Bad Experience With Hilker Shakespeare Leather Sofa Bought From Castilla Parkmalll

[NSK 0]

Dear Dave,

Thank you so much for offering your advice. Apprec it.

[Daveyap 0]

Dear Dave,

Thank you so much for offering your advice. Apprec it.

You are most welcome Bro. Glad you find it useful. Now lets bring it up to the next level.

[musingaway 0]

All the best NSK, practice OPSEC (operational security), just update whatever declassified info you can.. So we can learn and see how CASTILLA services it's customers!

I am waiting for Monday to ask CASTILLA on their reply regarding my case... Can't wait...

[NSK 0]

Dear Dave,

Thanks but I hv not received your PM on suggestions to further pursue with Hilker.

Dear Musingaway,

All the best to you too. Never give up fighting for our rights, for our own interest and the interest of other consumers too.

[Daveyap 0]

Dear Dave,

Thanks but I hv not received your PM on suggestions to further pursue with Hilker.

Dear Musingaway,

All the best to you too. Never give up fighting for our rights, for our own interest and the interest of other consumers too.

Hmmmm, strange because the message box came out saying it was sent. Let me try resending it again.

[NSK 0]

Hi guys,

Just to update forum members that I have written to Hilker Germany, to the email addresses asnpublished in their website.

The general feedback email address published in the website probably not exist at all, as emailswas not successfully delivered, rejected by recipient's domain.

Emails were successfully delivered to another email address but no response fm them despite reminders over the last 3 weeks.

However I do receive flyers fm the same email address ( but sent by their China team) to promote their exhibition at the coming Guangzhou fair!! How do they get my email address ??

This lead me to suspect that Hilker basically is either not genuinely interested in receiving feedback fm customers, Or the company actually operate out of China instead of Germany??

You judge yourself whether they will deliver all the nice product assurances as published in their website (www.hilker1888.com).

I am also puzzle why so far there is no comment from sofa owners of the same brand ( Hilker) and model ( Shakespeare). Could it be :

1) I am the only unlucky one? or,

2) the brand/model is not popular and have few buyers? Or,

3) other customers suffered in silence?

I am keen to here members view.

Thank you.

[dean 5]

u can upload picture at www.tinypic.com, after u upload and copy and paste ur image url

Edited March 7, 2012 by dean

[Jeanius 0]

I have been trying to research Hilker, but there is not much information in the www. What i can see from their website is that most of their partners in Europe are tag 'coming soon' and the website was created in 2011. I tried searching in furnituretoday.com which you can find out what furniture brands are doing today and their history but there is none on Hilker1888. Anybody knows anything more about Hilker1888?? I saw them in the China furniture show last year. I will try to find out more when i visit the shows next week.

Maybe you can try calling the German numbers listed on their website or leave a massage on Ernst Hilker facebook wall. I think it is worth the effort if you had paid more then 10k for the sofa.

[NSK 0]

Thank both Dean and Jeanius's comment /suggestion.

From the unsolicited email flyer I received from Hilker, they have a booth at Hall 13.2 CO1 at the Guangzhou fair.

It is a good idea to leave a message on Ernest Hilker's Facebook wall.

If even the Chairman of Hilker himself does not response to customer's feedback, we can easily judge how reliable (unreliable) such company is.

I will update outcome.

[NSK 0]

The CEO of Hilker finally responded.

He offered 50% refund but I hv to use this money to buy a new set. This means that I have to fork out more money to get a new sofa.

This is not solving my problem!!

[NSK 0]

For all prospective sofa buyers who are keen to buy a sofa with mechanical head-rest, you should carefully check whether the metal pieces that control the folding mechanism of the head-rest are adequately protected.

I am a victim of the poorly designed sofa bought from Castilla.

Sofa brand : Hilker

Model : Shakespeare .

This sofa's head-rest metal piece is about 8.0 cm long.

But the head-rest is about 10.0cm thick. This means that barely 2.0cm of soft foam is protecting your back against the knock of the metal pieces.

It is not thick enough and the metal piece will hurt your back if you unfortunately hit it . It is hard to avoid being hit by the head-rest metal piece as there are total 10 pieces, 2 on each of the 5 head-rests.

You can view the photo I posted in u/m hyperlink to have an idea how does the metal piece looks like :

http://photobucket.com/albums/u483/NSKAhSew

[NSK 0]

Just wonder did Jeanius managed to drop by Hilker's Exhibition booth in Guangzhou recently? . How do you rate the quality of their leather sofa?? Can share your observation?

[NSK 0]

Furniture shop : Castilla Design, ParkMall 

Brand : Hilker 

Sofa Model : Shakespeare 

Problem :  the metal piece (total 10) of the sofa's 5 folding headrests were not adequately protected.  It could cause injury to user.  Once my 8 year old son knocked  his head against the metal piece, painful enough for him to cry. 

I have reported  this problem to Spring Singapore, Consumer Product Safety Division.  Their role is to protect consumers from unsafe consumer goods.  

Spring Singapore had investigated and recommended  Castilla to consider the following actions : 

1) improve the design of the sofa;

2) inform buyers of the potential risk of injury if the user sits on the sofa in certain positions and ways. This is to be done by displaying a " Safety Advisory" beside the sofa at showroom  and also written on the Sales Order.  

3) contact  other customers who have previously purchased the sofa and inform them on the potential risk of injury/safety hazard.

4) consider to withdraw the sale of this sofa rather than risk the company's brand name should any injury occur. 

It is a shame however that Spring Singapore is not empowered to enforce any of the above recommendations. 

On Spring Singapore's recommendation for Castilla to inform other previous buyers of the risk associated its use, It is most surprising for Castilla to reply that they will not be able to get in touch with previous customers because they do not have customers email in most cases!!! 

I hope above information helps to alert all potential buyers to test the impact of the headrest metal piece before buying the sofa.

All existing owners/users of the sofa, especially children, have to be aware of the risk of injury that may be caused by the sofa and to be careful when sitting on it.  If in doubt,  It is best to contact Castilla to better understand how to avoid injury using the sofa.  

I have already returned the sofa to Castilla and get a partial refund.   Outcome was not satisfactory but I am relieved that I need not deal with Castilla anymore, ever.    It was a frustrating and stressful experience!!  

[kalimantan 6]

Products that cause injury should be recalled from shelves. IKEA usually does that although their goods are inexpensive. I would say all these mindsets rely on company's management. Therefore IKEA is consider a better company than those who do not recall injuiry-prone products.

Back to the topic ...

a) how much is partial refund ? Leather cannot be peel off within 6 months. Maybe lemon law kicks in too late.

b) I am no expert in leather, but looking at the picture, it does not look like leather to me.

c) Germany pride itself in engineering (leather goods i am unsure) - can you provide the sofa company web site ?

d) With the amount u paid, perhaps da vinci at bukit timah is better option ?

[rayfox 0]

Products that cause injury should be recalled from shelves. IKEA usually does that although their goods are inexpensive. I would say all these mindsets rely on company's management. Therefore IKEA is consider a better company than those who do not recall injuiry-prone products.

Back to the topic ...

a) how much is partial refund ? Leather cannot be peel off within 6 months. Maybe lemon law kicks in too late.

b) I am no expert in leather, but looking at the picture, it does not look like leather to me.

c) Germany pride itself in engineering (leather goods i am unsure) - can you provide the sofa company web site ?

d) With the amount u paid, perhaps da vinci at bukit timah is better option ?

da vinci is not a good option after all the drama in china