Bluntness

I've also been told I have little tact, so if this offends you simply ride on.

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Out of the Box

Well it's Wednesday and I'm heading back to work today.  Ho Hum.
I was supposed to get my desk yesterday and... well, the delivery guys had taken it off of their truck and had it sitting in it's packaging in my driveway  But then a problem cropped up.  The desk, as advertised, is 30 inches high,  30 inches wide, and 60 inches long.  My front doorway is 31 inches wide.  It's a normal front door, in fact most front doors are between 30 and 32 inches wide.  If the front door needs to be used by a person with a disability it needs to be 36 inches wide.  As I said, my front door is 31 inches wide.  The packaging for the desk, however, is 33 inches wide.  My first thought was "what problem, it's 30 inches wide, you take it out of the box."  But then the delivery guy who's been on the phone with his boss says to me "my boss says we can't take it our of the box."  Silly me, I should have realized taking it out of the box would be unpackaging, and these guys are paid deliver.  We have this problem from time to time at the orange home improvement retail giant I work for: delivery people who never do anything other than deliver.  At times they leave things, like dishwashers and refrigerators and boxes of hardwood flooring sitting in a driveway because for them, that's the definition of delivery.  Now, the driver today did say "I can leave it for you, but it's really heavy, I mean really heavy."  Of course it's heavy, it's solid wood and weighs in at 275 pounds.  And where were they going to leave it, on the sidewalk?  The box was too big for my front porch.  I'd never be able to get out of my front door.  So he says "you can refuse it and we'll take it back," and that's what I did.
Of course I immediately contacted Cymax, they're the middle men between myself and Hooker Furniture, and informed them that they needed to issue me a $2300 credit because the delivery guys refused to take the desk out of the box.  Then I contacted Amazon, because Cymax is one of their 3rd party vendors, and let them know I had not accepted delivery because the delivery guys refused to take the desk out of the box.  Naturally, Amazon notified Cymax about the problem and told them to give me a phone call... which I still have not received.
Later, while texting a friend, he asked if I thought Cymax was really going to take that kind of a financial hit.  They not only lose the sale of the desk, they still have to pay the freight charges.  I know that at my store when something goes this wrong with a delivery, we go out of our way to make it right.  At this point, however, I don't know if there is a way to fix this.  The delivery agent they hired delivers packages, not furniture, and because of that will never take the desk out of the box.

15 comments:

  1. Good grief. It would have been easier to buy a block of wood and MADE a desk!
    JP

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    1. I'm not that handy otherwise I'd consider that option.

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  2. well...fuck. we bought our dishwasher and fridge from your employer; the delivery guys unpacked & installed and took the old appliances away. customer service ain't what it used to be. check out ikea.

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    1. The entire incident says quite a lot about Cymax and their choice of delivery agents. This may be the result of putting cost effectiveness ahead of customer service.

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  3. So sorry Dave. I bought a larger than normal washing machine which they will unpack and install here BUT it wouldn't go through my hallway door to the bathroom because the previous owners had put a larger than normal door trim around the door. I ended up with them leaving a washing machine in my TV room!!! Thankfully 2 neighbours got it through my bedroom, on to an external balcony and into the bathroom that way. What was I going to do, run a hosepipe to my washing machine and set it off while watching TV!! Good luck in getting your money back. Anna

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    1. My washer and dryer are down in the basement and I needed to take the door frame off, but that's easier than it sounds.

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  4. Darn! Logistics! Hopefully you’ll still get the desk? I’m looking forward to seeing it. And what’s the next step? Another desk? This isn’t fun.

    XoXo

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    Replies
    1. I'm going for the refund. I can order the same desk locally and have it delivered.

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    2. There you go. Ugh I can’t with these complications 🙄

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  5. I kinda like JP's option.
    Sidenote: there isn't a sliding glass door in your home? We've often had things delivered too wide for the front door, but could be brought around back to the sliding doors.
    Still, what a pain to have your beautiful new desk and not be able to get it the last few feet!

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    1. My house is 114 years old and has 2 doors, a front and a back. Believe me when I tell you I'm lucky they're as wide as they are.

      And you don't want to see me carve... anything.

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  6. It's like delivering your baby and then having it whisked away for adoption without even seeing it outside of a sonogram.
    We bought a dishwasher from HD about six to eight years ago (time flies, ya know). It is still in the box in our garage. It was delivered and brought into the house. They were going to install it but they said we didn't have the right openings in our sink. Mind you, there is already a dishwasher installed there. HD never told us this beforehand. So we got the extra holes put in, and they came back out. Different delivery people. They informed us that we needed new hoses, or some such. Balder Half got his money for installation back and said he'd do it himself. Well, the old dishwasher is still doing okay for being over sixteen years old. When it finally conks out maybe the procrastination will stop.

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    1. If you're current dishwasher is running after 16 years, hold on to it. Me, I'd probably sell the one in your garage. party money, you know?

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  7. So you may not be getting the desk of your dreams now?????? If 5hey did bring it back, do you have someone who could help unpack and help you take it in?

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    Replies
    1. Talked to Amazon, I'm going for the credit. I can order the same desk from David's and they will unpack it and bring it in for me.

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