Five thousand dollars in one year. One store. One loyal customer who had furnished nearly an entire home without once shopping anywhere else.
Then a coffee table arrived with a crack running along the bottom left leg. Not a scratch. Not a minor scuff. A visible crack in the wood that made the piece unusable without the risk of it giving way completely.
She called the store the same day it was delivered. Explained the damage. Asked for an exchange. She was not asking for a refund. She was not asking for compensation. She simply wanted the item she had paid for — undamaged, as advertised.
She was told to send photos. She sent photos. She was then told the damage appeared to be from transportation and the store was not responsible for what happened after delivery. She pointed out that the crack was visible through the packaging before she had even fully opened it. She was told someone would call her back.
Nobody called back.
She followed up three times over the following two weeks. Each time she was passed to a different person who asked her to explain the situation from the beginning. Each time she was told someone would look into it.
On the fourth call she asked to speak to a manager. The manager told her the exchange window had passed.
The exchange window. On an item that had arrived damaged.
She has not been back to that store. The five thousand dollars she had planned to spend on a bedroom set the following month went to a different store entirely — one that resolved a minor issue on her first order without her having to ask twice.