markandsusanw
Posts: 882
Joined: 5/10/2010
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quote:
ORIGINAL: argovb
I just was made aware of this post, and wanted to reply ASAP. Your experience has been traumatic, and I want to apologize for the mistakes that were made with your order. We will make every effort to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.
According to our records, we received your order on 10/29/13 from Vintage Cellars, who is one of our best and most experienced dealers. Normally we require 1 week to fulfill orders for in-stock products, plus 2-3 weeks for transit. We apologize that the fulfillment of your order was delayed 2 weeks because we were overwhelmed by holiday orders. We continuously manage and update the expected ship dates for all open orders in our system, so that customers are aware of their order status on a real-time basis. Vintage Cellars should have been able to access and provide real-time updates to you regarding your order.
Our shipping policy states that 3800 and 5200 cabinets are delivered with 3 men. If site conditions warrant additional men, the carrier has the authority to reschedule the delivery and allocate additional men. Clearly, the carrier did not have the right team in place for your delivery.
The carrier is responsible for the removal of all packaging materials, installation of the moldings and alignment of the doors. When they do not complete their job initially, the protocol is to send them back to complete the job. If the cabinet doors still are not aligned, please send us a picture so that we can see the issue. From the first picture (before the foot was replaced), the cabinet doors appear to be aligned.
Once we receive your picture, we’ll assist Vintage Cellars to get the carrier scheduled to complete the job of installing the moldings and aligning the doors. If it’s possible, we’ll request a different shipping team.
In the meantime, we'll talk to the repairman who visited your home and, if necessary, we will ship a replacement tie bar to you, which can be easily replaced with a screwdriver. If you prefer, we will be glad to send the repairman back to replace the tie bar for you.
In your posting, you said that the cabinet was delivered on 12/3 – is that correct? When I checked our system, we shipped the replacement foot to you the next day, on 12/4, via Priority Mail, which normally delivers within 2-3 days.
I don't know why Vintage Cellars told you to fix the tie rods with a business card. We will review this topic with Vintage Cellars, as well as our fulfillment and transit timing guidelines, to make sure that customers are given better guidance in the future.
I will personally look into the glitch that sent a duplicate copy of your sales order to the wrong customer. This should not have happened once, let alone twice! It will not happen again.
Please accept my sincerest apologies for the experiences that you have had with Le Cache. I would like to send a $250 gift card to you, which you may use on any of our sites (listed below). If there’s anything else that you need, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
I hope that you’ll give us the opportunity to regain your trust.
Since you posted publicly, I will respond publicly ...
First, my sales receipt from Vintage Cellars specifies four-man delivery, and they came with three. But the number of men wasn't the problem so much as complete and total incompetence. And having absolutely NO equipment or training to move something of this size. (They had an appliance dolly and 2 moving blankets. That was it.) My husband brought in people to help or it never would have gotten done--at one point they threatened to leave it in my hallway and just go--and missed a fairly critical work meeting because the stress and tension in the house at that point, with a purchase of this size, was so high he just didn't feel he couldn't leave me alone safely with the crew. (And, by the way, if he had, they would have, at best, walked, because it was only him bringing in extra guys that kept them there.) It was not, in any way, shape or form, a good day for us.
Yes, 12/3 was the delivery date. During the debacle of which I was repeatedly taking with both Le Cache and Vintage Cellars via phone, as they were both telling me NOT to refuse the item, as it would absolutely be made right. I requested, quite reasonably, that the leg (a part that weighs about 1 lb.) be overnighted, hoping to get it on Wednesday so that the cabinet could be leveled and filled when I still had time to do so. Instead, it was shipped the next day (not the same day; even though the delivery was complete by 11 AM PT) and via USPS. I received it 12/9, which you, or anyone else, can confirm via tracking #9405510200829989807198. If you think that's super-speedy, high-priority treatment, I won't argue with you. I will add I was originally told by my customer service rep at Le Cache (whose name I'm happy to share privately, but not publicly, though I think you have it), the one I was speaking to throughout delivery, that "just putting some wood under it" was "as good as a leg," which makes no sense, since it's a leveling leg that needs to be adjustable to support and balance the cabinet.
