ETHAN ALLEN INC

PRE ORDER ACTIVITY: The designer came to our home. She looked at our existing sofa and chair. She discussed room design issues. She hear what our concerns were about our existing sofa and chair. This included issues about the upholstering work that had been done last year. The was a lot of puckering in the skirt. She invited us to the showroom to look at fabric and sofas. The sofa we liked that was in the store had a wrinkled appearance. We expressed concern. My wife mentioned that it looked like it was slip covered. She did not like the look. The designer ignored the comment and did not correct our impression. The designer said nothing about the fabric and did not suggest using better quality fabric. We later found out during a visit from the store manager when we complained about the quality of the work, that the sofa in the store was upholstered not slip covered. ORDERING PROCESS: This went smoothly. We got samples of the fabrics for the chair and throw pillows. We never got a sample of the fabric for the sofa. In hindsight we should have held off placing the order. The fabric we found out after the fact included rayon which is not a good fabric for a sofa. It reduces the life of the sofa. The fabric also had a glued back. Also not good. It dries out and breaks down. It is difficult to work with. This may have contributed to the puckering issues. While the manager explained it was a popular fabric. From what we know about fabrics it was not the best. RECEIPT OF THE ORDER: Received pretty much on schedule. POST RECEIPT- MANUFACTURING ISSUES Chair We were very pleased with the workmanship on the chair and the quality of the materials used. While there were some minor issues on matching the fabric, the overall look was quite acceptable. The cost of this part of the order was approximately $2400. | |This takes us to the sofa. Sofa The cost of the sofa was approximately $2800. The sofa arrived all wrinkled, bubbled and puckered in the skirt and pillows. The fabric had been folded and there were creases in the sofa skirt. You could also see where the fabric was stapled because they did not put in enough batting. The fabric rippled along the top and side edges of the sofa. There was bulging in one arm. | Follow Up by Ethan Allen On July 9 a week after the sofa was delivered we finally heard from someone who would come to look at the sofa. There were several intervening calls before he came out. He steamed the sofa removed some of the wrinkles but could do nothing about the puckering in the skirt and pillows. He was going to recommend it be switched out. There were too many problems. | |On July 23, two weeks later Ethan Allen sent out another contractor. He spent about an hour and one half steaming the sofa. Again some of the wrinkles were removed and the bubbling(only to come back a few days later). He could do nothing about the puckering in the skirt and pillows. He could also not do anything about the bumpiness caused by the poor stapling of the fabric. | |On 7/24 we heard from Cindy (No last name), the store manager. She called to set up an appointment to see the sofa. She came out on 7/28. She looked the sofa. She said it just like the one in the store with a different fabric. This was their normal workmanship. She would attempt to see if they would restuff the pillows. But she didn't think that Ethan Allen would do anything to deal with our concerns over a poorly made sofa. We called her back on 7/25. She said Ethan Allen would do nothing else. We'd just have to live with it. | |We contacted our bank and put in a formal complaint with them. They put a hold on the balance of the payment due on our VISA Card pending resolution of our concerns. After looking at complaints of others on the Internet, it seems reasonable to assume that Ethan Allen has little regard for its customers. Their Warranty seems geared to minimize what they are obligated to do after the merchandise is delivered. I regret that we did not check them out fully before placing an order. We made the purchase based on their name and prior reputation. Since the ownership changed hands several years back, it has all gone downhill. We would urge folks to look elsewhere for home furnishings.