in the same style couch?

After indicating that they stuffed up the order I was told that I would have to wait another 3 months for the 2 pieces to be made in the correct colour. I did not have enough seats on my couch for Christmas!

It is now May. It has almost been a year since I ordered the pieces. Bay leather have never made any effort to contact me, it has always been me trying to get ahold of them. For a long time I was calling them only to be told that they would call me back, they never did. It was only until February that they told me that they cannot indicate when the pieces would be arrive due to COVID 19. Now I understand that we are in a pandemic and things are very hard and different at the moment. The problem here is the complete lack of customer service. You guys made the mistake, yet here I am suffering. You have my hard earn money, you’ve had it for months. Yet I have nothing.

I want a full refund. This problem cannot be blamed on COVID 19. I ordered those pieces well and truly before this pandemic. It was the lack of customer service that lead to this problem, and I will not have my money sitting there waiting for a product that no one knows when it will arrive.

Pathetic service and store staff – - We have ordered a lounge in the month of December 2019 and we did not get delivery until now - they did not even bother letting us know the status of our delivery - earlier they committed that it will be delivered in mid April 2020 and now no one is telling us when it can be delivered - we tried cancelling the order in the month of January when… Read more

we got to know that BLR has got very bad customer service but at that time store manager told us that your lounge is already in manufacturing we cannot cancel it and now they are telling us they don't know when can they expect it and refusing to refund our hard earned money.

is there anyone who has faced this situation. I am thinking to go to consumer court and take legal action. they are very dodgy people and rude too.

Poor quality product and slow, disconnected repair process – Bought a 'Dane Sofa' and the colour started coming off the leather after 11 months of use, despite a very light use (no kids or animals). Contacted BLR head office regarding the issue and eventually received a refund for the faulty lounge. However, the claim process was painfully slow and disconnected between the Head Office, outsourced Lether… Read more

Repair business and the Franchise. Every step took weeks and 2-3 follow ups, totalling 3.5 months. Refund was issued by a cheque despite a request to pay back to a card or account, just to prolong the process. Dissapointed in the product and in BLR as a whole. Would no longer buy BLR or Freedom (sister company) products.

Great Staff at the store – I bought a 2 seater and a 3 seater. It was delivered within the promised time frame. The delivery service could have been better. It needed a bit of wrangling to get into the house but the delivery guyes weren’t cooperative. The staff at the store though was very helpful. Ellen & Mayank promptly organised another delivery person to come the… Read more ·  1

following day and he got the job done in under 10 minutes. Overall great experience. I only wish they were made in Australia and not China. Im sure the higher manufacturing costs can be offset by the savings on the delivery cost.

Online order – We just received our Olsen ottoman and we love it. Thanks to the guy from the Alexandria store who sent me a photo of the ottoman in your store last November from his own phone. Sorry I forgot his name but that was really helpful when you are ordering things sight unseen. Delivery details were also flawless. Thanks guys. We miss you in Canberra. Show details ·  1

Terrible quality leather – After only 2 years the surface of the leather has worn off in large patches. We look after the sofa and have no pets or children. Because it is (just) out of warranty Bay Leather are not interested. The sofa was not particularly cheap, I expected better. Show details

Amazing Australian made Sofa beds – For a while we have been looking for a Sofa Bed and in general we found good one to be very expensive and affordable ones not comfortable. Few weeks back we unexpectedly found an amazing range of Australian made sofabeds at Bay Leather Republic Alexandria. Staff was very helpful and they explained us about different type of mattresses, fabric etc.… Read more ·  1

Yesterday in just 4 weeks we recieved our Sofa Bed and we are loving it. For $1900 double size Sofa Bed in Warwick fabric with Gel Mattress is an amazing value!

OMG I Love my chair – I got one of the TV chair called Ultimate last month and I have been loving the comfort. The service provided was very prompt and at an amazing price. Whole process of purchase was hassle free and very professional. The staff knew their product very well. Extremely satisfied with my purchase. Show details ·  1