LaChance Interiors Inc. — Local services in Gardner

8 January 2014

On a lovely day in August 2013, my companion Lev and I went to Gardner shopping for a new living room set. At LaChance we found a couch and two chairs which we both liked, and on August 26,2013 the order was placed, The sales slip said 6-8 delivery. Lev leaves for his winter home at the end of October so the furniture would arrive before he leaves – excellent! At eight weeks there was no furniture.

At week nine I called and spoke with a Diane who said perhaps it was on this week's truck delivery.

At week ten still no furniture and I placed another call. No explanation as to why the delivery of the furniture had not arrived....perhaps it was on the delivery truck I was told once more.....

At week eleven, we had a brunch with the entire family to say goodbye to Lev who was leaving for Florida, but of course we did not have the lovely new furniture for the living room, which was now emptied of the old furniture in anticipation of the new furniture to fill the space.....rather embarrassing......

At weeks twelve and thirteen I made calls to Diane - still no furniture and still no explanation as to why it was taking so long.

At week fourteen I called again and Diane told me a chair and the couch were in but not the second chair.

At week fifteen I called and said deliver the couch and one chair as Lev was due home for Christmas December 13th.We made the delivery date for December 7, 2013! When Diane called (the first call from her in these many long weeks) to confirm the delivery; she informed me both chairs and the couch would be delivered ,but the accent pillows were still not available.

Delivery was made December 7, 2013 – FIFTEEN weeks after the order was placed.

On January 5, I called Diane to ask about the accent pillows – 5 weeks after delivery of the couch and chairs. I was told they were in fact in and would be shipped shortly.

At no time except for the delivery set up did anyone on your staff call and give some explanation or status of the order.

No compensation was offered (i.e. free delivery) at anytime.

This has been a very frustrating experience and although we are quite happy with the furniture, it is highly unlikely that we would recommend you to our friends and family. It is also highly unlikely that we would do business with you ever again. This has been a very disappointing business...

JUST AWFUL LaChance Furniture in Gardner, MA has been my favorite place to furniture shop for many years. Due to my unfortunate recent purchase experience in March, 2015, I will never shop at LaChance Furniture again and, in addition, never purchase any piece of Century furniture. We purchased a Century furniture couch and loveseat for a summer home. After searching unsuccessfully at shops closer to home, we decided to take a day trip to Gardner, MA and stop at LaChance. Sure enough we found exactly what we had hoped to find and also chose a fabric with the help of a lovely saleswoman. Fast forward only about two and a half years later and we noticed the fabric on the couches had faded, both on the exposed casing and, strangely enough, on the underside of exposed casing. I called LaChance, they sent a representative to the house. The rep explained how some fabrics just fade. My issues with that explanation is twofold: we should have been told that the particular fabric we chose at LaChance could fade - had we been told this, we simply would have chosen another fabric. The second issue is that this fabric began to fade after only 2 years in the house. These two issues are completely unacceptable. The rep left the house and offered us a $250 credit for LaChance Furniture, which I have not used. I pursued this further and LaChance then sent a Century Furniture representative to the house. This rep gave me the same explanation as the LaChance rep but offered to take one of our casings and send it to the Century Furniture plant in North Carolina, who in turn would send it to the mill where fabric is made. The final answer from the mill was that this fabric fades. I accept the fact that some fabrics fade. I do not accept that a furniture store such as LaChance would not train their salespeople to discuss with prospective buyers the fact that there are many types of fabrics from which to choose – depending on content of fabric, some will fade quicker and easier than others. Again, we should have been told this at time of purchase. The fabric is now also pilling – we are now considering buying a new couch and love seat, needless to say, these pieces won’t be from LaChance Furniture nor will it be Century...

Not even a shell of its former self. I had (purposely past tense) been a patron of LaChance Furniture and, subsequently, LaChance Interiors for over 20 years. I LOVED Luke LaChance, Martha, Ann and Jim and still do. They are salt of the earth people who would give you the shirt off their backs. Every piece of furniture in my house has been purchased at LaChance (current and former ownership). Sadly, that chapter has come to a close. I can no longer support the inept and unprofessional staff or the obnoxious owner Bill Lee. They do not value their customers. They will try and charge you more after you have placed the order claiming they “made a mistake” when calculating your invoice (that has now happened to me twice and is against the law) and will not take responsibility for ordering your furniture wrong (twice) or delivering it...