An Open Letter to Ernesta Founders John, Hisao, and Yony: A Disjointed and Ludicrous Process
After a highly frustrating experience with a well-known, NYC-based competitor, I was genuinely looking forward to an interaction with Ernesta that would make buying custom rugs easier. Unfortunately, that has not been the case.
We were prepared to purchase 10 rugs for our home. To test the waters, I ordered a single Thatcher Mocha rug. Realizing I forgot the border, my wife and I visited your Upper East Side showroom on May 17th to adjust it. From that point on, the experience spiraled into a comedy of operational errors:
In-store, we were told it was too late to adjust our test order rug and were shown a sample that looked brown instead of black.
We shifted our entire whole-house design to a different style (Emerson Black) based on this information - only for the original Thatcher rug to arrive at our home later looking perfectly black. We had been shown the wrong sample in-store.
In store we had assured there was plenty of Emerson in stock to complete tour order, only to be told days later that the inventory didn't actually exist.
Our order was part area rugs and part in home cut to size. After being advised to place an order for the area rugs, we were told by customer care to *cancel* that order. The reason? To get the "Welcome Offer" by bundling all the area rug orders together. So that's what we did, only to find the discount didn't apply as the new rug was the most expensive and therefore not eligible!!!!!
To cap it off, your team couldn't clear up whether the original order was actually canceled. And even after it was confirmed it had beed the next day, I was inundated with automated production emails while customer service struggled to provide a straight answer on our order status or why we were instructed to cancel in the first place.
I am reaching out to you directly this weekend to explain how a process that promises to simplify custom rug buying ended in such a time-wasting, ludicrous fashion.
Ernesta is a great idea and the rugs are perfect for us, but the process is not.
Adam
17 maja 2026
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