Copenhagen Imports — Local services in Austin

I had one of the most bizarre exchanges with a salesperson than I’ve ever experienced.

I bought nearly $10K worth of furniture from Patrick over Memorial Day weekend and it was delivered about a week or so later. The table arrived with a crack in the tabletop and I was offered to have it fixed, replaced or refunded. Having spent $2K on the table alone, naturally I asked for it to be replaced with one that was not damaged. I waited about a month for the replacement to arrive and again, tabletop was already cracked just like the first one. The delivery guys apologized again and took pictures of the damage and said Patrick would contact me to make it right.

After waiting for a call back for more than a week, I called Patrick and left a message late last week to discuss. I did not receive a call back and thus I travelled back to the store today. I walked up to Patrick and said “so the 2nd one was broken” and he immediately said “oh I sent an email, we’re fixing the first one”. I told him that I didn’t receive an email (come to find out he sent it an hour prior) and that if I were to even consider accepting a $2K new table that had to be repaired, I wanted to inspect it first.

He then became visibly upset for what reason I don’t know and muttered something to the effect “well I had no control over how it got broke and this is taking up to much of my time. You can either get the repaired one, get the new one (which was a different design that I didn’t care for) or get your money back. I’m going to have to take the hit on commission for all this and I just don’t want to deal with it anymore.”

I was sort of in shock as somehow he seemed to imply that it was my fault for the table being delivered in a damaged state, twice.

Noticing that he was visibly shaking from his anger, I just calmly replied “you can refund my money”. He continued to act upset and said “they’ll come next Wednesday to pick it up.” I then explained to him that the pick up time wouldn’t work as I am flying out of the country that day and will not return for 2 weeks. He then told me “you’ll have to work it out with the delivery drivers”. I couldn’t believe he didn’t offer to schedule it when I would actually be available. I then asked “When will I have the money returned” and he said “you need to call us with your credit card number. We don’t keep those on file.”

It was quite clear that Patrick was in no frame of mind to be respectful and take ownership of the situation and so I just said “OK” and left the store. So here I sit with a damaged table and no apparent resolution. I was happy with my initial buying experience but clearly things have gone down hill very fast in a very weird way.

I’ll provide an update to see how Copenhagen continues to resolve...

Made our first purchase here after having visited the store perhaps 5 times in the past 3 years. To be fair, they carry some of the aesthetically most appealing furniture we could find in Austin—unfortunately Scandinavian is one of the very few styles to our liking but at the same time relatively rare. And the salespeople were friendly, responsive and thus easy to work with in general.

However, the quality of their furniture failed to match up to our expectations. We bought a dining table priced at $1000 but discounted because there were only a couple left. We loved its look, but it arrived with some loose planks and minor dings at first look. The manager offered some decent further discount for us to keep it, but we found out more issues right after the delivery guys left as well as in the next few days. The bulging veneer in particular, observed both along the edge of the tabletop and on the underside, made us question the longevity of the table if several craftsman issues were revealed while it was new. The veneer was soft and paper-thin, which could definitely not justify the original price, and because how cheap it appeared we wouldn't want to keep it even after considering the "deep" discounts.

So we decided to return it, which brought us another surprise. Their return policy stated that delivery fees were non-refundable, giving the illusion that they were the only cost to return. I was surprised to be told that a pickup fee equal to the amount of the delivery fee would also be subtracted from the refund. Not absolutely unreasonable, but it's reasonable to expect a customer who needed delivery in the first place to need pickup as well for return so they could have disclosed this additional cost with returns upfront. For me the cost of 2x the delivery fee (+ tax) to return a defective item is not exactly reasonable.

From our unpleasant shopping experience, I would encourage potential customers to check the build quality really carefully (don't be blinded by the pretty look), and thoroughly understand what to expect in the unfortunate event that you have to return something you could...

Update to my original review. I continue to love Copenhagen Imports as they know how to treat customers. They are kind, very professional, and took my issues seriously. I have since returned my table and will replace it with another. I received a full store credit. Thank you.

My review is specifically about the Brynn Dining Table. I was super excited to get this lovely table. We had to wait a couple months to get it. I have not used the table for dining since it was delivered. We have set a few items on the table, a lightweight cardboard box, mail, and a couple sacks of groceries. We have been careful, as the table looks fragile...and it is. I already have several scratches for not much activity. I am scared what would happen if you actually put a damp glass on it. It is much too fragile to be a dining table. It needs a different and more hearty finish. I am going to have to hire someone to see what can be done to make it usable. While Copenhagen furniture was open to repairing the scratches, I would have much rather be able to return the table. Now instead I will have to spend money change the finish, and even with that, I expect to have to buy a new one sooner than later. Not worth the money. The sales people at Copenhagen are awesome. I love this store and have bought multiple items from here over the years. This is the first time I have ever had a problem...