Evodesk Pro Standing Desk Review
A premium-priced desk marred by fulfillment issues and woeful customer service.
Warning: this is a ridiculously-exhaustive review of my experience buying and assembling my first standing desk: an Evodesk Pro.
It is a long review. It is over 6,000 words long. The unamended U.S. Constitution has fewer words than this review, and it defined a country. I just want to be clear about what you’ve clicked on, but honestly there’s probably nothing better to do during lockdown than read this, so off you go.
I’ve also included plenty of details on the technology in my setup for anyone interested in all that business.
Like many people during the pandemic, I’ve been working from home full-time and finally decided to upgrade — and simplify — my workspace.
For decades I’ve been using wire rack shelving as a desk. I always found it easy to assemble with limitless reconfiguration potential. Its open-slat design is ideal for airflow and cable management is simple; you just zip-tie cables to the back edge of the shelves and go on with your life.
But my desk had grown unwieldy over the years as I added to it, so it was time for a “reset” to simplify everything—and create a more professional look.
Research
Because this is the first “traditional” desk I’ve used in years and I’m meticulous about cable management, my goal was to mount as much hardware and cabling as possible to the underside of the desk, helping keep the desk surface simple and clean. This is something I couldn’t do with the “see through” nature of a wire-rack shelving desk. And since I’m starting from scratch, I figured it would be worth the investment to upgrade to the health benefits of a standing desk.
After reviewing options ranging from sophisticated standing desks from companies like Uplift and Fully to simpler non-adjustable desks like the ubiquitous IKEA Karlby countertops paired with Alex drawers-as-support, I decided on a premium standing model from Evodesk.
Although I’m reasonably satisfied with the end result, I wanted to share my experience in ordering from Evodesk, dealing with fulfillment issues, assembling the desk, and post-purchase support, all of which left a lot to be desired and should be considered by anyone interested in an Evodesk.
In the interest of transparency, the Evodesk model I configured with accessories (including a speaker system) ended up costing close to $3,000. Normally I wouldn’t share that information, but I’m including it to help illustrate the disparity you’re about to see between the price I paid and the experience I had with the company and product.
Ordering
First, the Evodesk website is nicely designed, full of beautiful product photography, persuasive marketing, and promising testimonials from the likes of PC Gamer, Slash Gear, and Entrepreneur magazine. Evodesk offers a range of models at various (albeit premium) price points, and a ton of customization options configurable through a slick interactive 3D interface.
While it’s daunting to buy high-end furniture without the benefit of physically seeing it beforehand in a showroom, times have changed and seeing photos and videos online and reading reviews are about the only option we have.
In the end, I chose Evodesk partly because of their wide range of accessories and customization options, which I couldn’t find matched to the same degree from other desk manufacturers.
With several finishes available (and my plan to replace the flooring and repaint my office walls to complement the desk), I contacted Evodesk to request a sample package. Their Customer Support agreed to mail one out, but they never did. This was my first small hint that Customer Support at Evodesk would fail to deliver many (many) more times.
The model I decided on was a simple, single-level Evodesk Pro in Dark Plantation Oak at 30" x 72", equivalent in size to my old wire-rack desk.
Evodesk doesn’t make the differences between their many models readily evident on their website, but ultimately I learned that the only difference between the Pro model and the regular model is that the Pro has four powered legs instead of two. In my research I’d seen YouTube videos of other standing desks with two legs that had some wobble, and I wanted a very stable desk that wouldn’t budge. Coincidentally these are also the best characteristics of a U.S. President.
Of course, I bedazzled my Evodesk with a number of fetch accessories, including:
- A programmable control unit (with 4 memory presets for height)
- The Freeport+ AC power and USB hub, including an optional front-facing extension panel to bring four USB ports to the front of the desk
- A hidden wireless charging surface (offered for free with my order, so why not?)
