Interior Define — Local services in Chicago

Buyer beware, and WORTH THE READ. I purchased a couch here a year ago - my experience in the store was just OK. I specifically asked for their most durable fabric, as I knew I wanted to purchase a couch that would last for a while. Once it arrived, it was smaller than I had expected (which was my error - not on them). I called and asked if I could order another cushion spot to put in between my cushions, so I could expand the size. I was quickly talked in to purchasing a larger couch all together. Again, I am the one that signed the dotted line, so this is my error. Where things went south: My sales/design consultant (mis)informed me that I would have to pay a 10% trade in fee, but 100% of it would be reimbursed if I donated my current couch. I thought: amazing! I get a new couch, AND its for a good cause! Done and done. Months later, I received my couch (made in china, but made in US prices) and noticed the refund hadn't hit. After weeks of trying to get ahold of my design consultant (to no avail), I reached out to Customer service to ask them to help out. It's important to note that my design consultant had no interest in helping me past the point of a commission.

Once cust. service issued my refund, I noticed it was NOT 100% of the fee. I believe it was 3%. I was mis-sold. Pretty shady that they collect a fee to begin with, since I was already paying well over $1000 to upgrade to a larger couch.

It doesn't end there. I received my couch at the end of February, and by mid-April, I noticed my couch start to deteriorate to the point of looking as though it was 10 years old. The fabric started pilling AND fading, and the cushions completely lost their structure. We barely even use the couch, so this is pretty worrisome. I reached out to cust. service to ask my options. A very curt man answered and told me it wasn't his problem, and asked that I email my issues in to support @ interior define. Okay, fine. I received a response saying 'pilling is normal' - yes, thank you, I read the FAQ.. but fading, extreme pilling, and complete loss of structure is NOT normal for a 2 month old couch. I told them I'd be willing to exchange the couch as opposed to ask for a refund (ideal for them, as they wouldn't be losing money on a refund).

They finally 'conceded' and told me as a FAVOR (thx), they'd let me trade my couch in again this one last time. Magically, my design consultant became readily available (replied to my email in RECORD time and answered my call on the first ring!) since a commission was in play again! She rushed me through the new order, and once again, told me that there is a trade in fee. I asked her if I donated this couch, if I could again get a refund. She said she thought so, but she'd let me know once she asked her boss (she never got back to me on this). She offered me the "buy now, design later" option so that I could place the couch order, and pick a fabric later.

She gave me my new total, which was about a $700 difference, and I asked her TWICE if that was WITH taxes and fees all associated. She assured me it was. I begrudgingly (again, why am I paying more to get a couch that shouldn't be falling apart?) agreed. 2 days later, I notice on my credit card statement that the $700 really was closer to $2000. Yes, two thousand dollars. At the sake of sounding like Ja Rule, I was completely bamboozled.

You guessed it, my design consultant vanished into thin air again. I reached out to her several times, asking A. if the fee would be reimbursed (since she said she'd let me know ASAP), and B. where this gigantic price discrepancy was coming from. She never got back to me. After SEVERAL emails and calls in to cust. service, we collectively decided to cancel the order (they weren't budging on the fee), and order replacement cushion covers for $50. Fine. What they failed to mention was the $150 shipping fee (WHAT?!)

Needless to say, I cancelled everything all together. So I am stuck with a 4 month old couch that looks 10 years old. Take this into account if you are considering buying a...

Would NOT recommend. Shady business practices! As of today lead times for orders on the website are advertised at 14-16 weeks but my 10-14 week lead time advertised back in JUNE was pushed to 18-20 WEEKS!

My experience in a nutshell: once order was placed communication was nonexistent, order kept getting delayed (they did not proactively tell me this), 14 week end of lead time passed and was told would be another 4-6 weeks minimum, offered an offensively low refund for compensation or cancel for full refund and I went with the full refund.

Experience in detail: I placed a $2k order online for a couch and ottoman on 6/28 with an advertised lead time of 10-14 weeks, which we were fine with. The 14 week deadline was 10/7/20.

