[Note this was based on our visit + purchase in July 2020]
TL;DR Good selection of discounted office furniture. David's a nice guy, can be talkative (so your visit may be longer than you expect). He messed up our order, initially reacted strangely and didn't apologize, but then called me and apologized, gave us free shipping, and offered fairly significant free office furniture to compensate. Overall happy with our experience!
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THE COST:
Spent $859 before taxes on a used (like new condition, though needed a good cleaning) Herman Miller Sayl, a new motorized standing desk (top and legs/motor are separate), plus $20 shipping to SF in May 2020.
THE SELECTION:
David has a lot of options at his store and they get new shipments every week, so even though they didn't have the exact desk I wanted at the time (cherry wood, 24"x48"), they would be able to get it the next week.
SOCIAL DISTANCING:
David followed COVID precautions by allowing customers come by appointment only. There was one other customer there during the same hour as us, and he turned away several other walk-ins.
INTERACTING WITH DAVID:
David is really friendly, and pretty talkative. We meant to be in and out in 30-45 minutes but ended up staying about 90 minutes. We had done a lot of research into office chairs and knew certain things that were really important to us - adjustable arms, firmer back. However, even after telling him this, he still was kind of stuck on his own train of thought and kept going with his spiel of favorite chairs. Not that that wasn't useful, but it didn't seem like he was able to pivot his talking points to our specific needs.
He seems knowledgeable about ergonomics, that you want to be able to lean on your chair slightly, what should work for different body types. But when we asked specifically if it's ok to be leaned back and have your head tilted slightly from your spine, he said he's not an ergonomist and doesn't know about those things.
We found a chair that we liked, as well as a sit/stand desk (they only sell motorized ones, and he said no one wants crank ones which is what I'd been set on, but now I'm glad he talked us out of it). The desk is high quality, comes from a company called Hat Contract. When we ask what model it is, and what warranty it comes for, David doesn't know these things. He suggests we contact Hat directly.
[Note that we later do contact Hat. We are not covered on any warranty because Berkeley Office Interiors is not an official Hat dealer. However, looking at Hat's catalog online, we got an insane discount!]
MISTAKE ON OUR ORDER:
We originally wanted Walnut 30"x48", but changed our minds (while at the store, within 10 minutes of our original choice) to get Cherry stain and smaller footprint at 24"x48". He wrote this all out on his white board, inputted this into Square, and we paid. The desk was to be ordered that Wednesday and delivered Thursday.
I called Wednesday, saying "This is Ziyan, we bought the Sayl chair on Saturday and ordered the motorized desk with Cherry stained top. Can you confirm you're getting the Cherry top tomorrow?" (I had some other questions as well), and he confirmed.
The next day, we get a text from his delivery guy Chris, saying "We weren't able to get the Walnut for you." He also thought we were getting it in 30"x48" (which is incorrect). I told him what our actual order was (Cherry 24"x48"), but he didn't know about this order. I end up talking to David on the phone, and he just sounds confused. We have the order, Cherry 24"x48" on our Square receipt - but he tells me he is unable to see details on our receipt (that's fair, but I don't know how I'm supposed to know that). He just sounds confused - he keeps saying, "If we had known you were getting the Cherry, we could have had that ready for you today," - which really doesn't make me feel any better. No apology. He seems to just keep questioning why he didn't know we got the Cherry desk top (yeah, we're wondering the same thing ourselves!).
Later on, David calls me again, and this time apologizes for the mistake, and seems confused how he even made a mistake. He offers either a desk lamp, small file cabinet, or monitor stand to compensate. We're not sure, so he offers to bring all three when the desk is delivered so we can make a decision. He also says delivery will be free.
In the end, we got our desk 1 week later than expected, with a free lamp, and free delivery. The delay wasn't a huge deal, and our products 5 months later are still great! read more