Hayneedle is a leading online home furnishing and décor retailer which is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. The roots of Hayneedle can be traced to 2002 when Doug Nielsen, Julie Mahloch and Mark Hasebroock purchased Hammoicks.com.
In the years that followed, the company opened many online stores, each focusing on one particular product. Before long, there were hundreds of these online stores. In 2005, the company consolidated all its stores, under the name Netstores.com; and in 2009, it rebranded as Hayneedle.com.
Hayneedle was acquired by Jet.com in 2016, and Jet.com will later be acquired by Walmart. Thus, Hayneedle now exists as an operating brand of Walmart. Hayneedle has state of the art fulfilment centres located in California and Ohio from which it ships merchandise to different locations in the US and internationally. The Company now sells products from over 3,000 brands including its in-house brands.
Hayneedle is an online home furnishings and décor retailer that claims to help people discover those special finds to create a home they love.
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That will mean that Hayneedle has elegant products. The question is whether this is just advert-speak or whether Hayneedle does elegant products which you can use to create the home you love. If it does have the product, what about the service? Does Hayneedle offer the kind of top service we’ll want from the ideal online store (such as fast delivery, easy returns, effective customer service, friendly sale service, etc)? In the first place, is Hayneedle legit?
Yes, Hayneedle is legit. It is not a scam because its customers receive all the products they purchased from the platform without a problem. And they will never steal your money or credit card details.
This Hayneedle review examines Hayneedle in order to provide information that will help you answer these questions and more.
Hayneedle is legitimate. Shoppers moved online, and scam artists followed. Thus, if you determine that an online store is legit, you may end up being ripped off. So the big question is whether Hayneedle is legit. The short answer is, yes. The long answer is that Hayneedle is backed by a 100% legal company, it has industry-wide recognition, and it has a rich operating record of delivering real products that are largely functional.
Our first check of legit online stores is legality. This is so because online stores that are backed by 100% legal companies are less likely to be scam fronts. Hayneedle.com ticks the legality box because it is operated by Hayneedle Inc which is a duly registered Company in the US. Also, Hayneedle Inc is owned by Walmart, which is one of the world’s largest retailers.
Another check of legit online stores is industry-wide recognition. This is so because the scam stores operate in the shadows. Thankfully, Hayneedle ticks this recognition box. Hayneedle is recognized by followers of the industry as one of the leading online home furnishing and décor retailer.
Another check of legit online stores is the test of time. This is so because scam stores are usually short-lived. Time proves everything; even the legitimacy of stores. Scam stores rip people off; and in only a matter of time, their scamming activities are exposed. Thankfully Hayneedle passes the test of time. Starting with hammock.com, then to hundreds of other single product-line online stores, before consolidating as hayneedle.com; the Company has been operating since 2002. Suffice it to say that no scam store will survive that long.
However, the ultimate check of a legit store is fitness for purpose. This is so because the legit store will deliver real products that are also functional. As the earlier parts of this review show; Hayneedle has the products, it delivers when a customer places orders and customers (albeit not always) are satisfied with the quality and functionality of their orders.
Hayneedle is safe. Using a legit online store is not enough. It also has to be safe so that the sensitive information you share with it (such as your contact information, credit card details, etc) will not leak to unauthorized users.
In this regard, the privacy policy of Hayneedle makes for good reading. First, it uses information collected for the purpose of providing you with the service. You can contact Customer Service and request that your information not be shared with third parties for marketing purposes.
With regards to the security of the information; the privacy policy continues that Hayneedle is committed to online data security and for that reason, it takes technical and organizational measures to protect customers’ data.
In particular, Hayneedle uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology, which is the industry standard for creating a private connection between a device and web servers on the Internet. The bank-grade encryption of the SSL means that when shopping in Hayneedle, you never have to worry about credit card safety.
It’s more convenient to get all your items in one place, so you’ll want a store with a wide product range. Hayneedle ticks the box in this regard. When shopping in Hayneedle, the product categories you’ll find and the various products you’ll find in each category are as follows:
The above categories show that Hayneedle offers everything; from living room furniture to elegant and functional home accessories that lend character and distinction to your home, to exquisite outdoor delights.