- An underdesk CPU mount
- An integrated cable management tray
- I use three Dell 27" 4K monitors for my design work, and while Evodesk doesn’t offer a triple-monitor mount, I ordered both their single monitor arm and their dual monitor arm, optimistically assuming Evodesk had chosen or manufactured these models for compatibility with their desks. I also felt more comfortable buying everything together as a presumably-vetted and endorsed package.
- The Harman Kardon Soundsticks III 2.1 speaker system. Uniquely, Evodesk includes a kit to let you mount the subwoofer under the desk, keeping it off the floor and letting it travel with the desk. Sold!
Note: Evodesk only offers the older, non-Bluetooth edition of the Harman Kardon speakers, and they do not make this apparent. I had to ask. I happen to prefer the reliability of wired speakers over potentially spotty Bluetooth signals, so this wasn’t an issue for me, but if you prefer wireless speakers, you can buy the newer Bluetooth model from Amazon. But be aware that the “wireless” edition still uses wires to connect the satellite speakers to the subwoofer, so you’re not gaining much.
The waiting game
The first issue I ran into with Evodesk was the shipping time. It’s understandable that most companies are facing production and shipping delays during the pandemic, and Evodesk estimated the shipping date to be 30 days out—an eternity in the age of Amazon Prime’s 2-day shipping, but it is what it is.
It’s worth mentioning that Evodesk charges you immediately for your order rather than at shipment like most companies, so you’re going to be out a big chunk of change with nothing to show for it for a while—each desk is built to order.
Unfortunately, Evodesk’s shipping estimate turned out to be very inaccurate.
I patiently waited the full 30 days to receive a shipping notification, but it never came. I finally began contacting Evodesk through their online chat support for updates. I was told they were still behind on production due to the pandemic, and were also struggling to keep up with a record-high number of orders, presumably as people like me around the country were spontaneously upgrading their work-from-home offices, pumping their one stimulus check back into the economy.
I’m glad Evodesk’s business and workers weren’t affected by the economic downturn, but I was frustrated to see them continuing to heavily advertise their desks online during this time, knowing they were unable to fulfill an influx of new orders in a reasonable timeframe.
I checked in with Customer Support once a week, hoping to get a shipment notice, but kept hearing their Production department was still behind in fulfilling orders, and it would always be “just another week” before it was my turn.
Finally, almost a full two months (56 days) after placing my order, I received a shipment notification. Larger desktops are shipped via a non-trackable trucking service, so it would be another week or so to receive my order.
About a week later, I received the shipment—or most of it, at least.
Unfortunately, only seven out of eight boxes arrived, so there was no sense in starting the complex and time-consuming assembly process until I had all the parts. The boxes arrived pretty beaten up and since the packages aren’t labeled, I wouldn’t even know what was missing unless I broke them all open to inventory every last screw.
On top of that, the last box was (nearly) lost in shipment altogether. While this was outside of Evodesk’s control, it took another 1.5 weeks for the final package of my shipment to be located and delivered after being misplaced in a shipping center. But at last, I had all of the pieces!
Or so I thought.
Problems pile up
After about 2.5 months of waiting, I was eager to finally assemble my desk, so I began unpacking all the boxes. That’s when I realized there were indeed problems. Some of the accessories I ordered weren’t included, and some parts were incorrect. More waiting was in my future.
To start, the Freeport power/USB unit was missing. I received the optional front panel extension I ordered that places a few USB ports at the front of the desk, but I didn’t get the main unit it connects to. This was a $130 accessory I was charged for and didn’t receive.
I also didn’t receive the programmable height controller I upgraded to. I received the basic non-programmable model, rather than the $60 upgraded version.
One of the selling points of the Evodesk for me was the integrated Harman Kardon speaker system, which comes with a proprietary mounting kit from Evodesk so you can attach the subwoofer to the bottom of the desk, as is your right and privilege as an American.
