The Chronicles of Arcadia: Live Blogging the Ashley Furniture Technicians
The Ashley Furniture technicians are here again today, to fix the damage to our dining room set from the last time it was redelivered. Since I'm stuck here, burning up vacation hours to babysit them, I figured I may as well live blog the event. This blog will be updated every few minutes or so, with new information. If you're unfamiliar with the situation, you can read it here.
The Ashley technicians showed up a about half an hour ago. Upon inspecting the dining room hutch (which was delivered, taken back, and returned once more over the weekend), they realized that this job was not going to be a quick in-and-out task. When the hutch was delivered, the delivery drivers banged it into the dresser, leaving a few deep gouges and a lot of scratches. We also noticed that the frame of the hutch appeared to have shifted, leaving a gap between pieces of the molding. And, when the delivery drivers screwed the hutch to the dresser, they split the wood on the corner of the hutch.
The tech informed me that we will be here for a while, and that he needs to use some foul-smelling chemicals to resurface the dresser. I replied by telling him that I could care less about the odor, because I don't want to be thinking about this crummy experience for the rest of my life. After all the time we've personally invested in this saga, everything had better be perfect for at least a brief moment in time!
I have set the technicians up with a fan and a lamp, to hopefully keep things going smoothly. I also helped them take the hutch down to work on it. It looks like Kelly and I are going to have to put the hutch back up ourselves when the dresser dries. Until then, we're going to have the dining room table in the living room and the chairs in a spare bedroom. Oh well, we've been getting used to that arrangement anyway. This furniture has spent most of its life in the wrong room, waiting for someone to do something about it. We finally resolved the issue with the color match by insisting on the floor model. Note: we have not been offered any compensation for taking the floor model, or for all of our time spent dealing with this purchase. After all we've been through, I consider myself lucky that I have all the pieces in my house after nine months!
I've finished my lunch, and now it's time to go check on the technicians (and the dog). It seems that they may be having "equipment issues" right now.
The tech handed me some felt pads to put on the bottom of the hutch (a novel idea), and I got a good whiff of the spray that they're using. It doesn't smell bad at all. It's just a generic aerosol odor. But, I think I'm going to be pretty high in an hour or so. The top of the dresser is starting to look ok. The scratches are darkened, but need to get filled in to smooth out the surface.
The techs needed a drop cloth, so I've given them a sheet of our plastic painting drop cloth and helped them to put it under the dresser. While I was there, I saw that they've got the busted corner of the hutch glued back together and they're working to touch it up, using a very small, fine-tipped paintbrush. I used to use a paintbrush like that to paint my Dungeons and Dragons figurines.
The fumes are getting pretty strong now. I may have to unplug all my electronics to prevent any accidental sparks. The tech even opened the front door wider. He must be getting dizzy.
It's been two hours, and the Ashley techs are finally finished. The furniture looks ok, and I think they've forgotten a blanket. Well, at least I get something for my troubles, right?
The Ashley technicians showed up a about half an hour ago. Upon inspecting the dining room hutch (which was delivered, taken back, and returned once more over the weekend), they realized that this job was not going to be a quick in-and-out task. When the hutch was delivered, the delivery drivers banged it into the dresser, leaving a few deep gouges and a lot of scratches. We also noticed that the frame of the hutch appeared to have shifted, leaving a gap between pieces of the molding. And, when the delivery drivers screwed the hutch to the dresser, they split the wood on the corner of the hutch.
The tech informed me that we will be here for a while, and that he needs to use some foul-smelling chemicals to resurface the dresser. I replied by telling him that I could care less about the odor, because I don't want to be thinking about this crummy experience for the rest of my life. After all the time we've personally invested in this saga, everything had better be perfect for at least a brief moment in time!
I have set the technicians up with a fan and a lamp, to hopefully keep things going smoothly. I also helped them take the hutch down to work on it. It looks like Kelly and I are going to have to put the hutch back up ourselves when the dresser dries. Until then, we're going to have the dining room table in the living room and the chairs in a spare bedroom. Oh well, we've been getting used to that arrangement anyway. This furniture has spent most of its life in the wrong room, waiting for someone to do something about it. We finally resolved the issue with the color match by insisting on the floor model. Note: we have not been offered any compensation for taking the floor model, or for all of our time spent dealing with this purchase. After all we've been through, I consider myself lucky that I have all the pieces in my house after nine months!
I've finished my lunch, and now it's time to go check on the technicians (and the dog). It seems that they may be having "equipment issues" right now.
The tech handed me some felt pads to put on the bottom of the hutch (a novel idea), and I got a good whiff of the spray that they're using. It doesn't smell bad at all. It's just a generic aerosol odor. But, I think I'm going to be pretty high in an hour or so. The top of the dresser is starting to look ok. The scratches are darkened, but need to get filled in to smooth out the surface.
The techs needed a drop cloth, so I've given them a sheet of our plastic painting drop cloth and helped them to put it under the dresser. While I was there, I saw that they've got the busted corner of the hutch glued back together and they're working to touch it up, using a very small, fine-tipped paintbrush. I used to use a paintbrush like that to paint my Dungeons and Dragons figurines.
The fumes are getting pretty strong now. I may have to unplug all my electronics to prevent any accidental sparks. The tech even opened the front door wider. He must be getting dizzy.
It's been two hours, and the Ashley techs are finally finished. The furniture looks ok, and I think they've forgotten a blanket. Well, at least I get something for my troubles, right?
5 Amendments:
Don't you mean Battletech? Anyway, that sounds like a pain in the ass.
Yes.
Battletech and Dungeons & Dragons.
I know you are a guy and all but I would not stand for anything less than perfection. You should wait until it dries and then tell them you want to be compensated for the trouble. I know its pretty liberal for me to say this but I notice that the libs get thier way for being big mouths. You could pretend couldn't you? :)
New Hutch Set $1,900
Delivery $80
Leaving work early to meet the Ashley Furniture Technicians, having them mess up again, and then blogging about it... priceless...
FYI - Steinhafel's service is not much better. When our reclining sofa broke, it took 6 months and 4 tech visits with the wrong parts (appearently they changed the design of the frame because so many were breaking) before we got a new sofa. It only took threats to call the BBB and news stations before they did that. Then they wanted me to pay for the delivery of the new sofa... That didn't happen either. 3 months later a different part broke on the new sofa and it only took 6 months for the new part to come in. Then because my warranty was up (on the original sofa), I had to replace it myself, or pay a service fee of about $150. I replaced it myself in about an hour. Moral of the story... never but a 'People Lounger' sofa from Steinhafels
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