Furniture company delivered the wrong items, what do I do?
July 29, 2022 3:16 PM Subscribe
Back in November 2021, I purchased some made-to-order armchairs from a then-local-to-me California furniture store. It took until May 2021 for the pieces to be delivered, directly onto our moving truck... 1000 miles later, we discovered that the chairs are completely the wrong style (not what we ordered) and I hate them. Please help, what do I do now?
Some ideas I've considered/pursued so far:
1) Talking to the furniture store. They agree that they messed up by ordering the wrong style, and they have since ordered the correct style from the factory. But the problem is that shipping freight from California to Montana costs over 50% the per-chair cost. They keep asking me to "chip in" on the extra costs involved in ordering/shipping the replacement chairs, and are also vague about how/when these chairs will be shipped to me (it's already been several months of back-and-forth).
2) Pursuing a chargeback with my credit card. I paid with Chase Sapphire Reserve, which is a Visa card and also has Return Protection coverage. But it's well beyond 120 days of my original purchase date because this was a pre-order and the original delivery estimate alone was over 120 days. Do I start counting from the date that the furniture was actually delivered? For Return Protection, the deadline is 90 days, and I don't know how I could send the furniture to the benefit administrator given that shipping cost is the reason why I can't return it to the merchant in the first place.
3) Trying to resell the furniture locally. The store offered me a 50% discount, but even at 50% off, I think I will have a hard time finding buyers in Montana where I now live for used chairs that cost $350 each.
4) ???
Simply keeping the chairs at 50% off is not an option. I would rather eat the $700 loss at that point, because I dislike the traditional aesthetic of the chairs in the first place and now I have tons of negative emotional energy invested on top of that.
Some ideas I've considered/pursued so far:
1) Talking to the furniture store. They agree that they messed up by ordering the wrong style, and they have since ordered the correct style from the factory. But the problem is that shipping freight from California to Montana costs over 50% the per-chair cost. They keep asking me to "chip in" on the extra costs involved in ordering/shipping the replacement chairs, and are also vague about how/when these chairs will be shipped to me (it's already been several months of back-and-forth).
2) Pursuing a chargeback with my credit card. I paid with Chase Sapphire Reserve, which is a Visa card and also has Return Protection coverage. But it's well beyond 120 days of my original purchase date because this was a pre-order and the original delivery estimate alone was over 120 days. Do I start counting from the date that the furniture was actually delivered? For Return Protection, the deadline is 90 days, and I don't know how I could send the furniture to the benefit administrator given that shipping cost is the reason why I can't return it to the merchant in the first place.
3) Trying to resell the furniture locally. The store offered me a 50% discount, but even at 50% off, I think I will have a hard time finding buyers in Montana where I now live for used chairs that cost $350 each.
4) ???
Simply keeping the chairs at 50% off is not an option. I would rather eat the $700 loss at that point, because I dislike the traditional aesthetic of the chairs in the first place and now I have tons of negative emotional energy invested on top of that.
Have you tried escalating this issue to the store manager/owner? Them asking you to chip in on the shipping cost raised some alarm bells for me. After all, you already paid to ship them once. Correcting their mistake should be on them.
posted by DrGail at 3:40 PM on July 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by DrGail at 3:40 PM on July 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
I would also resell locally and take the loss, and the good vibes of helping someone else get furniture they will need/love that gets it out of your hair.
I would probably also find local furniture in the new place, or else arrange with the store that they will send you photographs of the correct chairs before any shipping happens so you can verify they're right before it's too late. But splitting the shipping costs seems fair to me; it's not your fault the store got it wrong, but it's not the store's fault you took the merch without looking at it and moved to another state. (Whatever those ordering costs are separate from shipping, though, those should be on the store.)
posted by Stacey at 4:55 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I would probably also find local furniture in the new place, or else arrange with the store that they will send you photographs of the correct chairs before any shipping happens so you can verify they're right before it's too late. But splitting the shipping costs seems fair to me; it's not your fault the store got it wrong, but it's not the store's fault you took the merch without looking at it and moved to another state. (Whatever those ordering costs are separate from shipping, though, those should be on the store.)
posted by Stacey at 4:55 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you paid for specific chairs, don’t have those chairs, and you’re supposed to wait longer to maybe get the chairs you ordered - that’s what a chargeback is for. (The change of location maybe complicates things but you should still be able to get your chairs somehow, I can understand you having coordinate shipping )
You should call Chase if the store isn’t playing ball and giving you something definite. I had a similar situation with a preorder and Chase took care of it even though it had been quite some time since the original payment.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 4:57 PM on July 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
You should call Chase if the store isn’t playing ball and giving you something definite. I had a similar situation with a preorder and Chase took care of it even though it had been quite some time since the original payment.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 4:57 PM on July 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
Escalate with the supplier, then pursue with Chase.
