Ambient Direct

I placed a large order with Ambiente Direct for furniture for 3 apartments. All of which was confirmed in stock. So having paid, they then told me that the delivery would be split as some items were not in actually in stock. Following a partial delivery of even fewer items than they said would be in the first batch, no further furniture arrived, until I contacted them for an update. I was told that the outstanding items in the first batch had been sold to someone else. I received a one line email from customer services just offering to cancel my order? Not even offering any alternative solution. I had to contact them again to suggest a re-specification of alternative products that were available, which to add further insult were more expensive. These were then promised for delivery to arrive the following monday... I´m still waiting for this delivery over a week later. Customer services don´t respond within an acceptable time frame & you get passed around the doors. I get the impression no one takes ownership of any issue in this company. This was all after my initial payment went into the wrong account as they gave me the wrong bank details... which caused extra work for me to rectify. I now have a half furnished apartment & a very unhappy client. Thanks AB! Never again!

This is the worst service I've ever received from a website and I'm shocked they make any money as I'm sure most people return or cancel their items. Don't be fooled by the great stock, I ordered some Hays glasses, my order didn't go through about three times (I should have known then!) I didn't hear anything until I chased the order, I had to chase 3-4 times, I tried to call (just hung on the line for 5 mins) and then finally got a response, which was fairly not sensical and not helpful at all...

'thank you for your inquiry.

Of course I understand that you are already impatiently waiting for your order.
According to information we have from the manufacturer the product you ordered will be delivered to us within the calendar week 02.
Please rest assured that we will do our utmost to send the product on to you as soon as it arrives.
An automatic notification with the parcel tracking details will go out to you on the evening of the day your order leaves our warehouse.
We truly regret that the delivery time has turned out longer than originally expected and apologise for any resulting inconvenience.
Thank you for your understanding.
Please do not hesitate to contact us, if you have any questions.
With kind regards,'

I complained three more times in the same day and threatened to write a bad review and only then did they respond and agree to a refund. This is the only good bit of service but as of yet I can't confirm if the refund has happened.

I really recommend paying a bit more and not using this site. It's not worth the hassle.

Hi, I ordered a pretty expensive item and expected a different experience via communication. Ambient direct is the retailer I chose because the shipping rate was reasonable, unlike other retailers who handled this item. I had expected to get a tracking number within a couple of weeks. That didn't happen. I started to worry and requested an update with regards to my order. I received a multilingual general response that I would be emailed when my item shipped. Subsequent requests for info only garnered the same response. I spoke to my brother, who had ordered items from German eBay, and he told me that orders can take a little more processing and therefore a little more time when receiving an order from A German retailer. So just calm down and wait. I took his advice, about a month after I ordered the item I received an email telling me that my order has shipped. In 2-3 days it arrived at my door. I think my fellow Americans are accustomed to Amazon style communications and speed, and forget that their order is coming from a continent away, and shipped in a process that keeps the price and shipping costs down. My advice to other Amerucan customers who are hyperventilating, as I had done, is to just calm down, your items have begun their journey and you will get them. And to those here who are very upset as I was, I hope they do as I do and return to amend their review to show that they received their items. Because when I was worried, their hysterics didn't do anything to put my mind at rest. I love the item I ordered, and it arrived in excellent condition very quickly after it shipped.

AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE!
Ordered a Paola Navone sofa for our rental property which arrived late and poorly packaged.
When we had the property inspected for rental we were advised the sofa did not meet British Standards Fire Regulations and in the event of a fire the insurance would be invalidated and - God forbid if someone harmed we would be responsible.
They had assured us the sofa was to British standards and clearly lied.
Our advice - avoid them and if you buy online do it via a UK authorised dealer.

They take your money, ignore all forms of contact. Do not deliver your goods, do not refund your money. This is theft. They delete your comments from facebook if a little too true. The twitter account has been removed by them as there were hundreds of angry customers tweeting. I wish I'd checked them out before handing my money over to these fraudsters. The site looked so legitimate! I have reported to UK fraud police (and encourage others to do so too), I have unsuccessfully searched on how to report them in Germany - struggling with languages as I don't speak German. My bank (Santander) refuse to help as I paid via direct transfer (lured in by an offer of 3% discount to pay direct this way and aware that this is quite common in Germany) - so Santander say I am not protected and wash their hands of the situation. I am now working directly with the two manufacturers of the goods I ordered to see if they can help as stockists to Ambiente Direct - both are being as helpful as they can, but still no goods or refund. It feels like a full time job trying to take these criminals on! An awful experience.

I placed an order for two FLUO light bulbs - order No: AB******* from 07-18-2015. The order has been the greatest saga of my online shopping experience with any company. It took over FOUR weeks for the items to arrive by DHL shipping. When they finally arrived the two bulbs were defective (probably from travelling for weeks and being smashed around warehouses). I then called the company on several occasions and spoke to a different customer service rep each time who assured me that someone will call and either refund me or reship the items (I received another ticket no: #**************) No one EVER called me back or emailed me. My last contact was today when I insisted on being put through to the Team Leader. I was connected to a STEFAN who was just as incapable of solving my problem and will again forward my issues onwards to some colleagues. THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD ON A ONLINE WEB SITE. I AM STILL AWAITING A REFUND. AVOID THIS WEB SITE!

