UPDATE Nov - 07
After writing this review and giving Mitchell Gold 2 stars, I sent an e-mail to Mr. Gold (yes...THE Mr. Gold) talking about my bad experience. To his credit, I received a response from him within hours that he would investigate and follow up. Shortly thereafter, I received a voicemail from the LA Store Manager apologizing for our experience and committing to set it right.
I was credited for the shipping, they offered to repair the paint chips on my walls, and they sent a replacement nightstand via FedEx that I received within a week of contacting them. They even went so far as to allow me to keep the first, damaged nightstand...which they said I could donate to charity should I not wish to keep it.
All in all, this was a satisfactory response to my earlier issues, and while I still think that Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams could do with some process improvement and some enhancement of their customer support infrastructure, I would no longer warn off prospective customers since their products are well designed and relatively well constructed.
I'd just recommend that you get shipping timeframes committed up front and insist on a phone number and e-mail for someone you can contact on the date of receipt of your shipment, should there be a problem. Now, with great ceremony, I grant them back 1 more star. I would go for two more stars, but at their prices, I should never have had to deal with the problems I had in the first place...
--- END UPDATE ---
Don't get me wrong...Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams design some fabulous furniture.
They have extraordinary design sense and the furniture appears to be solidly constructed, but while their furniture looks attractive and is well built, it is pricey, the service in store and via shipper is far below average, and there is no corporate number to call for help when a problem occurs.
My 2 cents? Go to Room & Board. They have similar designs and quality at lower prices and with VASTLY superior service...particularly when there's a problem.
By the numbers:
1. You have to pay 100% of the order up front for build-to-order furniture even if they don't build and deliver for many months
2. They took an inconceivable 4.5 months to deliver a bed and 2 nightstands...with no update phone calls or e-mails along the way
3. The staff in the store was and is not particularly helpful or customer-centric - either while you're there or on the phone
4. Unlike Room & Board, it's not their own delivery service, so the delivery people took no responsibility for problems
5. Unlike Room & Board or Pottery Barn, their shipper doesn't set up the pieces for you in-house
6. One of the three pieces (for which we waited 4.5 months) came damaged
7. The bed frame was designed as one large and unwieldy assembly and was so large that the shippers chipped up my wall paint to get it in the bedroom
8. The delivery form that the shipper left showed that delivery was supposed to be between 9/11 and 9/27...it showed up 10/5
9. Look on their website...not a single phone number to call to order or if you have a problem
10. MG+BW clearly cares about its employees and about the environment...they just don't seem to care about customers
DAMN! I had hoped to stop at 10, but here's 2 more for good measure.
11. The bed came as a headboard and base in 2 parts. There is clearly some mechanism for attaching them, but they came with no additional parts and no instructions for either assembly or fabric care )(again, like you would get from PB, R&B, or C&B). It wasn't obvious how it might be assembled, but after a frustrating half hour of looking at it, finally figured it out.
12. The delivery came with no packing list indicating all of the items included, so I didn't even know if the order was complete...
Net net?
Save yourself the money, time, and most of all, the trauma.
** PASS on MITCHELL GOLD **
(unless you enjoy spending big bucks for bad service and poor treatment) read more