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January 2024 by Ron F.
I had a terrific experience with Kim Arnesen at the Skokie location. I am a design illiterate. I was doing a project re-carpeting and repainting my home, and I was starting to realize that all my color decisions were dependent upon a couch that I really didn't like. I went to several furniture stores, and really wasn't happy with my choices until I met Kim. She was more than willing to come to my home, look at the furniture I already had in place, and the paint and carpet samples I had on hand, to help suggest a new couch that could solidify a design concept. Her assistance was incredibly valuable... within a few days of her visit, I had chosen carpet, paint, and most importantly, ordered a new sofa! Kim was able to steer me to a product that was within my budget, and allowed for all the customization I could have wanted. I got to select extra firm bottom cushions, and a size that fit the space perfectly. Even more important, the fabric selections were terrific, and I found a material that had the exact feel I wanted, with the wear characteristics I needed. The ordering process was fine, and the new sofa arrived when predicted. And it is terrific! It looks nice (apologies, I am not a good photographer) in the room, matches all the other items well, and pulls the look together for me. Even better, this is the most comfortable couch I have ever owned! I fall asleep on it way too often, it is such a nice, comfy place to sit. As far as I can tell, this sofa (the Louise model) is incredibly high quality, is well made, and is more comfortable than I could have imagined. But more valuable was the design assistance I received. I am only exaggerating slightly when I say that I would have happily paid Kim for the design services, and she threw in the couch for free!
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January 2024 by bill m.
We've been long time customers of Walter E. Smithe - very happy with the quality. We got caught between promotional cycles - purchased during one that wasn't as cost savings as the next. It happens. Most important wanted to make sure our turned in sofa had gone to the Chicago Furniture Bank as advertised in the new promo we missed. I call to customer service got it all sorted out - proving they are very responsive to customers plus high quality furniture.
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January 2024 by Debbie A.
terrible customer service. waited a year for beds for 4 year old twins. We ordered beige beds. told they were in stock but then it too a year as they were coming from Vietnam. Beds came delivered and they are white and terrible fromeldahyde smell. The beds also had a huge gap. Contacted customer service right away. They fought us for weeks said we ordered white. Finally found an email from sales person who no longer worked there and it was confirmed that I had asked him to make sure beds were beige. Needless to say we had to undo the beds ourselves store them in our garage and reassemble toddle beds till they picked them up. The customer service was terrible she hung up on us multiple times. Imagine having kids who don't have beds and walter e smithe is more interested in profit vs helping us. Will never ever buy anything from them. This happened over a year ago and finally found the time to post my experience. Never had to deal with anything like this. They made the mistake and made it seem like it was our fault. Buyer beware.
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January 2024 by Monica R.
Beware of custom advertising ... Years ago I purchased a very large sectional and chose my fabric (deep wine in color), which came out beautiful. I was thrilled. I've never spent so much money on a couch, but I was elated for many years and truly enjoy my living room. I really thought Smithe was great. However, now I'm in a remodel phase and would like to keep the same lovely sectional but select another (light) fabric and have Walter E Smithe reupholster the couch. There is no need for me to purchase a new couch - the couch has only been lightly used. For a company that advertises so much and claims to provide custom orders, they now disappoint! --- they decline to reupholster the very same furniture they custom-sold me years ago! They said they DO reupholster furniture, but because I purchased a reclining sectional, they will not do it!!? I'm sorry, Smithe, ... as a customer who paid a high price for a sectional, I can't say I'm happy with your company today, in the long run!
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November 2023 by Roberta L.
Update on Walter E Smithe! With persistence this company came through in the end. My new sectional that was delivered dirty? They cleaned it to my satisfaction. The called and apologized as well and gave me a non-expiring credit to purchase something in the future. I glad that their reputation means something to them, and with the help of Yelp reviews to nudge..... they did the right thing. Thank you Walter E Smithe!
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June 2023 by Susan Gulotta Marron
I want to give glowing stars to Kate McSherry who helped me select and order a table/chairs/rug/table pads/rug pad. My items safely arrived today and all I can say is they are even more elegant and beautiful than I expected. Mavin did a fantastic job with my table, chairs, and the fabric, so much love my table. And my Magnolia rug is luscious.Kate helped me choose the Mavin furniture and helped with the stain and fabric selection.I love all my itemsThank youKate works at the Walter E. Smith store located at 9615 Skokie Blvd, Skokie IL
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May 2023 by Susan M.
I want to give glowing stars to Kate McSherry who helped me select and order a table/chairs/rug/table pads/rug pad. My items safely arrived today and all I can say is they are even more elegant and beautiful than I expected.Kate helped me choose the Mavin furniture and helped with the stain and fabric selection. I love all my itemsThank youKate works at the Walter E. Smith store located at 9615 Skokie Blvd, Skokie IL
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May 2023 by Dee Dee Martin
Kate was my sales rep & she was amazing to work with. We ordered furniture back in December & just received it today. However, it was worth the wait and the delivery team Christen and Nicholas were super helpful and very professional as well. These guys worked hard and deserve a huge shout out!!
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May 2023 by Charlie XX
Went in over the weekend to find a dinning table for my new home. Nora was really friendly and helpful. She made us felt that she genuinely cares about helping her customer. I believe she has a degree in interior design as well, because she has good taste. Very happy with our visit.
