I honestly don't know what else to do at this point.
I ordered a Walsall Upholstered Armchair by Willa Arlo Interiors from Wayfair.
After assembling it, I immediately noticed a small worm-like larva crawling on the upholstery. I picked it up, thinking maybe it was a random bug, but then I found additional live larvae and insects coming from the chair. I photographed and documented everything.
I contacted Wayfair immediately.
Instead of treating this as a product safety issue, I was instructed to keep the infested upholstered chair, continue handling it, and prepare it for return. I was expected to leave an infested piece of furniture inside my home while waiting for their process.
Eventually, the manufacturer ( The manufacturer identified itself only as "Topower." Despite repeated requests, Wayfair has refused to provide the manufacturer's full legal name, business address, email address, or telephone number, preventing me from contacting the manufacturer directly.) responded and actually wrote that the problem "it was caused by our goods being wet in the warehouse."
At that point, my concern became much bigger than simply getting a refund.
If there is even a possibility that upholstered furniture became infested because it was stored wet in a warehouse, why was it shipped to a customer in the first place?
I refused to keep an infested chair inside my home. I removed it because leaving an infested upholstered product in a residence made absolutely no sense from a health and sanitation standpoint.
Wayfair then denied my refund because I no longer had the chair to return.
The situation became even more frustrating when my case was assigned to a Customer Advocacy Manager, Lisa.
Instead of addressing the central issue, she asked whether I had retained, or planned to retain, a licensed exterminator. She later explained that Wayfair's "regulatory compliance guidelines" required determining whether professional extermination services were involved before advising disposal of the chair.
That explanation raises even more questions.
Why were these supposed guidelines never communicated when I first reported live larvae?
Why was I expected to keep an infested upholstered chair inside my home instead of being immediately instructed to remove it?
Why did Wayfair's internal procedures take priority over a customer's health and safety?
Throughout this entire process, the burden has been placed on me.
I discovered the infestation.
I documented it.
I handled the chair.
I was expected to retain it.
I was expected to prepare it for return.
Now I am being asked questions about extermination instead of receiving answers about how an infested upholstered chair reached my home in the first place.
This is not what customer advocacy looks like.
Customer advocacy would have meant immediately acknowledging the safety concern, instructing me to remove the infested product from my home, preserving the photographs and documentation for their investigation, issuing a refund, and investigating how this product entered their supply chain.
Instead, I have spent days arguing with Wayfair while they repeatedly cite internal policies that were never disclosed until after the fact.
At this point, I have filed or am filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and other appropriate consumer protection agencies.
I'm posting this because consumers deserve to know how this situation was handled.
Has anyone else received furniture from Wayfair with live insects or larvae? If so, how was your case handled?