Apart from having a wide range of products, Hayneedle offers vast numbers within each product category. As a result, for every item you need, you’ll find a sea of options including numerous collections exclusive to Hayneedle. With its vast selection available in Hayneedle, you’ll find something that excites you no matter your lifestyle/ preferences.
In fact, Hayneedle has the largest outdoor living selection. The Company advertises that it is web surfing when shopping online furniture elsewhere, but browsing for furniture at Hay Needle is discovery.
Another important consideration is product quality. Not only do you want to have options to choose from, but you’ll also these to be of the highest quality so that you’ll have value for money no matter what you buy. In this regard, Hayneedle advertises that its products emphasize quality, uniqueness, and value.
There’s no doubt that Hayneedle has some exceptionally good products which feature top quality. However, there are many quality complaints about Hayneedle on the independent customer reviews platforms such as Trustpilot.com and Sitejabber.com.
The website is the first point of contact between the online seller and buyer, so the website should be clean and uncluttered. The website of Hayneedle ticks the box in this regard. Whether you are new to online shopping or a veteran, you will have no problems moving around on the site.
You can search for products by browsing the product categories. Alternatively, you can use the search on the landing page of the website; the tool which will fire up products related to your search enquiry. After finding a product; you’ll need to use the drop-down boxes next to the product to select options (such as colour, size, etc).
Once you’ve made your selections, adding them to your cart is by simply clicking the button “Add to Cart”. You can proceed to check out or continue shopping. You can view your shopping cart at any time by simply clicking on the cart icon at the top of any page of the website. From your cart page, you can simply click “Checkout” to complete your order.
Hayneedle will email you updates regarding the status of your order such as when the order is successful, and when the item ships. Hayneedle also allows tracking of orders. You can do this using the “order lookup” page of its website. Alternatively, you can contact Customer Support.
Sometimes, situations arise where online shoppers will want to cancel or modify an order. Hayneedle allows order cancellation/ modification. However, this applies to only products that ship in three business days or more. Also, the item must not have entered the shipping process.
All items that ship within 2 business days and all items that have already entered into the shipping process cannot be cancelled or modified. You’ll have to wait to receive the delivery of the item and then start a return process. It should be said that this policy has caused a fair share of customer dissatisfaction leading to negative reviews of Hayneedle.
No one will want to pay over the tops for any piece. Thus, the ideal online store should feature prices that are perceived as reasonable. Thankfully, Hayneedle ticks the box in this regard.
The Company’s vast collection has different price points to fit every budget. No matter the product category you’re browsing, you’ll find a wide range of collections that come out as cheap and affordable.
Hayneedle even says that it will be surprising if you can find a lower total price from one of its competitors. To ensure this, it has a price matching policy. If you compare the prices in Hayneedle to prices in Amazon, Crate & Barrel, Jet, Overstock, Pottery Bar, Wayfair, or West Elm, and you find a similar item priced lower in these stores, Hayneedle will match the lower price. This ensures that you’ll always be getting the lowest total price when you use Hayneedle. (Note that total price includes the item’s price, shipping price, and taxes)
Because we seek the best value possible, we’ll want to be able to get more for less. Promotions offer this, as it allows customers to get products for less than the product’s full prices. Thus, stores with promotions are appealing.
Hayneedle ticks the box in this regard. As usual with the promotions-generous online stores, the landing page of the Hayneedle website announces different price slashing offers. At the time of writing this review, some of these included: 50% + extra 15% off Labor Day Sale; 30% off purchase of Home and Office Supplies, and others. You can check the website regularly to know what promotion is running at any given time, or you can subscribe for the email alerts.
Online shopping should be hassle-free including the process of checking out and paying for your order. In this regard, you’ll want the online store to support a wide range of convenient payment methods. This is so that you’ll find one to conveniently pay for your order no matter where you are resident. Hayneedle does relatively well in this regard.
You can make payments with credit/ debit cards. It supports all the popular like Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover cards. Gift certificates are accepted. Hayneedle also supports PayPal. There is even support for PayPal credit which allows you up to 6 months to pay up, but there’s a minimum order requirement of $99+.
Hayneedle also offers financing options via Affirm. Using this option, you can buy Hayneedle products and pay later. It’s available for orders of $250 or more. Monthly payments to be made will be calculated for you during checkout. You’ll get a real-time decision if you apply for Affirm financing.
