Matter Brothers Furniture & Design — Local services in Siesta Key

If I could give this company zero stars I would. Know that Matter Brothers does not stand behind what they sell in their store, they will pass you off to customer care, they will pass you around like a hot potato, they will do everything possible to avoid admitting that an inferior product was sold to you in comparison to what they show you will be getting on the floor. I even had the customer care rep say to me that "the sofa will not look like the sample swatch sometimes." Then why the hell are we given swatches to chose from if it will not look anything like the swatch? Paid $7k for a Natuzzi sofa and love seat. Upon delivery it looked nothing like the swatch I had chosen. I call the store manager to tell him there is a problem with the material, he passes me off to sales rep and says start there. When I go to the store to address this with the sales rep she tells me I got what I ordered and then proceeds to get me swatches of what I ordered. When she showed me the swatches I was convinced more than ever that it was not what I had order. Her response to me was "what do you want to me to do about it." I told her I wanted a sofa that represents what I selected not some strange brown sofa that looks like it came from Home Goods. She goes in back to talk to non-existent manager who won't even address this and comes back tells me they will send someone from customer care to look at it. Customer care comes to my house, takes pictures, writes down what I am pointing out, won't even look at sample swatches, tells me how to keep sofa clean??? Says "yes, I can see what you are talking about." Leaves telling me someone will be in contact with me, of course no one calls and I have to call. This is where I get the story from the rep that sofas do not always match swatches, I told her I went back to the showroom and every sofa on the showroom floor had perfect pieces stitched together, where as my sofa looks like a quilt of remnant pieces of damaged leather. No two pieces stitched together look alike, scratches, puncture marks, weird veining. All they will state is that is the natural characteristic of leather. In the end customer care tells me there is nothing they can do as they only make repairs and why isn't the store manager dealing with this? Exactly, why isn't the store manager dealing with this instead of passing me around! Sales rep doesn't care since she has made her commission. So now Palladio will be getting in contact with me? Once again I am being passed off. So know that Matter Brothers will avoid you, ignore you, and pass you around if there are issues. Customer satisfaction does not even factor in to the equation for them once they take your money. I called the manager today but he is out of the office, so now I have to spend another day on the phone tomorrow to try to get this sofa returned and another sofa that looks like what I had ordered. UPDATE 12.7.18 My husband went yesterday to speak to the store manager in person who again, tried to avoid the whole conversation. My husband was not belligerent but simply stated what is going on, what the leather looks like, and how none of the leather sofas in the showroom have the markings, veining, scratches and puncture marks like ours does. His response is "what do you want me to do?" In response my husband made the offer that if Matter Brothers backs the product that they are selling, the quality, and more than we will be more than happy to let them take our new sofa as a showroom model and will will take the used model off the floor in lieu of the new set...no response. Manager stated he would call us tomorrow. Get the call a few moments ago and manager states that someone from Natuzzi will contact us on Monday. When I ask them what does Natuzzi plan to do? He states they will set up a time to come and look at it. So again, we are...

Wow. What a furniture store! Upon entering, we were greeted warmly by Cynthia, who answered a few questions as to store layout, and then...let us breathe. As we went about our business, she would check-in with us appropriately. No high-pitch sales pressure, yet interaction laced with professionalism and care, which made us feel important. Cynthia had good recommendations as to color and choice of surface types, too. Overall experience was pleasant and joyful, certainly from her, yet from manager Sean too. Selection? Perfect for Florida! After purchase? Good follow-through from Cynthia, and their white-glove home delivery crew, on two occasions. Sidebar -- furniture stores are on every corner in Sarasota, right. Take the time to visit Matter Brothers off Clark, and if you're lucky, you'll be greeted by Cynthia. She'll take care of ya, for sure! And for the record, we spent $10,000 that day, which is not common. Nice for us, Matter and Cynthia. We waited +10 years to make this purchase! Also, for the record, we left a furniture store in Manatee with "furniture" prominently in their name after being abandoned by a young sales rep who made the mistake of directing her attention (midway through our Q&A) to a pushy client she clearly thought was going to be a bigger spend. NOTE: the bedroom set we purchased at Matter was identical to the one offered by this competitor. As we were leaving empty handed, this sales rep was helping load two framed pictures into the back seat of the pushy client's car. No sour grapes here, Google Review friends - just pointing out the fact that "customer service" is what separates marginal companies from good ones. Matter and Cynthia have earned our business. Not that we're going to drop that kinda' cash anytime soon, but respect goes both ways, 'eh! Matter, you have our endorsement, and we might just drop by to purchase a couple framed pictures too, to complete an already stunning bedroom and...

I walked in the store at around 2pm yesterday...(the day after memorial day) I was in my work clothes, covered in paint and a bandana because I had been working outside. I guess I didnt look like I could afford the furniture there because of my appearance. I walked around looking at stuff and not one single sales person acknowledged my presence. It wasnt until about the 20 minute mark, a guy walked past me, asked if anyone was helping me...I said "no", and he responded with "ok...just wanted to make sure you were taken care of"...Apparently, he didnt understand the word "no" or just didnt care, because he just disappeared and I was still left roaming alone for another 15 minutes before I realized I was wasting my time., never again to be asked if I needed assistance. I guess the people re-arranging the displays found that to be more important.

I was in work clothes...which means I work. Which is why I was able to buy a home that I just closed on 2 weeks ago. And guess what my new home needs??? FURNITURE. I was ready to purchase a leather couch and quite possibly a couple of other things for my new house., as this was about the 8th furniture store I have been to in the past week and I really liked what I saw there. Sadly, the search continues.

So heres a tip for future reference: What you look at isn't always what you see.

UPDATE: After my original review, John Matter contacted me personally and apologized for my experience in his store. That meant a lot to me. Its not often an owner will step up. This shows me he is hands on and actually does care about his reputation and his customers. I ended buying a beautiful leather Natuzzi sofa from one of his other stores (Florida Leather Gallery)for a very fair price. "Big" Nick took great care...