So far, so good! Shipping was super fast -- it arrived probably less than 36 hours after I ordered it. The fireplace is even nicer than I expected for the price. It took a couple hours to put together, but the instructions were clear and we had no issues. It was definitely helpful to have TWO people available to put this together; it wouldn't be impossible to do alone, but certainly more difficult. 
I wanted to mention, I read a few reviews that remarked about the bookshelves being attached to the middle section; the fireplace we received does NOT have any hardware or instructions to attach the shelves, which is fine with me. I also saw a couple people posted that after it was put together, there were exposed nail or screw holes at the top, above the insert. Not the case with the one I bought. I can only assume that you were either missing a piece or it was assembled incorrectly. Anyway, I'm super happy with this purchase!