5 star experience

[slmccart]

My wife and I recently ordered and received two H&M Sadler recliners from Duane. I had fallen across Internet furniture forums that Duane consulted on and I thought he seemed like a very knowledgeable and straight-forward guy. After visiting with a local dealer and getting their prices, I decided to contact Duane and see what he could offer. Well, I was pretty surprised when his quote for the two recliners was considerably lower than the local dealer's lowest cost. In addition, he was a breeze to deal with. He answered all our questions in a prompt and courteous manner. My wife and I are not easy customers because we ask a lot of questions and are pretty detail oriented. We struggled with finding the right leather for our recliners. Duane is such a professional that he never gave any indication that we were bothering him or asking too many questions. He would just continue to answer all our questions in a polite manner. We are delighted with our recliners and I will post pictures soon so people can check out our leather choice for reference. We can't recommend Duane enough. You will not be disappointed. I never felt comfortable with local furniture store sales people. I'm just not a fan of the hard sale or the typical BS these people give you when they are trying to sell you something. Duane never applied any pressure...period. Just continued to answer our questions. Amazing. The only issue we had was the shipping time ended up being about 5 weeks, but Duane has nothing to do with this. We live in AZ, so coming from NC is not a short trip. We were a little nervous about possible shipping damage, but Star Delivery did a great job and the recliners were perfect. Thanks Duane for your awesome service and knowledge. You are a rare breed.

Kind Regards,
Stephen & Gail McCarthy

[drcollie]

Thanks for the accolades, Stephen! I appreciate the business and you are a very easy-to-work-with customer. I'm glad that you were pleased with your purchase.

The five weeks delivery time is unacceptable. You should not have had to wait that long, sorry for that. There are a lot of carriers out there (home delivery companies) that I can select from and I try to find the one that has the best balance of price/timeliness/damage limitation/customer service. Its a constant challenge, because I've yet to find the carrier that can cover all four of those aspects equally. I know that the primary reason a lot of folks buy long distance is to save money, so I have tended to focus on delivery charges as the major factor in recommending a company. But when it takes five weeks instead of two and a half, is it worth it to save $ 70? Probably not for most folks buying in the Hancock & Moore category.

Star delivery is a 'hand-off' company when I book a load through West Express. I've been trying to avoid 'hand-off' deliveries because of this very reason - longer delays in transit time and difficulty in tracking an order. West Express does a good job for me at a reasonable price in California and in parts where they operate direct. They normally deliver into Arizona as well but on your order (and one other from my store to AZ) they were overwhelmed and handed it off to Star. I'm now more inclined to Sun Delivery Service into your area - they're a bit higher in the rate department, but get it there faster with instant tracking available via the web and quick responses to email inquiries, etc.

Appreciate the feedback! I have to hear the good - and the bad - in order to keep tweaking things to make the buying experience as positive as I can. Enjoy the new recliners, and don't forget to clean and condition them every 6 months - thats so important to hide longevity....

Best,