Lillian August Design Center

If you want proper service, this is not the place you want to give your business to. Whether it was just our sales person or this is just how LA runs its business, it’s hard to tell. We ordered a bed and a rug. During that time, we tried to order a swatch for the bed and took 3 tries over a period of couple of months to get a tiny little swatch. That should’ve been a giveaway to the service we were to receive. Leadtime for bed and rug were about 12 wks. The bed arrived in time but the non custom rug did not and had to keep calling to track down someone who would provide some information. Most of the time the response was «call us back» but frustratingly no one in the rug department would pick up the phone. The email that the manager in rugs provided kept bouncing back. After numerous calls over a period of a month, I was finally able to speak to the manager who was extremely helpful. The items are here today. However, the movers will not move our existing bed into another room (which our sales person said they would) unless we pay extra :-(BTW, we had also ordered kitchen stools on the same visit. While they function well, the base is not finished well and continue to scratch our new wood floors. For service and quality, LA has underwhelmed us.

We had a wonderful experience shopping at Lillian August in Norwalk. We were purchasing furniture for a ski house in VT. Kathleen helped with furniture and lighting selections, but she did so much more. She face timed with me to help select paint colors, she gave me her cell phone and consulted with me about art work. She even came up to VT on the day of delivery to make sure all went as planned. When some end tables and pillows weren’t quite right she returned them without out question. Our new room is beautiful! We couldn’t be happier with the results.

Some beautiful pieces but hit and miss service. I also feel their prices are high for what you get and I spent over $ 10,000 there this year.
Restoration Hardware service and quality are better in my opinion, same for Pottery Barm and West Elm.

After spending a small fortune over the years at Lillian August, we thought that when we actually had a problem with our merchandise that they would take care of us. Boy were we wrong. When our drapes discolored in a way that our designer and a supervisor couldn’t explain, they not only refused to do anything but suggested that I call a local cleaning company myself to see what could be done. They wanted no part of it. Even if we were going to go the route of having them cleaned, how much could that honestly have cost the company? $ 100? $ 200? no matter. They refused to pay despite the amount of business we have brought them. We have accepted delays on furniture, rooms taking over a year… etc. but this puts us over the edge. All they seem to care about is taking orders and they accept zero responsibility after that. I’ve had better customer service at Target. RUN. RUN. RUN.

Absolutely beautiful! The layout and design of this store makes it such a peaceful, exciting and captivating experience to just walk through. We have bought many pieces of furniture from here since it opened a few years ago. They sell extremely high quality items, so I believe things in this store are worth the price. The employees know their stuff and are very helpful and professional. They go to great lengths to get you exactly what you want. Buying from them has always been a positive experience and I can’t think of anything bad to say about Lillian August. Its the best place in Norwalk to buy furniture by far. They have a huge selection that is constantly being updated. Ive even been there many times with family or friends just because it’s so enjoyable to walk around.

My first Lillian August purchase was a nice bath towel from Waterworks. It wasn’t in stock so the guy I bought it from said he’d call when it came in. After about a month with no call I followed up and another employee said my towel had come weeks prior. Apparently a $ 115 towel wasn’t important enough for my sales guy to follow through.
While slightly irritating, it was just a towel. That’s why my wife and I didn’t hesitate when we found patio furniture there earlier this year. Our order was placed in March and was set to be delivered in June. A month or two after ordering I was informed that parts of the furniture were back ordered until July. Not ideal but not much I could do about it. I followed up yesterday to check on the status and received an update today…
Another delay. Now the earliest the furniture will ship to Lillian August is the end of July with delivery to my home sometime in August. I asked if I’d be reimbursed in any way and was told no.
Delays happen. I get it. However, this is a couple negative personal experiences with Lillian August combined with many of the negative reviews I’ve seen on Unilocal.The showroom is beautiful but after I receive my patio furniture (probably sometime in September) I’m done with Lillian August.
UPDATE: Our Summer Classics furniture was delivered August 12^th. Obviously late but not worst case scenario late. When Lillian August called to tell me it had arrived I urged them to do a little something to attempt to retain me as a customer and they did. Still far from total redemption, but I finally felt like I had been heard. I won’t rush back. Might not go back at all, but I’m definitely feeling less disgruntled. Probably because I’ve been lounging outside every night since the furniture arrived.

