I was raised with the notion that, if you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all. That being said, disappointment in my recent interaction with Gregorian Oriental Rugs motivates me to write this review.
I had been a customer of Gregorian Oriental Rugs for 25 years. During that time, we bought a variety of carefully chosen, quality rugs, well suited to our home & decor. Most of them were of Iranian origin, and beautifully made. As a result of that quality, each of our sales reps over the years assured us that we would never lose money on these rugs, that they would hold their value over time.
The purpose of this rating and writing this review is to refute that assertion.
I moved to the North Shore, well over an hour from Gregorian Oriental Rugs. My new home was significantly smaller and most of the rugs that I had owned would no longer fit in the rooms at the new house. Gregorian had been wonderful to deal with when buying the rugs originally, and I felt it was worth the drive. Plus, I thought it made sense to negotiate an exchange of rugs with the business that sold them to me years before, especially having been given the promise that they would hold their value over the years.
Moving out of my home of 20 years necessitated putting things into storage, as my new home was not ready for occupancy at the time I closed on my old home. Prior to moving my household belongings into storage, my rugs were cleaned and wrapped by Kokobodakian in Winchester - a company closer to my home than Gregorian. Had I not cleaned them myself, Gregorian would have given me even less money in an exchange, taking out cleaning costs from the amount offered in exchange. In fact, Gregorian insisted that they didn't really want to accept these rugs as having been cleaned when I brought the rugs in for exchange, since they didn't do it themselves. The rugs had been cleaned and wrapped by another well-respected & established firm, Kokobodakian. The rugs arrived at Gregorian for the exchange still encased in the post-cleaning wrapping, and I produced a receipt for the cleaning services. It took a fair bit of back & forth in order for Gregorian drop the cleaning fee in the exchange.
Each of these rugs were in excellent condition - an assertion verified by the folks at Gregorian. With that knowledge, and thinking that I'd get a fair exchange, I made multiple long trips to Gregorian to find replacement rugs that fit in my new home in both size & color. When I had settled on a couple of rugs, Gregorian's offered me an exchange value on my old rugs of just over 20% of the original purchase price. I was shocked. This value was not given to me, despite my asking multiple times, until AFTER I had finished selecting new rugs (again, numerous hour plus trips to & from my home). That should have been my first clue, but I had fully expected them to be honorable in their evaluation of the carpets.
Knowing how displeased I was with the evaluation of my carpets, and the proposed exchange rate, I would have thought that management might have reached out. I had been a very long term customer. In addition, my sales rep (who was terrific, and the reason for the two star rating rather than just one star) knew how unhappy I was with their proposal. Our discussion of the exchange went on for some time. There was ample opportunity for someone in management to have reached out to me. But, I only heard crickets...
Yes, Gregorian needs to purchase rugs back at a price point that allows them to make money on the resale. And yes, I did benefit from the enjoyment use of these rugs for many years. However, I was expecting something closer to a third of the value, perhaps a bit more, given the quality of these rugs, and the fact that they had already been cleaned. And I do not believe that that was an unreasonable expectation.
Gregorian Oriental Rugs misrepresented the trade in benefits at the time of purchase by offering just over 20% in exchange and then adding on cleaning costs. The customer actually receives very little for their rugs in an exchange. Know this going in, and be ok with it, because that is all you will see.
I, for one, will NEVER return as a customer. read more