H&M Customer Service Department

Does anyone know a way other than this website or local store to get product questions answered by H&M? I am a little frustrated because the H&M website has so little information about the products and my local store people don't really seem to know much detail other than it's a wonderful company and the products are top of the line. I would also like to know if they put springs or marshall units in the backs of the leather sofas like they do in the chairs. Does anyone know? I don't know why there is no contact phone for the company to offer customer service like on this website. I saw on their local BBB that they have an "F" grade and are not approved by their local BBB. This makes me a little nervous when I am about to purchase an expensive sofa. I would like to have thorough answers to product questions from a company sponsored customer support contact so I can be sure their point of view is getting told properly. I do think the person running this website is doing that, but it does appear to be from his own passion and not sponsored by the company. Am I incorrect to assume they offer no customer service except through a local store? I like to have a thorough understanding of a particular furniture line's construction features in more detail than their little video. I didn't even get the sofa name or model number or leather grade or color from my local store, they did not have it on the tag, the receipt, nor did they seem to know or think I should care. I don't like that, but it's a shame because I adore the sofa. Am I missing something? Is it just the store not being involved enough? Thanks.

I find the H&M website to be astonishingly bad. I understand that the company builds for the furniture dealers and prefers that all questions and problems be handled through the dealers, but that doesn't excuse putting such a poor and hidden face on the company. I never heard of H&M before I started shopping for a quality sofa and so far, no one I know has ever heard of them either. We all know that North Carolina builds some fine furniture, but H&M is sold in only one chain in Michigan and when I went there, no one mentioned them to me. If they are such a world-class American furniture maker, they should be trumpeting that fact to the world. Instead, they have a website that looks like it took about two hours to put together by two high school students in their Internet 101 class. It's really more of a large list of pictures, than an interactive website.

I can go to an automaker's website and "build" a car with any accessory and in any color and have a picture of the finished product when I'm done. Why can't I do that with a sofa? I can look at a picture of a leather, but the description and characteristics of that leather are not on the website. I had to download them from this forum. Sad.

In this age of less-experienced/non-career furniture salespeople, the H&M model of operation doesn't work as it once did. Wouldn't you rather be able to call or email H&M and have an Duane Collie-caliber contact answering your questions? Isn't that how a world-class operation should function?

Sorry if it sounds like a rant, but I've spent hours looking at furniture in furniture stores and came home less educated than when I started. I lucked onto this forum and started learning immediately. But this forum shouldn't be doing H&M's job for them.

Thank you for expressing my feelings so well! My store locally that sells it said that the owner was just there and that he comes once a year. I don't know if the employees of the stores are educated and blow it off or if they just aren't trained. That is why, as you said, it would be best to have the interactive and the educational material & warranty etc. available online. They don't even provide a contact phone number on their website. I guess it's old school, where the stores were so professional that they functioned as the representatives. But hey, dude, over there at H&M, not a good time in the economy to count on stressed out store employees to represent anything well to a customer. They are all stressed about how low their commission checks are going to be next time.

Hence the reason I started this forum, to help educate folks. No one else was doing it! So you get the best of what I know, and if I don't have an answer, I'll try to shake one loose from the Tree of Knowledge by making a few phone calls. All free of charge!

The furniture industry has no money. Simple as that. You're not going to see innovations like on iTunes, or Build your Car on the web, its not going to happen any time in the near future. I can't even get a cool Flash or Java Script on the forum because I don't know how to do it and can't afford to hire it out. This is a low margin business, with a lot of players in it. Customers have demanded China-like pricing but want USA builds, try to do that and have a killer web site person on staff at the same time! How thin does this industry run? Well, I'm a 1-man operation with two Saturday delivery people. That's it. Hancock and Moore has no middle management. There's the three owners and then right to the customer service ladies. The CEO of Taylor King was in my store last week pulling discontinued fabrics. The Owner of Bucks Country Furniture and his wife do the deliveries to the stores in their one truck. I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Right now the USA furniture industry is in survival mode. Trying to keep the doors open. And if they have a little spare cash they are more likely to spend it on an ad in a magazine like they've done the past 30 years rather than try something new that may not generate results. New technology and ideas are plentiful, the money to implement them is not. Most are trying to keep their employees employed - and pay their supplier bills. We don't have conventions in Vegas or Hawaii, no one can afford them. I have never been taken out to dinner by a single supplier in this industry in 25 years, though once in a while they'll pop for lunch at Wendy's. Suppliers are so tight with the money that I frequently go out of pocket for repairs that I know need to be done (such as shipping rub marks, etc) because to try to get them to do it at no charge can be as tough as a root canal.

