Sterling Design & Interiors

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If you want the worst customer service you have ever experienced mixed with high levels of frustration, look no further. My fiancé and I spent ~$6k on ~1,200 square feet of carpet/installation and wood flooring for our newly renovated condo from Sterling Interiors in 2011. Here are our issues:
1) We had been hunting for the right color wood floor for some time. We were thrilled when Christine from Sterling Interiors found us the perfect style. She was aware of our budget, and yet did not tell us the price of the wood until the day before installation after being ordered (note: it was far too expensive). She should have not even presented this wood to us as she knew our budget up front. Her response was “It’s not my fault that you picked out such an expensive piece of wood.” CONCLUSION: Find a store that doesn’t berate their customers and is up front and honest.
2) Christine also raved about a high quality pad we should select for our ~$3k carpet (we did). Then, an inferior pad was installed. We discovered this on our own; she then told us that there not much difference between the pads after all (which contradicted her original up-sell of the product). To make this worse, she thought she hung up the phone after a conversation with us, and we overheard her state that there was no difference in the pads to a coworker, and also indicated that this was ‘ridiculous’. CONCLUSION: Find a place to purchase carpet where i) you are respected and ii) you aren't getting (so clearly) ripped off - in our case, getting sold on a higher quality/more expensive pad and then being told later that there really is no difference.
3) As an attempted remedy to the pad situation, Christine offered us the choice of i) a nominal credit (~$200) or ii) ripping up the newly installed carpet, re-installing the correct pad, and re-installing the potentially damaged carpet. Apparently, having the job done correctly as agreed was not an option (i.e. installing the correct pad with new carpet). Upon informing Christine that her options would not work for us, we proposed a larger credit. She then told us we were taking advantage of her. CONCLUSION: Find a store that doesn’t berate their customers and performs work as agreed.
4) After the above issues, you can imagine our dismay when the carpet on the stairs showed signs of abnormal wear within 1 month of install (perhaps this was due to the lower quality pad?). Yes, we had to pick up the phone and call Christine back. She apparently didn’t want to continue dealing with us either, so a sales person called back. They set up a time for a Shaw carpet representative to come out and start the warranty process. After the inspection, we were told Sterling would contact us within 2 weeks. Well, almost 2 months have passed, and despite calling Sterling, we have not received a call back since and are being ignored. This is when we decided to write online reviews. CONCLUSION: Just don’t shop at Sterling Interiors.