Anyone ever buy anything from "Realtime Furniture"?

[JayLove06]

I'm looking for a sofa and they seem to have good prices and have a nice modern style. I'm wondering what the quality is like. If you could recommend any other places that sell good quality modern furniture that won't break the bank, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

[speedyforme]

I bought a bedroom set from them. Very good quality, very reasonably priced IMHO. Service was good as well.

I've heard OK reviews and some good ones too so I guess it depends.

I would buy from them again.

[coolspot]

I'm looking for a sofa and they seem to have good prices and have a nice modern style. I'm wondering what the quality is like. If you could recommend any other places that sell good quality modern furniture that won't break the bank, I'd appreciate it.


Artzone in Scarborough and Concept Furnishings (not sure if that is the name) in Scarborough. Both are on Kennedy Avenue, south of Ellesmere.

Room Deco Furniture in Vaughan has a couple nice pieces mixed in with some very traditional pieces.

Otherwise there's a lot of stores downtown such as:

Pavillion
BLVD Interiors
Visitor Parking
Casalife (Great service)
West Elm
Decorative Dimensions

[amz155]

Maybe its just me but I went to Real Time on Tuesday and wasn't impressed at all with their showroom. Most of their bedroom sets were cheap quality, some even seemed worse than Ikea. I don't remember seeing anything in there that was actually made of wood. I didn't pay too much attention to the sofas as I was interested in bedroom furniture and dining room furniture. I also noticed tha ta lot fo their furniture seems to be of a "trendy" style. And they had a lot of stuff that would seem more appropriate in a condo. i didn't get the feeling that they were offering furniture that was made to last. Go see for yourself though.

[meow730]

I bought my dining chairs from Real Time Furniture and it was one of my worst customer experiences. The middle-aged, red haired sales lady is rude, lazy, and dishonest.

Summary of what happened:
-I went to the store and found a dining chair that I liked. But the one that was on display is a beige coloured. The chairs came in black, white, grey and beige.

-I wanted to grey coloured chairs, so asked to see a sample of the material - There was none.

-I asked if there was a picture from the manufacturer that had the grey colour - There was none.

-I asked if they could talk to the manufacturer and get a description of the grey (dark, medium, light) and also a picture - No respsonse for 2 weeks from the red hair lady.

-I called back and talked to the manager, saying the sales had not given me a response after 2 weeks.

-Manager said she will arrange to follow up with the manufacturer for a description.

-Manager ended up giving me the manufacturer's contact info.

-I contacted the manufacturer and they sent me a picture of the chair in grey.

-I liked the colour, so I ordered four chairs from them.

-Went to the store to pick up the chairs, weren't allowed to inspect them as they had been wrapped in multiple layers of foam.

-Material on the chairs were full of marks and indentations upon unwrapping them.

-Call one hour after picking up the chairs, and the red-hair lady refused to let us bring the chairs back to the store for a refund. Won't even let me speak to manager since she was "busy".

-I called back and complained to the owner and the manager as well the next day of her rude behaviour.

-Luckily, we were able to fix the marks/indentations on the fabric with our garment steamer.

-But I will probably never buy anything from them again.

[creamsoda]

I'm looking for a sofa and they seem to have good prices and have a nice modern style. I'm wondering what the quality is like. If you could recommend any other places that sell good quality modern furniture that won't break the bank, I'd appreciate it.


We bought a couch from them. We were semi-happy with it. Not the greastest construction, stitching was a bit uneven. Comfort was good, but not great. Price was reasonable, although I wouldn't say cheap. The couch looks good, but quality and workmanship is just mediocre. I found they had a lot of pieces that looked great, very stylish, but not comfortable, not that well made. We didn't have any issues with customer service - nothing stellar, nothing horrible.

Would I shop there again? At minimum, I would check them out.

[Civuck]

We recently had a good purchase experience of our dining room set from Sofa999 (http://www.sofa999.com/).

[JayLove06]

Thanks for the feedback. Seems like quality is an issue. I thought so

[Kissie]

I visited this store today and our of curiousity checked some reviews.
I too had horrible customer service from the middle-aged red-haired lady. I asked her for some quotes on some dining chairs and tables. I also asked to see some swatches which she claimed never to have had the them at all. Lucky for me, a soft-spoken, polite Asian man searched around some of the drawers and found them.
During the time she was finding the prices, it seemed like she was doing me a huge favour and she let out some annoyed sighs.
After looking at the quote, she not only calculated the taxes incorrectly, but also had the wrong items listed.
I did get a dishonest vibe, because after I asked her if that was the best price she can do, she lectured me on how they are the best-priced around and how they can't do anything more. She then said she can give me a 5% discount if I payed cash/debit. Thanks for the lecture.

