The Refined Feline Lotus Cat Tower in Espresso

I loved this cat tree ever since I saw it and always knew I wanted to replace my existing cat tree with something more sophisticated.

Well, within 30 minutes of this item's delivery to my door, I knew I had to return it. I could not get past the first step in assembly, which was to screw the plastic feet onto one of the boards. One of the female components to the feet screws was not inserted into the wood properly, thus making it impossible to screw the feet in all the way. I thought, "That's fine, I'll work with this" and decided to use some sticky felt pads as the feet instead.

The second step involved assembling the 4 walls of the cubby hole together. The holes for the wood pegs did not align with their corresponding pegs.

At that point, I knew it was going to be impossible to assemble without breaking out my own power tools and drilling new holes. For a $400 product, I expected it at least assemble properly.

I just can't understand what kind of company would make such a defective product and charge hundreds for it.

After reading previous reviews of this product I was super excited to get this for my big, playful cat. Well, the day it arrived, my neighbor helped me put it together. We didn't get far before running into problems. We could not get the screw in one of the 4 corners of the cubby hole because the holes in the 2 square panels clearly did not align. No matter what we did, it simply did not go in. So we tightened the remaining 3 screws down and hoped for the best. We continued and got to the stage where we were putting in the brackets that hold the shelves down. Well, they were defective too--the wood was not drilled through all the way --there was a "lip of wood" in the middle of the hole--so therefore the screw could not screw into the back of the panel. I called customer service and explained the issues. They sent me a replacement bracket (at that point I thought it was just one defective bracket). I had to wait 5 days for the bracket. Well, wouldn't you know, the replacement bracket was defective too--same issue! At this point I am extremely frustrated, considering I've paid $399 for this product!

I had to enlist the help of my other neighbor who had a drill and he drilled the holes through on 4 brackets that were defective and put the rest of the tower together. He certainly was not impressed with the tower, stating the wood was poor quality. In fact, the top most brackets do not lay flat against the main panel; there is a clear gap between bracket and panel and it doesn't look good. I e-mailed customer service and explained all the problems and my frustration. I was very clear that I was unsatisfied with the product. The president of the company was quick to blame the new manufacturer they just started using and offered me a $50 refund for my troubles. Ok, the tower was $1.00 short of $400 and the best he could do was offer me $50?? I really thought the least they could do was refund me $100. Suffice to say, I will NEVER order any other products from this company. In summary: defective product and very weak response from company to compensate and secure repeat customer.

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Like many others, I can't bear the thought of having one of those ridiculous carpeted monstrosities in my home, regardless how much I love my black cat Hoodie. We moved a few weeks ago and Hoodie went from a big house in the burbs with outdoor access to Nature, to a third-floor condo in the city one-third the size of his former free-access domain.

So clearly this was a guilt purchase. And I'm glad I picked not only this brand but the size and color (Espresso). The quality of all parts and tooling is superior and well worth the 90 minutes it took me (a computer geek, not a craftsman) to assemble this beauty. It looks great, holds its own with my office furniture, Hoodie loves it, and he can watch the woodpecker outside the office window slowly deconstruct the telephone pole any time he wants.

Highly recommended, worth the money.

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I had been eyeing this cat tree for many months before finally jumping in and purchasing it. The reviews made me hesitant but I finally thought I would give it a try. Well, I probably would have been better off sticking with my old cat tree. The first one that came had a defective base piece and I was unable to even start putting it together. The screw holes were not drilled properly and I had to wait for customer service to send a new one. To make matters worse, my several phone calls and two voice messages went unanswered until I finally got through to someone over a week later. Once I did speak to someone they were very helpful and friendly, but I was very disappointed at the lack of service leading up to that point.

The replacement piece arrived quickly and it also was defective. This time the holes for the rubber pieces that "level" the base were too small. Since I was using this on a hard floor I figured it wasn't a big deal and just went ahead and finished putting it together. There was one other piece that had a hole that was drilled improperly, but I was able to re-drill it and make it work. Putting the tree together took about an hour--it wasn't a breeze, but it also wasn't as frustrating as I'm sure it could have been. Of course, once I finished the whole thing I found out that those levelers which didn't fit in the holes were necessary after all since even on a hard floor, it rocks/shakes a bit when the cats climb it. But I am not about to take the whole thing apart and wait for another piece that could have another defect.

Bottom line--the cats still prefer their old tree and only go on this one occasionally. It does look nice, but the defects are absolutely ridiculous for a $400 piece of cat furniture. Would I buy it again or recommend it, heck no. Would I try anything else from this company, probably not. They need to focus on quality, even if it means bumping the price up a bit...but if you can't drill holes properly in this many products, it's time to re-evaluate things.

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We wanted a piece of contemporary cat furniture that complemented our decor & wasn't covered in nasty carpet, & this seemed to fit the bill. The item arrived quickly, was well packaged (luckily as by the look of the outside of the box it had been dropped in transit) & was reasonably easy to assemble despite the rather daunting exploded diagram that was the instructions. Assembly took about an hour everything lined up perfectly so I assume the manufacturers have resolved the issues that some others have reported.

The assembled cat tree looks great it's attractive, very sturdy & well finished. Initially our 2 indoor cats checked it out but seemed to prefer the cardboard box it came in, possible because there was a bit of a "new furniture" odor about it, so I sprayed it with Feliway & by the following day they were all over it! My only slight issue is that the plastic decor grommets that hide the screw holes keep falling out, but that can be easily resolved with some glue. Overall I am very pleased with the quality & the look of the tower, & it's great quality so I'm confident that this was money well spent.

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