August 24th 2011 (37 weeks 5 days),
Hello followers/ Internet readers,
This post is mainly for informative purposes when buying baby furniture in Montreal. As first time parents, my husband and I wanted to make sure Noah would get a secure, solid and cute furniture set. Our room wasn’t too big, so we just wanted a bassinette and a changing table with drawers. We started by looking at Baby r’us. What we didn’t like about it was the price vs. quality of the products. Some of the sets we looked could easily scratch and cost around 1000$. We just wanted a set, so at first we picked a set there. It was a cherry red wood bassinette with a changing table and it cost us about 800$. Not too bad. Then when we checked out, the cashier asks us “hmm, what kind of car do you drive?” So we said “a Honda Accord.” She looked at us and said “that’s too small, the changing table comes assembled.” Great…Can we get it delivered? The answer was “yes” but they could charge us anywhere from 80$ + Hmmm…great. We took it but as soon as we left the shop we had that “that doesn’t feel right” feeling. You know, the same feeling you get when you buy something that you know you will regret. I got furniture just because I didn’t want to shop around and I knew I would regret it…so we returned it. So, conclusion with Baby r’us: Nice furniture, okay selection but very expensive for the quality you actually get. Also, delivery is crap.
Then, I was looking online for baby furniture and I found a place called Bo Bébé. I would like to start by saying that they have a lot of choices and that the quality of their furniture depends on what you are willing to pay. The husband and I were pretty pleased by their cribs and changing tables. Honestly, it was cute and for what we were willing to pay the quality looked amazing. We also had the option to mix and match sets and we can order it in the same color. We choose the “oak” color in a certain collection (can’t remember the name) but we were still looking for a changing table and that’s where it all went wrong.
We were looking at a changing table from the same collection when we read on the tag that it said “Only available in white and moka.” In our mind we think “Damn it, we want it in oak.” That’s when a sales person came to see it. She asked if everything was okay and I told her “yeah, everything is okay, we found a crib but we are looking for a changing table. We love this one but it’s not available in oak.” She then proceeds to ask “But…how do you know it’s not available in oak? Do you work here?” My husband proceeded to say “It’s written on the tag.” We both laughed, a nervous laugh and she just proceeded to say “Let me go check.” Turns out she had three oak changing tables left. Amazing, we took one along with the crib. Once we got to the cash the drama began. I asked about the sizes of the boxes and whether or not we could bring them in the car. She had to call sales woman and ask her. She replied that the boxes were way too big and that there was no way we could fit it in the car. Okay. The odd thing is that on the crib there were the dimensions of the box and honestly, I was sure it would fit. So I asked her if we could see the boxes and try to fit them (maybe not together, but one at a time). She said “absolutely not because the boxes have to be brought down from the third level down to the first.” Okay, so it’s impossible to see the boxes. At that point I just told her “Nevermind, we’ll cancel the transaction.” Something just sounded extremely fishy…When I said that, she became much less rude and instead told us “but why will you cancel it? We will try everything to make it fit in your car if that’s what you like. We can have it roped to the top of the car and see how it will go.” After calming myself and after my husband convincing me that I had gone too far we decided to take it. We asked how much delivery would be. So the cashier asked a manager who just replied “hmmm, make it 60$ and add 10$ per piece of furniture” And she then looked at me and said “I strongly suggest you getting the delivery because if you take it yourself and it’s scratched we won’t refund.” EXCUSE ME? First you make up a price out of your A…Mind! And then you tell me that if the furniture is damaged it’s MY fault? Whatever. I didn’t want to argue. We took the delivery and done. It cost us more than at Baby r’us but we agreed that we preferred the furniture. Then, for the delivery to occur we had to contact a certain Angela…WE had to call her. Okay.
This was on Saturday, so I let the week end pass by and called Angela on Monday. Someone said she was busy and that she would call me back. Tuesday I still hadn’t got any news. Called back Wednesday. Nada. Same message “Angela is busy, she will call back.” So Thursday I had enough. I called and said that I had been calling since Monday and that she better call back today!” Here is the dilemma; we had 7 days to get a refund and 30 days to get a store credit. So, we either needed to get the furniture before Saturday to make sure everything was okay or gamble the risk that something would go wrong and that we would have a 900$ store credit at a store that was crap. At that point, I was sure that Angela was just making sure to delay our delivery.
Angela ended up calling Thursday night and she set the delivery according to where we lived. The delivery truck would only pass by in two weeks near our place. I told her at that point that I was going to get a refund and nevermind. She told me “really? You purchased the furniture and you’re going to get a refund because of the delivery date?” What sounds so odd about that? She said she would still keep me down and hung up. Thanks lady.
Friday we went there and asked for a refund. Everything went well. The manager came and spoke to us saying “Is it because of a problem here? Did you see the same model less expensive? Did you get bad service? We can fix that, just tell me.” No. I just want my money. I don’t want to deal with this crappy company anymore. Oddly enough, at the same time there was a mom-to-be trying to get a refund for a baby sear. I wasn’t there for the whole story but the mom was madly pissed. She was telling the owner that she was 8 months pregnant and not wanting to deal with this stupid drama anymore…I can somewhat understand her. So, conclusion for Bo Bébé; Great prices, good selection, crappy service. Don’t go there for something that you cannot bring home yourself and if you happen to take something home in your car/ van/ SUV, open EVERYTHING there and make sure NOTHING is missing. I’ll never go back.
After that we were pretty desperate to find a good set for Baby Noah. We came to the conclusion that we would shop around but not be seduced only by a nice set. We went to Meubles Clément in Laval and we weren’t at first impressed with their selection. We did however find a nice set that we would get. Next step: check for delivery or if we could take it in the car. We couldn’t take it right away because there was only one changing table available in the color and model we wanted and it was in Quebec city. They would have to bring it to Laval first. So we asked for delivery and she said; we’ve been in business for three generations and we really know how to manage our things (I think she sensed our hesitation). Delivery was 60$ and that included assembling the furniture and making sure everything was okay. Also, compared to Bo Bébé, they didn’t ask for all the money right away. She asked for a deposit and the rest would have to be paid at delivery. So we agreed and within a few days THEY contacted us for the delivery. We picked a date together and a time and once the day arrived they were there early. We actually weren’t home but my mom was. She only said nice things about the men who came to install the furniture AND they gave us the mattress for the changing table along with a dinosaur toy. Why, thank you. Conclusion for Meubles Clément; AWESOME service, good quality and good prices. The selection for cribs is somewhat restricted though. Much more choices for toddlers beds. We loved the overall experience and I’ll post pictures of the crib and changing table. They just match the room very well.
