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Friday, November 20, 2009

Offensive Couch Update

2007/04/13 | CityNews.ca Staff

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Offensive Couch Update

Doris Moore was understandably shocked when her young daughter found a label on their new couch describing the colour of the furniture as 'nigger brown'.

And she wasn't the only one who had a strong reaction to the story.   News of the offensive label spread around the world and the CityNews exclusive story was eventually picked up by CNN and ABC News.  

It wasn't, however, publicity that Moore wanted --- it was an apology.   After a week, she still hadn't heard word from the store where she bought the couch in Mississauga .

The manager of Vanaik Furniture blamed his supplier.   The supplier in turn claimed the problem stemmed from the manufacturer in China .   In the end, Moore felt she was getting the run around.

"Everyone wants to pass the buck to someone else," she complained.  "No one wants to take ownership for what they've done."

On Thursday night, at the prompting of CityNews, Raj Vanaik, a salesperson at the store, called Moore .

"I just wanted to apologize for the inconvenience that's been caused by the store," he said.

In the end, Moore didn't think the apology was genuine.