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| I purchased morning star bamboo strand click flooring from Lumber Liquidators. Little did I know that it would release a bad acidic odor which will not go away, it actually made me sick. I paid someone to install it and now i have to take the flooring out and LL wont give a full refund and is charging 20% restock fee. After researching i found out that LL is aware of the problem and does not disclose it to consumers who are purchasing the product. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| ours had that, but it went away. |
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- Posted by Directorcustcare444 (My Page) on Sat, Mar 31, 12 at 9:28
| We're sorry to hear you're dissatisfied. No matter where you source bamboo, some items may need to "gas off" as other postings note. The process simply means the packaged material once unpackaged and allowed to adjust to the rooms temperature and humidity will begin to normalize and the scent will dissipate. Installed material is deemed accepted and the problem you shared is not one common as a concern raised by consumers. We sell thousands of sq ft of this material each week and would be flooded with this type of concern if it was truly a broader issue. The care instructions are as follows: HANDLE WITH CARE To prevent board warping or bowing; do not cut the packaging plastic support bindings until ready to install. Do not stand flooring on ends or sides. Do not store directly on bare concrete or next to outside walls. Cartons should be placed as close to the center of the installation area as possible. Store flat supporting to the ends and center sections. Store in a dry place being sure to provide air flow under and around cartons. Keep out of direct sunlight and away from air vents. You regulation of interior conditions may be a contributing factor. All wood items have their own "smells" and if this was an issue it would be known as the product was removed form the box and the invoice states we will take product back. Fully installed material is accepted, so you failed to follow these instructions and we regret this ended up leaving you dissatisfied. This case highlights the importance of reading and following these detailed instructions. |
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| I'm sorry you had this problem, and agree with you about hating restocking fees and feeling it's wrong. I too just installed a bamboo strand floor in my kitchen, I purchased it at Costco, and it had no significant odor (except a slight new product odor). I left it in my house for 4 days to accument prior to having it installed, and didn't follow the list given above, since they were stacked in my lvingroom one on top of the other. |
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| are you kiding me with your post directorcustcare444?? The instructions were followed, and you tell me that its my fault your bamboo product outgases formaldehyde?? Which is defined as "A gas at room temperature, formaldehyde is colorless and has a characteristic pungent, irritating odor etc...In view of its widespread use, toxicity and volatility, exposure to formaldehyde is a significant consideration for human health.[5] On 10 June 2011, the US National Toxicology Program has described formaldehyde as "known to be a human carcinogen". Is all of this in your instructions that you say i didnt follow? Does it say in your instructions that formaldehyde, a carcinogen, will be released into your home, but according to you its ok because it will eventually go away? |
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| rg100, the person who wrote that from LL should be ashamed of him/herself! (What does LL stand for?) It's horrible putting the blame on you. Have you thought of taking it one step further, to Shame on You (local TV stations here have it)? Showing the answer you got here should be embarressing enough to them to give you a full refund, which I feel you deserve. |
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| LL is lumber liquidators. tx for your reply ilene. here is another post on the web from a person with similar problem: .Sick of bamboo floor fumes problem |
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| rg100, I was serious when I suggested taking this to a "shame on you" type place, they would shame them into at the least not charging you for a restocking fee, which I truly think is shameful. |
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| Lumber Liquidators customer care has refused to return my calls. So I will now unleash a campaign on the internet to inform everyone about this incident. I will also get a group together to picket in front of Lumber Liquidators stores including the main offices and I will also speak to the media. If anyone from Lumber Liquidators is reading this post, you should be ashamed of yourself because i was so polite and nice and all i wanted was a refund despite the fact that your product got me and my family sick. |
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| RG100, I'm glad your reacting to what they aren't doing. I'm wishing you the best of luck! Where are their home offices? Where are you? I'm in NY, Long Island. |
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| this is getting comical. Lumber liquidators manager told me that its all my fault because i didnt do extensive research and should have known that formaldehyde was used to make the flooring and that i apparently should have read everyone elses complaints LOL. LL refuses to refund the unopened material and will not exchange for something elses. i am out almost 1000 dollars and the manager offered me $50.00 for my troubles, what a joke Lumber Liquidators. i even emailed Tom Sullivan the founder and chairman, no response. lumber liquidators will not let me put a review on the website they only pick the reviews that mostly benefit them apparently. what a joke. |
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| correction on last post LL will not return opened items |
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- Posted by LovesPurple (My Page) on Thu, Apr 19, 12 at 19:49
| Wow! I am really glad I found this post! We are getting ready to put down 2,600 ft of bamboo.....and we may have ended up at Lumber Liquidators. We really wanted the click strand carbonized to float our floor on concrete, but I guess we may need to go with the T&G from iFloor. |
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| I didn't know about bamboo flooring having such a stink either. Thank you for the post. I bought a box of it at Lowes to test the color. When I unpacked it my eyes started to burn and my nose stuffed up. I put the opened and unpacked box of flooring in the basement to outgas. A week later I put it outside to outgas, then back in the basement for the last 2 months. I just took a couple of pieces up to the room where it was going to go and they still stink! I'm pretty sure Lowes will take it back if I can find the receipt. I'm very surprised that it still smells so bad. |
