Any experiences buying a Dutailier glider online?

[allycat]

I just picked out the Dutailier glider and ottoman that I want at a local baby store. It's expensive, so I decided to do some price shopping. I've found two different internet sites that will sell the same glider and ottoman to me for $200 less than my local store (in addition to cheaper prices, they offer free shipping and no sales tax). It will take a lot longer for me to get my chair (they have to special order it from Dutailier so it will take 8-10 weeks whereas my local store has this model in stock), but it should still get here before my due date. I'm tempted to buy it online given the huge difference in price, but I'm a little nervous about it since it's such a big purchase and I can't return it. Does anyone have experience with either of these companies that I'm considering:

rockingchairstore.com
babycatalog.com

I did a search here on them, and while there were a lot of good comments about rockingchairstore.com I realized that almost all of the posts were made by the same person. I'd love to hear of any additional experiences. Thanks!

[Katia]

I bought my Dutailier glider from Babycenter.com and had a good experience. They currently only carry one model, but you can get different finishes and fabric. Their website says it ships within 10-15 days, which about what I remember.

As long as you've tried out this particular model in a store and you know it's comfortable, etc., I wouldn't worry too much about ordering it online. If it gets damaged in shipment, the company should be responsible for replacing it, not you.

And I was sooooo glad we got a glider. I agonized over the decision forever, but I use it every day (and in the early weeks, for many hours every day) and it was worth every penny!

HTH, and good luck!

[marinkitty]

I bought mine online in 12/02 from goodnightben.com. Excellent service and it came quickly with no problems. I remember also looking at rockingchairstore.com, but goodnightben had a better price. You might want to check that out too.


Holly
Mom to Mia (3.17.03)
Another March baby EDD (3.23.05)

http://lilypie.com/days/050323/0/0/1/-6/.png

[Octobermommy]

I believe Dutalier is shut down for vacation until August 9th or so. This might slow down shipment so I would check on that.

We bought a Shermag glider from a local store and spent more money than online b/c we wanted the store to be responsible for making sure everything was right. Our base came broken and we are still having to deal with it. Shermag said they sent the base twice and it never arrived. Now they are saying they never shipped it and it won't be sent until August. We ordered the glider in April so although this is another company beware you might have problems.

Knowing what I know now, I would much rather have bought the glider from a store that carried it in stock so we could make sure nothing was wrong with it. That would have saved us many hassles.

[wheeler79]

We purchased our first chair & ottoman from rockingchairstore.com approx 2 years ago and we purchased another from them in May. We had a great experience with them and we also recommended them to my brother in Boulder CO and they were very happy. I never needed to write anything in these forums before, but like the saying goes,"when you have something that's good, let others know".

[mom2tony]

i also got mine from rockingchairstore.com and had a great experience with them.

[kmbplus1]

Do you have a USA Baby near you? I was going to buy online from rockingchairstore.com and just went to USA Baby to see it in person to pick out fabric. They price matched (without even asking me for any proof!) and because they already had a request for a shipment in, I got the chair in about 2 weeks!

They have also price matched my stroller and car seat with online prices. Hassle free and so convenient!

[wheeler79]

This is exactly why there are so few small retailers who really give friendly knowledgeable customer service anymore. If these stores that say that they will price match really cared about the consumer, why do they need to lower their prices to get your sale? Hey, it's your nickel but this is at least why our area (Michigan) is losing all of our small people orientated stores to the big box stores. I see this everyday and it really @#&^%*'s me off.

[vdrake71]

I bought my Dutailier and ottoman at babycatalog.com. I had a great experience with them and they were the cheapest. The one thing that I did do was go to the local Babies R Us store and look at the fabric choices and test out the chairs. This gives you a good idea of what you are buying.

[kmbplus1]

Sorry - This was my first time posting and I was just trying to be helpful. I didn't expect hostility in return. From my understanding, and according to the Baby Bargains book, USA Baby is a Baby Specialty store. I'm just trying to get what I need, in time for my baby, without going to the poorhouse and I thought I'd drop some advice in there for someone who was asking. It wasn't meant to upset someone else in the process.

[nupe]

I bought my glider online from babycatalog.com. I checked with several onoline retailers and they had the best price along with a good reputation on this web site.

I spent a lot of time on the dutailier web site looking at fabrics to find something DH would like. I did check with my local store because I wanted an unusual fabric (a red with a pattern). The local baby store said they were not able to order the fabric that I wanted. Therefore I purchased from babycatalog who said they could order that fabric and they had the model that I wanted, the 11789.