A review of online stories is not complete without considering certain shipping elements. This includes the locations that the online store ships to, how long after placing an order it will take for the order to be delivered, and how much it’ll cost.
You’ll want an online furniture store that ships merchandise to your locations. If the store does not serve your location, it’ll be more difficult to receive delivery of your order. Thus, the ideal store should ship to many countries of the world, so that your location is more likely to be covered.
Hayneedle does relatively well in this regard, as it ships to the 48 continental US states (including the US territories) and internationally to many countries of the world.
Waiting too long to receive an order may dampen the whole excitement. Thus, the ideal online store should offer fast delivery times.
Delivery times vary for each product depending on the delivery location and the size of the product. You’ll find the applicable delivery time on the product description page.
The total cost of any online purchase is the item’s purchase price and shipping costs. Thus, even when an item is reasonably priced, high shipping costs can significantly raise the total cost of purchasing it. Thus, the ideal online store will be one that has shipping costs that are as low as possible.
The lowest possible shipping cost is zero, which is free shipping. Thankfully, Hayneedle offers free shipping to the US. Also, the minimum order requirement to get free shipping is a mere $49+. Thus, you’ll not have to overspend just to chase free shipping.
Where free shipping is not applicable, shipping costs vary depending on the type of item, the location it is shipping to, the shipping option selected, type of delivery (ground level delivery, room of choice, room + unbox), etc. Also, note that all international orders are subject to import duties and taxes.
It’s not news that online shoppers are sometimes dissatisfied with the item when it is delivered. Since customers will not want to be stuck with unwanted items, the legit online store will allow customers to return any item that is less than satisfactory. Thankfully, Hayneedle allows returns.
All retailers in the business that accept returns give a specific time within which an item you wish to return must get back to them. Hayneedle is no different. You’ll want an extended time so that your return package will not be late and be rejected. Hayneedle allows 30 days from the date of delivery. That is, if you need to return an item, it must be returned to Hayneedle at most 30 days from the date it was delivered to you.
You’ll want a hassle-free return process; anything else, and the frustrations of receiving an unwanted item may just boil over.
To return an item to Hayneedle, you’ll have to look up your order on its website and select the Return/ Exchange option to see return eligibility for each item. If your item is eligible for a return, you can continue the return process by contacting Customer Support to obtain a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA).
If upon delivery, the packaging shows light damage; and you suspect that the item could be damaged as well, you can refuse the item. But you’ll have to contact customer support immediately. If you discover damages after the delivery, customer support should be contacted within 24 hours to start the return process.
When you are sent the RMA slip; you’ll need to print it. Then the item should be appropriately packaged and shipped to Hayneedle using a trackable shipping method. Note that you’ll include the RMA slip, order number, and the reason for returning the item, inside the return package.
You won’t want to be forced to hold onto an unwanted item because returning it is expensive. Thus, the ideal legit online store will offer a return cost that is as low as possible. With the cost of returns; the lowest possible is zilch – paying nothing (that is, free returns).
In Hayneedle, a free return is offered. However, this applies only to items needing return because of a fault of the store (such as defective or wrong item, etc). When the reason for return is due to the customer, the customer will be responsible for return shipping costs (this includes customers’ change of mind).
It’s important to know when and how your refunds will come after mailing the return package to Hayneedle.
Hayneedle advertises that it issues refunds immediately after it receives the returned item. It credits the amount of the item to the original method of payment. It is only when the item was a gift or bought using a gift card that it issues store credits. This is a good one. Since store credits tie a customer to a particular store, many unsatisfied customers who return items to a retailer will rather get cash refunds instead of store credits so that they can choose to use the funds for future purchases in other stores.
No matter how effectively an online store operates, there’ll be those who’ll have questions and others who’ll have issues with their orders. Thus, the ideal legit online store should provide for answering the questions and resolving the issues that its users bring before it.
The first stop for getting help in Hayneedle is a Help Center. The page contains a lot of self-help articles categorized under the subjects – Privacy & Security, Ordering, Shipping, Gifts & Certificates, etc. These articles will answer many of the questions you have about Hayneedle.