(people hate big banks [justifiably!] but I've had shockingly good luck having Chase pursue things on my behalf. I do not have any idea if my value to Chase affects my results, so YMMV, but they've done me a solid on a couple different occasions, most recently to the tune of almost $10K I am not joking)
posted by aramaic at 5:30 PM on July 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
(people hate big banks [justifiably!] but I've had shockingly good luck having Chase pursue things on my behalf. I do not have any idea if my value to Chase affects my results, so YMMV, but they've done me a solid on a couple different occasions, most recently to the tune of almost $10K I am not joking)
posted by aramaic at 5:30 PM on July 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
It took until May 2021 for the pieces to be delivered
Is this a typo or did this really happen more than a year ago?
posted by soelo at 5:34 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Is this a typo or did this really happen more than a year ago?
posted by soelo at 5:34 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Oops, sorry, typo - I ordered (and paid) in November 2021 but delivery was in May 2022.
posted by serelliya at 6:31 PM on July 29, 2022
posted by serelliya at 6:31 PM on July 29, 2022
But the problem is that shipping freight from California to Montana costs over 50% the per-chair cost.
You paid for chairs to be delivered to California, and they were. The vendor is obligated to fix their mistake - which was ordering the wrong style - but they are not obligated to accommodate your move, which was entirely out of their control. They should cover the cost of shipping to California (whatever it is); you should cover the additional cost to get to Montana. Your choice in moving does not obligate them to pay additional money for freight.
Pursuing a chargeback is unethical in my mind until it is clear the company will not fix their error. So far, that does not seem to be the case.
posted by saeculorum at 7:28 PM on July 29, 2022 [10 favorites]
You paid for chairs to be delivered to California, and they were. The vendor is obligated to fix their mistake - which was ordering the wrong style - but they are not obligated to accommodate your move, which was entirely out of their control. They should cover the cost of shipping to California (whatever it is); you should cover the additional cost to get to Montana. Your choice in moving does not obligate them to pay additional money for freight.
Pursuing a chargeback is unethical in my mind until it is clear the company will not fix their error. So far, that does not seem to be the case.
posted by saeculorum at 7:28 PM on July 29, 2022 [10 favorites]
I am wondering what you were told when you ordered about expected time to delivery, as
I think this may impact on my impression of how reasonable it is for you to share the shipping.
posted by Cheese Monster at 8:21 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think this may impact on my impression of how reasonable it is for you to share the shipping.
posted by Cheese Monster at 8:21 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ask them to be shipped via Greyhound or look for other options. You should have checked when you accepted delivery; they should have delivered the correct item. See if Chase will flag the issue as needing resolution.
posted by theora55 at 9:41 PM on July 29, 2022
posted by theora55 at 9:41 PM on July 29, 2022
AFAIK there's no penalty for failing a chargeback. The worst thing that happens is you get denied. So you can try that, and if it doesn't work, sell the chairs. Actually, just sell them anyway. And leave a bad review.
posted by kingdead at 5:53 AM on July 30, 2022
posted by kingdead at 5:53 AM on July 30, 2022
AFAIK there's no penalty for failing a chargeback.
But there is a very significant penalty to the merchant if it succeeds. I think it's profoundly unfair to do this to them while they are trying to work with you, through a situation you made dramatically worse by not fulfilling your side of the obligation to check that you got the right delivery before hauling it a thousand miles away.
posted by primethyme at 6:12 AM on July 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
But there is a very significant penalty to the merchant if it succeeds. I think it's profoundly unfair to do this to them while they are trying to work with you, through a situation you made dramatically worse by not fulfilling your side of the obligation to check that you got the right delivery before hauling it a thousand miles away.
posted by primethyme at 6:12 AM on July 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Addendum: If this is a small merchant who handmade the chairs and you don't like the style, then no, don't chargeback.
If this is, like, Joybird, then yes, they had six months to get that drop ship right. It's on them that they didn't have inventory and after all that time couldn't get it right.
posted by kingdead at 7:40 AM on July 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
If this is, like, Joybird, then yes, they had six months to get that drop ship right. It's on them that they didn't have inventory and after all that time couldn't get it right.
posted by kingdead at 7:40 AM on July 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
If you really do want to order from the original store, I don't find it unreasonable for them to ask you to chip in for freight. It is their fault that they got the order wrong, but it's not their fault that you didn't inspect them upon delivery, and moved them to a different state without even looking at them. But I strongly recommend having a very direct conversation with them about what will happen when/if there is some issue with the new chairs. Don't wait until it comes up to try to come to an agreement on the options.
And personally I don't think a chargeback is reasonable either. It was on you to check the items when you got them, and you didn't, thereby making it much more difficult for the store to take care of the problem. They're trying to work with you and their solutions don't sound out of line to me. Chargebacks are for unauthorized charges or situations where a merchant is unwilling to resolve an issue. Neither of those is the case here.
posted by primethyme at 3:30 PM on July 29, 2022 [8 favorites]