Da Vinci Furniture Responds To False Importing Scandal

Recently, there has been a scandal involving  Da Vinci Furniture, a retailer of “high-fashion furniture brands” including “Versace Home, Fendi Casa, Kenzo Maison, Cerruti and many more” with “mega-stores” in “Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and China”, according to their official website . A CCTV news report investigated quality problems with the company’s expensive products and the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau announced that the company’s “made in Italy” products were actually made in China, shipped to China’s border, and then suddenly became “imported” the next day. Notable in the CCTV report, a twin bed with the brand “Cappeletti” was reported to be manufactured by the Dongguang Changfeng Furniture Company where it is sold for about 30,000 RMB yet is priced 10x higher at 300,000 RMB by Da Vinci because it is “imported”

From NetEase:

Da Vinci Furniture responds to false importing scandal, General Manager cries

July 13th, Da Vinci Furniture Company Ltd. held a press conference concerning the fake incident. General Manager Panzhuang Xiuhua [Doris Phua] in a tearful voice told of how she “started the company” from zero, insisting that the Italian branded products her company represents were all imported, and at the same time admitting that their American brands have partnered with domestic factories before.

July 13th, Da Vinci Furniture Company Ltd., embroiled in a quality scandal, holds a media press conference in Beijing. Da Vinci General Manager Panzhuang Xiuhua was emotional and full of tears, insisting that the Italian brands her company is an agent for are made in Italy and imported, but at the same time admitted that her company has indeed worked with domestic factories, including Dongguan Changfeng, but that product line was the domestically established and since discontinued Fuledeng brand. However, the press conference became Da Vinci’s “one man show” as reporters were completely denied the opportunity to ask questions.

July 13th, Da Vinci General Manager Panzhuang Xiuhua shedding tears. Earlier, the so-called “made in Italy”, “solid wood”, and “imported” furniture priced at several tens of thousand of yuan to even hundreds of thousands of yuan had been exposed as being made in Dongguan, using medium density fiberboard materials. On July 11th, the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau had begun an official investigation into Da Vinci furniture under suspicion of falsifying places of manufacture and for product quality problems.

Panzhuang Xiuhua stressed her company’s role as “agent”, that all of the Italian brands her company is an agent for are all made in Italy and imported. At the same time, she said, “The American brands we are agents for, including the Hollywood brand, are all globally sourced, with the places of manufacture including Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, as well as China. America has so many products that are not 100% made in the United States. They just want to take care of quality and design, not necessarily insist on being made in America.”

When talking about the Dongguan Changfeng company, she was both choking down sobs and incoherent, and adding on the fact that her putonghua [Mandarin] was not very smooth in the first place, all of the reporters present found themselves at a completely loss. Several times, journalists wanted to interrupt her long speech, and directly ask her questions, but Panzhuang Xiuhua emotionally expressed how much pressure/stress she has been in lately and that she must finish saying everything she wants to say.

Panzhuang Xiuhua said, her company originally had two different brands, Da Vinci and Fuledeng, with Fuledeng being made in China, but was discontinued in 2006. Da Vinci General Manager Panzhuang Xiuhua also said that there is a long-standing misunderstand at present, that being “all made in Italy furniture must be 100% solid wood, but actually the essence of Italian furniture lies in its design, materials, and innovation.”

Panzhuang Xiuhua in the end stated being willing to pay for 20 media reporters and consumers to travel to Italy to investigate, hoping that the media and society will give Da Vinci one more chance. “If you want private interviews, I accept, but not today.” The reporters who had bitterly waited half the day only to not get a chance to ask questions all expressed helplessness at this result.

Photo is of Da Vinci General Manager Panzhuang Xiuhua immediately leaving the conference after finishing speaking without responding to reporter questions.

At the press conference, a man claiming to be a consumer said: “Give me a microphone, this is essentially a presentation by your side! I am a consumer, I spent 10 million buying your furniture, and what I care about now is whether CCTV’s broadcast is true or if what you are saying is true! What I am afraid of now is my wife and children encountering problems when using this furniture!”

This man who claimed to be a consumer refused to disclose the details of his furniture purchase, only claiming that he was denied when previously attempting to return his purchase, and further could not produce receipts. Photo is of the man who claimed to be a consumer making a scene at the conference.

July 13th, a man claiming to be a Da Vinci Furniture customer (standing) demands to return his purchases during the presentation.