Everything arrived intact. The ottoman showed up one day and the glider then next. As I recall, the order came a few weeks in advance of the time frame babycatalog had quoted me.

The glider has been useful for me, but far more useful for dad and grandparents to hold the baby.

[bababooey]

What, exactly, about a free market, "@#&^%*'s" you off? Is it your economics background that leads you to the opinion that we, as a society, should pay more simply to keep a small business afloat?

Intersting...

[Second time parents]

Could not help but feel hostility here. By the sounds of your statement, I can see why every manufacturing business is leaving our country, but you're right, it is our God given right to pay the lowest price possible, but unfortunately more than half of the population will not be able to even pay this because their jobs will be gone. In all honesty, we'll be able to thank people like you. Have a great day!

[alandenisefields]

This is always heated topic (chains/discounters versus indie stores), but let us remind all users that we debate the ISSUE here, we don't attack the poster.

Our boards (and books) focus on how to save money---and yes, that sometimes means ordering from an online discounter. Of course, you can disagree with the this process and whether it hurts smaller retailers. Please keep it civil.

Alan & Denise Fields
authors, BABY BARGAINS

[rlp4]

I ordered my Dutailier glider online from babyage.com, which had competitive pricing compared to other sites and incredible shipping policies. (I live in a rural area and no local store carries Dutailier.) They shipped it for a grand total of $3.95 (and I paid no sales tax). The glider arrived in less than a week undamaged by shipping, and I was able to get the reclining feature, cherry finish, and sage cushions I wanted, all without a wait. I strongly recommend that web site.

[new_mommy25]

I didn't buy my glider online (got it at BRU), but wanted to chime in and say i love babycatalog.com. I have bought several items there with great success.

[tippy]

We bought our chair form rockingchairstore.com and saved A LOT of money. We were quoted Canadain dollars and the price difference was significant. I bartered with them since their price was comparible to another site's. I was able to purchase a gliding, reclining, swiviling, locking rocker with gliding ottoman for 896.00 Canadian (only 580.00 US!) That is what some of my friends paid for the rocker alone. I also got to pick the color cushion and style I wanted. Overall it was a great experience working with them. The Rocker was 444.00 and the ottoman was 136.00.

Here is a pic of the rocker I got (in sage)

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/11331.jpg


ETA...Oh and no shipping or tax either!

[vivace]

Like you, we found the babycatalog.com price for the 11789 Dutailier reclining/locking glider was lower than our local stores by more than $200, and it was the lowest price among all other online retailers we found. We custom ordered the exact fabric and wood combination we wanted, and it was delivered lickety split in much less time than expected. Their customer service is friendly and great, never more than a phone call, fax or email away. Based on our experience purchasing our Dutailier through them, we also bought all other big ticket items like our Inglesina Zippy and Britax Wizard through them. We give BABYCATALOG.com a big THUMBS UP!

[whitneysmom10]

Hi everyone. This is the first time that I have written anything here but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and keeping up to date on all the posts. As mentioned, this is the first time that I have wrote anything, so I hope that I do not mess up. Reading through this post, I just wanted to second the letter that tippy wrote. I priced around and found that rockingchairstore.com had very good prices along with friendly people to whom I spoke with. We purchased the model 11789 sleigh style with recline and the matching ottoman. The cost for the chair was only $485 and the ottoman was $160. Since I lived close to their outlet in Michigan, they actually delivered and set it up for us. We have purchased a lot of furniture at some of the other stores in the area and when they came to deliver they acted like we were a bother, but the rockingchairstore.com delivery person was actually the owners husband and he and my husband started talking football. Needless to say, I think my hubby has a new football friend. Anyways, I digress. I just want to say that our experience was super with this store. Bye Bye:)

[tippy]

No need to worry! Well done and glad you have decided to "de-lurk" ;-)

[bababooey]

People like me? You mean, those with economics degrees? LOL

Anyway, the misconception that a cost efficient business (leading to lower prices) somehow reduces the number of jobs has been disproven by the 100+ years of increased efficiency at the same time worker productivity is at all time highs, at the same time unemployment is at near record lows.

Many folks made similar claims about assembly lines, then robotic welding, now Wal-Mart. Each and every time the economy has grown, not shrunk, and the workforce of America has become richer because of it.

