I actually run a wine store on the daily, and we sell quite a lot of True Fabrication's... er... well... fabrications...
Now, it's true that they make a few quality products, but from my understanding of it, they actually are more of a distributor of goods from China moreso than a "fabricator" of them. However, I have had some issues with a few of their other decanters for several reasons I list below:
1. Average craftsmanship.
Uncertain as to whether these are hand-blown or not, the decanters we have at my store are the "duck decanters" and they seem to have a number of imperfections on nearly all of them. Most notable, there are small (sometimes very very tiny, sometimes dot-of-an-"i" tiny) but definitely noticeable chips in the interior & exterior rim of the pouring spout. Some also have a somewhat deformed or odly shappen pouring spout, though I doubt one would have similar problems with this model.
They also are somewhat uneven in the width of the glass around the sides. Unlike a nice wine glass, looking through a decanter will cause noticeable distortion of whatever is behind it as it rotates. Perhaps not altogether too terrible, but noticeable to the observant onlooker.
2. Perhaps more importantly, packing is often lack-luster. 2/5 of the duck decanters I mentioned earlier arrived this week with broken spouts from insufficient packing materials. The spouts of all but one unit had actually pierced the side of the boxes they were shipped in, two breaking in the process.
Other items by true come in variable qualities. Some look very good to us online, for us only to have them arrive looking much less desirable in person to sit on the shelves for months. Others look as good or better than their online showcase counterparts, so it's a mixed bag.
Perhaps most notably on the good side of the company is their customer service, as they often refund goods that arrive damaged or otherwise assuage our woes, keeping us fairly happy customers. However, not having that relationship with the company could be quite detrimental on the average Woot purchaser.
All that being said, I genuinely feel these decanters to be somewhat of a gamble for all you folks out there. Most items I sell by true I actually open the packages to ensure I'm not going to sell something people will return. We DO have a substantial number of defects, so of course, YMMV.
For all of you that do plan to buy, good luck, and with it, may you have a fantastic looking decanter that lasts for years... Certainly there are many of our customers who are thoroughly satisfied with their products.
