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Thread: Review of The Keeping Room - Duane is THE BEST!

  1. #1
    Damask Guest

    Thumbs up Review of The Keeping Room - Duane is THE BEST!

    Long overdue (almost a year), but finally here is our review of The Keeping Room:

    We purchased Hancock & Moore Sundance Sofa (4716), Sundance Loveseat (4716-2), and custom Plantation Bench (045) through The Keeping Room, and our buying experience was absolutely WONDERFUL! Duane is THE BEST, period!!!

    I started shopping for furniture at brick-and-mortar stores about a year ago... We were moving to our new house and needed a lot of furniture, family room being top priority... After a few weeks of checking out many local, and not so local, stores, I finally found the sofa I loved - H&M Sundance! Once I saw it, there was no going back. The salesperson, at the store where I saw it, had very little knowledge... it was like pulling teeth to get any information... All I got was "H&M is top of the line", "get protected leather", "order asap because it will take ca. 16 weeks (!)", "order asap because our sale ends soon".... I'm a researcher at heart, so as soon as I got back home, I got online to do my homework. Soon enough I found MyFurnitureForum and the learning began... What a journey! Thank you Duane sooooo much for creating this fantastic forum, and for continuously sharing your knowledge, and thank you all who post your findings, photos, and advice here!

    Duane is amazing! He is the most knowledgeable and honest furniture salesman I've met (though not in person; we've exchanged posts on the forum, emails, and I had the pleasure of talking to him on the phone). I've had a chance to speak with quite a few salespeople over the past year, and nobody came even close. And if it so happens that some additional information is needed (be it customization for example), Duane will get it for you with the speed of light. He will listen to what you say and advise accordingly. As many other of his customers, I found all his recommendations spot on! Be it choice of best suited models, leathers, trims, cushions, customization, even layout... - Duane knows it all inside out, and will give you the best advice there is. You will wonder how have you ever managed to buy any furniture without him :)

    Duane is a kind man, very easy to talk to, and I found him very calming when my stress levels were rising due to overwhelming number of choices and time constrains (H&M prices were to increase and their long distance sale policy was about to change). He's very patient and understanding. He answered my numerous questions and quoted the prices without making me feel like I was bothering him, in a more than timely manner, and without the slightest hint of pressuring me into the purchase (which I felt the minute I stepped into so many brick-and-mortar stores).

    Duane devotes a lot of time and consideration to his customers, and will go the extra mile for them. When we were choosing the leather and the timing was getting tight, Duane sent us his own leather samples. He's very observant and proactive, even sent us leather samples before we asked for them. Later on I needed the Leather Magic cleaning set and he went to the Post Office to ship it the same day so I could have it before leaving for vacation. I mentioned to him that I noticed a tiny rubbing off on the welt corner (normal wear on painted leather, nobody would notice except me, and I did only because I happened to get close to it), and before I knew it, he had a touch up kit sent to me. Thank you Duane!

    If all that wasn't enough, Duane will give you the best price possible; and in my case, and I bet everyone else's, that price was significantly better, even including shipping, than any other dealer's in my area - who often charge a delivery fee anyway. Plus, since I'm out of state, the shipping cost was still less than the tax I'd pay buying locally. Would I like to buy locally from someone I can talk to face to face, who would come to my house to advise me on the layout and color schemes, whose store I can visit to see actual furniture and endlessly browse through the leather samples, who'd know what they are talking about and guide me instead of just selling to me, who'd offer me a fair price and trustworthy after-sale service...? Sure I would. But in case of H&M that turned out to be simply impossible.

    I'm thankful to Duane for offering his services long distance as I would be lost without him! I was heartbroken when I learned last year that H&M was restricting its long distance sales policy... luckily for us they haven't managed to enforce it yet, and hence we are in the process of shopping with The Keeping Room again - this time H&M Austin High Back Tilt Back Chair and Ottoman - and the superior experience of doing business with Duane continues. It doesn't feel like "doing business", it feels like being guided by a friend who just happens to be in that business.

    I expect that Duane will tell you that sometimes things may go wrong and not every customer will be as pleased as we are... Leather turns out to be out of stock, the order gets delayed, the color of the leather turns out different than the sample you had (get CFA if you worry about that), the delivery takes longer than planned due to delivery company's schedule in your area or unpredicted circumstances, the furniture got a dent or a scratch during transportation, etc. etc. BUT this is all true no matter where/ who you order from, and if anything happened to my order, I couldn't imagine anyone handling it better than Duane. Because Duane truly cares!

    To sum it all up, if you consider buying any furniture brand that Duane carries, I highly recommend The Keeping Room!
    Once again, THANK YOU DUANE from the bottom of my heart!
    J.
    Last edited by Damask; 08-20-2014 at 01:16 AM.

  2. #2
    Damask Guest

    Default Re: Review of The Keeping Room - Duane is THE BEST!

    I forgot to mention that Sun Delivery did a very good job too. They contacted us promptly, arrived as scheduled, the furniture was well protected and without any damage. The delivery men were polite and quick, and we were very pleased with their service.
    As for the timeline, we placed our order on July 19 (2013). We were pleasantly surprised that our furniture was ready for shipping by the last week of August (including the custom tufted bench). It was delivered on September 19 (the delivery might have been offered to us a bit earlier actually, I don't remember exactly, but we were out of town for a week or so).
    All in all, everything went just as I hoped for!

    I took some pictures of our H&M pieces and will post them shortly too.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,891

    Default Re: Review of The Keeping Room - Duane is THE BEST!

    Oh my gosh, you're going to give me a Big Head...lol. That sounds almost like a Casco Bay Customer Review <laughing>

    It's supposed to be fun! I try hard to make it so - that my job - and to smooth over the bumps in the ordering process as best I can. It's always nice to read a good review, I appreciate it! And your repeat business...its my pleasure.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  4. 08-20-2014


  5. #4
    JayTW Guest

    Default Re: Review of The Keeping Room - Duane is THE BEST!

    I would like to add my personal experience to this forum. I recently purchased a Royal Pedic mattress from The Keeping Room. I did my research in the forum and found Duane's input on mattresses to be very helpful and well informed. I decided to make the purchase and contacted Duane via email for a quote. I received a response very quickly and also received responses to additional questions I had via email quickly. I decided to go ahead and make the purchase, however I live in a remote area that is not easy to get to and the shipping was going to be very expensive. This was not a shock because of our remoteness and so I decided to go ahead and pay for the expensive shipping.

    The following day I received an email from Duane saying that he was not pleased with what it was going to cost to ship my mattress to me and he had done some additional research that night to find an alternative shipper. He was able to find another option that was much cheaper saving me over $500.

    I am blown away by his willingness to go the extra mile for me and from this point forward I will always talk to Duane first when making furniture purchases in the future.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,891

    Default Re: Review of The Keeping Room - Duane is THE BEST!

    Thank you JayTW ! It's my pleasure. I work for YOU - my customer - and always try to find solutions to issues, and I considered the freight charge from Royal Pedic's carrier of choice to be excessive (therefore it was an issue) even though you didn't complain about the price, it bothered me so I shopped some other delivery services and was happy to have been able to refund you that much.

    Most retailers look at customers as a sale, nothing more. Get the sale and move onto the next customer which is truthfully the most efficient way and profitable way to do business, but I prefer to build relationships when I can, and that means working in your best interest each and every time. I love repeat customers as we have trust built from the first sale, that gives you confidence as a shopper that you won't get taken to the cleaners and makes it easy for me when you are comfortable buying from my store knowing I will do the best I can each time.

    That's what makes the business fun, actually!
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

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