The sales staff was very nice and we're happy with the final product, but the process was a nightmare and in retrospect was not worth it. I had high hopes based on a friend's experience, and perhaps it was naive of us to expect the project to be completed on time and on budget, and LL staff assured me that our situation was a fluke, and perhaps the fault lies with the subcontractor Elite Hardwoods, but I will never do business with Lumber Liquidators again.
Again, the floor is done now, and they get two stars because it looks great (however, judging from some of the other comments, my rating may drop by a star in a month or two). But the sales staff didn't order all the right materials or warn of potential problems, the installation staff imposed additional parts, labor, and schedule, and the three-day job dragged out for over six weeks and cost 20% extra.
Here's what happened, and what you should be prepared for:
*LL's quote beat the competition handily; we selected materials and finalized the purchase at the beginning of December. We were told that the installers would call to schedule the work within two weeks, and should be done by the time family visited at Christmas. Great!
*The warehouse called to say they received our materials but didn't have room for it and asked us to accept delivery early.
*The installers called AFTER Christmas.
*They scheduled Wednesday and Thursday with Friday just in case.
*After removing the carpet, the installers said the underflooring wasn't level and an auto-leveler was necessary. The sales office said it would be an additional $3500. The installers said it would take 24 hours and they'd use Friday to finish.
*The auto-leveler did not dry overnight or the next day. The installation scheduler said they would return Saturday, but then the crew vetoed that ("don't work weekends").
*Installers returned Monday to finish, but one of the staircase pieces hadn't been ordered.
*When the final piece was received, they came back the next day and discovered it was the wrong piece. The correct piece was ordered.
*After I called, and was told several times I'd receive status updates that never occurred, I finally spoke with a manager a full month after the installation begun who provided an expected delivery date for the final material.
*Installers performed final installation.
Elapsed time since initial order: two and a half months.
Total duration of installation: one and half months.
Good for the sales staff: had I known that I was buying not three days at $11K, but rather nearly three MONTHS at nearly $15K, I wouldn't have made the deal.
And again, I should have expected it to take longer and cost more.
And I could have babysat the crew the whole time so I didn't have to give them a key that they "lost."
And it's not necessarily true that the dust, noise, presence of strangers, and reconfiguration of all our furniture killed my cat through over-stress.
And finally, maybe these hiccups would have happened with another vendor if I hadn't hired Lumber Liquidators.
But I won't make any of these mistakes again.