ALEXANDRIA LIGHTING & SUPPLY

I should state up front that the final products are great, and that one of the people in the store, Brian, is phenomenal. Were it not for him, I don't think we would have continued working with them. We had a rather frustrating experience simply trying to place our order, which ended up taking 3 months instead of a couple of weeks. This is because another employee got our order wrong twice, even after we walked him through the corrections that needed to be made the second time around. He is very nice, and was fun to speak with in the store, but we had a hard time simply buying what we wanted because he seems to lack attention to detail. Also, he did not save copies of or email us the orders, which meant we had to go back in person and redo all the selections a third time after he made his mistakes. He also overcharged us, even after the store owner agreed to give us a discount for the trouble they had caused, so we had to fix that, too. Unfortunately, as well, when we finally received the correct lamps, 2 of them (from two different providers) were damaged. I don't think that is their fault, though, but rather the manufacturers'. The store was good about getting us replacements, but it just added to the overall stress of the purchase. Overall I would shop there again because I like their selection; however, I would only work with Brian, who is very professional and gets things done--correctly, the first time around.

We were very pleased with our meeting with Josh. He is very knowledgeable about the various lights available to us. The only negative our the hours of the store as it is quite a distance from our home. It was not convenient for my husband to get there before they closed in the evening which meant we had to take a good part of a Saturday morning when we needed to pick up the lights. We really enjoyed talking with Josh and getting his feedback and opinion. We would use Alexandria lighting again and definitely request Josh as our representative.

The young man, Joshua Mollet, we dealt with was very helpful. He was specialized in his area and was very knowledgable.

This was a painful process from start to finish - and I'm not even pleased with the end results. I dropped off a fixture that had bad wiring in the middle of December. It took until April 16th to get the repair completed. The majority of the wait time was waiting for a part to arrive. I called nearly every week asking for a status and would get the same explanation that the part was on a "slow boat from China." Finally I spoke with Elizabeth (who was the only helpful person at the shop and if you have to use them for some reason – I strongly suggest working closely with her). She explained that he part was on back order and she would try ordering from another supplier. It was still a few weeks after Elizabeth got involved, but after 3 months of no progress, it was a definite improvement. Finally the part came in, and then it was another week or so before the repair was completed. When I picked up the part, there is a crack in part of the fixture and part of the wiring that is exposed (it is a hanging sconce) appears discolored and crooked. When I complained about the crack I was told that it was there when I dropped it off. I contend it wasn’t and probably would have not gone through all this hassle if it had been cracked at the beginning. It appears that in an effort to disassemble the fixture it was cracked. When asking about the wire, they said they hoped it would “straighten with time with the weight of the shade” (they have never seen the shade and have no idea how heavy it is). Alexandria Lighting may be good if you are a professional contractor, but I will certainly never use them again. I’m just pleased I didn’t use them for a more expensive project.

I worked with Theresa Dupont who was very knowable about electric loads and low cost alternatives. Her planning helped me save money and her company was easy to work with.