I have a Rubbermaid closet (from their Configurations line) already installed in my closet. I recently discovered that Elfa accessories could be put on Rubbermaid tracks and vice versa**. I wanted to re-configure my closet by installing, among other things, a Rubbermaid belt and tie valet and additional shelves, as well as some Elfa shoe racks and mesh drawers. (I prefer them over equivalent Rubbermaid accessories) .
I went to the Clarendon Container Store. The way it works there if you want Elfa accessories is that you have to talk to an associate. They get you the items you need from storage and ensure that you are buying everything you need per accessory. The stores price and display the pieces individually, and they don't necessarily display all the pieces you need next to each other. So for example, if you want a sliding drawer, you would need to buy the basket, the brackets, and the appropriate frame, and you need to make sure the pieces work with each other. They have a dizzying array of choices.
Anyways, I start talking to a sales associate, and I'm telling her specifically which accessories I want - the widest mesh drawer they had, not the wire drawer, the shoe rack that accommodates all shoes, not high heels, blah blah blah. She asks if I already have the vertical rails installed, and I tell her yes, but the Rubbermaid ones. She proceeds to badmouth the Rubbermaid brand and says unequivocally "Nope it won't work." She then proceeds to tell me how my closet will fall apart because the Rubbermaid hardware is poor quality. She says her Rubbermaid closet fell apart within a year. Uh huh. She recommended I start over completely - i.e. remove my existing hardware from my closet and buy all Elfa components.
I'm an engineer and I called B.S.
If you put an Elfa and Rubbermaid vertical track side by side, you won't be able to tell the difference between the two. They have the same weight and feel, as well as the same slot design. They are probably manufactured in the same Chinese factory. I told her she was wrong, and she told me she refused to sell me the Elfa accessories. She said, "buy a bracket and try it out, but it won't work."
Spoiler alert - it works. I had to return to the store and buy the rest of the stuff I needed. I realize the suggestion about trying one bracket is fair enough (they don't want me to waste my and their time and have to come back and return stuff), but there is no reason to badmouth the other brands and say with authority that something won't work when you don't actually know that to be true or why. That associate was also extremely dismissive of and condescending to me. I go to expensive brick and mortar stores like Container Store for the customer service; I don't like it when their professionals don't know what they are talking about but are then smug about it. She should have phrased the discussion as "Are you sure this would work?" not "It won't work" and give me a condescending look.
// TLDR // - I give Container Store 2 stars because the prices are extremely high, and the service is lacking. You absolutely can mix and match Rubbermaid and Elfa pieces. You just have to have the right rails, space them apart properly for the applicable width of your hanging accessory and install the same brand bracket for the accessory you are using (i.e. Elfa shoe storage on Elfa brackets, Rubbermaid shelves on Rubbermaid brackets, etc).
I now have an awesome closet, for a fraction of the price of an all Elfa closet system (~I'm guessing around $400 instead of $2K). Elfa closets are nice, but there is absolutely no need to have an all Elfa closet even if you are going for a certain look unless you need to go custom. The EXTREMELY high prices they charge for each piece is not justified by the quality. The low end Elfa closet is equivalent in function and quality to the equivalent Rubbermaid pieces for 3-4x the price. The mesh divider for the drawer alone was $20 apiece! There were 2 in a package, and they charged me per piece in the package. The Elfa brackets scratched and dented easily from being dropped. The only thing you are really paying extra for with the Elfa is the ABILITY to install wooden finishes over the metal hardware.
** extremely helpful links:
http://realmod.blogspot.com/2014/05/closet-storage-systems-elfa-vs.html
http://www.consumerreports.org/content/dam/cro/news_articles/home_garden/Consumer_Reports_Closet_Organizers_2006.pdf read more