Design Within Reach ruined Christmas

Dear Design Within Reach,

You know what's worse than feeling like you've been tricked? Calling customer service looking for some consolation and instead getting an earful from Antoinette.

Yeah, I'm furious. I'm furious because it's Christmas Eve and that Eames® Wire-Base Table won't be arriving for Christmas. You know, that piece that I bought yesterday from your website (12/23), the one of a handful of pieces you specifically flagged for overnight shipping so that it would arrive before Christmas. You know, the piece that you actually knew wouldn't arrive by Christmas (because these particular pieces have a 4-6 week lead time) and yet was flagged anyway because, according to Antoinette, it was under $250.

That's right. Apparently you flagged items by price, not availability, which means I'm not the only poor soul who needs to scramble today. You took an otherwise stressful time and made it worse.

On one level, it's hard to believe that you couldn't apply better logic. How about flag items for next day deliver if they are in stock && can actually get there on time?

Instead, the onus is on me to know that you applied rather weird logic. According to Antoinette, I'm supposed to ignore the red type appearing only on certain items--not all, which made me believe you meant it-- that promised expedited shipping, and instead read the "fine print," which frankly I have yet to find on your site. In other words, I'm supposed to warily approach your specially placed red copy, looking for loopholes. This does not boost trust and confidence. In fact, you are encouraging me not to trust you.

To make matters worse, the shipping confirmation confirmed "overnight" delivery, but the order confirmation had a vague line that read, "In-stock orders ship from our warehouse in Kentucky and typically arrive anywhere in the continental U.S. within 7-10 business days..." That's why I called, only to find out about the even longer 4-6 week lead time.

I don't know what to make of this fiasco, to be honest. Let's agree that your web site ruined Christmas. Let's also agree that your emails that verify overnight shipping, yet also warn that in-stock items may take two weeks to arrive, don't even warn of the 4-6 week lead time. Let's also agree that the fact that no shipping confirmation will be sent once it does ship means that sometime between the end of January and the beginning of February an Eames piece will magically appear on my doorstep without me around to receive it.

I gotta be honest: this is not making me feel great about my purchase. In fact, it prompted me to search for "Eames Wire-Base Table" and discover other reputable dealers with the same item at the same price. It occurs to me that there is little reason to buy something like this from you except out of trust, which you have yet to earn.

-joanie