Reader Jill L. of Pasadena writes today about her frustration with an order for a glider rocker from Best Chairs:
I wanted to give some feedback on Best Chairs.
I decided to buy a glider from Best Chairs based on the recommendations in the Baby Bargains book. We used the book extensively for the majority of our baby purchases.
I found a local dealer through the Best Chairs website, and ordered our chair on 9/12/07. To date, we STILL do not have the glider!
The local store is called Bellies, Babies and Bosoms, in Glendale, CA. They ordered the chair in September, it was the Irvington model in fabric #25411 (FERN). We were told it would take 4 to 6 weeks to receive the chair.
In October, we started checked regularly on the delivery. The store was given several different stories by Best Chairs, according to their employees who have relayed everything to us. We were first told that the fabric was extremely popular and they ran out of it. We were then told the fabric arrived around 11/20/07 and that our chair would be shipped by 11/30/07. Now today, we are told that our fabric has NEVER been in stock at Best Chairs, and they have ordered it, to arrive around 12/11/07. At that point, we wouldn’t receive our chair until late January.
By the way, our baby girl was born 11/19/07, so it’s really annoying to not have this glider when we ordered it in plenty of time!
The local store has apologize repeatedly, given us 15% off the chair, and just today, a gift basket of products in apology. The problem truly seems to be with Best Chairs.
We are now selecting a new fabric, which could have been done two months ago had Best Chairs told anyone that our selected fabric was unavailable. Their customer service has been horrible in this case, and I would suggest that Baby Bargains consider this in their reviews of them. We will probably not have the chair until about 15 to 18 weeks from the order date. VERY disappointing!
I hope this feedback is considered for future editions and /or any update to your blog.
Thank you,
Jill L.
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I had the same problem with Best Chairs. The fabric I chose was on backorder, and unfortunately I didn’t find out until weeks after it was supposed to be delivered. Unfortunately, the store I bought it from, Once upon a Child in Franklin, TN was not as accomodating. The manager just blamed Best Chairs for the delay and lack of communication, and she didn’t offer any discount not did she really even apologize. Eventually, Best Chairs got the fabric and I got my chair, but my daughter was 2 months old! Even though I had ordered the chair with plenty of time, I wouldn’t count on Best Chairs to get it to you unless you order it when you find out you are pregnant.
I had the same problem with Best Chairs. The fabric I chose was on backorder, and unfortunately I didn’t find out until weeks after it was supposed to be delivered. Unfortunately, the store I bought it from, Once upon a Child in Franklin, TN was not as accomodating. The manager just blamed Best Chairs for the delay and lack of communication, and she didn’t offer any discount not did she really even apologize. Eventually, Best Chairs got the fabric and I got my chair, but my daughter was 2 months old! Even though I had ordered the chair with plenty of time, I wouldn’t count on Best Chairs to get it to you unless you order it when you find out you are pregnant.
I think this is an unusual situation, I am a retailer in St. Paul, Minnesota we have
carried Best Chairs for many, many years and I have had only one instance where
there was a backorder on a fabric and we were promptly notified and let our customer
either choose a new fabric or wait an extra 2 weeks. I quote 5-6 weeks and they ship
always within that time frame. We have so many other glider companies that take
10-12 weeks minimum so we love Best Chairs. We offer loaner chairs to any of our
customers who have chairs that are delayed. It is an item we encourage
people to order well ahead of time because you appreciate having it as soon as the
baby is born and before. My thought is that the problem might be with the store it
was ordered from. Perhaps they were not in good standing (late payment) with Best Chairs at the time or perhaps they didn’t place the order in a timely manner. I stand behind
this company 100%. I have sold baby furniture for over 25 years and would not discourage
anybody from ordering from Best Chairs, they are a highly reputable company.
I think this is an unusual situation, I am a retailer in St. Paul, Minnesota we have
carried Best Chairs for many, many years and I have had only one instance where
there was a backorder on a fabric and we were promptly notified and let our customer
either choose a new fabric or wait an extra 2 weeks. I quote 5-6 weeks and they ship
always within that time frame. We have so many other glider companies that take
10-12 weeks minimum so we love Best Chairs. We offer loaner chairs to any of our
customers who have chairs that are delayed. It is an item we encourage
people to order well ahead of time because you appreciate having it as soon as the
baby is born and before. My thought is that the problem might be with the store it
was ordered from. Perhaps they were not in good standing (late payment) with Best Chairs at the time or perhaps they didn’t place the order in a timely manner. I stand behind
this company 100%. I have sold baby furniture for over 25 years and would not discourage
anybody from ordering from Best Chairs, they are a highly reputable company.
