If Red Sox win, so do Jordan’s customers

Nearly 30,000 could get rebates on furniture, bedding

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, October 23, 2007

BOSTON — Nearly 30,000 people who bought sofas, bedding and other furniture from Jordan’s Furniture in the spring are four baseball wins away from getting their purchases for free.

With their Sunday night win over the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox advanced to the World Series, where they will face the Colorado Rockies for the championship.

For five weeks in March and April, Jordan’s ran a “Monster Deal” promotion, promising that buyers of sofas, sectionals, dining tables, beds and mattresses would get their money back in the form of rebates if the Sox win it all.

The promotion drew nearly 30,000 orders, confirmed Eliot Tatelman, president and CEO of Taunton, Mass.-based Jordan’s, which is part of the Top 100 Berkshire Hathaway furniture division. The retailer isn’t saying how much it did in sales during the event, but Tatelman has said the promotion was insured for more than $20 million and he expected to top that mark.

In Boston, following the Red Sox’ game seven win over Cleveland, TV viewers who stayed tuned in saw a Jordan’s spot with Tatelman dressed in full Sox garb, urging fans not to change anything they’re doing until it’s over.

“Wear the same shirt,” he said in the commercial. “Wear the same underwear, whatever it takes. Let’s go win the whole thing!”

Tatelman said Monday that Jordan’s got big publicity as a result of the promotion. Now that the Red Sox are in the World Series, members of the national media are calling for interviews too.

Just imagine consumers “watching the World Series, sitting on a sofa they might get free,” he said. “That’s exciting. That’s fun.”

Everywhere he goes, Tatelman is stopped by customers letting him know they stand a chance of winning. Recently, a Massachusetts State Police officer recognized Tatelman walking around Boston and told him, “I’m going to win a sofa."

“I looked right at him with a straight face and said, ‘You know I was only kidding,’” he said. “I thought he was going to put the handcuffs on me.”

In August, Joseph Frate, a man once convicted of running an illegal lottery, sued Jordan’s, charging that Monster Deal constituted an illegal lottery. Jordan’s is expected to file a motion to dismiss the suit next month.

Tatelman declined to comment on the suit. A Jordan’s spokeswoman said earlier that nothing in the lawsuit “would in any way affect Jordan’s commitment to honor the terms of the promotion.”

Lisa Siegel Belanger, the attorney representing Frate, said the lawsuit’s outcome should have “no impact itself on whether customers get the rebate or not,” but she referred questions about it to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.

An official at the AG’s office said it would have no comment on litigation it wasn’t directly involved in.