Hartmann Studios

I just Called to get a price quote/​proposal for my wedding since they are on the preferred vendor list. Once I started explaining what I wanted the lady seemed annoyed and her tone was enough to make me not want to do business with them. All I was describing was lighting! We didn’t even get to the rest bc I told her never mind. We were planning on spending a good chunk on lighting, drapery and rentals. Taking my business elsewhere!

We like their furniture, but their terms are egregious. An agreement to indemnify Hartmann for ANY liability arising out of the rental property.” Seriously?
Even more egregious and unethical is that when we expressed concern with this provision, they refused to amend it – or even explain it to us! I wonder if they even know what it means. Their response was simply, «It is company policy to not change our terms.» Basically, a meaningless response. Their second response was that if we wanted to change the terms, they would gladly let us pay for THIER lawyers to do so.
I don’t know how anyone could do business with these people.

Hartmann tried to get me to agree to the following massively overbroad unilateral indemnification:
«Renter agrees to indemnify and hold Hartmann Studios harmless from and against any and all liability, claims, demands, damages, judgments, attorneys’ fees and costs of every kind and nature including, but not limited to, injuries or death to persons and damage to property arising out of the use, installation, maintenance, construction, operation, or possession of rental Property, including any products sold for use with the Property.»
By the plain language of such a term, if Hartmann’s gross negligence injured an innocent bystander while Hartmann was installing furniture and I was miles away, and the bystander recovered her medical expenses from Hartmann, I would have to reimburse Hartmann! What an absurd idea! Such a term is:
— Morally unfair, in that it flies in the face of our gut sense of what is just
— Inefficient, in that it puts the cost of the accident on the high-​cost avoider rather than the low-​cost avoider
— Not market, in any sane, sophisticated market
I explained to Hartmann why such a term was unprincipled. Hartmann refused to negotiate the term and provided no principle to justify it. Hartmann refused to negotiate the term unless I agreed to pay its lawyers for their time negotiating. Lolz.

Don’t rent from these people! We were in discussions for a rental order during the holidays. 3 weeks before they tell me they wouldn’t deliver — the trucks are full with ‘holiday party orders’. If I want to send from them I have to come pick up what I want. Spoke to the manager — he basically said he has other holiday parties and he didn’t care and wouldn’t do anything to make it right.
Unbelievably poor customer service!!!

My coordinator helped me negotiate the rentals with Hartmann, so I’m not entirely familiar with the backend part of contracting with them. As far as experience, we worked with Madison, who was great and helped us figure out what we wanted for our rentals and what looked nice together. I’m really happy with how everything turned out! It was a little pricier than what I expected going in, but I also rented farm tables which raises the bar and also I didn’t account for all the small niceties that you need for everything to look elegant. On my wedding day, I’ll say that I was very ahppy with how everything looked, and it was beautiful!

Same thing as previous posts about the drivers. They just cut me and a whole line of traffic off making an illegal left turn. Boo!

I recently had a party at my home in Los Gatos CA.. For the party we rented app $ 3,000 worth of tables, chairs, dishes, silverware ect from Hartmann Studios. When the delivery truck arrived they had difficulty in navigating my driveway and ended up doing damages to my interlocking paver driveway. It was a honest mistake and the driver filled out an incident report. After the party I contacted Hartmann Studio’s and they told me «no problem » get the pavers repaired and send them the invoice, I had the pavers repaired and sent them the $ 300 invoice. After no response Hartmann Studios told me that when the driver arrived he personally checked all of my driveway (4,000+ pavers) and they were already damaged and they were not going to pay to repair them. I informed Harmann Studios that I was present at the incident and that I saw their driver hit the pavers with his truck and do the damage. Now the story changed and Hartman Studios admitted to the damage but stated they would not pay for the repair because it was my fault for not telling them I have difficult access at my home? After repeated emails, phone calls Hartman still refuses to pay for the damages they caused. Not a good way to run a business.

To the owners of this studio, you have asshole drivers that we’re swerving at our group of riders. They were flipping people off and thinking it was funny. Passing cars in the exit lanes and swerving erratically back onto the freeway. 3 kids in trucks giving your company a nice image in company truck. We have the license number and the video of their escapade. Truck was going into Healdsberg Ca around 10:15.

