Kendall has been upgrading our fine furniture website during his winter break from college.   He’s giving it a “new look” in response to your requests.  His project is step 1 in a larger website upgrade project that Loryn and Neville are engineering.  Check in next week to preview the new design.  Then let us know what you think!

Kendall’s been home from college during his Christmas vacation so we put him to work with Loryn and Neville re-designing the look of our fine furniture website.  Actually this is a project he started a year ago during last year’s holiday break, but it proved to be a more complex task than we anticipated.  So Kendall’s been working it on and off while at school, but in earnest these last few weeks.  We’re hoping to have the final touches put on the new website design next week.

I think you’ll like it.  Kendall has cleaned up the clutter and created more space for what our customers have said is most important: photographs of our furniture.  He’s also expanded the section of our website devoted to our green mission (forest conservation).  And we’ve tried to make it easier to navigate by placing the shopping navigation menus on the top of the screen (not on the left side anymore).  We’ve also added social media buttons (Facebook, Pinterest, Share, etc.) to help you bookmark or share the furniture you like best.

The “new look” is just a first step in responding to your requests for a better online shopping experience.  Neville and Loryn are hard at work upgrading other features of our fine furniture website, equipping it with even more photos and making it faster, easier and more intuitive to use.  Check in often over the next couple months and let us know what you think of our online upgrades.  We’ll look for your comments below or on our Facebook.

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After you purchase fine furniture at Vermont Woods Studios, your order is in the hands of Liz, Sean and Heather– our Customer Service Team.  In spite (or because) of their occasional joking around, I don’t think you could find a more capable team to look after your interests and ensure a safe, smooth delivery to your home…          -peggy

Though I proudly work as a customer service representative at Vermont Woods Studios, like most everyone here, I have multiple responsibilities- like coordinating our shipping department.  When I say ‘department’, I mean  myself and ample help from my co-workers, Heather and Sean.  And when I say ‘coordinator’ it should be understood I’m not blanket wrapping or boxing furniture or doing any heavy lifting (in the physical sense)- no, my job more consists of generously detailed spreadsheets conveying who has what going where.  Of course, this is the most plain way to relate the job of shipping coordinator- behind every spreadsheet entry is a person that myself or one of my close seated co-workers has likely spent time helping to carefully select the furniture destined to become heirlooms in their lives.

Perhaps you’ve been one of these people or you soon will be.  Either way, you may be curious what happens after the phone calls and email exchanges are done and your furniture crafting is under way.  I’ll start by saying you are never forgotten.  There may not be a group of Einsteins providing customer service here (though we certainly know a heck of a lot about furniture) but we have an inspired sense of memory when it comes to recalling individual customers- their personalities, orders and  particular needs.

Order processing, peer checking, communicating with craftsmen, booking delivery and the occasional office party barely begins to highlight the ins and outs of our department.  Want to explore the caverns of the Vermont Woods Studios world?  Check back every other week for a detailed (possibly wordy) exploration of our day to day.  Next week features  Behind the Veil: Customer Service- Part Two; the surprisingly interesting (in the opinion of some) order processing process.

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All of our furniture is made to order in small and medium-sized woodworking shops around our state.  Furniture makers work with great care and precision to make sure their pieces leave the workshop in tip-top condition. The last thing we want is to have to ask them to make something over again because it got broken by a shipper.  Not to mention that receiving damaged furniture is a huge let down to our customers and totally unacceptable by any measure.

So over the years we developed a policy where (unless it was something small or a customer absolutely needed a RUSH delivery) we ship furniture via a white glove delivery service.  With white glove delivery, furniture is handled by only one company from the time it is picked up in Vermont until the time it's set up in a customer's kitchen, home office, dining room or bedroom. 

The delivery crew arranges a convenient time for delivery several days in advance.  They arrive at a customer's home in uniform, bring the furniture inside, unpackage it, help inspect it and set it up (including assembly, if any).  For fine furniture I've always felt this is the only acceptable shipping solution.

Our new partner, Copeland Furniture, however is beginning to persuade me that it's possible to engineer a successful DIY (do-it-yourself) furniture delivery system that will save customers money. Copeland has made significant advances in the art, science and technology of fine furniture packaging and shipping over the last couple years.  They are now the world leader in safe, efficient, economical fine furniture shipping. 

So, for Copeland furniture only we now offer free shipping and do-it-yourself (DIY) delivery as a more affordable option for customers who are willing and able to handle their own delivery.  With DIY delivery, your furniture is brought to your doorstep where you must unpackage and inspect it yourself, then sign for it.  You are responsible to bring your furniture into your home and assemble it, if needed.  For chests, dressers and desks, there is typically no assembly required, with the exception of drawer and door knobs.  With beds and tables, you must assemble them yourself– and easy directions are provided.

Customers can save an average of $300 with a DIY delivery.  If you're interested, just give us a call or specify DIY as your choice in the pull-down menu for shipping when you're making an online purchase.  Of course, Copeland furniture can also be purchased with white glove delivery for an additional fee.  You can specify that on the pull-down menu as well.  Either way, if you're purchasing furniture online be sure to review the applicable Furniture Delivery and Inspection procedures to protect yourself in case of any possible problems down the road.

We are eager to get your feedback on this new method of shipping.

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Hi Rebecca:

Tom from Clark & Reid left about 20 minutes ago. He was running early and was able to make the delivery at noon instead of 3:00pm.  And
when he said noon, boy, he meant noon. He drove up a few minutes before
12:00, was very courteous, efficient, unloaded, assembled, cleaned up
and was done in under 45 minutes.  Oh and what about the furniture?  It's
great. It looks a little pale now but once the cherry darkens a bit
over time it'll look just like the photos on your website.  Yes, it was worth the wait (just don't tell my co-workers I said that).  As a matter of fact, I am taking photos back to work so they can see "the goods" (a very demanding lot).  Once again, thank you for keeping me informed as to the status of the furniture and the delivery. I appreciate the
customer service.  Thank you, EW

P.S. is it possible to purchase another leaf for the table? Just curious.

The post Customer Testimonials appeared first on Vermont Woods Studios.

  
Quality, Style and Price – Shopping online opens up a whole new world of choices when it comes to furniture quality, style and price.  Even if you're planning to buy your furniture at a local brick and mortar store, you'll benefit from researching these options online and learning how they affect each other.  You can also get an idea of what prices are fair and reasonable, as prices for the same piece of furniture can vary unbelievably from store to store.

Customization – Big box stores don't typically offer customization but smaller local stores usually do and so do many online furniture stores.  A lot of our customers who live in Boston, Manhattan and other cities need to have their furniture customized to fit small spaces and we're happy to accommodate that.  Custom furniture is not necessarily any more expensive than catalog furniture, especially if we're working off an existing design that just needs to be sized up or down to fit into your space.

Lead Time – Buying furniture online often means factoring in additional lead time for crafting and/or shipping.  For example, at Vermont Woods Studios the average time between order placement and delivery to your home is about 6 weeks.  That can vary depending on the particular pieces of furniture ordered, the degree of customization and the customer's location. 

One last thing:  online furniture stores have had to really focus on customer service in order to survive.  The Internet provides such an accessible forum for reviews of our quality that there is no room for mistakes or less than stellar customer service.  This is a great thing for both customers and the industry.  It raises the bar for online and brick and mortar stores alike.

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