Karyn, the principal at this firm, has a couple of good reviews, so she must have done good work for someone. That was not my experience. I paid her a $3000 "design fee," but if any design work was done (floor plan, color plan?), I certainly never saw it. She buys "manufacturer direct." What this really means is that she doesn't have a showroom, catalog or website where you can get an idea of what you're buying. If you need a couch, she'll send you pictures of 3 or 4 couches and you'll pick one.
Results: The room she put together for me looked awful. This was a rental, so I asked her to keep the budget down, but the furniture was sub-IKEA in quality (pressboard, cardboard backing pieces), and most of it had nicks and scratches. The top of one wood piece was warped so badly you could see the curve from across the room. Over Karyn's objections, I sent most of it back.
She has a no-refund policy, but these were stock items that could have been returned with a restocking fee, which I would have paid. Instead, I had to haggle. She eventually offered a $1500 refund and $750 credit and acted like this was doing me a huge favor that I didn't deserve.
Results: The credit was worthless because I still would have had to have her pick the furniture. As for the refund, it's been a year and a half and I still don't have it. She claimed that she sent me 3 checks. I don't know if she did or didn't, but I never received one. A reasonable person who was told that a check they sent didn't arrive would apologize, stop payment and send a replacement check via FedEx or UPS so it could be tracked. Apparently, she is not smart enough to do this. When I suggested it, she got angry and told me not to tell her how to run her business.
Lastly, she tried to blame everyone else in sight for this bad outcome and took zero responsibility herself. After trying everything from being nice to rational to nasty, I gave up. I spent nearly $10,000 with her, and I have two barstools, two lamps and a small rug to show for it. This was a very expensive lesson. read more