In my final year of design school in NYC a good friend called and asked if I could help her gut and redecorate her family room. My course load was weighing me down so I told my friend that I would meet her at Lillian August and help her choose a sofa, chairs, tables and rug, thinking it would be easier and faster! I kick myself for not sourcing and shopping on my own for her at the D&D Building or having my upholsterer create her furniture.
We placed her order with a salesperson who’s chilly attitude was like… «how dare you bring your own decorator in here, you «B!» At any rate, Lillian August was having a sale and as we poured over the fabric choices we coordinated and made our choices. My friend handed over her 50% deposit, with the promise that she would have her furniture in 6 –8 weeks, and well before the holidays.
6 – 8 weeks went by and my friend got a message on her answering machine telling her that the fabric she had chosen for her sofa was on backorder and her furniture wouldn’t be shipped until mid January. I immediately called the salesperson and asked her why she didn’t pick up the phone right after we placed the order to inform us that the fabric was on backorder. She informed me that she had just found out herself! It’s hard to imagine that it took 6 weeks to follow up with the customer and, quite frankly, I would never leave a message on a client’s answering machine informing them of this! The only redemption was that they sent my friend some loaner furniture for the holidays so her guests had somewhere to sit!
I give Lillian August an A+ for store design and merchandising. I give them a D– for customer service and follow through… I’ll never take a client to their store again. So sad as it’s so aesthetically pleasing.

I wish I could give negative stars. This store is full of disingenuous and dishonest people and I caution anyone who does business with them. I ordered a chair and paid a 50% deposit. They promised 6 – 8 weeks delivery in writing. After 14 weeks still no chair and no returned phone calls or emails. I emailed that I wanted to cancel the order and bought another chair. I called my credit card to revert the charge on the deposit since I couldnt get anyone to call me back. Two weeks later they called and said, «Great news, your chair is here!». This was over 2 months after the date it had been promised. They then went to my credit card provider and provided all sorts of misstatements and lies about what happened. THey claimed that the delay had been only 3 weeks (complete lie), they claimed that they had attempted to deliver it (complete lie). They had some hidden fine print at the bottom of the invoice saying that they are not responsible for delays and are trying to stick it to me. This despite the fact that the delay was months and that I couldnt get anyone to even call me in the whole time period. I am still fighting with them and my credit card company almost a year later. THe most horrible company I have ever done business with. My advice is to simply stay away.

Worst customer service ever!!! I bought a console table from them that was exactly the same thing as I saw on their sales floor. Unfortunately, the console table didn’t go with my décor once it arrived. The colors looked different under natural light vs their store lighting. I go to call up Lillian August to have it returned. The sales woman tells me that it was a custom item and cannot be returned. I’m like you have the same exact item on your sales floor and no one asked me what measurements I wanted when I placed the order, instead the measurements were shown «as is» on the tag in the store. She says I can’t take it back. I then asked to speak to a manager. Of course the manager wasn’t available. After waiting to hear back for three days I called again. Manager tells me the same thing that it was a custom item. I told her that I’ve ordered many custom pieces of furniture and they take weeks if not months to be made. I got this console delivered in two weeks so I don’t think it was very customized. It had to have been sitting in their warehouse. The manager said she wasn’t responsible. I told her I’d be happy to take store credit and she still refused. I then emailed their corporate office. Finally, two weeks later I actually heard back from them and they said that they would take it back but charge me a pickup fee plus 25% restocking fee. Ridiculous!!! But it was a very expensive piece of furniture so I took my losses and got back what I could. I will never ever buy anything with the Lillian August name attached to it. Their customer service is horrendous! Plus there are so many better options available as far as furniture is concerned, as I learned later on. Save yourself the trouble and avoid this place.

Based on web photos and the spec sheet, we purchased an expensive leather sofa through a high end Toronto retailer. When it arrived it was obvious that the seat height was 4 inches higher than the specs and we wanted it corrected. Through our retailer (whose customer service is very good) Lillian August informed us that the product was «to their standard» and they would make no adjustment. We are currently working with our retailer to find a solution which unfortunately does not include Lillian August. As we search for the rest of our living room furniture we will not consider Lillian August products and we hope the same goes for our retailer.

