Life Style, Product Review

Urban Ladder- Review & Purchase Experience

Urban Ladder is a popular Furniture E-store in India and they have been around for a while now. They have a very nicely done webpage, by that I mean very few dead links and well-organized content. The products look great too and I have spent a lot of time + data packs browsing through their wares adding stuff to wish list but never mustering enough courage to spend that much money on furniture without actually seeing it. But then around December 2016 they had the “Honestly Good Sale” where the prices were slashed up to 50% so I thought this opportunity was too good to be passed. (Obviously, my consumerism knows no bounds!) I wanted a table lamp so I decided to buy the “Hedwig Table Lamp”.

This is how it is presented on the website:

Original Price: 3499 INR | Discounted Price: 1749 INR

Once I placed my order they were prompt with their acknowledging email and SMS, they also keep you posted about the journey of the product. The most impressive part is when the goods are scheduled to be delivered they call you ahead of time and ensure that it is a convenient time for you to receive the delivery. Which makes sense, because if they are bigger pieces of furniture that need assembly on site this is very good for the 9-to-9-no-time-on-weekdays kind of people i.e most of us.

urban-ladder-bill

Urban Ladder: Hedwig Lamp | Order details

It was just a table lamp so I asked them to deliver it at office and since I didn’t want to make a show of it, I didn’t open the carton to check. They also gave me an adult colouring book as a present which held a discount coupon for future purchase. So far so good!

At home I opened the package, this is when things went downhill. The package had a sticker on it which read Orange Tree- Beako Study Table Lamp. Since I had ordered a Urban Ladder – Hedwig Lamp this was a little confusing. But the line drawing of the lamp assured me that at least it looks like the same product. After doing some reasearch I have found out Orange Tree is a supplier for Urban Ladder (and it has some really lovely looking lamps). Urban Ladder should consider taking some effort into branding the carton box because they are the front customer is aware of!

The lamp was a mediocre version of one shown in the fancy well-lit beauty shot displayed on the website! The edge of the shade was poorly cut, it had an uneven rim. The spherical part of the shade where the bulb holder resides was not finished and had a bumpy surface. The gold stand was not the vibrant gold as seen in the picture but almost a dull yellow. The legs did not have any rubber bushes so they constantly scratched the wood surfaces and that black wire is an eyesore in front of the light walls.

Some of you might think I am nit-picking but accent pieces like these, simply cannot afford to have such poor finishing since these deformations immediately catch one’s eye. Moreover with that price tag one expects a properly finished product. (Thanking god that I didn’t buy it at full price)  I was disheartened, a brand that made such huge claims about their superior quality had sent me this substandard product.

Urban Ladder - Headwig Lamp

Urban Ladder – Hedwig Lamp

  • The Uneven edges
  • The Shade with Cellulite!
  • The Gold that is not quite gold.

Although it was a sale purchase and it was made clear at the time of purchase that the goods cannot be returned, I decided to write to them to ask if exchange was a possibility. They could have easily denied to consider this request, but I have to give it to their Customer Service, they were reassuring with their words and asked me to send them pictures of the defects. The follow-up here on, took some time but I did receive an email from their After-Sales Team informing me the lamp I purchased was actually the way it should be – i.e jaggered and bumpy which was to be honest quite shocking. But the good part is they agreed to my request of exchanging it with another lamp that was of the same price during the sale – The Crane Lamp.

After a few days a purchase request was generated and the old lamp was picked up and the new lamp was delivered. It also came in a cardboard box labelled with Orange Tree Branding. (In Orange Tree world this one is called “Leaner Lamp”.)  The Crane Lamp is better finished than the old one (perhaps because it has a standard issue shade) but I really liked the form of the Hedwig Lamp. I only wish their supplier would do a better job at finishing it.

Urban Ladder - Crane Study Lamp

Urban Ladder – Crane Study Lamp

Pros:

  • Excellent Customer Service
  • Prompt Delivery
  • Delivery as per customer’s convenience.

Cons:

  • Images of products are probably re-touched and hide the imperfections.
  • Poor Branding on packaging
  • Value for money only when purchased during “Honestly Good Sale”
  • Products lack attention to detail

Closing Thoughts:

I actually wanted to buy some furniture for home and wooden furniture is expensive so with this purchase I wanted to test their goods and service. The test results were a disappointment! I don’t want to get into the same situation with a lot more money at stake. Looks like Urban Ladder have an excellent product photographer on-board but not such great craftsmen! Have you had a different experience with Urban Ladder, let me know in the comments section.

 

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6 thoughts on “Urban Ladder- Review & Purchase Experience

  1. Bang on!
    I’ve had a similar experience with Urban Ladder, with a Lamp order even…
    like you said… small purchases are okay, but I don’t suggest that one take a chance with higher costing pieces.

    Having said that… my experiences with online furniture stores allow me to put Pepperfry at the top, Urban Ladder at close second… and everybody else would just be a like of taking a chance with a coin toss !

    • Suchi, Thanks for stopping by at the blog. I am delighted to see you here 🙂 Initially with all the glowing testimonials on their site I thought I was nitpicking but we are paying a lot of money for these pieces and we out to get some quality in return.

  2. I agree, but a hit or miss strategy for how long… It’s been a few years and online shopping is becoming a way of life …We can’t continue to think like that. We are spending a lot of money and companies should be held accountable when the product isn’t worthy of it. In India consumers have no say, I hope one day our laws also are consumer friendly like the west!

  3. Nilesh Thaker says:

    Very poor system of making delivery of the table lamp ordered through urban ladder. Even after receiving sms confirmation promising delivery on the same day between 2 pm to 5 pm on 29.10.2017 we have not received delivery till today’s date i.e.04.11.2017. our order no.R707157387. Needs to improve this.

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