As a service to prospective consumers, we feel obliged to spend time (which we do not have in huge supply) and write this review, to warn them about Direct Interiors so they can avoid the terrible experience we have gone through. We are still in the middle of this nightmare after 9 months. So if you value your time or your money, avoid Direct Interiors altogether. They do not know what customer service means, have the utmost disrespect for their customer, and have very low quality standards. We bought an expensive DINEC dining room set (a table, 6 chairs and a buffet) from them back in May 2009. The set was delivered after 8 weeks in July 2009. It was marred with defects on every single piece and of poor quality, in spite of the high price. We notified Direct Interiors immediately but today, 9 months after purchase, and 7 months after delivery, we are still waiting to have the problems fixed, and wonder if it will ever be fixed. We are also filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and will pursue further as necessary. It is too late for us, we made that mistake and bought at Direct Interiors and now we have to go through this nightmare. But it is not too late for you: don’t let this happen to you: don’t buy at Direct Interiors. You really don’t expect to have to go through this when you spend that amount of money.
Now for the details:
The dining set we bought was from DINEC, a brand that advertises (read: pretend) to manufacture high quality products. .
When it was delivered, it had defects or very low quality features on all pieces, some can be seen on pictures (although not to the full extent), but some cannot be shown on pictures:
MAJOR defects:
1) chair cushions fabric having stitching thread (decorative pattern) coming off on ALL 6 chairs. (see picture as one example only of many). On some chairs, the stitches were actually missing over 1 inch. This was at delivery, obviously after 7 months, it’s only getting worse
2) chair cushions fabric GROSSLY wrinkling (i.e. not tightly adjusted around the foam) on 3 chairs. (see picture as one example only)
3) GROSS ummatch of the chairs wood (see picture). This is NOT just a slight natural wood detail difference which would be expected in natural wood. And this is certainly not what you would see on display in their showrooms and advertising on their website, for the same stain finish.
4) the table top had obvious DIRTY FINGER MARKS or black dirt traces at 3 different locations (and they ARE dirt marks, absolutely not related to wood grain). These marks won’t wash off since they are under the coating.
5) the table and buffet edges had UNFINISHED rough patches (i.e. not fully sanded/coated) as compared to the smooth top.
Other miscellenous, more minor defects /poor quality features include:
6) buffet hardware (knobs) not tightened
7) Pure Black spots (on a light maple finish) on a table leg and apron.
8) buffet doors not perfectly aligned.
9) one table edge not perfectly straight
10) 2 chairs edges not straight.
All the above defects were present at delivery, but now some seats are also starting to collapse (they are made of very low quality foam), which makes the fabric wrinkling defect even more obvious (and even introducing the defect on some chairs that initially didn’t have it).
Direct Interiors were notified immediately of these defects at delivery. Since then, therefore after 7 months, nothing has been fixed. The customer service representative (Michelle), only acts as a mailbox between DINEC and us (since DINEC won’t talk to us) and therefore does not provide any service at all. The only pieces they agreed to replace were the seats for the fabric stitches issue, yet after 7 months we are still waiting. For the rest, their position was that the gross wood mismatch is “the natural beauty of wood” (another obvious insult to the customer here in this pre-written, “one size fits all” answer like they have at the cashier stations in supermarkets…), and for all the other defects: total silence, they never addressed those ones. Now as a testimony to DINEC’s quality standards (as if the above wasn’t enough), which also reflect Direct Interiors standards: after the initial agreement to replace the chair seats for the fabric defect, Direct Interiors had to send it back a few times because the replacement seats still had the same defects. After making us wait for 6 months, in January 2010, Direct Interiors proudly announced they had the new replacement seats. We had to disrupt our schedule (by the way, Direct Interiors will not disrupt theirs – but then again, we are only their customers, they got our money now and we have already waited for months, so why bother, they must think…) and one of us had to stay home for the service technician. Well, would you believe it: not only had the seats the same stitching defects, but one of the seats also had stitches of a different colour than the rest of the set (see picture). All they had to do was to LOOK at them before showing up and wasting our time. This confirms the lack of respect they have for their customer’s time. To this day, we have never received an apology for this. We demanded to have the store manager to come over and inspect all the defects. Instead of an apology, we got a cold phone call from “customer service” (Michelle “the mailbox”) to bluntly tell us they don’t go to people’s homes, they will re-order a new set and will call us when they arrive. Period. No apology whatsoever. It was over 8 weeks ago. And of course, we’re still waiting.
Needless to say, whether they eventually fix their junk furniture or not, we will never, ever again do business with Direct Interiors. We are so glad we did not also buy the bedroom set and sofa we were looking for at the time. After Christmas, we finally purchased a sofa from another retailer at a much more reasonable price than DINEC furniture (comparatively speaking). It was delivered last week-end and to our relief, the sofa is great and has no defect. It is sturdy, of a great style, has high quality cushion foam, and has good finish, and overall much much better quality than DINEC furniture, even though it is of a much lower price. Ironically, it is covered with embroidered fabric like the Direct Interiors/DINEC chair (we hesitated on that knowing the problems we were having but took the chance). Even though the area covered is much much larger, that sofa fabric does not have a single thread coming off, and the cover fits snugly around the cushions.
Final note regarding the manufacturer of the furniture, DINEC: you can do your own research but we will spare you that:
DINEC is located in Quebec, Canada. It is owned by BERMEX and the BDM group of companies, so this consumer review is also a consumer review for DINEC furniture, BERMEX furniture and any other brand of furniture owned by BDM .
