Large Faux Leather Storage Ottoman - Dark Brown Footrest Stool with Hidden Compartment for Living Room, Bedroom & Home Decor

First, we ordered one of these several years ago for our living room. It was great. Sturdy. Looked just like the photos (with the dark brown legs). But our pets' claws did a number on it over the years, so we ordered a new one more recently.The new one is garbage in comparison. They changed it significantly, and none of the changes are for the better.If you've seen reviews complaining about reddish-looking legs, unlike the dark brown ones in the photo, this is why. Those are the newer ones.The newer ones also:- Have smaller hinges (ours came needing those assembled; they've never worked right; they've been bent; and our newer ottoman is basically unusable as a result -- the hinges are bent and the top has never aligned as a result; unfortunately we learned this too late to return it or we would have; found out the hinges were different when we thought we could move them from the old one to this one, but couldn't; we'll have to drill new holes at some point)- Have those ugly fake-red looking legs rather than the dark brown pictured- Don't stay open the way the old ones did; we have to hold it open manuallyThe only positive of the newer models is that the top feels a bit better-padded, though that could also just be because we're comparing it to an older, heavily-used one.Had they not changed this, and had we not been sent a defective model with weak hinges that we apparently cannot order replacements for, this would be a 5-star product. The original was great. Just be careful if you have pets that like to scratch or a large dog whose claws will be in it when they jump on it. Keeping a throw over it helps a lot, but we did that too late.Now we're getting ready to move and are trying to sort out a way to salvage pieces from the old version to fix the new one so we can take that one with us. But we'll probably have to do some customizing to get the better hinges and stay-open mechanism onto the newer one.Real shame they cheaped out on the newer ones (that, or Amazon sent us a knock-off) because this was a great item previously. But I can't recommend buying it unless you know you're getting the better one with the dark brown legs and the hinges w/ 3 screws on the bottom (as opposed to just 2 which were the hinges that bent quickly).I'm attaching two photos from the better model you want to make sure you get. You can see the darker legs you'll want to look for (slight reddish tint, but not the artificial red-looking lighter ones on the lousy model). And there's a photo of the inside hinges to look for. These triple-screw ones did NOT bend or break over quite a few years and heavy usage. The two-screw ones DID bend, and with very little usage (just sitting on it to put on socks and shoes, and a cat sleeping on it as we put that one in a bedroom due to its near-immediate issues).This was purchased for my husband for Christmas. We have four kids, so I had to shop for something that looked like it would hold up to jumping, rolling, crawling, stuffing, etc. So far it is pretty great. It's holding up to the girls just fine, and it's big enough inside to hold DVD or WII game cases. We keep all of our WII accessories, games, and family movies in there. It's super comfortable, and just the right height for a foot stool. It's big enough that my husband and I can both use it at the same time while sitting on the couch.The only problem is that when it came, there was a broken piece near the hinge of the lid on one side. We weren't sure at first if it was broken, or if it was supposed to be that way. A few days of our older kids sitting on it to play the WII during Christmas vacation exacerbated it, and now you can really feel and see that it is split in there. It's okay for now, but for the price, I was going to exchange it. PROBLEM: There is no exchange option, and you have to have the original box.Now of course we took all Christmas wrappings and boxes out to the garbage the same day, and our garbage man came the next morning. I tried to find some way to contact the seller (I believe it says it's sold by Amazon) but there was no direct option. I have very little time to mess around, so in the end I couldn't find out about exchanging it, and in a year or two the hinge is going to snap off and then we're going to either pay someone more than I paid for the piece to fix it, or I'm going to split the leather open at the seam to get in there and replace the wood by the hinge, which will most likely lead to me accidentally breaking it, or being unable to get the leather down tightly enough to look good.All in all I gave this four stars because it IS a good piece, it won't be later though. They should have a way to EXCHANGE it rather than just saying 'have the box and return it or we won't talk to you' because I would expect something of this cost to be exchangeable at NO COST TO ME whether I have the original box or not.While I do recommend this product, I suggest that you look at their exchange policy (or lack thereof) before you buy, and consider buying from another merchant who will send you a replacement if there is a problem, and let you use that box and a return shipping label to send in the faulty one at no cost to yourself.