I rarely have any problems when I order from Amazon, which I do quite frequently. THIS WAS AWFUL! When the lamps arrived, I was afraid to touch the packing material, because it was all one piece, and had to be cut with a knife to remove all styrofoam. My husband unpacked it (and quite carefully) later in the day, and the crumbling styrofoam flew around the room like snow. The bag that was supposed to hold the harps and finials was empty, and stuffed into a corner under the packing material. The harps and finials were loose in the box, BOTH lamps were broken, with pieces fallen into the lamp base. I called Amazon (I may have been mistaken in doing that, as the product was sold and shipped by Brookstone, as far as I know. I was getting ready to send it back, when it occurred to me that it could easily be considered broken by me and my own packing upon return. I called Amazon (they did NOT tell me to contact Brookstone). I explained the problem and asked if it was acceptable to send photos of the breakage along with the shades, rather than return the base in pieces. After explaining no fewer than five times to the gentleman in the call center (believe it was in India), he assured me that if it was the base that was broken, it was not necessary to return them, that my charge account would be credited, the UPS return pickup cancelled,and that I would be given a $30 credit by Amazon for my trouble, which was the only thing that actually happened. I asked over and over if he was certain of all this, and he told me he certainly was. Well, the credit to my card was NOT made, and UPS turned up the next day to pick up the package, for which I had no return or packing slip--neither were on the outside or the inside of the box. I waited two weeks for the credit card refund, never received it, and called Amazon again, explaining several times (AGAIN) exactly what had happened. I was told that I should have called Brookstone, not Amazon, and that there was nothing he could do (India again, and very difficult accent to understand). After a $30 credit from Amazon on a purchase which, including shipping, exceeded $200, I had already lost more than that from my work, and just ate it and quit. I ordered another set of very similar lamps from the same vendor, as they were the only kind I had seen that were what I wanted. The packaging was quite different and easy to cope with, all was as I would have expected the first time, but that's another review (Safavieh Eva Double Gourd). I don't know what happened here, but it was my worst experience EVER with any order from ANYWHERE.
