I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced TV cabinet for a long time. I get the Home Decorators paper catalog and I’ve noticed a couple in there that would do nicely, but I am hesitant to buy from them since I’ve never ordered anything before and I have no idea what kind of quality I can expect. Obviously for the prices they charge I’m not expecting anything magnificent, but I don’t want anything shoddy either - it would be awfully expensive to ship something back.
The particular item I’m currently looking at is this:
I’ve ordered a couple of things from them and been very pleased. This includes a blanket chest, an small plant stand, a floor lamp, and a ceiling light fixture. With the floor lamp they forgot to include the Allen wrench, but they sent it to me after I called. My friend recently ordered a number of pieces of furniture from them (chairs, big tables, etc.) and a few of them had been damaged in shipping. But she phoned them and they sent out replacement parts at no charge (she didn’t have to send the damaged ones back first).
So all in all, I’d recommend them. They certainly have a big variety and the prices are reasonable.
ratatoskK, thanks for the reply! Are you happy with the quality of the wood on your blanket chest? Were any of the components warped, and are you happy with the quality of the finish? One thing I was leery about is that they don’t describe the construction of their stuff, or the wood it is made of.
We’ve got at least a dozen allen wrenches from other put-it-together-yourself projects, so that part I’m not worried about!
The blanket chest is, I think, still in the catalog, but with a different kind of wood. It’s carved all over and is like a cedar chest. I am very happy with it, it looks good and is good quality. It seems to have been made in India or China.
The plant stand has a nice marble top, it has kind of cheapo fake gold medallions along the edge, but after all, it’s only a plant stand (although I’m using it as a very small end table). The finish is acceptable, it’s basically just a marble top with wooden legs.
The floor lamp is really great, it has a mica shade, I really love it.
The ceiling fixture is also great, it’s stained glass.
My friend who bought the Mission-style furniture said it was more of an orangey color than it appeared in the catalog, and she is kind of obsessive about matching colors, but overall she was satisfied because it was the style she wanted and it was a very reasonable price.
Nothing was warped. My friend’s table top was scratched in transit, but as I said earlier, they sent her a new piece.
I’ve been getting their catalogues for years. Sadly, when I finally decided to buy something, they no longer carried it (I’d OF COURSE found it in a two-year-old catalogue.) My sister-in-law bought a rug from them, and when it arrived she was disappointed in it - there was nothing wrong with it, it just didn’t look as nice up close as it did in the catalogue, and the colors were a bit off. She called and they were extremely cooperative - she picked out a new one and returned the other one with no hassle. When the new one came, it was the wrong size - again, she called and they were, in her words, “outstanding” about taking responsibility, immediately shipped the correct one and had the wrong one picked up.
One would always hope that everything would just go right in the first place, but when it doesn’t, it’s good to know that the company you’re dealing with will step it up in terms of customer service.
ratatoskK and LifeOnWry, thanks for your input. LifeOnWry, do you know if your SIL had to pay for the shipping to return the first rug? I can’t find out anything about that on their site, though it does state that you eat the original shipping cost if you return something. That’s the one thing that really concerns me - I wouldn’t want to end up paying for more than just the original shipping cost if something goes wrong, since the item I am looking at is expensive to ship.
Otherwise, it sounds like it might be a good risk.
I just got email from my friend who ordered the Mission-style furniture… She said the replacement parts they sent her were for a different version than what she ordered, so the bolt holes didn’t line up. She was supposed to send it back via FedEx, but it was a hassle for her and it weighed 120 lbs., so they are instead giving her 50% cost back, and she will work on making the holes fit.
She says the veneer is thin. I think she may have been expecting solid oak, but it’s veneer. All veneer is thin, that’s what veneer is.
So I guess she isn’t totally pleased. But I would still recommend them, based on my experience, as long as you are willing to deal with possibly having to get replacement pieces.
You know I don’t honestly know what the policy was for returning things. I would think that her not liking the original rug would be considered her fault, so if she had to eat the shipping on it, she probably wouldn’t complain about having to do so. In the case of the wrong item being shipped, I can’t imagine that they’d charge her, since it was obviously THEIR mistake. Had they charged her, I’m fairly certain I’d have heard about it. Sorry I can’t be more specific!
Thanks very much for your help! I really appreciate it.
I certainly don’t expect this furniture to be solid wood, not at that price (pine would be the only wood cheap enough, and that’s so soft it would actually be preferable to have pressed wood with a good quality veneer over it). It doesn’t help that the husband is picky, picky, picky about wood stuff (but too lazy to actually build us something). Hence my concern about the finish and general appearance. If it looked shoddy I’d never hear the end of it.
It’s good that the company seems to be working to make things right, too, at least.
I got a glass fronted bookcase from them, among other things. I was well pleased with the price and quality. The shipping is steep, but that’s how it is with large objects.
You do know you’ll probably have to put the thing together though?
If it were me, I’d want to see something in person, touch the wood, swing the doors, slide the drawers, etc. before plunking down $500. Furniture is one of those purchases that require a look-see. Not true for packaged stuff like appliances and tools. You have to look at your furniture all the time; you can’t put it away when you’re not using it.
I have an oriental carpet I bought from them, and I am very pleased with it. The colors and pattern are beautiful, the price was very good, and–a year later–it has finally stopped shedding into the vacuum cleaner, with no apparent balding.
I have friends who ordered a Chinoiserie media cabinet from them; it looks nice and apparently works fine–whenever they have a consumer complaint I hear about it, so apparently there were none.
Just accept that cheap price = cheap furniture, and I think you should be happy with what you get.
Yep. I can’t imagine how they’d ship something that large otherwise, and I can’t remember the last time I bought anything I didn’t have to put together. That tells you the kind of budget I’ve got .
Well, this is how my husband feels. Problem is, nothing in our price range is ever good enough for him, so we’ve been in our house for almost 5 years and we still don’t have a cabinet for all our media junk - we’ve got a cheapo (think Wal-Mart) TV stand that I bought years and years ago for about $25 because at the time we didn’t have anything at all. Just about anything is going to look better than that thing. I’m at the point where I think it will be good if the item just shows up and it’s too hard to send back. He’ll have to adjust in that case ;). He’s spoiled because back when he was in the Navy he bought a lot of really nice furniture in Hong Kong for a very reasonable price and the Navy shipped it back to the States for free. The same stuff, if we bought it here, would have cost thousands more. But he’s no longer in the Navy and makes about half of what he used to when he was. So there’s no champagne on the beer budget.
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