Walter E. Smithe Furniture & Design — Local services in Niles Township

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...

Update: Beth P., one of the designers at the Old Orchard store, was amazing! Her commitment to customer satisfaction emphasizes the Walter E Smithe moto of ‘you dream it, we build it’!

I was on the fence after my initial experience, She read my not-so-pleased review and reached out to see how she could help improve my experience. On the phone, she was very patient and empathetic. She listened to me, heard my reservations about visiting the store again, and my concerns with off white fabric on the piece I liked. She convinced me to give it another go. I stopped by a week ago and she showed me how easy keeping the off white fabric clean can be with Walter E Smithe fabric protection and use of the Smithe brand stain remover in case of an accident in the future.

She held my hand and helped me with my intended purchase with great and helpful recommendations. She ‘built my dream piece’!💕💃

Bottom line, I had a pleasant experience with Beth and ended up ordering the piece and think it will work perfectly for my space.

I am now excitedly anticipating its delivery in a few weeks.

My earlier comment that has now been overtaken by recent events (kept here for context and to show how communication can overcome a negative experience): Stopped by the Skokie Old Orchard branch to check out a specific type of furniture which they did not have in the color I wanted. After taking my contact info, the sales lady, - who I had to chase to get service, and then she sent wandering the store on my own encouraging me to let her know if I found what I wanted - promised she would send me some information to look over for different options.

It has been 2 and a half weeks and I have not heard back.

Hmmm, wonder why???? Maybe because this is just their style - ‘do not assist...

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...