And, maybe the picture isn't clear (the doors blend into the background of the cabinet itself), but the doors at that point were almost 1/2" out of alignment, with the left lower than the right. That's not OK, or as it should be.
As for the carrier being responsible. "The carrier" had never seen a wine cabinet before. Period. They couldn't move the thing, let alone level and set it up properly if their lives had depended on it. To "fix" the door hinge, they took a hammer to it and started pounding on it. I kid you not that I had to basically grab it out of their hands to try and protect the cabinet now that it was in my house. To say they should come back and do it again is, well, asinine ... "protocol" or not.
The furniture repair person that was at my home yesterday, and is supposed to return today, is much more knowledgable, and I do trust that he knows what he's doing. He's got the doors aligned, but to do so, the cabinet is un-level, because the left door hinge isn't right, allowing the door to sag. Is it because of the hammer? Who knows. For the record, the furniture guy didn't really think so. He's going to try and fix the hinge today, so we'll see where we are after that.
But, as of now, it's December 12, and I can't fill or use the cabinet I ordered and on October 29, when I paid full price for it. We have also now spent three days at home waiting for it to get repaired and delivered.
And, again, neither Le Cache nor Vintage Cellars ever told me of any delay with shipping. I was originally told "first week of November" for shipment, then when I was given an exact date, it was November 13. It took three emails to Vintage Cellars and Le Cache AFTER November 13, which came and went with no information, to determine what was going on and when my cabinet would ACTUALLY ship (versus being told when it would ship), which was November 19. This was all for an item, again, verified as "in stock," prior to placing the order.
Lastly, not to be rude, but a "$250 gift certificate" is a wildly empty gesture. My desire at this moment to purchase ANYTHING from either of your companies (Le Cache/Vintage Cellar or subsidiaries) is absolutely nill. It is nothing I want, need or plan to accept because, to me, it's utterly worthless.
Assuming the hinge can be repaired, and I'm sincerely hoping it can, that is a better option than trying to start over and go through the whole delivery process again. In fact, I WON'T go through the delivery process again. It was that bad. If you can't fix this unit, I don't want to start over with another one, because I just have no faith things would go any differently.
And I don't know where it should come from, but I do believe I deserve some monetary--not gift certificate--compensation for the time, trouble and damage that has occurred. Vintage Cellars, who was "shocked" to hear I thought this, said last week that they'd have the "company owner," call me on Monday. It's Thursday. I haven't heard from Vintage Cellars at all since December 9, when Beverly emailed me the phone number for the furniture restoration company.
I'm not sure what is fair but it seems like refunding the shipping costs, since it was a nightmare and we did part of it ourselves, would be a good start. I also think that we should get some money back on the cabinet for the damage that it sustained. Maybe that's not gonna happen, but if we had refused it, and you took it back, you'd be unable to sell it as new, so something like 5-10% cash back, seems like a pretty modest ask.
Having said all that, yes, I do feel like kind of a jerk asking for money. I wish I didn't have to. I wish the delivery had gone smoothly and I was here, instead, posting about my great Le Cache wine cabinet and how much I love it. I really, sincerely do ... You have no idea how much.
By the way, as an aside, we've also got a new sofa on order from Pottery Barn. It was supposed to be delivered last Friday, when there was a pretty good winter storm (for Oklahoma anyway). Of course, they couldn't deliver, and the reschedule was for quite a while out (December 17). Guess what? THEY called me to tell me they couldn't deliver and, even though the reason was absolutely beyond their control (weather), THEY immediately said they were refunding all shipping costs for the trouble. I didn't have to wonder IF it was coming or not, or ASK them for anything to make it right ... Not that I even would have, since this was a far less complicated and screwed up situation. It hadn't wasted a vast amount of my time. The circumstances of the delay were absolutely out of their control. And the couch, presumably, wasn't damaged. To me that was an example of outstanding customer service. Above and beyond.
What I have received so far from Vintage Cellars and Le Cache is the opposite. Not every company has to offer GREAT customer service like the above example though, if you do, I'll be your customer for life, but at least adequate service shouldn't be too much to ask.
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RE: First Vinotemp and now La Cache? ... *#$@ Seriously?!? - 
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