The Retail Dealer is your contact point, not the factory. That's the way the system is set up and its not likely to change. If you go to the factory for answers you make get a luke-warm reception at best, the customer service ladies have been caught many times in the middle between a dealer and a customer and they want to keep their jobs like everyone else, so they will tell you only the very basics when you get them on the phone. They don't want you to call them, and that's why you don't find their phone numbers easily. They want you to call a dealer. Now if the dealer isn't up to speed on a product line, who's fault is that? I blame the dealer. Their job is to provide you the answers you need to make an informed decision. If they fail to do that, then why give them your business? They haven't earned it. I've been told I call H&M more on a daily basis more than any other dealer in their network (by far) and that's because I have a natural curiosity of things and truly dislike being caught unaware with a customer question. I make trips to the factory to see how its built, and I learn more by looking around and observing than I could ever learn by reading the sales materials. I don't quit at quitting time (5:30 pm) and you'll find me most every night answering questions on the forum after 9 p.m. if you look at the time stamps of the posts.

I present new ideas to all these companies almost weekly. They listen, but then its business as usual. They tell me I'm a smart guy with great ideas, but if I was that smart I'd OWN THE COMPANY, wouldn't I? <g> So the real key is find a dealer that knows the product line and buy from them. If you can't find them locally, there is one (me) as close as your computer and I will try to EARN your business.

Oh, and to answer your question about cushion backs, there are no manufacturers that are using marshall units on the back of any upholstery piece. A marshall unit (also called Spring Down) is a core with dozens and dozens of small pencil-sized springs in the middle of a square sleeve, one spring per one sleeve. its surrounded by down and feathers. The purpose is so that the down has a 'spring back' effect rather than flattening out and staying flat from being sat upon. There's not enough pressure on a back cushion to warrant the expense of a Marshall unit, so its for seats only. You fill find conventional down cores in backs however, and some surrounded by a fiber core with down overlay. Thats really all that is needed. As to springs, the highest form of construction for a back is a 4-way hand-tied spring (8-way being reserved for seating areas that support more load). Only the best companies use a 4-way back, most rely on no-sag or 'zig-zag' springs.

H&M uses a variety of spring backs, depending on the model.

I really like the way you have taken charge of knowledge for all of us consumers. Those are great answers!

I checked again, you're right in the main things. Stickley does say they use the marshall units on the back (hand tied seat) for tight back models (not all as I thought) and Century http://www.centuryfurniture.com/cata...res/UphSig.pdf (page 8) uses them too, but I am not sure if it's only on tight back. I sat on all of those and preferred the Hancock & Moore Grainger for my back problem. I don't think it's just the back, however, because I sat on a lot of other bustle backs, including Henrendon and Stickley, and Bradington. The seat cushion on the H&M keeps my back and hips from moving around so my back can relax. There is nothing like that seat cushion combined with the bustle back on the Grainger for my particular hip/back problem. Even the Austin is not as comfortable for my particular seating needs. I highly recommend that Grainger for anyone with lower back issues at least to try it out.

I checked with Jimmy Moore today and yes, H&M uses Marshall units only on their tight backs as well. I learned something new today!

The Grainger that you like is an updated Austin thats been tweaked just a bit. That's been copied by so many makers that its an industry joke. As my Leathercraft Rep. once told me "We all knock that sofa off, but only H&M ever got it right". Its a combination of springs, cushions, angles and foam that make it sit so well.

That's great to know. A good selling feature as well for you that some have the Marshall units. About the Grainger, yes, we love it. It's waiting for us to put in a new door and sell off the old scandinavian sofa so we can have it delivered. Do you have any recommendations from your experience for an ottoman to look good with that sofa? We'd like something big enough for both of us to use and not too high to put our backs out putting feet up on it. We could buy it from you if you ship to Idaho. I think something not too heavy would be good so we could move it around. The leather we got is Walker saddle but I don't think that's a current leather. Anyhow, maybe something lighter in color like a creamy leather or fabric would brighten the room. If you sell rugs, we have the Karastan Ashara, I think, in rust. There is also a gold leaf la barge table in that room, so something to bridge between the ultra feminine glass top gold table and the hunka hunka dark leather sofa would be good. I don't think Candace Olsen would put those together in the first place, but oh well! If you have ideas with dollar prices please just send a message and include shipping costs if you do ship here. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by drcollie

Oh, and to answer your question about cushion backs, there are no manufacturers that are using marshall units on the back of any upholstery piece. A marshall unit (also called Spring Down) is a core with dozens and dozens of small pencil-sized springs in the middle of a square sleeve, one spring per one sleeve. its surrounded by down and feathers. The purpose is so that the down has a 'spring back' effect rather than flattening out and staying flat from being sat upon. There's not enough pressure on a back cushion to warrant the expense of a Marshall unit, so its for seats only. You fill find conventional down cores in backs however, and some surrounded by a fiber core with down overlay. Thats really all that is needed. As to springs, the highest form of construction for a back is a 4-way hand-tied spring (8-way being reserved for seating areas that support more load). Only the best companies use a 4-way back, most rely on no-sag or 'zig-zag' springs.

H&M uses a variety of spring backs, depending on the model.

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Actually Hickory White uses Marshall Units in their tight back sofas and chairs.