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- Posted by hollysprings (My Page) on Fri, Apr 27, 12 at 15:36
| If having low emission flooring was important to you, you should have researched the brands that sell it. You would have quickly found out it is available, but it won't be as cheap as the chinese crap that LL sells. One whiff of an open box should have told you that the manufacturing process used formaldehyde, and back to the store it should have gone. When you go ahead and do the install, it means that the flooring as delivered is acceptable to you. NO ONE returns installed flooring, not even companies with the best customer service, and LL is far from that. Once you install it, you permanently own it and the only thing that comes into play at that point is a manufacturer's warranty for defects. Formaldehyde content isn't considered a defect. Not doing your homework about something that you feel is an important issue IS your fault. Not taking the crap back to the store as soon as you opened a box is your fault. Blaming a crappy company for selling a crappy product is also just kinda "duh". Even the slightest look for reviews for LL would have given you this information before purchase. You've got understandable buyer's remorse, but the person to be mad at here is yourself. |
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| Hollysprings Wow, that is incredible that you would have that attitude. How do you know that the purchaser didn't do their homework??? That is what drives me up a wall about folks with attitudes like yours. You assume to know exactly what the other person actually did do. Personally we did a lot of research on the product we bought, including the formaldehyde rating. The company CLAIMED that their product had low VOC and formaldehyde ratings.. granted, did we take them at face value instead of demanding they show us formal industry level documentation? Perhaps. However, the company STILL misrepresented themselves and their products. Here is another story: I got food poisoning one time from either our local Renaisssance fair or Burger King (the Health department was required to investigate all food poisoning issues) I had a 2,000 plus ER bill. NOW, according to YOUR belief system it was MY fault that I got food poisoning because somehow I didn't do MY "homework". What? That I demand they show me their latest heath dept report on their rates of camphylobactor in their chicken? Consumers can only do so much "homework". It is challenging when you have so much misinformation and disinformation out there and misleading and confusing and often times frustrating and useless message boards that don't offer any real solutions or help. (Most of the time 1/2 comments are positive and 1/2 are negative.. ) I am tired of the industry blaming the consumer for not somehow taking "personal responsibility". How about these companies own up to their lack of integrity and lack of quality control, visibility honesty on the products they sell? Consumers can only do so much and I think we all are getting a bit tired of being treated like worthless animals that have wallets to exploit! |
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| That Arrowana Bamboo from Costco, isn't bad at all. Way better than anything that comes out of LL. |
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- Posted by Betsy_at_Mannington (My Page) on Mon, Jul 2, 12 at 12:28
| Unfortunately these floors often do have an odor. When purchasing flooring, you should look for the FloorScore certification.. this is a third party certification through SCS and RFCI (see link). If you scroll to the bottom of the page it will take you to the SCS site and you can locate products that have FloorScore certification. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Floor Score certification for good indoor air quality
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| I also installed Supreme Bamboo from Lumber Liquidators. Every time I go into the room where we installed the flooring, my eyes burn and nose runs. After the process of elimination, it is my understanding that the formaldehyde from the flooring is producing gas that causes these symptoms. I have an air quality technician reading the manufacturing safety data sheet. According to what I read on the sheet, the flooring has a 5 rating, which is a moderate level for formaldehyde gases. I would not recommend the Bamboo flooring from Lumber Liquidators, and I highly suggest that you review the safety data sheet before purchasing any of the wood flooring from LL. You can usually access the sheet online, or you can ask them at the store. |
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- Posted by rudysmallfry (My Page) on Thu, Dec 27, 12 at 20:16
| Wow, interesting thread. I have bamboo in my bedrooms and was just about to order more for the rest of the house. What little odor it had on day 1 quickly went away, but then the stuff I bought was aged 5 years with a janka hardness rating of 2155. The crap at LL is barely a year old with a hardness rating somewhere below pine. Both times I attempted to shop a LL, the person behind the counter was so condescending, I quickly walked out. I wonder if the age has to do with how much chemical is involved in the processing of the flooring? |
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| my husband and I also purchased this bamboo flooring in Sept 2012....not only is it seperating EVERYWHERE....but the odor is also making my husband and I sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!we paid $325 to have an inspector come out and we are getting ready to take legal action....our attorney is reviewing all our documents as we speak.....I could not believe it today when I found all the rest of you poor people that are also suffering.It makes me sooo upset that LL has known about the problem since at least 2006 and they are till getting away with selling it!!!Lets do something about this..... |
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| I was about to purchase a Morning Star engineered bamboo floor for my entire home and stumbled upon this review site. I spoke with LL and asked for the emissions numbers. This is off of their website- (copy of link below. ) Free gaseous formaldehyde (contains less than 0.1% free formaldehyde) How can it be emitting such a strong odor if this is the data? I am scared off now and will look elsewhere for flooring but something is very wrong that the numbers say one thing and people are having such strong reactions |
Here is a link that might be useful: Morning Star msds
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