Since my goal was to get all of my hardware off the floor so it would move with the desk to its standing position, this was important to me. The installation instructions included a loose addendum about a secondary kit required to install the subwoofer if you are also using the optional cable management tray, which I was.
Unfortunately this secondary installation kit was also missing. When I contacted Customer Support about having a replacement sent out, I was told that the kit didn’t arrive because it had been discontinued, and that I would have to figure out how to mount the subwoofer (partially to a thick metal plate) under the desk on my own.
But we’re just getting started with the fulfillment issues.
I only received one of the two monitor arms I ordered, so that alone was a non-starter for being able to fully set up my desk. I contacted Evodesk to let them know I had not received the dual monitor arm. It was then that I was told that model was backordered. When I asked how long a shipping estimate would be, they said it would be up to an additional two months before their supplier in China would deliver more monitor arm units. After already waiting over two months for my desk to arrive, another two-month wait was out of the question.
It would be up to an additional two months before their supplier in China would deliver monitor arm units.
I was very frustrated that Evodesk did not proactively contact me about the backorder status, even though I was charged for the item. I only found out I was even facing an additional 2-month wait because I ran out of patience waiting for it to arrive and contacted them.
With the single-monitor mount in hand, I tried finding the matching dual-monitor mount online from any other reseller, but the mounts turned out to be a no-name Chinese brand not available anywhere else. What’s more, Evodesk charges an exorbitant price for each mount ($190 for the single arm and an alarming $300 for the dual arm), more expensive than virtually any other high-end monitor arm on the market.
I decided to return the single-monitor arm for a refund (since I couldn’t find the matching dual arm), and of course cancelled the backordered model. Several weeks later, I still have not received refunds for either of these items—more on that later.
After more research, I ended up ordering an excellent triple-monitor mount from Monoprice at a much more reasonable $180 — it arrived in two days from Amazon, and would be much cleaner visually on the desk than using two different monitor arms.
But wait, there’s more!
Perhaps the most egregious issue with my order was the CPU mount accessory. It’s a $130 chassis that lets you attach your desktop computer to the underside of the desk so it can move with the desk, a pretty common need for standing desks.
I use a Mac Pro desktop, so this was a must-have accessory for my setup. Before ordering, I double-checked that Evodesk’s CPU mount could hold the dimensions and weight of the Mac Pro. Their CPU mount handled the right dimensions and was rated (according to their website) to hold computers up to 60 lbs.—more than enough for my 40 lb. Mac Pro.
After installing my Mac Pro into the mount and bolting it to the underside of the desk, I noticed it wasn’t fitting quite right and didn’t feel stable at all. Inspecting it more closely, I could see that the mount itself was actually bowing—the metal plate holding the computer was buckling downward under the weight of the computer. I of course disconnected the computer and went back to Evodesk’s website to double-check the specs.
That’s when I realized Evodesk had bait-and-switched the CPU mount and shipped me a completely different model of CPU mount than was advertised on their website.
What’s more, the unit they did ship did not have the same weight rating as the one advertised. It was clear when I compared the installation manual on their website that the CPU mount I received was a totally different model, looking nothing like the one on their website. Out of curiosity, I did a Google search to see if I could find the model they did ship to me.
It turns out the model they sent is a low-budget mount available from Amazon for $27 (a reminder, Evodesk charged me $130 for this accessory). I understand that resellers mark up items they don’t manufacture to make an easy profit, but if you’re going to do that, you at least have to ship the same item you’ve advertised.
Worst of all, this cheaper unit was only rated to hold CPUs up to 33 lbs.—definitely not enough for my 40 lb. Mac Pro, which explained the issues I was having. But nothing excuses Evodesk from supplying an inferior product—without notice—that could (very easily) damage a customer’s equipment.
Just imagine your standing desk extended to maximum height and your computer suddenly breaking off and dropping like a machined-aluminum rock four feet straight to the ground. Do you think Evodesk would readily accept liability for the damage to your computer, CPU mount, desk, and flooring? I decided not to test that theory with an $8,000 Mac Pro.