BE VERY CAREFUL if she is helping you. In fact, ask for Chris or the young lady if she approaches you. You'll know who she is exactly because she is the one who is not smiling.

I will go back to that store, but I will insist that she does not help me. It seems like it is too much work for her.



I bought my dining chairs from Real Time Furniture and it was one of my worst customer experiences. The middle-aged, red haired sales lady is rude, lazy, and dishonest.
Summary of what happened:
-I went to the store and found a dining chair that I liked. But the one that was on display is a beige coloured. The chairs came in black, white, grey and beige.

-I wanted to grey coloured chairs, so asked to see a sample of the material - There was none.

-I asked if there was a picture from the manufacturer that had the grey colour - There was none.

-I asked if they could talk to the manufacturer and get a description of the grey (dark, medium, light) and also a picture - No respsonse for 2 weeks from the red hair lady.

-I called back and talked to the manager, saying the sales had not given me a response after 2 weeks.

-Manager said she will arrange to follow up with the manufacturer for a description.

-Manager ended up giving me the manufacturer's contact info.

-I contacted the manufacturer and they sent me a picture of the chair in grey.

-I liked the colour, so I ordered four chairs from them.

-Went to the store to pick up the chairs, weren't allowed to inspect them as they had been wrapped in multiple layers of foam.

-Material on the chairs were full of marks and indentations upon unwrapping them.

-Call one hour after picking up the chairs, and the red-hair lady refused to let us bring the chairs back to the store for a refund. Won't even let me speak to manager since she was "busy".

-I called back and complained to the owner and the manager as well the next day of her rude behaviour.

-Luckily, we were able to fix the marks/indentations on the fabric with our garment steamer.

-But I will probably never buy anything from them again.

[Darla B]

I have gone to realtime furniture to buy a sofa and had nothing but the best customer service. The ladies at the front desk were most helpful and cheery. and I recommend to anyone to shop there. And yes I have had my delivery date changed due to the supplier's demand, not because of the store, but that is to be expected in any store.

[coolspot]

I have gone to realtime furniture to buy a sofa and had nothing but the best customer service. The ladies at the front desk were most helpful and cheery. and I recommend to anyone to shop there.

This sounds like a shill response - especially since you're a one post user.

Hmm... Darla B, are you one of the sales people at Real Time Furniture?



And yes I have had my delivery date changed due to the supplier's demand, not because of the store, but that is to be expected in any store.


This line is especially fishy, customers deal with the store not the supplier... unless you're the sales person!

[RunnerForDeals]

This sounds like a shill response - especially this being a 1 post user?


Hmm... Darla B, are you one of the sales people at Real Time Furniture?

Yeah seems a little fishy to me, resurrecting a post 5 days old just to make your first post. If it is legit, welcome to the community, if it isn't legit, well that doesn't bode well for your store.

[JayLove06]

I'm struggling to determine wether these sofas are all the same

casalife:
http://www.casalife.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6935/.f?sc=17&category=11721

BLVD Interiors
http://www.blvdinteriors.com/cart/product.aspx?product=32SO234

Realtime:
http://www.realtimefurniture.ca/product_info.php?cPath=48&products_id=581

Look at the price differences.

[coolspot]

I'm struggling to determine wether these sofas are all the same


Yes most likely. Most furniture stores of the same category source their furnitures from the same manufacturers. I suggest you ask the sales person directly for the name of the manufacturer... Or try to get some model # out of them. With that model number, you should be able to google the maker of the sofa.

Once you get the maker, contact them and request a list of distributors in Toronto and then call around for the best price :)

BTW, service at Casalife is fantastic - and I think they have a 20 - 75% off sale right now. Prices are probably further negotiable if you try hard enough.

[Darla B]

This sounds like a shill response - especially since you're a one post user.

Hmm... Darla B, are you one of the sales people at Real Time Furniture?



This line is especially fishy, customers deal with the store not the supplier... unless you're the sales person!

I am new at this . I was told about this web from a friend of mine. And No I am not a sale person, I am a factory worker, but I did take the time to ask why my order was delayed for delivery. And that is the answer I was given. And if more people took the time to ask questions, they would find out that it is a one year manufacturer warranty through the supplier. Hence you do end up dealing with the supplier for damages or repairs. and I know this only because I asked. We all have different views and opions

[TYG3R]

My experience therewas okay...got a sofa and bistro table...dealt with Chris (I think, asian guy), he was really good, helpful took his time, knocked down the price a bit...our sofa was delayed 2-3 weeks...communication about the delaywasn't bad...delivery guys were pretty good...sofa quality (candian made) was okay...

