New bedroom furniture? Well, since you asked ...
Joan Gunin, Leather editor -- Furniture Today, January 20, 2002
Sooner or later everyone has a furniture horror story. Here's mine.
Soon after April market, I spot an attractive bedroom set at a small, local, independent dealer. The bed on display will not fit my mattress, but the salesman assures me the maker stocks the right size. He says he can deliver in two to three weeks. He tells me it's domestically made. He tells me lots of things.
I leave a deposit and a promise to pay the balance in cash. Three months later, the store owner says the delay is because the manufacturer loads his truck to the max for deliveries.
Huh?
In July, some of the furniture actually arrives: nightstands, armoire, mirror, wrong dresser (it stays on the truck) plus the bed. The bed doesn't fit. The retailer promises to replace the footboard in two to three weeks. Made in America; no problem. Months later, with no replacement in sight, the retailer admits it's coming from Asia.
In May, in preparation for the new furniture, I pass on my 10-year-old bedroom set to a friend. In lieu of a dresser, I stack its contents on the floor in a spare room.
Mid-September: The store owner and the salesman, like the Keystone Kops, come to dismantle the bed, carry it outside piece by piece and take the replacement footboard (in its original unopened carton) from their pickup. Still wrong. They repack the box, trudge back inside and reassemble the bed.
They do have the right dresser, but there are no mirror brackets. The pair speed off to buy a set and attach it. Nice touch.
The dealer now wants to substitute an unsightly pair of dark-colored metal siderails in lieu of a light wood frame. When I balk, they offer a deal on a new mattress. (What are the chances I'd have that mattress by now?)
In protest, I refrain from using the dresser. My telephone does not touch the nightstand. My alarm clock rests on the floor. The new furniture sits idle. Clothing piles demand routine maintenance against toppling.
Enough pleading. Enough cajoling. Enough promises. Enough phone calls deflected by lame dog-ate-homework excuses. I phone the store and ask, "When are you coming for your furniture?" After accusing me of employing Yankee tactics, the sales guy assures me, "Next week."
I call the Better Business Bureau, detail my ordeal and ask for help with the return. They mail me an acknowledgement and wish me well.
October market leaves no time for follow-up, but with my last story filed, I call the dealer. A la Peter Finch in "Network" I bark, "When are you coming to remove your furniture?!?"
When they come, I ask a delivery man, "Do you do much furniture retrieval?"
"Yes, ma'am," the crusty vet replies. "All the time."
A BBB rep sounds pleased yet stunned when I report I've resolved the problem on my own. The store, thankfully, returns my deposit quickly.
Total six-month tally: 2 nightstands + 2 dressers + 2 beds + 1 armoire + 1 mirror + 3 visits + 1 long headache = no furniture.
Opinion columns are available online at www.furnituretoday.com.
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