Hartmann Studios was a real pleasure from start to end! I initially contacted them sometime (Summer) last year when we were looking for rental companies for our wedding this past June (06÷14÷14). I was also Wedding Planner/​Coordinator and had a specific design aesthetic in mind on how I wanted our sit-​down dinner reception to look like. I found HS and decided to go with them after checking their website and seeing the extensive selection of items they carried.
We ended up renting all of our glassware from them and so pleased that we did. They were all in pristine condition when we picked them up. And just like presented in their website. They have a huge warehouse located in Richmond and it was easy to find. Their warehouse seems like it had it all. You can literally rent big pieces of furniture, lighting, etc. What a production they had! We were impressed. The lady at their gate entrance was so friendly, too! Huge smile on her face when we got there to pick-​up our rentals. They will also deliver but I believe there is a minimum order for delivery. All of my correspondence with them happened over e-​mail and I can’t even begin to tell you how easy it was for me without ever having to call.
MELANIE LEINWEBER (and MADISON YARBROUGH) worked with us through the entire process and was so responsive and prompt to all of our inquiries and changes/​revisions. Their contract is clear and concise. They were very professional and wonderful to work with. Sure made it easy for us. Returning our rentals was easy as well. We highly recommend them for any event… big or small!
Thanks so much, Hartmann Studios, for such an easy business transaction with you!

Hartmann studios was great! I used them for my wedding reception linens and chargers. They had lots of great options that you can check out at their warehouse. Melannie, who worked with us through the entire process, was very easy to get a hold of and was a pleasure to work with. Last minute, I also added on a cake stand. and it was NO PROBLEM what so ever. They were so good about our last minute changes to table arrangements as well. Very professional staff. Clean up and pick-​up included in the costs. I didn’t have to worry about a thing.

I’m going to make this easy for you to decide:
–I ignored the poor ratings on Unilocal,went with Hartmann anyways based purely on the pretty glasses and utensils.
–Visited Hartmann about 20 months prior to my wedding and asked for a quote.
— They gave me the wrong price for my glasses. When I noticed the names were different on the quote, I called Hartmann immediately and was told «don’t worry, the glasses are the same price.» When it came time to sign the contract four months before my wedding I reminded them of that conversation, nobody on their end took responsibility for it and basically said «too bad. You either pay double the price we quoted you or pick something else.»
–By this time I was working with Alisha Kellogg, I asked if they would honor the price they verbally promised almost a year prior. Her boss Moises Navarro said no and when I contacted him by email, he just thanked me for bringing this to his attention and was sorry. I called him and he was sarcastic, washed his hands clean by saying the rentals were public information and I should have known. It was actually the website where I noticed my glasses were incorrect on my quote, however prices are NOT listed so I wouldn’t have known.
— At one point it sounded like he said to me «it’s just a difference of a few cents.» When I confronted Moises Navarro about his comment, he replied «what I said was I could offer you 10%.» Who knows, maybe I heard wrong. I’ll let this one go…(by the way 10% would only be $ 0.18 off $ 1.80 and my glasses were originally quoted $ 0.90)
–Didn’t want to go with «HARTMANN» because Moises Navarro sounded so «HEARTLESS.» Went ahead and did it anyways because I didn’t have time to look for another company. Didn’t think they would screw up again.
–Signed the contract they provided which listed in detail what I was renting and the prices.
— Alisha sent me a credit card authorization form maybe a day or two later, I missed a number and my card didn’t go through. My fault. Called her to give over the phone so she could get it right away, got back to me a few days later saying they couldn’t take it over the phone and had to send in the form again. This took a few days going back and forth and by the time I sent it in, she told me the contract I signed DIDN’T reserve the rentals. They needed the credit card before they could hold anything and now my freaking utensils were not complete!!! Why don’t they include the credit card form together with contract, or why doesn’t it say that on the contract I don’t know?
–I was on a wait list of some sort and about two weeks before my wedding I find out that not only are the extra forks I needed not available, but the forks I already had on hold were gone too! Alisha didn’t know what happened but was going to get back to me. Keep in mind I’m a bride freaking out but I still gave her time to work. A whole week went by and nothing. I finally reached out and it wasn’t until the Monday before my wedding that she gets back to me! My utensils were all gone and I had to pick something else.
–After a little pressure Moises gave me 40% off my utensils. They really should have given me either my utensils or glasses they wrongly quoted me at no cost but that didn’t happen.
–I had no choice, this all went down about 4 days before my wedding. Still went with them.
–On the day of my wedding I enter the reception to find cheap plastic foldable chairs you see at community rooms BINGO night! Alisha put the wrong freaking chairs on my order!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
I promise I wasn’t a crazy bride. I was calm, polite and incredibly understanding. Hartmann was lucky it was me they were dealing with because I know for a fact most customers would have lost it with them and ripped em a new one. HARTMANN STUDIOS was the ONLY problem I encountered planning for my wedding and only ones who caused me stress/​anxiety/​sleepless nights. Worst of all they were never sorry until after I threatened to contact their boss. They never offered to make it up to me. I had to demand for some kind of compensation before the idea even crossed their minds. Mistakes happen all the time but it’s really how a company like Hartmann deals with their mistakes that keep them in good standing with the community.

