South Shore Exhibit TV Stand for TVs Up to 60 Inches - Gray Oak Finish, Modern Entertainment Center for Living Room, Bedroom & Home Theater

I received this TV stand late on a Friday. I waited some time for it so I wanted it put together ASAP. I began taking pieces out of the box and organizing them when I found the main support "board" was completely cracked. I attempted to call the maker but it was late on Friday and they would not be IN until Monday. I didn't wait. I pressed the board back together as best I could and completed the build. it still bothers me that the company has no contact people over the weekends. So far it is holding up but I wish I would have gotten a superior product for my money. The board was deep in the box and could not have been broken in transit it was packed that way at the "factory" and they just allowed it to go out that way. VERY DISAPPOINTING and FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!I hate having to give a poor review, and I’m sure that properly built it’s an acceptable stand.But, I just finished having to cobble together a container to have it picked up for return so I’m in a pretty poor mood towards the entire situation.I’ve built dozens of flat pack furniture in the past 30 years. I’ve built multiple computers from scratch. I design large lighting and sound systems for events. But none of that was useful when faced with the mystery of the parts and instructions that were in this box.First one positive. It was well packed and arrived I damaged. However it was impossible to fit back into its box for the return, so I used a much of the packing material as I could and a full roll of shipping tape to jury-rig it back together for return. I have a bad back, so when packed I’m unable to even raise the box off the floor.I assembled the proper tools, unpacked it all and then spent the better part of four hours trying to follow the instructions provided. Assembling, disassembling and reassembling countless sub assemblies. Trying to force one piece together, I even damaged a panel . Because it was to be hidden, I soldiered on.Ultimately I walked away from a huge pile of parts on the floor with nothing that I could even verify was correct.The problem is, there are numerous parts of varied counts that look similar to each other with no way to accurately identify them. They’re numbered in the instructions, but the bags are not. It also warns there may be extras, so counting them is hit and miss. Even just providing the sizes (like the length of bolts) would give some chance of figuring it out. They were packed in bags of varied sizes and counts, so I thought maybe it was done to relate to each step. But I was never able to verify that. I’d find one set of blots in one bag and one set of inserts in another seemingly just randomly placed. One big bag of hardware would have made just as much sense. I’ve attached some photos to better illustrate the similar looking parts, lack of descriptions and random bags.I’m not completely thrilled with Amazon in this case either. Their automated system left no room for discussion or figuring out how to return such a large item without a proper box to put it into. I couldn’t take all the loose parts to a UPS store, and the pickup option admonishes me to have it packaged. Thus another hour gone trying to recreate the box as mentioned above. Also, there’s no return label available to print, so I have many questions for the poor UPS guy who’ll arrive to have to lift this massive and very heavy box. A simple call in number to discuss it all with Amazon would have been very useful. But, I received repeated messages in return that their customer service line couldn’t help with my account or any orders today...A completely frustrating waste of hours of time to accomplish nothing and have to worry about the thing even being taken away properly tomorrow.My advice is to either pay for assembly, or not order any sort of flat pack furniture via Amazon. It’s a crap shoot on quality and instructions...and returning it is a big challenge compared to a small item.Right away I noticed a gouge in the box. Unfortunate, but that probably happened en route. After opening the box, I realized the top surface of the top piece (the surface where you put your TV that everyone can see) was facing outward right where the gouge was. Sure enough it got scratched up pretty badly. And that I do pin on the manufacturer - why put the most important surface on the outer layer of the box with zero protection?One of the wood pieces was snapped in half, and that was well inside the box. Other pieces were chipped, scratched, or somehow defective. Sadly I didn't realize a lot of this until I had put a good portion of it together. I'd have returned it, but I needed this sooner than later and gorilla glued the broken piece, luckily had the perfect colored marker for scruffs (it also comes with a small marker that's close-ish in color), and I didn't really have the energy to figure out returning something this big and bulky after already unboxing it.As far as assembly, it's fine if directions have minimal wording and mostly pictures, but they really made this as convoluted as possible. Took me a solid 4.5 hours to put it together, and I'm pretty good with this sort of thing.I understand getting what you pay for, and I don't mind particle board. But when every screw gets utterly stripped just screwing it in, man, you better hope you don't have to unscrew it. Just an unpleasant experience altogether.After all the headache and effort, it looks okay, but I just don't have a lot of faith it'll last long term. Not worth it.I thought it was more of a realistic wood product but its actually laminated pressboard. I take the blame for not noticing that from the description but still disappointing. Other than that, it is suitable for what we bought it for.This TV stand is a little bit difficult to assemble. Do not expect IKEA level. You will need to use wood screws, hammer nails and align joints. Instructions are clear enough for how to do everything but at some of the instructions the orientation of the parts are not clear. You will definitely assemble the unit, but could end up with some components installed in wrong direction. There are excessive screws, nuts and bolts of all kinds in the package. There are different kinds of parts that are very similar in the instructions and it would be a bit difficult to distinguish them if you are not very familiar to assembling furniture.If you came out of assembly alive you'll have a great TV stand. Overall look is very nice and sturdy. Drawers are functional and move smoothly. There is a lot of space in the inner compartment that you can hide the cables, even power bricks in. Only downside is there is a single hole at the back and it's not wide enough to hold more than 4-5 cables. When you connect 1 HDMI and 1 power chord for each set top box or console in 3 inner compartment the cables hole will be too crowded.This Tv stand is absolutely beautiful and quite sturdy. I will mention that it is not the easiest to put together. It takes quite a long time and instructions are not always clear. Please avoid if you are not prepared to invest the time. Giving it stars because it is a great addition!The unit took way longer than expected to put together. Like others have said, this comes with way too many parts and is easily messed up - South Shore needs to take a page from the I-K-E-A playbook when it comes to flat packing. I have had this for three weeks now and the drawer faces have come off the unit due to the included fastener arrangement pulling out when my wife opened the drawer one too many times (serrated edge of the screw hole socket doesn't grab enough of the MDF). Drawers have less than 5 lbs of contents each in them and where put together as per the instructions - and might be opened twice per day. Due to this drawer face issue this unit isn't safe around little kids (who are curious and may pull on the drawer not expecting the face to fly off).Very very solid. Arrived quickly in a single, well packed and protected box. Very heavy. Interesting engineering for the fasteners Assembled by myself in about 2 hours. Instructions were all pictorial. Pieces all fit snugly with no modifications needed. I feel like this unit was a much better deal that what was available at Costco etc. Picture shows it with the 55 inch TV. Son wanted it for ‘gaming height’ and this fits the bill. Very pleased.