My shopping experience with The Keeping Room

I began my search for our family room furniture many months ago. I was delighted when I found out about this forum and I scoured it's pages for information. Without ever meeting Duane in person, I knew that I would buy from his store, The Keeping Room.

Why? Because it is obvious that Duane is absolutely passionate about the products he sells and the service he provides to his customers (and often people who are not his customers). Such dedication is not often found nowadays, but when you see it- you know it. I could tell from his thoughtful responses that he's the type whose 'word is his bond'... I respect that, and quite simply, I wanted to give him my business.

Duane was more than helpful throughout the entire process. First, he answered my forum questions, then my pm's, and the details were finally nailed down via phone. I had no doubt that the pieces would be delivered just as promised. They are absolutely beautiful! But perhaps, just as important, I know that if for whatever reason I ever have an issue with my purchase, Duane will be here to help me out.

For those curious about Sun Delivery- they do a great job! They contacted me with a 2 day window, then 24-hours before delivery, they gave me a 4-hour delivery timeframe. They called my husband 1/2 hour before delivery so that he could get home from work. The delivery men were curteous and professional & my husband said they carried the 200+lb sofa in like it was a quart of milk. Not one scratch.

So, if you can't tell by now- I'm thrilled with my experience at The Keeping Room. I'd recommend Duane's store to anyone & will most definitely be a repeat customer myself.

Thank you very much for the glowing review, idematte. I try hard to make it a pleasant and not-too-painful and experience, its supposed to be fun! And I realize everyone has choices from whom they can buy from and I try to EARN the business by being knowledgable and efficient, and fairly priced. Sales are the life-blood of any business - without orders there would be no business, and no forum. I will never 'hard-sell' someone or even call a customer on the phone to try to push them into ordering, thats never been my style. You won't even get an email marketing blast from me - I prefer to simply provide everyone with the information and tools they need to make a good buying decision that suits their budget and goals.

That's also the reason I only use Sun Delivery Service. They are the best in the business at what they do and generate far less negative reviews from customers than any other delivery company. They are not the least costly, I'll give you that. Many a customer wants to save $ 50 or $ 100 on a delivery fee by using someone cheaper, then come to find out what a huge mistake that was when their pieces sit undelivered in a warehouse in North Carolina because the cheap guy doesn't want to run a half-full truck to where they live, or they tell you they will be there at 5 p.m. then show up at 2 a.m. in the morning with your delivery and expect you to take it. That doesn't happen with Sun Delivery.

I have to say also, that without the support of the folks on this forum, there would be no Keeping Room store. The recession hit my store as hard as most other furniture stores and without the orders coming in from ya'll good folks here we would not have made it. So thank you to all who have trusted me with your orders - its most appreciated and my wife and kids thank you, too!

My shopping experience with Ikea was a bit less wonderful. I wanted just a little twin mattress to put on top of the hide-a-bed mattress. I'm going to store the mattress in the closet in-between times of use.

Since I have learned so much from Duane, I ordered a spring mattress and had it delivered. It came. It was folded up into 4th's and then stuffed in a box. I believe Duane has said the mattress shouldn't be bent more than just a few degrees. This one is going back, back, back without even opening the box. Lesson learned.

Pics would be nice. :)

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Originally Posted by juliatevis

My shopping experience with Ikea was a bit less wonderful. I wanted just a little twin mattress to put on top of the hide-a-bed mattress. I'm going to store the mattress in the closet in-between times of use.

Since I have learned so much from Duane, I ordered a spring mattress and had it delivered. It came. It was folded up into 4th's and then stuffed in a box. I believe Duane has said the mattress shouldn't be bent more than just a few degrees. This one is going back, back, back without even opening the box. Lesson learned.

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Correct. Any innerspring mattress is ruined if bent much more than 45 degrees, preferably no more than 30 degrees. Definitely trashed folded up and put in a box. There's a lot of delivery people out there that aren't too sharp. Send it back and demand a new one.

So, I searched a bit longer on-line and found out how cheap spring mattresses are delivered from Amazon. They bag them, suck all the air out, and then roll them up. When they get to the house, you unroll them and inflate them like a lifeboat. This is the mattress on my guest bed - no one stays very long! You have to find the humor in every situation.

Are you sure these were spring mattresses? I've heard of sucking air out of foam mattresses but this is the first I've heard of removing air from spring mattresses? If they are actually doing that it can't be a normal 13 gauge, 5 turn, steel coil spring (the standard for medium quality mattresses.) I would think that higher quality coil springs would be even more difficult to compress like that for shipment.

Jeff Frank
Simplicity Sofas

Oh, I'm sure it's nothing spiffy. Amazon said it was a spring mattress. However, my 17 year old neice can sleep on it for a week every year or two. I have faith she'll be ok. I cannot bring home a mattress by myself. So delivery was the best option. You can only impose on your friends so many times - I try to save it for the big stuff.