Very poor customer service. Spoke with Heather on Saturday regarding pricing and availability for a wedding. She stated there were only 2 associates in the store at that time and would need to send me the pricing list on Monday. I received an email from her with pictures of items we discussed immediately after the call, again stating she would send the pricing list to me on Monday. On Monday, I received an email stating she needed to know which items I was interested before sending me the price quote. I replied all that she had sent me photos of. Didn’t hear anything on Tuesday, I left a voicemail reiterating I still hadn’t received any prices and was disappointed. Well, it’s now Wednesday, and still no word or email. Hartmann Studios, you just lost a customer and I will be sure to pass the experience along to anyone looking to rent event items.

I recently went through Hartmann for equipment rentals at my wedding in September. I was able to attend their show room and layout a mock table. They were very helpful in answering any and all questions. The sales gal we got setup was incredibly responsive through e-​mail and bless her heart, she accommodated my ever-​changing requests for rental items. They do offer items at a premium price, but we went through them since they were such a reputable company (unlike many vendors that we had dealt with that kept flaking out on us). Be aware that there are labor costs on top of the order which caught us by surprise. You pay per table/​chair setup. Keep that in mind when budgeting! For setup and pickup they gave us a 3hr window period of when they’d arrive and on both occasions they showed up right at the beginning time, on the dot, which was really nice! The only downfall was they forgot to deliver our dessert table, but thank goodness we were in an event venue that had extras. Also, we got double charged and had a hard time getting a hold of them after we established with them of the mistake. It took a couple of weeks to get our money back, which is a big chunk of change! Otherwise, I’d definitely recommend using them! Especially if you’re looking for fun «out of the box» items or a modern couture look! It was a lot of fun planning with them!

Let me save you some trouble.
$ 9.00 for each chivari chair
$ 2.75 if you want a special color for the chair seat.
Not worth the money. You can find other places that rent them for at least a little bit cheaper. That’s the price they gave my wedding coordinator as well, a person who has worked with them for a while. I don’t think you can get any real deals with them.

This review is for customer service only.
I called Hartmann to provide chair rentals, tables, linens, glasses and umbrellas for my event. I set up a meeting at their show room, discussed various options, and went through each item. I also inquired about lighting (which they outsource) and was easy to navigate with Anne and Parker. They were both professional, quick to respond (in a good way!), detailed and helpful.
One comment or advice — be clear from the beginning on the timing and details of the event you are planning. It greatly impacts the pricing of the labor, which is why I ultimately did not use Hartmann. Their prices might be a bit more, but if you see the operations they have — you’ll understand. It’s really impressive.
Anyway, thumbs up for good service during the planning stages.

Rented mirrors to fully cover the tables at our wedding from Hartman. Everything went smoothly for the most part. I’d rent from them again! They have such unique rentals!

