apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I had a great experience at the store. The sales team was so helpful, without being annoying. The best part was I got the bed of my dreams in 8 weeks! A beautiful solid wood bed not veneer. Suddenly I want to make my bed every morning

We fell in love with their "Parallel" bed but shopped around quite a bit as it was pricey for us. After seeing many things for near the same price (or more) that were veneer, we went for it after all. No regrets! It's beautiful and their mattress is excellent, too. Note that their oak pieces cost less than the same in walnut.

I wanted to mention that they have a survey online if anyone is interested in submitting feedback,

www.delaespada.com/survey/

Fell in love with the furniture. We bought the Parallel bed and several other pieces. We bought the pieces in oak and within a week each of the pieces cracked. The headboard actually split in half. We were told by the store that this is a problem that has plagued them since they began selling the oak pieces in New York. They have refused to take the pieces back or exchange them. the furniture is beautiful, but the quality and the service is definitely suspect.

The problem with solid wood furniture cracking and splitting has to do with moisture content. Most american furniture manufacturers use kiln dried wood that has been taken down to between 7 and 10 per cent moisture content depending on type of wood. A lot of european and asian furniture use woods that have been dried to between 10 and 12 per cent. When these woods are introduced to drier american interiors, the wood continues to lose moisture and shrink and then crack or split.

BE CAREFUL WITH DE LA ESPADA.
FURNITURE IS LOVELY. PRICES ARE WHAT THEY ARE.
BIGGEST ISSUE IS CORPORATE CULTURE:
OUR TABLE CRACKED, AND THEY WOULDN'T DO ANYTHING TO FIX IT. THEY TOLD US SOMETIMES IT HAPPENS - FOR $5,000, ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE.
THEN OUR SIDEBOARD WAS 6 WEEKS LATE, WHEN WE ASKED TO SPEAK THE MANAGER, THEY TOLD US THERE IS NONE. WE ASKED TO SPEAK TO THE OWNER, THEY TOLD US TO GET THE NAME OFF THE WEBSITE.
BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL BEFORER GIVING THEM YOUR MONEY. THIS IS NOT A TRUSTED OUTFIT.

my2cents,

I'm curious, what happens when Amex reversed the charges? Did you keep the item or did you have to return it?

Sadly many of the european companies operate this way here in the U.S. I don't know if its because of the importer and an under-staffed operation but its fairly common.

My experiences with Duravit, whose bathroom products are fantastic, have been ridiculous.

SeanG,

I have been skeptical to delve into Duravit because of that fear. Anytime somebody tells me it will take 6-8 weeks to get something I think about the possibility of something not being right and then having to wait another 6-8 weeks for it to be corrected.

I really wish we had something like www.bathstore.com in this country. It seems like they have a lot of different locations with really cool stuff in stock. Over here, you have to go into a design studio where they don't want you to go home with something, they want you to sign on to a 20k bathroom renovation. Or you can take your chances online which so far have been pretty good for me, knock on wood.

I echo the sentiment about Duravit- great stuff, horrific service/fulfillment. One of my Duravit vanities took over a year between order placement and receipt! Apparently they had never sold one of these vanities in America before, so they had to have it specially made and shipped. Oy.

hejiranyc,

Duravit keeps a small inventory of only a few models in stock at various online companies. Everything else is actually crafted when you order it. This is what makes Duravit so special. They are one of the best porcelain companies in the world. I don't know about their craftsmanship regarding cabinetry, etc. but I'm sure it is great as well. But the wait! Slow boat from Germany.

I'm still wondering whether or not my2cents kept the furniture or not? If the piece had to be returned and it was clearly damaged as a result of manufacturing then the company would have to replace it. Did De La Espada provide my2cents with a return shipping service for the product? Just curious how the situation was dealt with after the chargeback. I know Amex can sometimes be one-sided which is good if you are on their side.

Duravit is incredible. I moved into my loft 3 months late because none of the bathroom I ordered were actually ordered. They took my money but the Starck toilets held everything back. Nothing else came, but I couldn't get a certificate of occupancy without the toilets.

Get this when the Starck 1-piece toilets arrived, one of them arrived broken/cracked. I had a fit when they told me it would be another 16 weeks for a replacement. This was on top of the original 12-13 week delay.

The worst is that their stuff is so beautiful. Sadly I'm awaiting a medicine cabinet.

As a result of my experience, I promised myself I would start an anti-Duravit webpage.


p.s. I went to Ligne Roset recently and their stuff is 10-13 weeks. What we need is good U.S. or North American designs.

Art - Email the owner of De La Espada, Luis de Oliviera, at luis@delaespada.com, and ask him if he responds to Amex. Good luck.

I purchased a dining room table from DeLaEspada about three years ago. The table is oak. One evening, the table cracked. I called DeLaEspada on Greene Street and they replaced the table with no questions asked. I am not sure whether they have changed their policy since (maybe they have if cracking oak furniture is common). I just purchased the parallel bed in walnut. Does anyone know whether the same cracking/humidity issues occur with walnut furniture?