I ended up finding a better (and cheaper) heavy-duty CPU mount from Amazon. It’s rated at holding up to 66 lbs. and even has a nice industrial design that matches the rounded chrome handles of the Mac Pro. It’s holding up fine and looks great.
At this point, I needed a magazine rack for all of my issues. I of course had to contact Evodesk Customer Support again. By this time I had probably had at least a dozen chats with Evodesk’s support staff, but with the number of problems I was experiencing with my delivery, an old-school phone call was in order. I promised myself I wouldn’t yell.
I spoke with one of their support agents who legitimately sounded a little shocked (and a lot embarrassed) at the sheer number of problems I had with my order. It sounds like a comedy of errors when you list them all out in a row. But even after that call—where my problems were to be “escalated to leadership” at Evodesk to address—at the time of this writing, most of my issues remain unresolved.
I still have not received refunds for either monitor arm ($490) after several weeks.
I still have not received a refund for the missing Freeport unit or the front extension panel ($140) I returned.
I still have not received a refund for the defective CPU mount ($130), much less an explanation for the blatant and irresponsible bait-and-switch.
I still have not received a working programmable control unit ($60), so my standing desk… can’t actually stand.
And I certainly still have never heard back from Evodesk leadership about taking responsibility for any of these problems.
I’ll keep the status of these issues up-to-date at the end of this review.
Evodesk… assemble!
Past all of the fulfillment issues, it was finally time to assemble the desk—getting close to three months after I placed my initial order, and after sourcing my own accessories for those that never arrived or were of poor quality.
The first thing I noticed about the Evodesk itself is that it was thinner than I was expecting. After researching so many other desks on the market in this price category (and well below), I had gotten used to seeing sturdy-looking 1" or 1.5" thick desks as a standard, so I assumed Evodesk would be the same. Unfortunately, the Evodesk desktops are just a bit over .5" thick, or about half the thickness of competing products. Evodesks even appear thicker (closer to 1") in their 3D configurator, so that preview turned out to be misleading and disappointing.
While I don’t think the desk is going to collapse under its own weight, it does make mounting accessories under the desk trickier—I had to be very careful selecting screws that would be short enough not to penetrate through the finished top surface, or risk ruining the whole desk. This is especially an issue for attaching heavier items like the CPU mount, which can weigh upwards of 50–60 lbs. in total.
At the end of the day, Evodesks are very expensive, and the .5" thin desktop doesn’t feel like it justifies the premium price.
There were other minor but avoidable issues that just feel sloppy and don’t make a good first impression for what is billed as a premium product.
For instance, the order sticker affixed to the edge of desk (presumably only used by Evodesk’s production department) doesn’t peel off cleanly — who doesn’t hate that? — and milled sections of the desk (like the cutout for the wireless charger pictured below) have rough edges that Evodesk couldn’t be bothered to clean up before shipping.
Worse, my desk had several scratches and dings. Scuffing was bad enough on the desk’s back edge that I would have considered rejecting the delivery if it had been on the more-visible front edge, but I’m guessing I would be told that there is an acceptable threshold of imperfections for hand-crafted wood products, and there would be no such thing as a “perfect” finish achievable on every edge and surface, especially after rough and unpredictable freight shipping.
So there are several scratches on the surface of the desk and some on the front edge, but none worth waiting another 2+ months for a replacement (which may or may not be any better from a quality perspective), or dealing with the nightmare of shipping such a large item back.
Another issue that’s hard to foresee when ordering online is the massive amount of space the leg supports take up on the underside of the desk, particularly on the 4-leg Pro model. You already have to sacrifice the entire centerline of the desk to house the power unit and wiring for the standing mechanism, but what’s not as apparent is that the steel leg supports have two very large “Y” shapes at either end.
What this means is that you end up with significantly less usable real estate at the front and rear of the desk to mount anything to the underside. In the photo below you can see there’s barely enough room to mount the small standing control box.