Oh boy. Where to begin.
I was having a small wedding in Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park (last September) and had a 3 hour reservation for set up, ceremony and clean up. I was very worried about timing and was obsessed with researching different rental companies and talking to vendors to find out who could deliver within such a tight time frame.
I see Hartmann at every bridal show and thought they were worth the extra cost. I spent a few months working with my reps and they were very nice and so helpful. They were patient when I added a table rental and wine glasses for refreshments at the park and were so patient with my calling to go over timing on multiple occasions. I paid a $ 200 premium for a 30 minute delivery window and (thought) I had the timing between the trolley (with guests) arrival at park, my arrival at park, refreshments, and departure. It was worth the extra money because I was assured over and over again it was fine.
As I was at home finishing getting ready I get a call from my (now) husband… nothing is there. My wedding coordinator/​friend had been there for an hour waiting for them and calling them AND NO ONE AT HARTMANN KNEW WHERE THE DELIVERY TRUCK WAS. I was trying to be positive and delayed leaving for the park thinking it would arrive any minute. We had wine, with no glasses, refreshments with no tables, and elderly relatives standing around or sitting on park benches.
It was cold in San Francisco that day and my family and friends were freezing and 45 minutes late we had to begin. (note this was almost an hour and a half after the delivery was supposed to occur). As my limo was pulling up to the area the delivery people arrive and want to set up. At this point my husband, my wedding planner and my mom all told them to leave. We weren’t going to set up the wedding with all of the guests there and the bride about to go down the sidewalk. So we did the entire thing standing up and skipped (and wasted) all of the refreshments.
Luckily they did show up the next day to deliver the items we ordered for our post wedding party at our loft the next day.
Look, mistakes happen. And I am a pretty patient person and it made for a great story (can you believe we had no chairs!). It also ultimately made it more intimate (and warmer) with everyone standing around us during our vows.
But what really made me mad was what happened after.
My husband and I leave on our honeymoon and I think that on Monday I am SURE that one of our two sales reps or a manager will certainly call to explain what happened… and apologize. My wedding coordinator had been on the phone with the sales rep assistant for hours on my wedding day… so I was sure they would follow up.
No call. No email. So we call a manager (from our honeymoon!) who had no idea that it even occurred. Look, I know I was a small order but if you completely screw up a wedding wouldn’t someone notify management? Why did I have to contact Hartmann on my honeymoon to find out what happened? Why didn’t they call me?
What also was aggravating was the manager told me the issue was that Hartmann should never have accepted my order with such a tight timeline (then why is there an itemized section of the invoice for $ 200 for 30 minute delivery window?)
I give them credit because they did refund me all of my money for my wedding rentals and for the rentals for the post party the next day (and then apologized) but I should not have had to be worrying about this on the day of my wedding or during my honeymoon. Oh, and two weeks later I got an invoice from them for the balance due and had to contact them AGAIN to let them know it was waived.
Never again. Unless you are a big order I don’t think it is important enough for them to show up.

The Fiancé and I are getting married in September, at the W San Francisco, and upon deciding that we wanted to rent a white dance floor, our event coordinator recommended Hartmann Studios.
I have had the privelege of corresponding with Melanie, and have been extremely satisfied with her response time (sometimes within minutes of my email!), and with her ability to answer each and every one of my questions. We have officially moved forward with reserving our white dance floor and aisle runner, and I am looking forward to seeing how everything comes together on our big day.
Thank you for everything, Melanie!

Had really unpleasant experience with this vendor — particularly the sales associate named Leah Trefry = stay away from her!
She was the most unprofessional, impatient salesperson I have ever encountered!
I asked whether there are any promotion or discount for the quote provided, she replied that I was not a VIP so I couldn’t get any. Seriously, what kind of salesperson says such things to their clients?!!
Very unprofessional, will never use them.

I had a horrible experience with this company.
I don’t think I have ever encountered such a difficult person on the phone… the women I endured this from her name was Kelly and the fact that I payed them over 3,000 to provide me with props for my event would get me a little more politeness.
It took me a week to finalize my props and when I asked to work with someone else other than Kelly she called me later practically yelling at me…
On the day of the event, they sent me the wrong runway for the fashion show, in fact my models would have all broken their legs… luckily when I called them, they realized they had make a mistake. and 2 hours later it arrived. the designers were unable to rehearse prior to the show.
I hope that next time I work with them, I will be treated with a little more respect… Kelly made this aspect of putting on an event miserable.