A Sordid Story of Home Decorating
This is a story of consumer woe and how determination wins out in the end.
Before Kathy and I moved into our house late last August, I was busy selecting and ordering the fixtures and furnishings that we were going to need. (I talked Kathy into letting me be the designer, but of course she retained signing authority.)
One item we purchased was an extravagance: a large pendant lamp for our dining room (which we decided to style as a lounge). It had that hint of Art Deco that we wanted, the smooth polished nickel, and in short, it was gorgeous. I mail ordered it from Litesensation in New Jersey when I couldn't find an affordable source locally.
When DHL delivered the lamp to my home in San Francisco in early August, a hole in the side of the huge box made it clear that it had lost a battle with a forklift. The carrier suggested we open it right away to see if it was damaged. We sorted through the packaging to get to the bowl of the lamp and were relieved to find it intact. Whew!
Only...when I unpacked the lamp the next day at the house, I found out that there was a large, flat glass ring at the bottom that was completely shattered. I called the vendor to let them know. The customer service rep took my info and promised to send me a replacement. Three weeks later, I hadn't received anything, so I called back. They had no record of me calling, so I gave my information again and they promised to send a replacement.
This was the beginning of the insanity. I would wait a few weeks, receive nothing, then call back. Every time I called back, I would be placed on hold for a minimum of four weeks. Okay, not four weeks, it was really 45 minutes...it just SEEMED like four weeks. I was told all sorts of stories; Kichler didn't send the part. The warehouse lost it. Everyone is on vacation. Kichler sent the part directly to me.
It didn't matter what they said to me, I still didn't have the glass ring and I couldn't put the lamp up. Months went by and I was getting impatient. Kichler wouldn't help because they say you have to resolve this with the vendor, not them.
In December, the vendor took their customer service phone number off the web site and instituted live chat for support. I went into a chat with a representative and recognized who it was instantly. After months of calls, you get to know a person. She apologized profusely for the delay and promised to get me my replacement part.
Predictably, nothing happened. The next time I checked the web site, live chat had been removed and there was only a form for customer service requests. Sending in requests triggered an autoresponder that assured me someone would contact me within one business day, but after many attempts, I realized no one would ever respond.
Feeling that I had gone above and beyond the call of duty to try to resolve this problem with the vendor, I wrote a letter to Kichler and begged them to send me the missing part. Today, over SEVEN MONTHS after this ordeal began, I received the missing part. Alix North will not be scammed.
Now, if I can only find a really tall A-frame ladder so we can hang this lamp on our 13-foot ceiling. Hmmm....
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