Furniture.com Calls it Quits, Offers Refunds

Furniture.com Inc. shut its virtual doors to become the latest victim in the shakeout in the “dot-com” retail sector. The Framingham, Mass.-based company said it has discontinued operations and laid off 76 of its remaining 88 employees after it was unable to secure “sufficient capital to fund operations going forward.” In June, the company abandoned its plans for an initial public offering and then slashed 41% of its work force. Furniture.com, which in the past several months has come under fire from customers for failing to deliver orders on time, or at all in some cases, said it “has taken steps to protect customers with undelivered orders.” It said it began placing customer deposits and payments into an escrow account as early as late May to safeguard them for refunds. Eligible customers who have not already received refunds will be contacted by an escrow agent within 60 days with instructions on how claim refunds, the company said.