I purchase some products for business purpose (reselling) and since 27 of July I keep trying to finalize my order. I manage after dozens of emails and calls to get a partial delivery and I should have received the rest of the products at the end of August but since then IT WAS IMPOSIBLE FOR ME TO GET IN CONTACT WITH THE COMPANY!
Working with this company IS BAD FOR BUSINESS! I'm of the brick of losing my customers which already paid for the products because I cannot give them a professional answer regarding the delivery. The company has a close call center which only pick up messages, they do not replay to the emails and they do not respect the delivery dates written on the website.
Today I'm wondering if I will ever receive rest of the products of my money back, a guess it is a matter of LUCK in the end!

Hello,

I had ordered 2 lamps on 23rd December and they still did not arrived on their destination. IT'S ALMOST 4 MONTHS that I wait! Could you tell me please how is the shipping process going and when should I receive what I had paid? I'm trying to call to german and UK number and nobody answers.
Please give me the products that I paid for or retourn the money back.

Thank you,
Best regards,

Natalia Bencheci
Custumer no. D*******

I ordered a large black Ron Arad Bookworm shelf, which was in stock.
The site stated orders usually ship within 24 hours if in stock, my order shipped within 72 hours. Good enough.

After ordering, I got a order confirmation as usual, then the day after I got another one slightly differently worded. That worried me a little, so I googled and found this site, and then I got a little more worried when reading the reviews.
For what it's worth, I got what I paid for, shipped within a reasonable time.
The packaging was good, additional cardboard box with padding inside.
No complaints from me.

The other reviews left here would make me a bit wary to order from Ambiente Direct again, but then I guess most of the happy customers doesn't bother with posting reviews.
Would probably buy from Ambiente Direct again.

When I was abut to order, I tried their customer service chat to ask a question, went from number two to number one in line quickly, but then I waited for a long time for my turn, and eventually gave up. The customer service by phone weren't any better, gave up that too.

Avoid at all costs - once they have your money, forget about any kind of service from them. Nothing is their problem. They have a great selection of products at good prices, but delivery times are always much longer than the website implies and heaven forbid you have any problems. We currently have 2 outstanding problems with them, and despite multiple emails and phone calls they have done nothing about them. In the first, a Louis Poulsen lamp we bought 10 months ago is broken. It's still under warranty, but when I emailed the manufacturer they answered within the hour to say I had to go through ambiente to make a claim. I have sent 4 emails with photos but they have not even replied to say they have received them and started the process. When I called to check they were rude and told me 'it can take a very long time to sort out a warranty, there are a lot of variables we have to deal with. I cannot tell you how long it will be." When I pointed out that all I wanted was confirmation that they had received my email and had started the process of getting the warranty to cover the problem I was told that wasn't possible because it's an automated system and that I just need to wait. So here I sit hoping they have actually received my claim and having heard nothing from them in weeks. With a broken and expensive lamp.

My second issue is a sideboard and two standing lamps that I bought and have been waiting well over 6 weeks for. They have apparently dispatched them and the DHL website says it's delivered, but it hasn't been delivered to me. DHL say it isn't their problem because I didn't' pay for the despatch and it was sent to an address in Germany (not Netherlands where I live), and ambiente said its no longer their problem because they despatched it. When you phone them you sit on the line for ages waiting, and if you're lucky you get through to a very rude person who insists it isn't his / her job to help you. So now they have over 2,000 euros of my money and I have no products. But someone in Germany does. Hopefully they will bother answering the phone soon and at least try to get me the products I've paid for.

I ordered two Fermob chairs and two Fermob tables weighing in total 50kgs costing £1320 UK pound
On the week of delivery DHL contacted me to confirm details
I then received an email from AmbienteDirect asking for an additional 489.20 Euro because it needed to be a 3 man delivery, and would I like to cancel

( I live in a tower block in London, and DHL told me that their driver is not allowed to leave the vehicle unattended when making a delivery)

When I cancelled, they told me that they could not refund my payment until the goods were returned to Germany

In May of 2021, I ordered a 12X15 metal building through Ambient Home. A couple weeks after ordering, I received a response stating the building was on backorder due to COVID complications (Understandable), and would most likely ship by the end of July. July came and went without even a peep from Ambient Home. I began contacting them for updates on my own, because they refused to ever give me any. Every time I spoke with them, they were short and borderline rude.

In October, I finally received an email from Abient Home stating my building had shipped (no trackinginformation attached)... almost 6 months after the original purchase. However, two days after receiving that email, I received an actual letter in the mail from a shipping company stating they had attempted to deliver the building 3 weeks prior, but no one was home to sogn, so they shipped it back to the manufacturer.

In my frustration, I called Ambient Home to get an explanation. They informed me they had sent an email back in September informing me it was being delivered. I was happy to share with them all correspondence, but they wanted nothing to do with it. I spent the next month and a half trying to get them to ship the building again, which never happened. I woke up one morning to my money back in my account and no explanation or further communication.

NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH AMBIENT HOME!