Most significantly, the CPU mount butts right up to my legs in the furthest-available position, rather than fitting towards the outside edge of the desk you could presumably achieve with a standard 2-leg desk. This is something Evodesk wouldn’t think to spell out in their marketing materials or 3D configurator, but it’s worth considering before you invest in the Pro model.
Evodesks come pre-drilled with pilot holes for the main leg supports and some accessories, including the standing control unit and a keyboard tray (which I didn’t order), but it is a 100% certainty that you’ll need to drill your own holes depending on what you plan on mounting to the underside of the desk—which for me meant drilling new holes for the subwoofer kit, the CPU mount, a small storage shelf, and other necessary items like power strips, a USB hub, and a small sound mixer.
I don’t consider myself an expert with tools by any means, so the prospect of drilling into an expensive desk with the very-real possibility of ruining the finished surface caused a lot of anxiety. I ended up buying a package of stop-collars for my drill that would theoretically prevent the bit from going through the desk, but I was still nervous with every turn of a screw.
The prospect of drilling into an expensive desk with the very-real possibility of ruining the finished surface caused a lot of anxiety.
As I mentioned, the kit allowing you to mount the Harman Kardon subwoofer to the metal cable management tray had been unceremoniously discontinued, so I took a best guess at what would have been in the kit, and bought some PVC standoffs and long screws at the hardware store and drilled through the corner of a metal leg support to get the subwoofer mounted to the acrylic plastic plate Evodesk includes to mount the subwoofer.
I staged my assembly in three phases:
Phase 1: The desk components
It’s always fun (and a great way to procrastinate) if you carefully arrange (or “knoll”) all the components of your furniture before you actually start getting any work done.
It also helps ensure you have the same amount of parts that the instruction manual thinks you should have.
I bought a small box of 1/2" self-tapping screws to mount my other accessories. This package from Amazon worked great, were easy to screw in without pilot holes, and were short enough to not go all the way through the desk. I triple-checked. Twice. So that’s like six times.
I would be mounting a number of items under the desk (in addition to all the cables), including a shelf for my Dell laptop’s CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 hub, my own mountable power strips and mountable USB 3 hub (inexpensive replacements for the Evodesk unit that never arrived), and a simple audio mixer that would allow me to simultaneously connect both the Mac Pro and Dell XPS laptop to the Harman Kardon speakers, which otherwise has only one input.
Phase 2: Computer hardware and electronics
Compared to my previous desk setup, I wanted to minimize the number of items on my desk, so I started by eliminating devices I didn’t use on a daily basis.
I reduced the number of external optical drives I was using from four to two (don’t ask), relocated a rarely-used Epson label printer and Apple Pencil charger, moved my Echo Dot to another shelf, retired my PC’s underused Logitech webcam, and mounted the Dell’s Thunderbolt 3 hub, backup hard drive, and the Mac Pro’s 7-port USB 3.0 hub to the underside of the desk.
Since the Dell laptop is a secondary device, I would operate it more often in clamshell mode rather than keeping it open all the time, accessing it through the brilliant Splashtop remote access app from my Mac. To keep it upright and out of the way (but still accessible) I used this simple vertical laptop stand from Amazon.
As a designer, I’ve been using three Dell P2715Q 27" 4K monitors for the past few years. There are better display devices on the market at this point, but these work well for me and I can connect both the Mac Pro and Dell laptop simultaneously to the monitors using a set of DisplayPort cables for the Mac and mini-DisplayPort cables for the laptop. This way I can just cycle the monitors’ inputs when I want to fully switch between Mac and Windows.
For audio, I’d been using a full-sized Denon AV receiver to have both the Mac Pro and Dell laptop connected to a set of Klipsch 2.1 speakers. By using a simple audio mixer mounted below the desk instead, I was able to get rid of the bulky AV receiver and clear up a lot of desk space, while still connecting both computers to the single input of the Harman Kardon speakers.