Try to keep up...

[Second time parents]

I really should not have to reply to an "economics" grad, but I have a couple of minutes to spare. I know that this will be brought to the Fields' attention, but hey! Anyways Mr Economic man, the last time I checked, the net unemployment rate has gone up steadily over the last few years. Just yesterday there were 8,000 more unemployed. Manufacturing jobs have been reduced by 22.5% over the last 4 years. More jobs than ever before in US history have been sent overseas in the last 3.5 years. Unfortunately, not all of our citizens have post secondary education and these people (45% of the workforce) depend on manufacturing jobs. The leading employer in this great land of ours is small independent businesses. Now, I may be only a chemical engineer and a woman, but any semi smart individual with an economics degree should be able to add up this equation. Buying cheaply made offshore items which are indeed a little less expensive and not made in North America, and buying these from the large publicly owned superstores, which in turn will reduce the need of more domestic workers, which will lead to more unemployment, ergo less smaller stores, more unemployment, yada, yada, yada. Neat math, isn't it Mr Economics Man.

[VuongFamily]

This is my first time posting.
I wanted to know how you were able to get such a good price at rockingchairstore.com?
I took a look after I read your posting. I was able to find the chair I liked, but it was the same price as another online store.

Sincerely,
YV

[tippy]

Hi YV and welcome to the boards! I bought my rocker back in 2002 so I'm not sure if prices have gone up. I did A TON of research on line and actually found another site where the price was a bit less than the Rocking Chair Store. I called them and told them I wanted to order with them since I'd heard good things about their store but found the chair for less elswhere. They asked the name of the site and I gave it to them. Then they agreed to match the price. I said that really wasn't an incentive since the other store was less to begin with and they came down another 10 or 20 dollars. You might want to ask the poster two posts down (sorry forgot their name) who also got a similar price. I hope this helps. Remeber, when I ordered the chair they were selling the chairs in Canadian Dollars and the exchange rate made the chair much less. Not sure if they are still doing that but if so you need to do the conversion to US dollars to see the actual cost.

[VuongFamily]

Hi Teva,
Thanks for being so helpful and replying so quickly :D .
YV

[bababooey]

Well, the last time you checked was probably 1979...Blacksmithing jobs are also on the decline!! LOL

>>More jobs than ever before in US history have been sent overseas in the last 3.5 years<<

Guess what? Wven MORE have been sent FROM overseas to the US!!! In fact, the US has had a net GAIN of jobs (i.e. "insourcing") for the last decade or so.

>>Unfortunately, not all of our citizens have post secondary education and these people (45% of the workforce) depend on manufacturing jobs.<<

OK...So we should halt progress to ensure these folks have jobs? Huh? I guess chemical engineering doesn't depend on logic... By the way, why did you bring up that you are a woman...what the hell does that have to do with anything? Oh, never mind, it goes hand in hand with your victim's mentality, a hallmark of a closet socialist. "Oh my, what will we all do whe the evil corporate men come and take our jobs away...we'll all be slaves to WalMart!" LOL

>>The leading employer in this great land of ours is small independent businesses.<<

So? Don't you think those businesses strive to be as efficient and profitable as their larger cousins? Didn't WalMart start out as a small business? Jeez.

[bababooey]

By the way, unemployment rate is at the same level it was 10 years ago. Current measures put "full employment"at about 4.5-5.0% unemployed....Current rate is 5.8% unemployed. In 1996 when your hero Bill Clinton was RE elected, it was 5.9%. Manufacturing jobs will continue to leave the country until unions stop trying to force artificially high wages on mfg. companies ($35/hr to pop rivets?) Also, manufacturing jobs are replaced by 21st century jobs. And no, it is not a direct replacement for each individual that works in a plant, but this is the nature of evolving economies. We can't continue to manufacture things just so people have jobs...The Soviets tried that, and I believe it failed miserably.

[Second time parents]

Oh well, I guess that this is what people call a brick wall. You're right, everything is super in our country. Lots of new jobs, (914,000 fewer net jobs since 2001) unionized employees are making too much, (of the 144000 new jobs last month, the pay averaged 17% less and 45% had less medical coverage, PS the Soviets at least had 100% med. coverage) and you are right, throw away the less educated citizens. By your tone, that would probably happen just before you tossed out the women. Jeez, I for one cannot wait for November. Have a super day and keep up the good work, at least while you still have a job.