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February 2023 by Ian Mackey
Bought a lounge chair and ottoman. Delivery was $119 on the ticket, then it was $199. "Oh, it just went up, sorry."I pick the chair up in Itasca, it is dusty and uncovered-no packaging. Nothing there is covered, looks like a yard sale. There is a small defect in the leather-the attendant just shrugged, said nothing.I called the store same day I got it home. They told me to call "warrantee services." They SHOULD HAVE arranged to replace it right then.Warrantee person insists on sending a leather repair guy over. I send them pictures. Unfortunately, they are 9-5 so I miss 1/2 day of work. Leather repair guys says, "it's a defect in the hide, can't fix it." I call the warrantee person immediately but she doesn't get back to me for 4 days then says she needs to talk to her manager and the leather repair guy. The next day she calls and says the leather repair guy said the damage was normal says it is an animal hide. I go ballistic on her (no swears or verbal abuse, just upset). She says. "We'll deliver another chair...but expect it may have imperfections because it is a natural hide."Unbelievable!Bob's Discount Furniture treats you better. Room and Board would have come that day and switched it out.
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December 2022 by Loan V.
I ordered a few furnitures from this place back in April/May. One of the custom China cabinet supposed to be delivered by Aug. Well, they then tell me it's September. Then November. They then told me it was shipped Nov 4th and will reach out to me for delivery in 2 weeks. End of Nov I reached out again and they say it was shipped Nov 28...( I guess they lied again) but okay whatever. Finally they called and say it can be delivered and I scheduled it for Dec 15. Today they called me and said it did not pass inspection so they can't make delivery because they have to call the vendor to see if they can send the replacement glass or if they need to order it all over again... I've been really patient with them too but the lady who I'm emailing ((Judy) nor the Laura who I'm talking on the phone don't even seem apologetic. I don't think I'll be doing business with them again.
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October 2022 by Darren Levey
The cost is high, almost nothing is available to purchase in store. And when we went to find a rock/glide chair the options were dismal. Not a bad store I suppose, bit we won't go back.
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October 2022 by Erin Booker
I am giving this review two stars because I want to be fair. Overall, I would say the main issue is that communication has been poor, from the start of our purchase to the delivery of most of our furniture.To begin with, we asked our designer to visit our home, while our contractor was still working on our remodel, to make a recommendation on the size of a chandelier. He did visit our home but did not give us the measurements until I called numerous times asking for them.Once we got past that issue, the design process, and recommendations the designers provided, were absolutely beautiful. We love them.However, we were not told that that 50% of the charges would be put on our 0% interest card immediately. Essentially, we paid for our furniture for MANY months before it arrived. We accepted the delivery delay, as we understood there were ongoing supply-chain issues. But it would have been nice to know about the financing requirements at the time of the order.So we were told that our order would be delivered in September or October. When we were not contacted by the end of September, I called and was told that all but two of our chairs were ready to be delivered. When I asked why I hadn't been contracted about them, I was told that I needed to ask for delivery of incomplete orders. No one at Walter E. Smithe ever told me that was an option.Fast forward to yesterday. When the delivery truck and crew of three brought the furniture, I greeted one of the drivers at the door. I showed him where the furniture would go, and the items that needed to be moved. He did not listen to me but immediately started unrolling the pad for our new area rug. I asked him if it was too big for the room, as it seemed too large to me.They continued to roll out the rug, place the furniture, and within 10 minutes were literally running out of my home. They were so fast that they left my front door open, plastic wrap from the rug on my floor and random pieces of furniture in the room. They even left one of their jackets on our post.Besides the furniture not being placed in its proper place, the most concerning issue was that they left many wrinkles in the rug.I called Walter E. Smithe to request that the delivery crew return to smooth out the rug, collect the trash, and move the furniture to its proper place. Initially, the person supporting deliveries said this might not be possible. Eventually, after I stressed how disappointed I was about the delivery, she arranged to have the crew return. To their credit, they fixed the aforementioned issues. Although the rug still has wrinkles, they were too argumentative and unwilling to deal with it, that I gave up and let them leave. They kept saying it needed a few days to settle because it had been rolled up on a bolt for months. Furthermore, all three of the delivery men were openly hostile, which made having them back in our home quite uncomfortable.I doubt my family and I will ever order from Walter E. Smithe again. While I am so impressed by the skills and support of the designers, I am not willing to use a company that accepts more than $20,000 of my money months ahead, only to treat me like delivering my furniture is an inconvenience to them.
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May 2022 by S K
Extremely poor customer service at the Skokie location. I had a sales associate who barely spoke English who got irritated when I asked for clarification on what she was saying. She incorrectly told me on my first visit that a $12,000 sectional had down feathers, but it did not. When I asked her to double check this, she took it personally and became passive aggressive with me during my time at the store. It was really a strange experience. It turned out she had been wrong and it was indeed a synthetic blend. She then refused to work with me after I pointed out the error and Julie the manager was not much better as she was visibly irritated that she had to step in. Even more bizarre -this sales woman with the heavy accent would not give Julie the quote we had been working on, even when Julie asked her for it. Totally unprofessional behavior from this location leaving one with the impression that Walter E. Smith is a cheap and tacky place with incompetent staff.
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February 2022 by Diane M
Love Walter Smithe furniture and have purchased all my living room furniture from WS. Better quality, unique designs and consultants who will assist with the coordination of the furniture. Consider WS to be an upscale/higher priced furniture store. With that being said I think the dress code for some of the associates at the Skokie location needs to change for the better. Very shocked to see associates wearing worn out jeans with a disheveled look. Not a good representation for Walter Smithe furniture.