It works great, though I did need to use an optical-to-digital converter in addition to the sound mixer to connect the optical output from the CalDigit dock to the 3.5mm analog input of the speakers.
I’m a big advocate for Logitech’s wireless Craft keyboard and MX Master 3 mouse, so those carried over from my previous setup. Importantly, both devices can control up to three different sources, so I just tap a button on the mouse and keyboard to switch between controlling either computer.
For beloved daily Zoom marathons, I use Logitech’s BRIO webcam, the first and only and almost completely-unnecessary 4K webcam on the market.
Although my Evodesk does include a hidden wireless phone charger, I usually prefer to keep my iPhone docked vertically so the screen is easier to glance at when a notification from Doordash that my order is late again appears. I use Belkin’s Boost Up Wireless Charging Dock, which also charges my Apple Watch.
And I will admit succumbing to peer pressure, deciding to mount a Phillips Hue Lightstrip Plus to the rear edge of the desk for subtle accent lighting, with a solemn promise that I would only ever run it at various temperatures of white light.
Phase 3: Welcome to Cabletown
With my hardware carefully arranged on the desk where I wanted it, it was time to start plugging everything in.
Being meticulous about cable management, my first goal for cabling would be to route everything underneath the desk and out of view, critical to achieving a clean finished look.
My secondary goal was to have as few cables as possible going to the wall, so I could easily raise the desk to standing height without inadvertently yanking any cables out. Ultimately I ended up only having three cables going to the wall: a single power cable and one Ethernet cable for each computer going to an in-wall Ethernet jack for LAN and gigabit fiber internet access.
Keeping the desktop simple means moving everything else underneath the desk. The centerline of the desk is reserved for the powered standing mechanism feeding the four legs, leaving the rear half of the desk for accessories that don’t need to be on the desk surface, as well as all the remaining cable management.
What you’re seeing in the photo above is the cabling required for:
- Connecting two computers to triple monitors
- Connecting both computers to the sound system through a sound mixer and digital-to-optical converter (for the PC)
- The mounted Mac Pro and Harman Kardon subwoofer
- A 7-port USB 3.0 hub for the Mac
- Two power strips for a total of 20 available AC outlets and 7 additional USB charging ports. I chose these mountable models from Trond.
- Power for the Phillips Lightstrip Plus for accent lighting
- A mountable storage shelf from Elevation Lab to house the Thunderbolt 3 dock, 4K optical drive, and backup hard drive for the Dell laptop
- I also used these 90° angle AC adapters from Hosa so certain AC cables wouldn’t extend vertically too far out from the desk, creating a lower profile (and sometimes protecting from knee bumps)
- A healthy supply of mankind’s greatest invention: zip ties (including some adhesive-backed zip tie mounts for attaching to flat surfaces)
Another item I had to “customize” on the desk was adding a 2" grommet to the desk for running monitor cables. While there is a wide rectangular hole precut into the desk, it seems intended for mounting a monitor arm so you don’t have to attach it to the back edge of the desk. While this works fine, when you replace the wooden insert piece back into the hole, you can’t run your cables there, which doesn’t make any sense. And if you don’t put the wood insert back in so you can run cables, you’ll be staring at an eyesore of unfinished wood on the exposed edges, which looks especially bad on a dark desktop.
Off to the hardware store again, and I bought a 2" hole-cutter for my drill and a matching black grommet. I was nervous cutting a 2" hole into a wood insert barely that width to begin with, but thankfully I didn’t screw it up and I was able to run my cables through without issue.
I wish Evodesk would consider including a grommet hole on this insert by default, rather than having customers risk cutting their own. Or supply a rectangular black plastic grommet for their precut hole so the raw wood isn’t exposed when running cables.