Overall, experience wasn't bad, but nothing to write home about...I'd reccomend to at least check them out

[JayLove06]

My experience therewas okay...got a sofa and bistro table...dealt with Chris (I think, asian guy), he was really good, helpful took his time, knocked down the price a bit...our sofa was delayed 2-3 weeks...communication about the delaywasn't bad...delivery guys were pretty good...sofa quality (candian made) was okay...

Overall, experience wasn't bad, but nothing to write home about...I'd reccomend to at least check them out

OK in what way? Is the quality of the sofa not up to par? Bad stitching? Cheap quality? I'm asking because I'm considering a sofa there....it sounds good...

- Italian high grade leather all over.
- hardwood construction
- solid foam padding

[coolspot]

Italian high grade leather all over.


You should get the exact grade of leather, i.e.:

Full Grain
Split Grain
Aniline Leather
Semi-Aniline
Pigmented Leather
Reconstituted / Bonded

etc. etc. The type of leather makes a big different in terms of quality and price.

[Jswong21]

My experience therewas okay...got a sofa and bistro table...dealt with Chris (I think, asian guy), he was really good, helpful took his time, knocked down the price a bit...our sofa was delayed 2-3 weeks...communication about the delaywasn't bad...delivery guys were pretty good...sofa quality (candian made) was okay...

Overall, experience wasn't bad, but nothing to write home about...I'd reccomend to at least check them out

I realize that this post is old but I thought I give it a try. Can anyone elaborate whether sectionals from REALTIME Furniture are worth it? I am worried they will send the wrong product or it is damaged in transit and they wont make things right. Also, can anyone comment on the quality on the sectionals? In particular, I am very interested in purchasing the Jessica leather sectional. Thoughts please!

Heres the sectional:
http://www.realtimefurniture.ca/jessica-leather-sectional-pi-970.html?invis=6

[Stylez_517]

Yes the prices were better than the average retail. However their service was NON-EXISTENT.

Bought a couch there. Since it was a big purchase, I asked if it was possible to do a deposit then pay in full. Deposit was 30%. Christy, the "Sales Manager" according to her business card made a mistake and charged me the balance (70%) as opposed to the correct deposit amount (30%). She said that if I wanted the difference back, I would need to come back later. WTF? Your the sales manager and you cannot do refunds? Fine, I let it go and just put down 70% as my deposit. Delivery time is 5 weeks.

Five weeks later got a call from them for delivery. I remember that it was a Thursday. Phone lady to me this Saturday they will do it between 11am - 6pm. I told her that I wasn't able to because I work all day on Saturdays. I politely asked if Monday was an option. She said "No. We don't deliver Mondays. We only deliver on Saturdays". WTF IS THIS BS!?!? What kind of company only delivers on Saturdays. When I asked why? she said then I have to wait for orders to fill up so they can deliver all to the same area at once. How does this make sense if I am the one paying for delivery and you except me, as the customer, to only accept the delivery on just one out of the seven days in a week?

Because she was such a hassle to deal with, she gave me the number of the delivery guy so I can work it out with him instead. So it ended up to be between 1-4pm on the following Wednesday. During the time after I received the phone call about delivery and the delivery date, I had to get rid of my current couch so I made arrangements accordingly. On the date of delivery, I specifically asked for it to be delivered before 4pm as I have work at 5pm. So repeated told the delivery guy and phone lady that to ensure I wouldn't be screwed later. Low and behold, they were late. It was 4:30pm when the delivery arrived. Brought down the couch from the truck only to realize they did not fully complete the customization as requested. (I asked for a specific stitched pattern on the cushions and was told could be done when I paid for the customization as I didn't like the factory original).

I call up Real Time Furniture and the phone lady answered again and told me, "Does it really matter? I mean it's just cushions right? Can't you just take it?" This really PISSED ME OFF considering that I paid for the customization and asked for it specifically. After a bunch of back and forth talking, they finally took it back. I asked the phone lady if there was anything they could do as a compensation for my troubles, since now I'm couchless and late for work. Phone lady told me talk to Christy tomorrow as she's not in.

The following day I called Christy. I asked her about how long it was take. She said a week. Fine. Compensation? NONE. Not even a reduced delivery fee. I explained to her how I'm couchless, late for work and had endless troubles of calling back and forth (I live in a condo so I must book the moving elevator in advance but Real Time Furniture didn't understand that and just made very vague times and dates about when they would deliver).

Christy told me that since I'm couchless, I can just come in and take one of their floor models temporarily. How does this make sense since I needed delivery? If I had my own truck, I wouldn't even need delivery in the first place. She told me as for reduced delivery, she had to talk to the owner and they would call me back the next day. That call never came.

