DA VINCI - Something wrong with that company ?

Recently it was found out that the mainland furniture company has used some tricks to make cheap manufactured goods look like they are "Made in Italy".
The owner Doris Phua surely denies everything. But something seems not okay - please read the below:
quoteWatchdogs priced out of tests 2011-07-18 08:29QUALITY watchdogs couldn't afford to test products from a controversial luxury furniture retailer, it was reported yesterday.

Officials told The Beijing News they would have exhausted their budgets buying the high-end goods.

Shanghai-based DaVinci Furniture faces claims its 'Made in Italy' furniture was in fact produced in China.

And in Shanghai, the company was last week told to stop selling certain lines due to labeling problems.

Officials said items labeled solid wood were made from high-density board.

But no inspection reports for DaVinci could be found on the websites of national and city quality supervision authority and market watchdogs.

Both bodies are supposed to randomly select goods for quality tests on a regular basis and publicize the results on their websites.

Reporters could find no DaVinci products listed on wood furniture test reports for 2009 and 2010 on the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine website.

And local market watchdog the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Bureau also omitted the so-called high-end Italian products, the newspaper said.

Officials said they usually purchase goods for inspection themselves secretly in order to ensure they get standard goods.

However, buying DaVinci pieces, would use up most of their budgets, the newspaper reported.

Facing this situation, the authorities were inclined to choose ordinary or low-end products for tests, as more consumers bought these, said the report.

However, the Shanghai Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau told Shanghai Daily yesterday that as DaVinci furniture is said to be imported, the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau should be in charge of quality control.

No one was available for comment from the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Bureau.

Qiu Baochang, a lawyer with the China Customers' Association quoted by The Beijing News, said the supervision and management of imported goods has been inadequate.

"Officials assume expensive products with foreign brands will have no quality problems," Qiu said.

China Central Television first claimed products sold by DaVinci were sent to Italy and then back to China so they could qualify for import certificates.

Subsequent investigations suggested 10 percent of DaVinci furniture made in China was first transported to Shanghai's Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone before being sent to the company's warehouse in Qingpu District. It then qualified as an import.

Last Friday, Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau ordered the company to stop selling products bearing the Cappelletti brand because of problems with "fake ads" and "unqualified labels."
Source:Shanghai Daily
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And here the link to DaVinci homepage - not a word about this accusations there:
DaVinci Homepage
Here more details:
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Consumers take on unethical companies
BEIJING--Chinese consumers have stood up for their rights in two recent cases that put unscrupulous businesses in China yet again in the spotlight.
The consumers tipped off local media about the unethical deeds of a cleaning service provider in Beijing — not cleaning the blankets used by a major airline company on its flights.

The scandal prompted several airline companies to state that their blankets were clean and properly sanitized.

In the second case, China Central Television (CCTV) exposed Da Vinci Furniture Co. Ltd. for selling poor quality fakes at high prices, the retailer had claimed that all its products were quality guaranteed and fully imported.

A program on quality control of consumer goods aired on CCTV recently said a Beijing resident surnamed Tang complained that a Cappelletti sofa she bought from a Da Vinci store in the Chinese capital for about 300,000 yuan was of poor quality.

Tang pointed out that the sofa cushion was simply put together using glue and gave off an unpleasant smell at her home.

Not only that, but a classic European-style bed she bought for her daughter also turned out otherwise.

“I ordered a bed which was measured at 1.5 meters in length, but the one delivered to my home was only 1.2 meters,” Tang said.

She said, when questioned, a manager at the Da Vinci store told her that the measurement in China was different from that overseas.

She then sent the furniture to the National Center for Quality Supervision and Inspection of Furniture and Indoor Environment for a quality check.

The furniture failed to meet three quality standards. For example, a TV table was found to be substandard because of the use of high-density board, the CCTV report said.

CCTV reporters visited the store, which claimed to be selling various European-style furniture from Italy, France, Germany and Spain, as well as furniture from the U.S.

A manager at the store said that Da Vinci retailed international brands from all over the world and added that the authorities had set high inspection standards on its products as the company was preparing for public listing.

“Our products are 100 percent originally imported from overseas. The Cappelletti furniture was made in Italy,” she added.

Further investigations by CCTV at Da Vinci's warehouse and the Cappelletti head office and factory in Italy found that the type of wood used to make the furniture was different from that claimed by the manager at the Da Vinci store.

Apparently, several Chinese furniture companies told CCTV that they had manufactured some of the internationally labeled furniture, and not all of the products sold at Da Vinci stores were made overseas.

Gold Phoenix Furniture Group general manager Wang Qingbo revealed that the Shenzhen-based company had worked with Da Vinci a few times and helped the latter manufacture some 5-million-yuan worth of furniture every month.

Peng Jie, a whistleblower from Changfeng Furniture Company in Dongguan, told CCTV that his employer had worked as a subcontractor for Da Vinci.

A double bed bearing the Cappelletti label, which was priced at 30,000 yuan in Changfeng's plant, cost 300,000 yuan in Da Vinci stores, he added.

The media continued to unlock the “Da Vinci Code” when it discovered from Changfeng's accounts a money transfer between Changfeng and Da Vinci relating to furniture business.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Da Vinci CEO Panzhuang Xiuhua shed tears when answering questions posed by several complainants from the floor and in recalling her efforts to expand the business in China. She maintained that the furniture in question was indeed made in Italy.

However, she admitted that certain American-labeled furniture sold in its stores were manufactured in Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Indonesia and China.

Panzhuang denied claims by the so-called Da Vinci subcontractors that its furniture was manufactured in China and then stocked in its warehouse to claim status as imported products.

She even blamed its employees' sales tactics for causing the mess. However, her explanations did not go down well with many consumers who claimed to have fallen prey to the company.

A netizen said in a forum: “It was clearly a show by Da Vinci. At the end of the day, they will be on the losing end.”

“Consumers have only themselves to blame when these things happen,” another netizen said. “But if established companies keep on selling locally-made products at sky-high prices, they should be heavily punished.”

A probe by the Shanghai Municipal Industry and Commerce Bureau at Da Vinci's stores concluded that the retailer had been remiss in three respects: the use of exaggerated descriptions of its products in the course of promotion and sales; some products being made of layered wood instead of solid wood as claimed by the company; and lack of label information on the products.

Shanghai Customs also discovered that the locally-made Da Vinci products were exported to the free trade zones in Shanghai before being “imported” back to its warehouse in Shanghai.

Therefore, Da Vinci was in the wrong, misleading the public that its products were 100 percent imported, the authorities said.

Updated Monday, July 18, 2011 9:42 pm TWN, By Chow How Ban, The Star/ANN
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And here finally 2x from YouTube - including snippets from DaVinci press conference last week - enjoy: