THE ROOMS-TO-GO FIASCO

Way, way back in February, the hubster and I stopped into Rooms To Go on a whim. We were looking for some kind of grandchild-friendly ottoman-like thingy to replace our not-so-friendly glass-topped coffee table. Instead we spotted those awesome red leather chairs, and both fell madly in love with them -- something which has rarely ever happened in our forty two years of marriage! So, of course, we had to take action.

Unfortunately, the name "Rooms To Go" is a bit of a misnomer, as they don't actually allow you to take anything "to go"! That huge building at the Austin location is simply a showroom, with no warehouse space at all. Everything must be ordered, then shipped from Florida, which can take several weeks. As you can imagine, we were jumping for joy when we finally saw that truck turning into our neighborhood, and ran down the hill to meet them (and warn them that they probably didn't want to drive their big ol' truck up our crazy driveway). Before we could open our mouths, the driver started apologizing. He said our chairs were loaded first, since we were at the end of the line, with lots of big heavy stuff shoved in after them. Whoever loaded it all must not have done a very good job because something fell against one of the chairs and scratched it all up. However, he assured us, he had already taken pictures and submitted a report, and they would be sending us a replacement right away. Meanwhile, he would leave both chairs with us, so we'd both have somewhere to sit until the new one arrived.

A few days later we got a call from their headquarters, asking us lots of questions about the incident. One question was "Are any of the scratches deep enough to show the bare wood underneath?" "Oh yeah!"

A few weeks later we got another call, informing us that they were sending someone out to "repair" the chair. "What? I was told you would replace it!" "Oh no. We have experts who can make it look good as new again, right there on the premises." Harrumph.

Several more weeks go by, then we finally get a call from the repairman saying he's on his way. He takes one look at the chair, then says "I can't fix that! They'll have to send you a new chair." Some time later we get a call from headquarters saying "OK, we are going to send you a new chair. Unfortunately, that model is on back-order right now, and won't be available until June."

So we wait. And we wait. And we wait some more. At last we got word that the chair was to arrive this past Friday. We waited around the house all afternoon. No truck. Sometime after dinner we got a call from the driver. "Hey man, I hate to tell you this, but your chair was back behind everything else in the truck, and somebody must've done a lousy job loading it all, 'cause now your chair has a big ol' dent in the side of it. You still want me to deliver it?" "NO! Don't even bother. We've already got one like that, thank you very much!"