It's been almost 7 weeks and just today I got a call for the delivery after they fixed my problem. I just hope they don't mess it up again.

tl;dr Real Time Furniture sucks. Never buy from them. No customer service, rude people. Lies and deceit.

[dealerguy]

Personally, I will never buy anything from small retailers. My experience on buying a 3 piece sofa set from one of the shop at Kennedy/ ellesmere:

- Price was very good and offered low delivery fees.
- Delivery guys came to my condo and gave me a call that they cannot bring the sofa up to the condo as the distance they have to travel from the truck to the condo is more than what they had expected. Delivery guy demanded $30 more to deliver it to the condo
- Gave a call to the showroom and they did nothing to help. The concerned person was busy and did not want to talk so the delivery guy took the sofa set back and left his phone number.
- After repeatedly calling the showroom finally got to speak to the right person but she plainly refused to interfere saying that delivery was privately handeled by some other company and they are free to demand anything.
- Finally called back the delivery guy and paid him the extra money.

Thing to note is that Sears delivered the mattress, box and frame and Futureshop delivered the TV and stand to the same location before the sofa and nobody complained.

Will never buy from anywhere except big reputed store.

[konfusion666]

I'm glad I found this thread. Will mark this as another store to avoid (along with The Brick, Leon's, EQ3, Structube...)

[purplesnow22]

My experience at real time furniture was good, nothing got screwed. :)
I placed an order on boxing day, a bedroom set and a wine cabinet. The bedroom set is made in woodstock, so it needs 3-4 weeks. I expected delays since all the horrible stories I read on RFD. But they called me exactly 3 weeks after, and arranged delivery on that Saturday. The bed is very good quality and very sturdy. I dealt with Christy.

[slipperfoot]

Horrible experience at this place.

Ordered a bedroom set from these idiots which was delivered on a friday

The bed frame was a canopy and all four posts arrived dented and scratched up.. on top of that they forgot to bring the frames for the sides. Called them and they confirmed that they would send new posts along with the sides the next day saturday.

Waited all day saturday, called in got that vegetable of a worker and was told that the delivery truck was in guelph so he wouldn't be able to make the delivery.

Rescheduled for tuesday, no call or delivery again. call in get the vegetable potato worker, she says that the delivery truck was in an accident and she'll call back to reschedule.

The vegatable never calls back. I've called about 5 times today and not once have they answered. Left voicemails as well.

Worst customer experience ever.

Never buying from this crap bag again.

[g7star]

I have a positive experience with them. Everything has been done as it should be. Well, they missed some of my calls but nothing major.

[da335]

My online sofa order experience from this store, I have to say I was quite happy considering it was a long distance, except few small issues. Actually quite a while ago, I ordered a HD TV antenna from this store and it came on time with no issue, so I was more comfortable this time but since furniture is much bigger/expensive stuff, I was worried about shipping, damages,.. but I had no choice as there aren't many stores selling nice modern style I was looking for at reasonable price in my area.
I read ALL the reviews, good/bad but couldn't find any online shopping experience. Also it seemed almost every furniture stores on RFD have full of terrible stories so the reviews didn't help much to compare. So before I go ahead, I did my homework. I sent several emails asking about the stock, colours, finishes,.. and one of the sales staff was actually quite helpful and kind enough to take some pictures of actual item and sent to me. (I bought a Jessica sectional sofa & an accent chair) She told me I could place an order over the phone but I wasn't comfortable giving my creditcard number over the phone, so I didn't. Guess what. Few days later, they had a free shipping sale, so I ordered online, saved $220+tax shipping fee.:razz: After placed order, same day I received an invoice from same staff, and about 4-5 days later, I got another email with tracking number, saying my order has been shipped out and explained the shipping will take about one week and someone from the shipping company would call me. But I actually received a phone call in two week. They said they wrote my number wrong so had to call the store but it wasn't that bad because I read a lot of people had to wait a few months for furniture order. From order to receive, it took about 3 weeks.
The items were well packed, but upon inspection, I found one corner of sofa package was ripped but luckly inside was okay so I signed the paper. Two guys from shipping company were in a hurry but their service was just okay. The quality of sofa was actually better than expected. The seating was little bit firm side but generally it's much better than my old couch:) and everything was just same as the picture she emailed me earlier. Only thing was there were some wrinkles on the arm side but it didn't bother me and two screws were missing for the chair but after contacted her again, I received them in the mail in about a week. I've never been to their store but my 'online' experience was good, at least for me.

[Bunnygirl]

I have had nothing but problems from them.

