It started November 29, 2010. I had just come home from a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with the family in Mtn. Grove & Springfield. I love being retired, my holidays can now all be 2 week events and I am not worried about wasting "vacation" time.
My old set was just that...OLD. I purchased the table at a garage sale about 15-16 years ago. Even then it was quite old, easily identified by the design to be a circa 1972-74. Butcher block top, with square metal legs in a pea green. The chairs were metal also in the pea green with back & seats in the same shade of corduroy. But it was in good shape and I could not pass on the $15.00 sticker. I got rid of the chairs and found 4 bistro style chairs for $4.00, purchased some pretty upholstery fabric for the seats, grabbed the paint brush and ended up with a pretty little yellow dinette set. Even up to Nov. 2010 it was very nice looking and not dated.
I spent a couple of months shopping online for styles and prices. I looked at inventories from all major retailers as well as the online only retailers. I found THE set, and the best price for the item was from an online retailer. The day came that it was time to order the set. November 29,1010, I place the order by phone as I had questions about their delivery process. That ended up being a good decision the order rep gave me a bit of a discount. The original delivery date was to be 12/13. 3 days later I get an email advising the ship date had been pushed out to ship by 1-7-2011. I was ok with this change, I had no plans to entertain at my home over Christmas. 1-7-2011 came & went and no calls or correspondence about the delivery, so I called the retailer and was advised the item had shipped on 1-7-2011. Delivered 1-13-2011, 4 pretty large boxes carried up to my dining room. I open the boxes and let them sit for 1 1/2 days to acclimate to the house temp. Seems I had heard that should be done with wooden items. Then the next 2 days I spent piecing together the 4 chairs. This was a painful process since the tool used was a tiny allen wrench. That can be very hard on the fingers when trying to make sure you have everything tightened. I had torn down the boxes that held 2 chairs, the table and the pedestal and put them all in the remaining chair box, I needed the room and had the chairs all together now so wanted to start getting rid of unnecessary items. To assemble the table I had called in help from friends that had the strength to make sure the table was together and sturdy.....then began the ordeal. The pedestal was fine, however, the 4 legs coming off it all had some very seriously big cracks and would not hold up at all over time.
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| Bad legs |
So I contact the retailer the next morning and tell them of the situation. They respond quickly with a couple of options. 1. Receive a 30% credit and I can go have the item repaired 2. Return the item for full refund. 3. Return & have replaced. I asked if they could send only the legs, after all the pedestal & legs were in their own box, so I was happy to just have a new pedestal & legs.
As requested the retailer sent a new set of pedestal & legs only, the delivery for set 2 was 2 weeks later. Well what are the odds....these too had cracks, 3 of the 4 legs were cracked. Not as badly cracked as the first set but I was still in the same situation. I again contacted the retailer, and again they were very quick to respond and advised they would be sending a 3rd set of legs, we are now at mid February. The retailer also said they would advise the shipper to be more careful. Now more than a month from initial delivery, I still do not have a table, I was ready to ship the whole set back and get a full refund, however, I had already cut up the boxes and now I was going to have to find boxes large enough for a table & chairs. I had notified the retailer that the problem was with the construction, not the delivery company, and they were sending a 3rd set of legs.
Stress began to set in to the point I was losing sleep one Friday night. Then I decided I would contact the retailer Monday morning and if the 30% refund was still on the table I would take it. I needed something moved along and closed. Sunday I get a call from a great friend asking if they needed to come help me with the table, to box for refund, I told them I had decided I was just taking the refund and would do what I needed for the table. We visited a bit, I hung up the phone, got on my computer to check my email. There in my inbox an answer to prayer. An email from the retailer. This email contained an offer, instead of 30% credit, they offered me 40% credit & the 3rd set of legs. I quickly responded with "I'll take it". The 3rd set came, again, only 1 leg had no splits. In the end out of 12 legs, I was able to get 2 with no splits at all and 2 with just very small splits. Things were surely looking up. What sweet relief, this was now a closed issue with the retailer & I could now move on to getting a table, whether it be a repair on what I had or to start hitting the 2n hand stores for one to paint/stain and I received a larger credit than anticipated.
During all this process, I spent a lot of time contemplating what I could do to get a table in my dining room.... my mind kept saying If I only had someone that could weld a strip around each leg to brace it... OH wait...I do know a welder, so I get on the phone and make the call. 3 weeks later, I HAVE A TABLE! No, I don't just have a table I have a beautiful CUSTOM table.
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| The black band around the leg where it joins the pedestal is the beautiful fix. |
I made sure that during the process I would not be impatient, short or rude in any way to the retailer. I tried to always be gracious and grateful to the retailer in all the dealings. Grant it, I was stressed, and it was tiring to have projects "put on hold" and was not a FUN time; however, the end product is much stronger and sturdier than the original, I absolutely love the looks of the table after the fix. It is much more finished looking and of course now I have a one of a kind table. The retailer was quick to apply the credit, and the 40% was given off the list price.
Patience is hard on us at times for sure, but I consider this whole episode a gift from God. It is rewarding to go through the stress knowing I remained peaceful in dealings and now have the blessing of a higher quality end product at a much lower cost. With this handled, I was able to move on and complete the rest of my furniture purchases.
Today I sit here and see a dining room I want to spend time in now. I am thankful and hoping that I will always see all day to day life happenings as a gift.
We cant always control what happens to us, but we can control how we deal with life and how we deal does definitely affect our life and relationships.
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| The set |
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