OMG!!! This company is incredibly frustrating! Yes, their showroom is trendy, chic and somewhat affordable, but navigating this place is confusing and the customer service atrocious! After not finding a single person available on the floor to help us I walk up to a counter with «designers» sitting at computers with attitudes as if they are researching the cure for cancer and how dare we, the customer ask for help. Once we finally get someone to essentially take the order and our credit card number we never heard from them again. Weeks and months go by without a single update on delivery.
I decided to update myself by calling and emailing the sales person… radio silence!
I had to personally walk into the store to get my update, and yes, facing the cancer research counter once again I was told they would send for an update. Nothing!
Urgh! Never again!!!
Still waiting in CT

Unfortunately I’ve only had one encounter with Lillian August. It was on a street corner as i was crossing when a delivery truck labeled as «Lillian August» proceeded to cat call not only me but other women around the street. Completely appalled by this behavior. Although it is not a reflection on this store or with these associates (who I’m guessing are probably nice and professional), i have no where else to vent and would hope someone can change this behavior of future workers in the company so as it not have it happen to other citizens again.

Is there any day of the year that this company is NOT running a «big sale»? They run a perpetual sale with bogus retail prices that are marked down to a sales price that is still sky high. Best idea — go in there for ideas, then order it online for half the price.

Their furniture is nice, albeit overpriced. I’ve been in the Norwalk store five times and only once has a sales person deigned to talk to me;
they walk by and don’t even say «Hi». It boggles my mind why a customer service driven business would totally ignore potential customers. Based on this I would assume customer service isn’t a priority. I was surprised to find the salesperson other shop in one of their small shops (Greenwich, I think), is actually very friendly, I guess they were unaware of the policy of ignoring their customers. I’d consider shopping at the Greenwich store.

We have purchased THOUSANDS of dollars of overpriced merchandise from Lillian
August, but assumed this was a quality operation. The design of most of their products was excellent and we assumed that their product quality and service would be excellent too.
WERE WE EVER MISTAKEN! — After only 1 ½ years our $ 6400 special «Bora Bora» Merida carpet fell apart… the seams burst and frayed at most of the corners with the rug so torn up (we are not abusive — all other carpets look perfect after 10 years of use) it looked like something from a junk yard.
I sent an email with pics to John Weiss who promptly responded and then referred me to one of his associates… that was 6 monthes ago and the last prompt response from them… After numerous phone calls, we were handed from unresponsive department to unresponsive department with the usual run around that ends in being blown off. We are right back where we started. Nowhere. …my only recourse is now to throw the carpet away and start again…

I bought many pieces of furniture from Lillian August– Norwalk three months ago. I asked and they offered to send me swatches of fabric samples to help me decorate. I never got them! I already gave them 50% downpayment. I keep emailing and calling them to ask for a delivery day or update on my furniture but I get no response!
It is an expensive shop and service is appalling. I also used Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn and CB2 for some pieces– they are very efficient and reliable. They have given me delivery time and dates promptly!

I am not one to fawn over furniture. I usually look over furniture and it’s just «ok». Now that I have a whole house to re-​furnish, I have been going to many furniture stores, looking over a ton of magazines and my usual reaction is «next?»
Walked into Lillian August (recommended by my lovely realtor) and was in absolute awe. Everything was unique and special (and not insanely priced, for the most part). What an awesome store. In one day, we picked out several pieces for my living room, a daunting task for me.
A MUST GO!!!

This is a great store that has a wonderful atmosphere, great complimentary coffee, a kids playroom and friendly staff.
Recently we have been re-​decorating our house and the staff at Lillian August have been so helpful! We had previously purchased several pieces from their store and even custom ordered a couch that arrived at our house without a problem. This time the staff has been patient and helpful with our needs and my house is looking fantastic!
Lillian August has a great variety of on trend high quality furniture that unlike other stores caters to the costumers needs and is run by a local family. Definitely the place to go for great furniture!

Such an amazing store. Some of the coolest pieces I have ever seen. Some of the most outrageous prices I have ever seen as well.
«Hey babe how much is that end table like $ 500…:he checks price tag: $ 4,200!»
If you are OK spending a few grand on a lamp or $ 12K on a dining table then this is the place to be.
All others just go to walk around if you are board.

My husband and I have ordered several pieces of furniture from Lillian August and so far we have been happy with our purchases. The furniture always came in before or around the expected delivery date. The gentlemen that deliver furniture for LA are professional and friendly.
The only complaint I have with the store is the salespeople and that they appear a little «cold.» LA is a high-​end furniture store with a great selection of reasonably-​priced, high-​quality pieces. When I walk into the store, I often feel that the salespeople «attack» those who are dressed in fur coats with five-​carat diamonds on their fingers while leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves.