There are a lot of very sad-looking "leather" couches in living rooms across the land, it seems. In response to my column of two weeks ago about bonded leather lounge suites - and how they tend to crack and peel, but only after the warranty has expired - I received a rush of e-mails from readers who had had the same experience with "leather" suites.No fewer than 14 of them bought their "bonded leather" lounge suites, which they say are now peeling, from retailer United Furniture Outlets, as did Lebo Mohotji, the woman whose story I highlighted in that column. All said they had thought they were buying leather, and had no idea that "bonded leather" was a very poor, distant cousin, only about 10% to 15% leather. It is mostly vinyl, a synthetic, blended with a few shavings of leather offcuts. This is generally not disclosed to buyers, much less that there is a good chance that the suite will start cracking and peeling within two to four years.In response to my inquiry about Mohotji's suite and how it was marketed, United Furniture's Raymond Munitz said bonded leather "defects" were rare."Our bonded-leather suites are marked as such and each customer invoice clearly states that."Mohotji and many of the other United Furniture customers claim a salesman told them bonded leather was "leather offcuts" that would last "a long time", but that conversation was not recorded.Hence my suggestion, in the interest of transparency, that United Furniture issue a fact sheet about bonded leather, revealing how it is made, and ask customers to sign receipt for it, so they can't later claim they didn't know.In a lather over fake leatherA few decades ago, when you invested in a leather lounge suite - and it was, indeed, a hefty investment - you knew you'd be getting something that would last for decades and improve with age in that men's-club-antique kind of way. His response at the time was a lukewarm: "It can be considered."In the "spirit of goodwill", United Furniture offered to take back Mohotji's suite and give her a credit towards a new one.I sent Munitz a second e-mail, including the new cases and pointing out that, according to the Consumer Protection Act, a supplier may not:"... directly or indirectly express or imply a false, misleading or deceptive representation concerning a material fact to a consumer;"... fail to disclose a material fact, if that failure amounts to a deception, or fail to correct an apparent misapprehension on the part of a consumer, amounting to a false, misleading or deceptive representation; or"... fail to correct an apparent misapprehension on the part of a consumer to the effect that . any goods have ingredients, performance characteristics or qualities that they do not have ...".I asked if United Furniture was willing to take back those 14 peeling suites and offer the customers credit, and again asked if it would revise the marketing of its bonded leather suites to "correct any perception on the part of would-be buyers that it is good quality leather which will last as long as full-grain leather".How to tell your leather from your pleatherUnlike several other countries, South Africa has no legislation regulating what constitutes leather and can legally be labelled as such. This means it's up to consumers to spot misrepresentation. United Furniture attorneys said the retailer had never claimed that "bonded leather" was "leather" or that the lounge suites would last for more than 20 years.The company sells both bonded and leather lounge suites, they said, each being described as such, the difference "being apparent" in that bonded-leather lounge suites are about a third of the price of leather lounge suites."However, United Furniture will ... apply a swing tag to the bonded-leather lounge suites advertised for sale in its showroom . specifying the various components making up the bonded-leather lounge suites as well as the approximate percentage of the components."This will require changes to the company's IT system and will take some time to implement across 30 stores, but will be completed as soon as reasonably possible."It's a welcome response, but the bad news is that United Furniture is apparently not prepared to take back the peeling suites or credit the customers.WHAT IS BONDED LEATHER?Bonded leather is made up of a fibre or paper backer, a pulp made from shredded leather scraps and fibres, and a polyurethane coating that is embossed with texture to mimic leather.In 2011 the European Committee for Standardisation published leather definitions to end confusion about bonded leather, stating that the minimum amount of 50% in weight of dry leather is needed to use the term "bonded leather".There is no such definition or requirement in South Africa, so consumers lack this protection.CONTACT WENDY:Email: consumer@knowler.co.zaTwitter: @wendyknowler..