“Something has gone horribly wrong since the last time we purchased from them,” said Derrick Gravener of Toronto, who has purchased a sofa and other items from the company in the past.
This text is a translation of an article from CTV News.
In November, Mr. Gravener said he placed another order that he hoped to receive before Christmas for a family reunion.
“I bought a table and two chairs to match the bar stools we already had. The total order was about $1,100,” Gravener said.
He was concerned that he was no longer receiving responses to his emails and phone calls.
“I called them, they didn’t pick up and their sales lines didn’t answer, it was pretty weird.”
-Derrick Gravener, client de Wazo Furniture
Another viewer, who CTV News agreed to identify as Michael, said he placed an order with Wazo Furniture in September and never received it.
The Wazo Furniture website is still up, but emails from CTV News were not returned. The Toronto and Montreal telephone numbers were also not in service.
When CTV News visited the North York store, it appeared almost empty and, according to Google, it is now permanently closed.
Crews inside the building said it was undergoing renovations and Wazo Furniture had not been there for about a month.
Business bankruptcies in Canada hit their highest level in 15 years at 1,312 in the third quarter of 2024.
In Ontario, they are up 67 per cent from the same quarter last year, and at least one licensed insolvency trustee believes more businesses will face difficulties in the coming year.
“I think we’re going to have a tough 2025,” said Doug Hoyes of the firm Hoyes, Michalos & Associates.
He said many businesses that go out of business don’t always file for bankruptcy, so the number of businesses that close could be much higher.
“Bankruptcy statistics only tell part of the story. It could be that the number of businesses closing is ten times higher than the bankruptcy statistics indicate,” Mr Hoyes said.
He believes we have entered a period of recession and that other businesses will have a difficult year.
“If I spend more of my money on food, housing and transportation, I have less money left over to buy furniture, and in a recession, that’s the type of business that gets hit “, argued Mr. Hoyes.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gravener is seeking reimbursement.
“It’s not good to be completely abandoned by a company. I think, like me and so many others, we just want our hard-earned money back,” Gravener said.