The finished setup
Apart from Evodesk’s glacial shipping process, dreadful customer service, and inexcusable fulfillment issues, overall I’m pleased with the actual setup. I feel like I accomplished my goal of simplifying my workspace while creating a more streamlined look.
My final setup features a Mac Pro (sans feet) and Dell XPS 9570 laptop, both connected to three Dell P2715Q 27" 4K monitors. I kept an LG 4K UHD optical drive on the desk after running out of room under the desk to mount any more accessories, as well as the Belkin iPhone/Apple Watch charger.
The Monoprice Triple Monitor Gas Spring Mount allows me to raise the screens to a comfortable ergonomic height, being on the taller side at 6'4". I believe with all my heart that a majority of people have their monitors set too low on their desk, so please take a break from reading this ridiculous review and raise your monitors a little higher. Your neck and shoulders will thank you.
The wireless Logitech Craft keyboard and MX Master 3 mouse are an excellent combination. The knob on the Craft keyboard is an ideal volume controller for the Harman Kardon speakers.
The Dell laptop is neatly connected with a single Thunderbolt cable to the three 4K monitors, gigabit Ethernet, the speaker system, a backup hard drive, and a 4K UHD optical drive all through CalDigit’s impressive Thunderbolt TS3 Plus dock, with plenty of ports on the front left over, handy for occasionally recharging the mouse and keyboard.
The CalDigit dock can drive two of the 4K monitors natively, and (as a bit of a cheat) I have the third connected at 60Hz via USB 3.0 with a 4K DisplayLink adapter from StarTech.
Evodesk was running a promotion for a free wireless charging device hidden underneath the desk, which seemed like a no-brainer to add. It works fine, but don’t ask me why they etched a WiFi logo into the desk to indicate its location. Guys. It’s for device charging, not wireless internet.
Last but not least, since I replaced my home office’s carpet with new vinyl flooring, I’m protecting the floor’s finish from my chair’s wheels with a reinforced-glass Floortex Glaciermat. Speaking of wheels, I recently upgraded my office chair as well, going with a heavy-duty Leap Plus chair from Steelcase. It’s easily the best chair I’ve ever owned.
Evodesk Customer Support
Evodesk offers three standard ways of contacting them: by e-mail, chat, or phone. I used all three numerous times. Here’s how they rate:
E-mail support is by far the worst. I only received replies to maybe 20% of the messages I sent, and never within an industry-standard 1–2 days. It feels like e-mail is probably the easiest for Customer Support to ignore, particularly if the same staff is also dealing with irate customers in real-time chat and by phone. If you do buy from Evodesk, don’t bother e-mailing them if you want a timely response, or one at all. Grade: F
Chat support is marginally better, but still left most of my issues unresolved with no followup. While there’s little-if-any wait time to start a chat, the drawback is limited availability during business hours, but you are connected (as far as I can tell) to U.S.-based support agents. The majority of my chats ended with “we’ll check with another department and get back to you”, but they would never, ever actually get back to me. Grade: D+
Phone support: If you can tolerate using the phone in this day and age, I had the “most” success calling Customer Support directly. Although many of my issues remained unresolved, Evodesk’s phone support agents were at least pleasant to speak with and seemed willing to help, even if they ultimately weren’t able to… and they also, unfortunately, would never follow up. Grade: C+
Unresolved issues
At the time of publishing this review—about 1.5 weeks after contacting Evodesk by phone to resolve my outstanding issues—the current situation is:
- About a week ago, I shipped back the Flexport+ extension unit ($140) rather than waiting for them to ship out the missing main unit. By this time I have already found and installed equivalent (and much cheaper) models from Amazon. I also shipped back the bait-and-switch CPU mount ($130) at the same time. I have not yet received a refund for either of these returns.
- About three weeks ago, I shipped back the single monitor arm ($190) for a refund. To date, they still have not processed a refund for this item. I’ve contacted chat, e-mail, and phone support probably five times over the past month to inquire about the refund, and they simply will not process it—citing a lack of communication between their Production and Accounting departments. That should never be the customer’s problem.