However, for direct contact with a support rep, Hayneedle supports an email service and a telephone service. To send an email, you’ll find an online contact form on its website; for the phone service, the phone number to call is 1-888-880-4884. The service is available between the hours of 8:00 am – 11:00 pm (ET) at the weekends, and between the hours of 9:00 am – 8:00 pm (ET) at the weekends.
One complaint about Hayneedle that stood out in the independent customers’ review platforms is that some customers were unable to cancel an order that has just been placed. Stores with friendly policies allow customers to cancel or modify orders as long as the order has not shipped.
However, as we saw earlier in this review, the policy of Hayneedle with regards to an order cancellation is not so friendly. This is because only items with a processing time of 3 or more days can be cancelled or modified (albeit if they have not entered the shipping process). For all orders that are processed and dispatched within 2 business days, order cancellation or modification does not apply.
In the customers’ reviews on online independent platforms, many customers were aghast to find that they could not cancel an order even though cancellation was attempted just immediately after placing the order. If we follow the Hayneedle policy; the orders of these customers were not open for cancellation (despite clearly having not entered the shipping process) can only mean that the order was of items that ship within 2 business days.
Another complaint that stood out is that returning an item to Hayneedle is not as easy as customers will want. For example, Mong Cau in Trust Pilot says: “Hayneedle – please stay away”. According to the reviewer, an unwanted Hayneedle item could not be returned because Hayneedle would not provide a return label. Mark in Trust Pilot says “Do not do business with this company”. According to the review, the outdoor table delivered was not the one ordered; and Hayneedle would not take it back.
It should be stated that difficulty with returns always brings really bad labels. When customers are unsatisfied with an order but can easily return it to the retailer and be refunded, they’ll be less likely to call the retailer a scam. However, with problems with returns, customers are stuck with unwanted products, with a lighter pocket, so they feel ripped off.
One complaint that also stood out is the lack of extended product warranties. Retailers stand behind their products via extended product warranties. This goes beyond saying that the item will be fine when delivered; but that it will be fine for the foreseeable future (that is, durable). In the industry, there are stores that offer “one-year warranties”, where the retailer undertakes to find a solution if its product fails within one year of its purchase.
However, with Hayneedle, the only product warranty available is the 30 days return warranty. This gave birth to this complaint. Some customers who found that their products failed quickly found on contacting Hayneedle that a return will not be accepted because the 30 days return window is closed.
The most dominant of the complaints about Hayneedle has to do with their customer service. It’s not surprising that given the other issues (especially the occasional delivery of the defective items and difficulty with returns) the Customer Support Service will be inundated with tickets/ calls.
However, it seems that the Customer Support of Hayneedle is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of submissions. The customers’ reviews do not rate the customer service of Hayneedle. Many of these are basic failures like not responding to submissions; while many others have that response when finally received is largely unhelpful.
While we did not have issues with the Customer Service of Hayneedle in putting together this review; we still think it does not have springs in its legs in handling customers’ complaints. What informed our position is that, unlike many online retailers, Hayneedle did not have any presence on these top customers’ review platforms. Many retailers seek out disgruntled customers on these platforms and bring them back to the table to resolve their issues, but it seems Hayneedle is not concerned about where its unhappy customers bare their minds.
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Pros
Cons:
Hayneedle is a legitimate site that does offer a vast selection of such elegant pieces. As it says, you’ll be “discovering” when you walk through its vast options. Elegant home furnishing and décor can make you fall in love with your home every time you walk in. You’ll most definitely find something that excites you no matter your preferences, whether it is in Hayneedle’s indoor or outdoor collections.
Another strong selling point is that Hayneedle has some of the best prices you’ll find around. And just so a competitor manages to provide a lower price; with its price matching policy, Hayneedle will match the lower price of the competitor, ensuring that it’ll always give you the lowest price.
On the service front: ordering and making the payment is hassle-free; delivery is relatively fine as the store is not overly plagued with late deliveries; free shipping is possible with only orders over $49; unwanted items can be returned to Hayneedle within 30 days of the delivery date; and more.
However, the road is not bumps-free. Order cancellation may not be possible despite not being far removed from the time of placing the order; returning an unwanted item may not be as easy as you’ll want, and many customers’ reviews suggest that the Support Service may not be as helpful as it ought to.
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