HOME DECORTATORS FURNITURE ORDER NIGHTMARE! Mexico, Missouri

This is a cautionary tale to all who order furniture from Home Decorators!

Home Decorators featured a new line of Martha Stewart furniture in their catalogue last month. One of her pieces was a slightly vintage looking desk called the "Ms. Ingrid" desk (valued at around $400). It was the perfect item to complete my home office.

I ordered it on the Home Decorators website right away, citing my need for a desk and the trustworthiness of Home Decorators as good reason. I was pretty happy about them offering free shipping too.

I was even happier when I found out it was going to arrive in a matter of days.

My happiness quickly came to a halt. Home Decorators' choice of carrier for an item of this kind (anything below 150lbs or so) is UPS. This particular desk is about 110lbs to be exact. While that doesn't sound too daunting and considering that UPS is fairly reliable, one might one wonder what the complaint could possibly be...

I live in a third story Florida condominium complex and don't have an elevator available - which means several flights of stairs.

A few days after I placed my order, I watched in mild horror as the UPS man wrestled the gargantuan box all the way up to my unit. Needless to say, when I opened the package, the desk was in fact, cracked and chipped.

I called for an exchange immediately. Another UPS man came to take the broken desk away, visibly annoyed at having to bear the weight of it. He ended up dragging it down the steps.

It occurred to me then that Home Decorators might attempt to ship the second desk in the same manner - UPS - which would in turn send one man with a useless dolly/hand truck and an item too large for him to handle.

I set about contacting Home Decorators in any way I could to prevent the problem. I called. I emailed. I called and emailed some more. I explained the matter clearly (and kindly) - that if the same means of shipping were used, the new desk would surely arrive broken.

I asked that Home Decorators arrange for UPS to send a second man to help carry the item up.

I even offered to forego free shipping and pay out of my pocket to have their selected freight company deliver it.

My emails were responded to without being read. My calls were responded to with sheer indifference. No one could be bothered to look into it.

I was told to contact UPS myself and make arrangements for an item that Home Decorators was shipping from a facility I knew nothing about.

I was told that their freight company refused to deliver any items to a third story apartment. Strange, considering that I have ordered large furniture from Home Decorators before and the very same freight company hadn't the slightest issue with my being on the third floor then. 

I was given profuse apologies, all of them inane.

Desk Number Two was delivered this morning and guess what folks? It's broken.

I had to witness yet another UPS man (a tiny one this time) haul the monstrous box up, one stair at a time. I actually flinched when I heard the crunching and cracking noises.

I've called for a refund, but sadly, am still without a desk.

Hopefully the rest of you shoppers will have better luck with Home Decorators than I did. Perhaps now that they will have sustained the monetary loss of two expensive items, they will be more attentive to the requests of their customers. Or not.