“There’s no point listening further. Fake, this presentation is completely fake!” A number of reporters followed a man leaving the scene and the press conference immediately became a mess. All that could be seen was a man claiming to be a consumer quickly going down the escalator, with reporters chasing after him endlessly asking him when he purchased his furniture, where he purchased, but he made not a single reply.

July 13th, just like the furious consumer who stormed out before, after the press conference, another tall, good-looking man wearing sunglasses also claiming to be a consumer was “besieged” by reporters. He too refused to disclose details about his furniture purchases, only that he had previously gone to make a return but was denied. Due to the two “consumers” both refusing to disclose the products they purchased, or produce receipts for their purchases, several reporters questioned if they might be have been “fake customers” planted by competitors.

July 13th, DaVinci Furniture Company Ltd. general manager Panzhuang Xiuhua (middle) leaves the scene escorted by many black-clad bodyguards, not speaking a word when besieged by the surrounding reporters and ultimately not disclosing when she will be able to accept interviews.

July 13th, personnel escort DaVinci Furniture Company Ltd. general manager Panzhuang Xiuhua (middle) out of the premises.

See also:

• Furniture importer under fire (China Daily)
• ‘Imported’ furniture never left country, say officials (Shanghai Daily)
• Furniture retailer DaVinci shows you how NOT to run a press conference (Shanghaiist)

Comments from NetEase:

网易陕西省西安市网友:

I don’t care if it is real or fake, either way I can’t afford it.

2850592725:

Panzhuang Xiuhua talks a lot like a government official, she can’t be saved.

网易河南省郑州市网友:

Society’s tragedy, the quality of domestic products don’t pass the test, so consumers can only turn to Western brands, only to discover that Western brands are also a bunch of cheats!

hcxlhg0:

Even with such thick skin, they still go this far in refusing to admit.

网易河北省石家庄市网友:

I’ve decided to buy the Beethoven brand, now that I know the Da Vinci brand is so unreliable.

小人yes:

Being expensive is not wrong, what was wrong was that it wasn’t imported.

独坐幽篁假书生:

I don’t care if it is real or fake, I don’t care about that, but this female general manager is indeed disgusting. What the cock is she crying for!? There are rich people who like to let you rip them off!

网易浙江省杭州市网友:

Let those who have a lot of money (from who knows where) have a taste of blind foreign worship! Haha!

傻子不够用了:

The people Da Vinci cheated are those nouveau riche who have some money and want to pretend they are sophisticated/classy, so I don’t feel like there is anything really bad about this. As an ordinary commoner, I can’t afford to buy this kind of furniture, so I am very much enjoying laughing at their misfortune.

一见穿心之笑面人生:

I never buy brand names, only buying the things I consider worth their price. Having money doesn’t mean being spending it irresponsibly. I can give up face, but I’m definitely not willing to be a fool~

929327802:

If crying meant being able to make money without taking responsibility, I’m willing to cry and cry…

2510188031:

The difficulty of building a business does not mean you can cheat consumers. The difficulty of building a business is not a reason for cheating consumers.

Comments from Sina:

新浪网友abc123:

This CEO is crying only because she this kind of thing is common in China but why did it have to be her Da Vinci that gets exposed.

新浪手机用户:

Typical commercial fraud, this kind of truly dishonest merchant cannot be forgiven. Why is she crying now, better wait until she’s in jail to cry. If she can, bring all of those laowai along. They too are accessories to the crime and should also get the punishment they deserve.

新浪网友xiaolvcn:

The victims of this matter are mainly rich families. They like to show off to get attention and like face projects so [this] could be considered to be a sort of just deserts. Unfortunately and regrettably, the little ordinary common people don’t have the money to be involved in this matter, truly having avoided disaster just once. Fortunately and to be congratulated, sometimes being rich isn’t necessarily a good thing, and this matter is the best example. I bet in the future one can bring this up in a Harvard economics and management class and lecture to students on how one can get rich quick in China, this “characteristic” place.

新浪探索:

Other than the tears being real, everything is is all fake.

新浪网友wlha6688:

Ban the Da Vinci brand, foreigners are no good either!

新浪网友milano_22:

High-end Italian furniture products aren’t sold the way she sells them either. She’s simply exploiting the blind worship of foreign things by the ignorant rich in this country.

新浪乱认爹的王亚丽:

Ai you! And they want to get listed on the stock market [IPO]? If they were really to get listed, then the people they’d be cheating would include the whole world’s people!

What do you think? Do you believe Da Vinci’s CEO? Do you believe the “consumers” in the audience are real?

Both domestically manufactured and imported. Personals @ chinaSMACK.