Really 2.5 stars. Expensive and snooty, with good products but varying customer service.
10 years ago I purchased a bunch of fabric to reupholster a club chair and a sofa. After destroying some of the fabric on the sofa I knew it was time to have new cushions made. The first thing I did, was get new foam at the Foam Outlet. (See my Foam Outlet review). I then contacted Calico to see but they still had the same fabric that I have used 10 years ago. The person I spoke to on the phone was able to pull up my old order and told me that they did in fact still have the same fabric available.
Mainly out of convenience, I decided to have Calico do the cushion reupholstering, so I went to the store to buy the fabric and give them my cushions. When I arrived arrived, employees were unable to find my previous order. I told them that I had called several days earlier, and that they were able to tell me all of the details so that it must be somewhere. Unfortunately, they were never able to find that record. Thankfully though, because I had the cushions with me they were able to figure out which fabric I needed. The employee, whose name I do not recall, measured my cushions and got me all set up to send them away to be reupholstered. This employee was very nice and friendly.
Both the fabric and the reupholstering were very expensive compared to other estimates I had received. However, I did have a 30% off coupon, which is really the only reason I decided to have them do the work. Even with the coupon, the store was on the pricey side. I paid my 50% deposit and went on my merry way.
I was told the work would take 6 to 8 weeks and my wait began. After about seven weeks I noticed that the second half of the charge have been applied to my credit card. However, I had not received any call letting me know that the work was done. I waited several days and then finally called Calico myself to asked if my work was done since my credit card has been charged. I was told that the work was done and that my cushions had been back in the store for several days. I inquired as to why I was not informed, since I could have picked the cushions up and began using them instead of sitting on the floor, and was told that they had not had time to call me. Now I've been in this store many times, and it is never that busy. This was a complete BS excuse.
Nonetheless, after a couple of days I was able to get into the store to pick up my cushions. When I arrived to the store, the employees could not have been less interested, nor could they have had their noses any further up in the air. I guess I didn't look like their normal Main Line housewife demographic, despite the fact that I had already paid and had work done. When I finally got an employee to help me she retrieved my cushions from the back and asked me to sign for them. I told her I would as soon as I actually took a look at the work. For some reason, this seemed to frustrate her. When I removed the cushions from the bag that they were in, there were kind of dirty. I pointed this out to the employees and she blamed it on static electricity. How cushions could get dirty from static electricity while inside a plastic bag is beyond me. Realizing that it would only take some vacuuming to clean them up, I signed for the cushions. I then mentioned that I had never actually received a call letting me know that the work has been done which was disappointing. The employee basically ignored me.
When I got home I spent 10 to 15 minutes cleaning up my brand new cushions. Since they were brand new, this is something I should not have had to waste my time on. The upholstery work itself is pretty good. But the customer service is really lacking.
In the future, I would consider using them again for fabric, and maybe for reupholstery, but only with a huge coupon. And if I walked in for service and was treated the same way I was when I picked up my cushions, I would walk right out and go elsewhere. read more