France and SonReviews of franceandson.com

I purchased the Curata Upholstered Bench from France and Son on April 10th, 2025, primarily because their listed price was $200 less than other online retailers. Unfortunately, the initial savings were quickly overshadowed by a frustrating and drawn-out experience that I would not want to repeat. At the time of purchase, I was informed the item was in stock. Five days later, I received an email saying the bench would ship from the manufacturer to their facility in 2–3 weeks. Confusing, but I waited. A couple of days after that, I got another email stating that shipping was not included in my purchase—despite no prior mention of this—and I was told I’d need to either pick it up locally (over 600 miles away), arrange my own shipping, or pay an additional $200. This brought the price right in line with their competitors, but I decided to proceed and paid the extra fee. From there, the delays continued. Over the next two months, I received sporadic updates that the bench had been received and was going through “inspection” and “repackaging,” each step taking days with no real sense of urgency. Finally, on June 10th, the bench was scheduled for delivery via a third-party carrier, with a delivery window of 6–10 PM. Looking back, had I gone with another retailer, I likely would’ve had this bench weeks earlier, with less hassle and more transparent service. The poor communication, unexpected costs, and prolonged delivery timeline were incredibly frustrating. Bottom line: I will not be ordering from France and Son again. The slight discount is not worth the stress and poor customer experience.

I am now going into the fifth month of waiting for my delivery to be successfully completed. First, the delivery company for France and Son didn't show up when they were scheduled to deliver the piece I had ordered in December 2024. I took the day off work to be there for the delivery, which had a 7 am - 7 pm window. No big deal - they were running late, so I had to take another day off work the following day, and they showed up with the credenza at the end of the day. They got it off the truck and into my apartment complex's back door, where the stairs and elevator were located. Both were very close to the entrance. After finding that the item would not fit in the elevator because it was too long to stand upright, the workers informed me that they would be unable to deliver the item because they did not have any materials (belts, straps, etc.) to move the item up one flight of stairs. (I am on the second floor.) Why a furniture delivery company does not carry moving materials to assist with the lifting is beyond me, but these movers were unprepared. The coordinator for the delivery company then informed me that I would need to pay an additional fee to send a third person to help get the item up the stairs the next time they were back in my area. There was no mention of this item being oversized when I purchased it or when shipping and delivery costs were calculated. The shipping company sent me a contract to sign, stating that I would agree to pay an additional $150 for them to return a few weeks later with extra help. I refused to sign the contract on principle. I had already fully paid for the item and its shipping and delivery costs. It was ludicrous for them to assume that I would be OK with them holding onto the piece until I spent more money! They drove off with the piece and said that the company would call to reschedule. France and Son agreed that I should not have to pay additional shipping costs and rescheduled the delivery for three weeks. When they returned with the item, the two men got it up the stairs and proceeded to remove all the packing materials in the upstairs hallway before bringing it into my unit. When they finally made it in, they informed me that they had accidentally ripped the hinges off the doors when they opened them. They said they would leave the broken item and that the company would contact me about swapping it out for a new piece. In the meantime, I could not open doors because doing so put pressure on the few functional hinges and had already started pulling the external facade material off in several places. The right side door had to be propped up with a piece of cardboard since it was missing all three hinges and was basically hanging. After three more weeks, the company contacted me to inform me that they were pleased to offer me a 10% discount for all of my troubles; they would send someone to repair the hinges in return for my agreeing to accept the damaged piece of furniture. I found this offer completely unacceptable. I gave them three options: 1. Give me 25% off the OBVIOUSLY damaged piece; 2. Replace it with a new, undamaged piece; or 3. Provide a full refund and come pick up the damaged item. They accepted the 25% discount and agreed to send someone to fix the screws. Three weeks later, I received notification that they were coming to do the repair on a Thursday, so I took the day off work. I received a link to the tracker so I could follow the truck on the map, but each time I checked it, it stated that my delivery had not been scheduled yet. I called the store around lunchtime to find out when I could expect them and was informed that they forgot to load the hinges on the truck. This meant I had to wait again for their next scheduled delivery in another 2-3 weeks. They just showed up yesterday, April 30, 2025, with six hinges. There are 12 total on all of the doors; although not all are broken, more than six were, so there were not enough to fix them. The workers also thought they may have been sent the incorrect hinges because they could not attach the right door correctly. It is not flush with the end of the cabinet and will not close. The other doors are also crooked due to the missing or incorrect hinges. I am awaiting another call from the company to find out when they plan on returning - probably another 3 weeks - so I can use the piece of furniture for its intended use (storage) by the end of spring. This company has obviously lost interest in me and has left the responsibility for completing the delivery of a functional piece of furniture in the hands of the delivery service. Oh, and F&S asked me to rate them after another unsuccessful delivery. I wrote a brief message explaining my frustration and left a 1-star rating. As I pressed submit, the 1-star rating switched to a 5-star. That's one way to get high ratings, I guess. SMH!

The good news is the worst retail experience I'll have in 2025 is now behind me. The bad news is France and Son was the culprit. I ordered a premium wood bench advertised as only two materials - acacia wood and iron. They didn't have the product and postponed delivery for over three months. I waited. When the product did arrive it was made from painted plywood covered with a plastic faux wood veneer. It's awful. I will never shop at France and Son again, and neither should you.

Be absolutely positive you won’t need to return/exchange your item. They will charge you hundreds of dollars in order to return an item, I was told it would be $468 to do a return on an accent chair - which is almost 50% of the cost of the item itself (on top of the $300 shipping I paid to get the item). Why on earth would anyone throw away $800 only to then be forced to make another purchase as they will only issue a store credit. Completely ridiculous and unreasonable. I asked for an explanation as to where the $468 return fee came from and they did not respond. Shop elsewhere.

This company is fraudulent. Evades customer service emails, delays delivery by months with no explanation, and refuses to issue a refund, despite a 5 month wait for an “in stock” item. Truly the worst e-commerce experience I have ever had (and I furnished my entire house online!). This company should not legally be allowed to operate. BE WARNED & DO NOT SHOP HERE!!!

Ordered a $3,294 double chaise lounge from France & Son in September. The product was advertised as dark charcoal, but what they delivered was light gray—completely different. After months of emails and phone calls, they admitted the color difference but refused to issue a refund unless I paid a 25% restocking fee because I didn’t have the box—despite the fact that I paid for White Glove Delivery, and THEIR delivery team removed the packaging! Total runaround, horrible customer service. Filed a BBB complaint and disputed the charge with Amex.

Ordered an item in February over $1000. It was listed as free shipping over $1000. I would get numerous emails that shipping is being done and then another e-mail finally which said they'll be $600.00 for shipping to the location or you can pick it up at some warehouse. Total scam. They knew the address of the shipping at the beginning. I wrote to cancel and they sent me a link that did not work. I then did a credit card dispute.

Stay away at all costs. To my knowledge, they have engaged in a fraudulent transaction by charging my card and contesting my dispute with the credit card company for items never delivered. When I caught them, they refused to issue a full refund. Items never delivered. Horrible customer service.