This is a good point—it is hard for us (authors) to know if a delivery delay is caused by the company. . . or an account/store on credit hold. If a store isn’t paying their bills on time, a manufacturer will delay or hold a shipment. Unfortunately, companies are in a catch 22 position here—they don’t want to publicly call one of their dealers a dead beat. And they don’t want to burn their end customer. But they also need cash to survive!
So we thank this retailer for posting a report on Best Chairs shipping. Anyone else?
This is a good point—it is hard for us (authors) to know if a delivery delay is caused by the company. . . or an account/store on credit hold. If a store isn’t paying their bills on time, a manufacturer will delay or hold a shipment. Unfortunately, companies are in a catch 22 position here—they don’t want to publicly call one of their dealers a dead beat. And they don’t want to burn their end customer. But they also need cash to survive!
So we thank this retailer for posting a report on Best Chairs shipping. Anyone else?
My wife and I ordered a glider/recliner from Best through USA Baby in Indianapolis, IN on October 8. We were told it would take 8-10 weeks to receive it, but the dealer called in less than 7 weeks with news that our chair had arrived. We’re very pleased with the experience, quite unlike our Legacy crib from Child Craft that took over a month longer than originally promised.
My wife and I ordered a glider/recliner from Best through USA Baby in Indianapolis, IN on October 8. We were told it would take 8-10 weeks to receive it, but the dealer called in less than 7 weeks with news that our chair had arrived. We’re very pleased with the experience, quite unlike our Legacy crib from Child Craft that took over a month longer than originally promised.
I am also a Best Retailer and have nothing but Rave reviews about the customer service and order fulfillment from Best. We quote 4-5 weeks and always surprise our customers with early receipt of the chairs. I sell the Irvington, right now they are delivering in 3-4 weeks. Not to speculate, as there are fabric delays from time to time, but I would be concerned that your retailer is either on Credit Hold or that they order did not get placed originally.
I am also a Best Retailer and have nothing but Rave reviews about the customer service and order fulfillment from Best. We quote 4-5 weeks and always surprise our customers with early receipt of the chairs. I sell the Irvington, right now they are delivering in 3-4 weeks. Not to speculate, as there are fabric delays from time to time, but I would be concerned that your retailer is either on Credit Hold or that they order did not get placed originally.
I appreciate hearing from the other retailers on Best Chairs performance with them.
I wish I could determine where the order was delayed, either with Best Chairs or the store. I was unable to get anyone from Best Chairs to look into the order, they directed me to the store. Therefore, I’ve been left only with their story of the delay.
We have been told the fabric came into stock and the chair is being made now. I hope to have a positive review once we get it!
Thanks
I appreciate hearing from the other retailers on Best Chairs performance with them.
I wish I could determine where the order was delayed, either with Best Chairs or the store. I was unable to get anyone from Best Chairs to look into the order, they directed me to the store. Therefore, I’ve been left only with their story of the delay.
We have been told the fabric came into stock and the chair is being made now. I hope to have a positive review once we get it!
Thanks
We ordered a Best Chair glider in October 2007 from Lazar’s Furniture in Lincolnwood, IL. They told us 6-8 weeks but the Chair arrived in about 3 weeks. We had no problems at all and are very happy with it.
We ordered a Best Chair glider in October 2007 from Lazar’s Furniture in Lincolnwood, IL. They told us 6-8 weeks but the Chair arrived in about 3 weeks. We had no problems at all and are very happy with it.
Just wanted to update my post, we finally received our chair on January 4th. This order was placed on September 12th, so it did take quite a bit longer than the 4 to 6 weeks.
I looked through everything in the box to try and find an order date. I would love to know if the delay was caused by the local store or Best Chairs. I wasn’t able to get anyone at Best Chairs to explain it to me, and the local store blamed them.
Anyhow, besides the delay, I LOVE the chair. It is wonderful, great quality and very comfortable. I am very pleased with it.
My advice to others would be to order the chair early, just in case of issues with delivery time.
Thanks!
Just wanted to update my post, we finally received our chair on January 4th. This order was placed on September 12th, so it did take quite a bit longer than the 4 to 6 weeks.
I looked through everything in the box to try and find an order date. I would love to know if the delay was caused by the local store or Best Chairs. I wasn’t able to get anyone at Best Chairs to explain it to me, and the local store blamed them.
Anyhow, besides the delay, I LOVE the chair. It is wonderful, great quality and very comfortable. I am very pleased with it.
My advice to others would be to order the chair early, just in case of issues with delivery time.
Thanks!
We ordered a Best recliner from a store in mid-late October 2007 – 4 weeks before our son was due. We understood the chair would take at least 6 weeks to arrive so we were surprised when 3 weeks after we ordered the chair we got a call that the chair was in. Rather than pay a delivery fee my husband picked up the chair. When we got it put together later that night I was confused as to how the recliner feature was supposed to work. We finally figured out that the arm on the side had not been installed. We called the store and after playing phone tag and sending them photos as evidence they said Best would make a new chair and they would deliver to our house and pick up the armless chair at no cost. 6 weeks later we called the store to find out the status and were told that Best decided they would send a new arm and have a local rep install it. They said it would be a few more weeks for the arm to arrive and once it finally came in they said they didn’t send the screw. In January a Best rep and someone from the store came to our home to install the arm. They first tried to open the recliner by hand and found that it was stuck tight and required two people to open it so installing the arm was a waste of time. It is now February and we still have a non-reclining recliner but they said the new one has been shipped out and between Best and the store will give us $100 back on the purchase.
We ordered a Best recliner from a store in mid-late October 2007 – 4 weeks before our son was due. We understood the chair would take at least 6 weeks to arrive so we were surprised when 3 weeks after we ordered the chair we got a call that the chair was in. Rather than pay a delivery fee my husband picked up the chair. When we got it put together later that night I was confused as to how the recliner feature was supposed to work. We finally figured out that the arm on the side had not been installed. We called the store and after playing phone tag and sending them photos as evidence they said Best would make a new chair and they would deliver to our house and pick up the armless chair at no cost. 6 weeks later we called the store to find out the status and were told that Best decided they would send a new arm and have a local rep install it. They said it would be a few more weeks for the arm to arrive and once it finally came in they said they didn’t send the screw. In January a Best rep and someone from the store came to our home to install the arm. They first tried to open the recliner by hand and found that it was stuck tight and required two people to open it so installing the arm was a waste of time. It is now February and we still have a non-reclining recliner but they said the new one has been shipped out and between Best and the store will give us $100 back on the purchase.
I’m a salesperson at a furniture store in PA and have been selling best chairs for 4 1/2 years. I sold my parents a set of chairs and had told them 6-8 weeks and the chairs ended up coming in 3 weeks. These things have a lot to do with how quickly the store actually orders your items. They aren’t going to ship a single chair by itself as the shipping costs would be very high. So retailers typically wait until they have enough orders for customers and for their stock/floor models to fill a truck load. Retailers who quote less turn around time generally do a much higher volume of business. Yes there can be instances of backordered fabrics…but if it was indeed ordered right away the retailer would find out shortly there after. If they don’t call the customer for weeks and weeks to let them know…then chances are the retailer waited a long time to place the order in order to fill a truck.
I’m a salesperson at a furniture store in PA and have been selling best chairs for 4 1/2 years. I sold my parents a set of chairs and had told them 6-8 weeks and the chairs ended up coming in 3 weeks. These things have a lot to do with how quickly the store actually orders your items. They aren’t going to ship a single chair by itself as the shipping costs would be very high. So retailers typically wait until they have enough orders for customers and for their stock/floor models to fill a truck load. Retailers who quote less turn around time generally do a much higher volume of business. Yes there can be instances of backordered fabrics…but if it was indeed ordered right away the retailer would find out shortly there after. If they don’t call the customer for weeks and weeks to let them know…then chances are the retailer waited a long time to place the order in order to fill a truck.
WE are on our 2nd chair from these crooks. The 1st chair squeeked like a metal on metal noise after 3 months so we loaded it up and took it back. After 2 months without a chair we get the new chair and within 3 weeks it squeeked as well. These things suck, i tried tightening and putting bigger screws in and it still sucks!
