You Get What You Pay For

Cameron,
I feel like this is the week of life lessons. And here comes another one: Sometimes, you get what you pay for. Mommy has been considering several areas of the house that need something either fixed or purchased to make it work. I told your daddy last night that this is the time that I bet drives all homeowners crazy. You are "moved in" and now you have to start really living with things that are broken or wrong, or pay to fix them all. Like your shower. It has hideous tiles with a funky bumpy surface, so nothing will stick to it. Your adorable frog that holds all your bath toys looks like roadkill sitting on the counter. We keep having to dry off your toys and just lay it back on its side rather than hang him up nicely. But we will just have to live with it for a while.

The kitchen, however, is a different story. There is a big empty space where a small table is obviously supposed to go. So I was on the hunt and came across this cute table from Pier 1:

I liked the size and that it looked a little worn in. I thought the bottom was more ivory than tan when I looked at it in the store, and since my kitchen is tan and brown and more tan, I thought it would be a nice change. It also came with these adorable chairs in "ivory" too...

I thought the shape was interesting and that they would serve their purpose well for only being $99 each. On sale! How great. Except the first store I went to only had one chair. So I decided to be good and not buy it until I talked to Daddy first. No more hiding my purchases on the credit card. And of course, he thought it was SOOOOO expensive. But I guess eventually he realized that sometimes you have to let your wife spend money on things, and gave in.

So after dinner last night, we loaded up and went to a different Pier 1 store. They unfortunately only had one of the tables (as the floor display) and they only had one chair because the other was broken. Apparently, the curved wood in the back is super fragile and gets constantly broken during shipping. We purchased the one good chair and headed to ANOTHER Pier 1 store. They had the table as their floor display too and it was scratched. And the only chair they had in ivory was also broken. Chair stats are now - 1 good, 2 broken. But it's only 8:30 at this point and Cameron seems to be hanging on by a thread so we decide to just get it over with and go back to the original Pier 1 store that I was at earlier in the day.

We get there and Bo is already cranky and explains to the manager that we have been all over and just want to buy the freakin' table and one ivory chair. She has one in stock and it is.... broken. 1 to 3, people! Fortunately she has the table brand new in a box, so we decide to buy it. She is quite nice and wants me to get the sale price, so we agree that I will just take the same model chair in a brown stain (which I later discover completely clashes with the table top) that I can bring back to exchange as soon as they receive more ivory chairs, most likely in two weeks. But she at least wanted me to have a second chair to sit on. She even called the store at the Forum because they showed 2 chairs in their inventory. BOTH BROKEN! 1 to 5! **This is the point in the story where I should have realized that this furniture is just crappy and should have walked away** (But Kerrville has three if I happen to be going there - I wish, but NO!) I leave after writing a big check and thinking how nice she was even though the experience has been a nightmare.

And then it gets worse.

We get home after 9:00 and Cameron is exhausted and fussy. As soon as I get her to bed, we bring in the furniture and realize that the "ivory" just looks like more tan in the kitchen light. So I think, "oh well, maybe I will just go back and get another brown chair." Then we assemble the table and realize that the top has tiny little red spots (that look nothing like the finish) ALL OVER THE PLACE.

At this point, I instantly realize that I am not going to be happy with it and yet, I am afraid that if I ask him to take it all back apart that Bo is going to lose it. He already had to drive all over town with a cranky toddler and hates dropping money like that and now I just can't tell him it was all for nothing! But fortunately, he realized it was just total crap. So we boxed it back up and decided I was going to take it ALL back the next morning.

And by some miracle, the same nice manager was there when I arrived. She was horrified that I was back. She understood my frustrations and asked if I wanted a store credit, because obviously my check from the night before hadn't cleared yet. But of course, I am not going to spend that much money on Pier 1 furniture ever again! So the dilemna is that she doesn't have that much cash to give me a refund. And I don't want to go hauling this table and chairs around in the back of the pickup all weekend when we are a THIEF MAGNET.

So I left it there and am going to have to go back either tonight or tomorrow to get all the moolah. It's a good thing that this manager seems so trustworthy! I really like her even if I suddenly despise Pier 1. And so the hunt continues... I am sad to think that I am going to have to go spend more money at a nicer place, but apparently if I don't want it to fall apart in five minutes, that's what you gotta do. Because I learned that you get what you pay for.

Update: Got the full refund. That manager is fabulous. But now I am wondering if I can find something fabulous through a garage sale or Craig's List instead of the $700 set I loved from Bassett Furniture. Decisions, decisions.