Picture gets worse for Da Vinci

GUANGZHOU/BEIJING - As an official investigation continues, Da Vinci, the furniture retailer caught up in a scandal about the origin of its furniture, is refusing to give refunds to customers seeking to return their purchases.

The company issued a public apology on its website Monday night, saying it has started an internal inspection and promised to cooperate with the official investigation.

Da Vinci's franchised furniture store in the Guangdong provincial capital started business as usual on Monday, but a group of industrial and commercial law enforcement personnel arrived in the afternoon and sealed up most of the products.