WE are on our 2nd chair from these crooks. The 1st chair squeeked like a metal on metal noise after 3 months so we loaded it up and took it back. After 2 months without a chair we get the new chair and within 3 weeks it squeeked as well. These things suck, i tried tightening and putting bigger screws in and it still sucks!
My husband and I just purchased a Best glider from a local furniture store. We decided to hold off on the ottamon for now, but the salesperson told us that there would be no guarantee that the fabric would still be available to order at a later date. She explained that so many of the furniture maufacturers that they deal with have shut down in the US and went overseas, which causes them to discontinue so many of the available fabrics. She said there would be some days that they would get pages and pages of discontinued fabrics because of this. So this may be the problem of the late delivery of some of the furniture.
My husband and I just purchased a Best glider from a local furniture store. We decided to hold off on the ottamon for now, but the salesperson told us that there would be no guarantee that the fabric would still be available to order at a later date. She explained that so many of the furniture maufacturers that they deal with have shut down in the US and went overseas, which causes them to discontinue so many of the available fabrics. She said there would be some days that they would get pages and pages of discontinued fabrics because of this. So this may be the problem of the late delivery of some of the furniture.
I purchased a recliner from a local store Kendal Furniture in Exton PA on June 20th and asked them to rush the order because it was going to be a chemotherapy chair for my husband. They promised they would do all they could. 6 weeks later I called and was told they were very sorry, but they were just told by best chairs that the fabric was backordered and that the chair has not yet been made. They said they would follow up and were told the fabric was now in stock and would take at least another 3 weeks (bare in mind, I never saw the fabric, didn’t care and had asked the salesman to pick one for me because I could not leave my husband to get to the store) Monday Kendal was to call me, didn’t, I called them and got a story, Tuesday they were to call me, didn’t I called and got another story. I was promised they would call today with a ship date, but I told them I would probably cancel since I’m hoping Chemo will be over soon. My Mother in law has the same chair and my husband loves it which is why we wanted it.
I’m so upset and disappointed. The store did tell me that they try to consolidate their truck loads and Best chairs wrote me back telling me if it was a backorder they would have told the store right away. Who to believe…. I don’t know, but I gave so much notice to try and make my husband comfy it is really disappointing.
Just my story, I’ll write it I get the chair.
I purchased a recliner from a local store Kendal Furniture in Exton PA on June 20th and asked them to rush the order because it was going to be a chemotherapy chair for my husband. They promised they would do all they could. 6 weeks later I called and was told they were very sorry, but they were just told by best chairs that the fabric was backordered and that the chair has not yet been made. They said they would follow up and were told the fabric was now in stock and would take at least another 3 weeks (bare in mind, I never saw the fabric, didn’t care and had asked the salesman to pick one for me because I could not leave my husband to get to the store) Monday Kendal was to call me, didn’t, I called them and got a story, Tuesday they were to call me, didn’t I called and got another story. I was promised they would call today with a ship date, but I told them I would probably cancel since I’m hoping Chemo will be over soon. My Mother in law has the same chair and my husband loves it which is why we wanted it.
I’m so upset and disappointed. The store did tell me that they try to consolidate their truck loads and Best chairs wrote me back telling me if it was a backorder they would have told the store right away. Who to believe…. I don’t know, but I gave so much notice to try and make my husband comfy it is really disappointing.
Just my story, I’ll write it I get the chair.
I ordered my Best Chair Aug 17, 2008 and received it after 5 weeks. I ordered through Lone Star Baby in FW/Hurst, Texas. The sales rep was very thorough and informed me of the fabrics that were out of stock. Luckily, the one I wanted was not on that list. It also wasn’t in their computer but she followed up with Best and confirmed my color/fabric style so all worked out perfectly. She did inform me that delivery time was dependent on how fast they filled a truck and they estimated 6 to 8 weeks so I was happy to receive it after 5. I love this chair!!
I ordered my Best Chair Aug 17, 2008 and received it after 5 weeks. I ordered through Lone Star Baby in FW/Hurst, Texas. The sales rep was very thorough and informed me of the fabrics that were out of stock. Luckily, the one I wanted was not on that list. It also wasn’t in their computer but she followed up with Best and confirmed my color/fabric style so all worked out perfectly. She did inform me that delivery time was dependent on how fast they filled a truck and they estimated 6 to 8 weeks so I was happy to receive it after 5. I love this chair!!