First they didn't show up for 3 schedule delivery dates, and didn't even bother calling me to let me know. Then the couch showed up made wrong.
They said they would replace the wrong part, and when that showed up, it was a different dye lot from the couch and didn't match. The seams aren't sewn straight and the cushions don't hold their shape. The pillows weren't even square and they were sewn with thick white thread instead of matching the fabric. One pillow even had a staple in the fabric from the inside which cut me!

All I ever heard was excuses but never an apology. This has been going on for two months!!!!!!!! I would have been better off buying a couch at IKEA.

They don't stand behind their product, the quality is terrible and the customer service is horrendous! Once they have your money, they don't care about you.

I would never recommend RealTime Furniture to anyone. In fact, tell everyone you know not to buy there!

[clarxtark]

I was their customer when they were in another location a few years back and recently I purchased some more visiting their new (larger) location. They are okay. I never expected anything super special from them and maybe that’s why. Just letting you know they were late on the delivery. I was mad at the time but after all, I’m enjoying my new sectional sofa now.:)

Would I recommend to my friends? If you find what you like for better price, why not? But I’d also tell them to shop around first.

[petersg]

Guys, check out Furniture Depot or Sterling House Interiors. Both are excellent stores with knowledgable staff and pricing! Furniture Depot carries alot of Ashley Furniture products for very very reasonable pricing!!! They will price match/beat anyone out there!! Tried and tested! :)
Here's their websites:
www.furnituredepot.ca
www.sterlinghouse.ca

later and tell them Peter sent you :)



I was their customer when they were in another location a few years back and recently I purchased some more visiting their new (larger) location. They are okay. I never expected anything super special from them and maybe that’s why. Just letting you know they were late on the delivery. I was mad at the time but after all, I’m enjoying my new sectional sofa now.:)

Would I recommend to my friends? If you find what you like for better price, why not? But I’d also tell them to shop around first.

[thedman_to]

REAL TIME FURNITURE... Good prices, but really really really bad post-sale service!!!

The delivery coordinator is terrible at what she does... never gets back to you when she says she will. And my bedroom set doesn't have all its pieces here, even though its been 6 weeks since when I first placed the order.

I do not recommend them.

[Bunnygirl]

They finally took the sofa back and gave me my refund, but only after I had created a Facebook page with all the bad reviews I could find on them. It's too bad it had to get to that point before the owner got involved. Now they asked me to remove my posts because it "hurt them".

[dvdrsi]

I will give my review of this ****** place once I sort everything out... but all I can say is DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS PLACE! THE ABSOLUTEEEE WORST PURCHASING I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH IN MY ENTIRE LIFE ON THIS PLANET!

[alykhanladha]

Hi, I am a pretty laid back person who understands the difficulty of running a business. I have been amazingly patient and I am just writing this to let people know they type of furniture store they may be dealing with. To be honest, I think Real Time Furniture will go out of business soon because they do not know how to run a company. I bought a couch in May. I was told it would be delivered in 3 months as I had to special order a color. It arrived in 5.5 months. They were apologetic and gave me free delivery. When it arrived, we realized that they ordered the wrong couch. After 5.5 months, I clearly did not want to deal with them. They scheduled the movers to pick up the couch. Unfortunately, the movers scratched the heck out of my hard wood floors. They were so rude about it and tried to say it wasn’t them. I told the store owner (Chris) and the manager (Christy). They seemed to care but didn’t do anything about it even after I sent them pictures. They did nothing to fix or pay for the floors. In fact, I am still waiting on my refund almost a month after they have picked up the couches. Know who you are dealing with and don't deal this type of company if you want to keep your sanity.

[ShinNoodles]

Have any of the unsatisfied customers in this thread filed a complaint about Real Time Furniture to the BBB? I just checked out their profile and they're rated with a B- (?!) (http://www.bbb.org/kitchener/business-reviews/furniture-retail/real-time-furniture-in-concord-on-1199578#bbbrating). I think all of you who've had issues with them should file a complaint about their business practice so that others can read about it.

I've never purchased anything from their store, but I've been to their showroom before. Their sales people are the worst I've seen - as if they didn't care for your business.

[da335]

It seems that most of complaints are from in-store purchasing, but I'm one happy online customer.:) This was my third online orders from them and I have to say I was still happy about the whole transaction. Nothing got screwed. A while ago, I received a special 10% coupon for registered customer. This time they sent with different shipping company but all the procedure was exactly same. With their Black Friday sale + 10% coupon, it was a good deal.

[dvdsung]

I found this site..pretty much sums this place up very well...

http://www.realtimefurnituresucks.com


Cheers

[Bunnygirl]

Different name, same crap service.