- I cancelled the backordered dual monitor arm ($300) rather than waiting 2+ months for it to ship. Even though this item never shipped, I also have yet to receive a refund for this item.
- Evodesk did overnight out a programmable control unit ($60) that was missing from my order. But… guess what? When it arrived, it didn’t work. The unit wouldn’t turn on. I contacted Evodesk to send a second replacement, and they still have not shipped one out.
- Since Evodesk charges your card at the time of order (rather than at shipment like most companies), I’m currently out over $800 until these issues are addressed.
I’m currently out over $800 until these issues are addressed
- I asked for an explanation about the bait-and-switch with the CPU mount. The Customer Service agent had no idea how or why this happened and could offer no explanation, but would “bring it up with leadership.” I’m hoping Evodesk can understand that customers other than me may be unknowingly mounting their expensive desktop computers to a CPU mount not rated for their device, making them liable for damages.
Updates:
- October 22, 2020: I finally got someone in Evodesk management to call me. We spoke the day I published this article. He vowed to have the refunds processed by the next day and overnight-ship the programmable control unit.
- October 26, 2020: It wasn’t the next day, but four days later I finally received the almost $800 in refunds due to me, well over a month after receiving my desk, and two months after placing my original order. But I still have not received a functioning programmable control unit, so I cannot use the standing feature of my desk.
- October 27, 2020: I received a replacement programmable control unit, and… *drumroll* it didn’t work, either. I found it unlikely that two different units would be dead-on-arrival, so I contacted Evodesk support again. They suggested it might be the main power supply of the desk being faulty instead, even though the power supply is able to power the standard (non-programmable) control unit. They said they would Overnight a replacement power unit. This did not happen.
- November 5, 2020: Several days after receiving another faulty programmable control unit, Evodesk shipped a replacement main power supply. While it was shipped Overnight, it took 4–5 days for them to just put the unit into the mail.
However, when I received the package today, Evodesk sent two completely different power units, presumably for a different model of desk.
Typically in a standing desk, each leg has a control cord that goes to the main power supply, so my four-legged Pro Limited model requires four control cords going to the main power unit.
Instead of receiving a single power unit with four control cord ports, I received two power units with two control cord ports each, and a cord to daisy-chain them together.
Unfortunately, I cannot even try these power units out because Evodesk neglected to include AC power cables for either unit, so I cannot even power them on (they use a different, non-standard type of AC cable than my original unit.) Unbelievable.
I contacted Evodesk support again, and the agent said she needed time to figure out what is going on and will get back to me the next day. We’ll see if that happens. - As a reminder, I first received my standing desk shipment on September 20th. It is now November 5th, and I still do not have a working standing desk.
Conclusion
Despite the issues I had with shipping, fulfillment, and assembling the desk, at the end of the day it’s better than the setup I had, even if it caused a touch of PTSD. And it would be way too much trouble to undo and return such a complex product just to try something different in hopes it would turn out better. Plus I’d probably never see a refund anyway.
The resulting desk will work for me and overall I think it will perform well and hopefully last for years, but I certainly can’t recommend buying anything from Evodesk. There are just too many other options on the market, perhaps with higher quality, better support, and less expensive accessories.
…it would be way too much trouble to undo and return such a complex product just to try something different in hopes it would turn out better. Plus I’d probably never see a refund anyway.
You’ll save a lot of money resisting the temptation to buy the wildly-overpriced accessories from the desk manufacturer. You can get better products for a lot less money by taking the time to find your own.
If I had to do it again, I’d more seriously consider options from Uplift or the Fully Jarvis, knowing that supplying and mounting my own accessories ended up being a necessity I was hoping to avoid going with Evodesk.
So overall, for the amount of money I spent, I expected better. You should too.
Overall Grade: D+
If anyone from Evodesk reads this review and would like to comment, I’d be happy to update this review to include their response.