6/28 - order confirmation email from ID 7/4 - order preparation email from ID 7/14 - order production email from ID 10/9 - I cancelled my order

And that’s all the correspondence I received from ID that was not initiated by me. I reached out a handful of times between July and October to check on my order. On 9/19 I checked in on my order as the deadline was a few weeks away and I hadn’t received any updates about my order. The associate told me that my order will be delayed and they’re expecting a late October arrival to my home and they would have a specialist follow up with me to keep me updated. Late October? Fine, I can handle a couple more weeks. The specialist never followed up, and on 10/8 after the 14 week deadline after hearing nothing I reached back out. The associate then said that the order was further delayed and it actually wouldn’t get to my home until mid-November (no guarantees). They said my order was on the water (website said it was still in production) and that it wouldn’t arrive into the US until 11/3, almost a month after the 14 week mark, and would spend a few days in customs before taking another 1-2 weeks for delivery. This was obviously disappointing, as that would make the total lead time 18-20 weeks. They said I can request a partial refund once the order was delivered and after some back and forth they then offered a 10% refund now or a full refund cancellation. I asked if they could expedite shipping once it gets to the US and they said no, I asked for a greater refund amount that better reflected the situation and they said no. At this point I was so upset with dealing with them and had zero confidence my order would be delivered as they said that I opted for the refund, which was thankfully processed promptly.

My opinion: I wish that I had done more research into this company before placing my order. It is shady to be asking for customers to pay for a custom order in full months in advance, go radio silent, and keep pushing back the lead times. I felt misled about their advertised lead times, which in truth are several weeks longer than published. I felt disappointed that no one reached out to inform me of any status changes or delays. I understand that delays happen especially in these uncertain times, but it was handled so poorly with so little communication and there’s really no excuse for that. All in all, a bad experience and I regret having spent 14 weeks waiting for a mediocre couch only to cancel and purchase a couch elsewhere. Don’t regret your experience like I did, buy your...

I DO NOT RECOMMEND ORDERING ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY! If I receive a refund I'll post an update.

June 2023: Still no news regarding a refund. I understand that a new company purchased the rights to Inferior Define but they knew it came with strings attached. They even removed any mention of filing a claim or status updates from their website. I don't think I'll ever be reimbursed. Very disappointed.

April 2023: The new company had the audacity to contact me asking if I'd like to re-purchase the piece of furniture that I haven't received or haven't been reimbursed for... while mentioning that they couldn't do anything about the status of my claim. Their only advice was to try and see if my bank can give me back the money as they can't guarantee I'll be reimbursed from the claim either. My bank is under no obligation to fix their wrongdoings and confirmed there is nothing they can do to get my money back.

March 2023: Through a link, that I had to check on my own, I learned that my order will not be fulfilled. In order to potentially receive my money back I have to file a claim. After filing a claim, they mentioned that I won't know if I will, or will not, get my money back until the end of June. I understand that this company was sold but I'm pretty disappointed that I was never proactively contacted by the new company regarding anything to do with my order. And that I still might not get my money back after going through all of this.

February 2023: They've already pushed back the date to contact customers to February 10th.

January 2023 Update: News to me! They sold the company and might not fulfill my order. Was I contacted via email or phone? Nope. I only found out when I went to check my order status and saw a tiny link at the top left part of their website. TBD on whether or not my order will be fulfilled but I "should be contact by February 1st", pretty upset I wasn't contacted upon SALE OF THE COMPANY. Will I even receive a refund if they cancel? Decreasing my review down to 1 star.

*November/December 2022 Update: Delivery already pushed back to end of June 2023, a month delayed from what they originally quoted me.

*October 31st, 2022 Update: Ordered 1 Maxwell chair with an expected delivery date of 22-30 weeks out, longest timing should be May 30th, which they were honest about up front. I appreciate the communication regarding the long lead time.

*August 28th, 2022 Update: Two people at ID have reached out to get the correct swatches sent. I’ll continue to update with progress.

I can’t even get them to send me the right fabric swatches. Out of 2 attempts, and 22 swatches, I have only received 3 out of the 10 fabrics I actually chose. Additionally, ID keep sending fabric types that don’t work well for cat owners, which I specifically wanted to avoid and never chose in the first place. This is not a good first impression and makes me wonder what would happen to an actual order. I’m really disappointed as I love a few of their chairs but they’ve lost my trust. I’ll take my...