Another Great Out of State Buying Experience

I've had my new Hancock & Moore furniture for a week now, so it's about time I post here about my buying experience! In a nutshell, it was fantastic.

Like many here, I shopped locally first, at the only high-end furniture store in the Portland, OR area. I prefer to shop locally, and will even pay a little more to do it. When I got there, I felt like I was at a car dealership. The saleslady followed us around as we sat on all the sofas and chairs. She shoved catalogs at us and whenever we mentioned liking the looks of something, she'd say, "Great! Let's get your order written up!" Ugh. I'm a researcher at heart, and visiting the local store was just the beginning of my process. The only good thing I can say about that woman is that she told me (after several visits and emails, when I was finally able to get a word in edgewise and tell her what my actual needs were) that Hancock & Moore would suit my needs best, and she turned out to be right. I found her quite off-putting, but I didn't know where else to turn. Obviously I didn't want to give $5-10K to some Internet shyster!

Then my research led me to this place here. The more I read, the more I started to believe that Duane Collie was a genuine good guy who just happens to sell furniture to people who find him online. Now, before you get the wrong idea, I'm no Internetphobe. I buy stuff online all the time, and I've been a web developer almost as long as websites have existed. But furniture? It seems like a huge risk to buy something so big and so expensive from so far away! And the shipping cost - what will that be like when I can't use my Amazon Prime?

So I read just about every post on this forum from the last couple years, and made up my mind to trust Duane. I mean, the guy seems to know everything there is to know about furniture, and all the reviews here seemed legit to me. I spent a few weeks learning about different leathers, poring over pictures of sofas, compiling measurement statistics, chatting with forum members, and then asked Duane for a price quote on a few sofas. Holy cow! His prices were WAY lower than my local store's "sale" prices. I'm talking about a thousand dollars less for a couch even with shipping. Well, that sealed the deal for me right there. So long, ***** Furniture, hello Keeping Room. And with that kind of savings ... maybe I should go ahead and get a chair while I'm at it.

A few more weeks of agonizing what to get and in which leathers, and I ordered three pieces: a 5438 Lynne Sofa in Tiburon Butternut (http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...ron-Butternut), a 5736-1 Martini Chair in Weston Moss (http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...n-Weston-Moss), and a 016 Ashmore Boot Stool in Tuscany Saddle (http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...uscany-Saddle).

Sun Delivery delivered them about three months later. Only one small glitch - they were scheduled to come on Saturday between 4pm and 8pm, but they called Saturday at 1:00 to tell me that the driver had had a medical emergency and they weren't sure when exactly they would be arriving, but the very nice lady assured me they would do there best to get to my house ASAP. She seemed surprised when I expressed concern for the driver and told her that the driver's health was a higher priority than me getting new furniture. Seriously? Are there really people who would think otherwise? Anyway, she called back a couple hours later to tell me that they would be there between 8am and noon Sunday. They work on Sunday? Wow. Then she called at 6:30am on Sunday (I'm glad I woke up enough to hear my phone, which was on buzzer) to say they were about an hour away. So I got up, worked up a good sweat moving the old couch to the driveway (I had it listed for free on Craigslist), and cleaned the Living Room. The first thing I wanted to know was how the driver was doing, and he said he was fine now. I never found out what the problem had been, but I'm glad it worked out. And I'm telling you this whole story to illustrate how professionally they handled the incident - I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

The furniture was wrapped in blankets and then industrial Saran wrap (a better name for that is escaping me). They unwrapped it, Jill and I oohed and ahhed over it, I showed them that I had the money order for the delivery fee, I took their picture and told them it was furniture porn, they thought that was hysterical, they carried it all inside, I paid and tipped them, and they took off. And there was lots of chatting and joking and dog petting. They were super nice guys and expert furniture carriers.

Bottom line: If you want some heirloom quality furniture with great service at a great price, get it from Duane. No matter where you live.

Any questions? Post them here or PM me.

PS Those two boxes in the last picture that say, "Made in China," are not mine - they just took them out of the truck to make room.

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Wish I had found Duane before I ordered my furniture.

Thanks for the stellar review, Sue! Most appreciated and THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS. I know its a leap of faith to do so and hopefully it met your expectations buying from my store.

Ordering long distance is not without its pratfalls, however - be it from me or any other distance selling store (no matter what they tell you on the phone). We simply cannot provide the level of service that you can get from a local store. I'm in Virginia, and Sue - for example - is in Oregon. If she has a concern about something or a scratch or small area that needs to be touched up, I can't exactly pop over to her house to check it out. If the problem is larger and we need to get the piece back to Hancock & Moore in Carolina, I can't send my truck by to get it like I can in the Metro DC area. So the trade off in distance buys is that if there is an issue, you may not get a 100 % satisfactory solution to it. Many customers are put off when I tell them that return shipping is at their expense, we do not cover pickup and re-shipping fees, and that's the trade-off for a lower price point. That applies to any kind of return including warranty items, unless its a mistake I made in ordering the pieces (in which case I cover it). I think its important to be aware of that and having expectations I may not be able to meet. If you're a very particular person - buy local and pay the higher price is my advice. That's the honest truth, I never lie and never mislead anyone - I put it all out on the table for you so you can make an informed decision. 98% of all distance buys go without incident, but that is not 100 % ! Please be aware of that and purchase accordingly.

Duane, I was hoping you'd come over and clean my new furniture once a week ... is that too much to ask? It's only 3000 miles, give or take.

But seriously, folks, I knew the risks going in, and I thought a 98% chance of nothing going wrong was worth taking. And nothing did go wrong. But if it had, I feel confident that Duane would have helped me in every way that's feasible from 3000 miles away, and I would still be a happy and satisfied customer. And if I had to do it all over again, I'd do exactly the same thing!

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Originally Posted by crunchysue

Duane, I was hoping you'd come over and clean my new furniture once a week ... is that too much to ask? It's only 3000 miles, give or take.

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I get asked all the time to come to folk's home and flip their Royal Pedic mattress for them. And they are serious! My reply is always "If you buy a vacum cleaner at Best Buy, do they send someone over to run it over your carpets once a week?"

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Originally Posted by drcollie

I get asked all the time to come to folk's home and flip their Royal Pedic mattress for them. And they are serious! My reply is always "If you buy a vacum cleaner at Best Buy, do they send someone over to run it over your carpets once a week?"

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Sounds lie a business opportunity. You might offer annual "flipping service" as an add- on to the sale (certainly at a price). With this service contract your customers would then not expect "flipping service" unless they paid for the contract, and you could send out you delivery guys on a "flipping mission day" once or twice a year. With a little training your guys could also service other brands. Who knows, maybe this could grow into a franchise opportunity. Remember McDonalds started by " flipping" burgers!

HA! I'm going to let someone else have that franchise. The things we see in people's bedrooms when we do deliveries <shudder> make me want no part of that!

I don't know how to spell the sound I made out loud when I read that!

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Originally Posted by drcollie

HA! I'm going to let someone else have that franchise. The things we see in people's bedrooms when we do deliveries <shudder> make me want no part of that!

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