Interesting little story here. I recently received this email from Joanne Nelson of Exeter, Rhode Island:
“I purchased a Lifetime Personal Table several years ago and I love it. I am a quilter and this little table goes with me when I go to classes because I can set my sewing machine on it and adjust the height to exactly what I need so it is ergonomically correct for my sitting position…”
“However... I recently brought my table to a quilting retreat to let a 84 yr old lady, who is tiny, borrow my table so she could sew comfortably for the 5 day retreat. She was so happy about the table that I wanted to buy one for her. I found one and brought it home only to be very disappointed in the redesign of it.”
“My table has metal legs and they are secured into a metal frame work so the legs can't come out very easily by accident if the table is moved with weight on it.... With this new table, the legs are just pressure fitted into the top and they don't fit at all.”
“When I picked the table up out of the car trunk to give it to this old lady, the top came right off of the legs. After looking at it more carefully I realized it was a poor imitation of the wonderful table that I owned. I wouldn't want this lady to put her sewing machine on it and have it fall on her. The legs on this new one are awful. Please tell me that there are two models and I got the wrong one… If this is a redesign it should be recalled as a hazard to anyone using it. Please reply to me about this problem. I am returning this table.”
Now… I use a Lifetime Personal Table for sewing myself and I have a quilting machine similar to Joanne’s. Though sewing (and even mending) are sadly very rare occassions in my house, I'm glad my sewing machine has not slid off and smooshed me. After emailing Joanne, we figured out that she purchased a table made by another company that looked a lot like the original Lifetime's tables. She emailed me this follow-up to her story…
“I forgot to mention that I returned the table I purchased today, and I told them when they asked me why I was returning it, that it was a 'knock off' and I was very disappointed in the store for selling such a poorly made item… I did go on a little about its bad qualities, but I think they deserved it.”
Joanne's story got me thinking. There are a lot of look-alike brands out there, so it’s quite easy to see a lightweight gray, plastic and metal table and assume it’s the Lifetime brand. Looking for the Lifetime logo is the best way to know you’re getting quality and engineering that goes into all our products. What’s in a name? The logo says it all.