DON'T MISS THE END! THIS AFTER NEARLY $6000.00
In June of 2011 we signed a contract with Don Soncrant of FURNITURE MEDIC BY DB, and he took approximately 21 pieces of furniture, mostly pieces from the 1930's and 40's to refinish. These had been damaged in a flood in February. Besides the insurance repairs we paid extra to have some table tops done that were not affected by the flood.
When the furniture returned it was covered with animal hair and dust. These pieces included 5 fabric covered chairs, 3 of which are needlepoint done by my husband's mother and aunt in the 30's. The quilts used to cover them were...filthy. I inspected the furniture, and the table tops were pretty, but I soon discovered that the finish on those and the 8 lyre back dining chairs could be scratched off with a slight scrape of a fingernail. The original finish, though very old, never scratched like that.
An antique oak table that I had finished with stain and oil in the 1970's had the grain raised from the flood, and 2 rings from items sitting on it at that time. But it still liiked good. I asked to have it redone as I had done it, and the rings removed. Don sanded it, and did not remove the rings or re-stain and oil it as I requested. IT JUST LOOKS FADED.
In a set of (antique) stacking tables, the smallest has inset wood on the front, a section that did not need to be touched, and it was smeared by stripper, and not refinished, legs of most pieces had lacquer runs, lacquer sat in seams and looked old and cracked, stain was applied unevenly.
A like new upholstered leather chair was gouged in the back, legs on two upholstered fabric chairs needed to be redone. One small table looked pretty on the top, but when I laid it top down on a soft sofa to enspect the legs and picked it back up, a small piece of veneer fell off of one corner. It had been bumped in transit, I guessed.
We asked Don to put new veneer around the bottom of the sideboard that DID match the mahogany Duncan-Fife dining table and lyre back chairs. THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL PIECE! Instead of doing veneer his shop puttied it, with stain over the top. Every piece FURNITURE MEDIC took had problems with the finish. It was obvious that whoever worked on it did not know the business, and I could not imagine anyone letting such poor work leave their shop. Even the girl who worked there told me she noticed a piece and told them it wasn't right. OH, I WAS TOLD THAT MAY BE WHY SHE DOESN'T WORK THER ANYMORE!
In October 2011, I got Don Soncrant to come look at the furniture. He said he didn't know why this happened (HELLO, HE IS THE OWNER), and that he would re-do all of it. I told him it would be all right for him to do it at his convenience. When I called early this year (2012) to ask if he could do some of the furniture while we would be moved out of the house for repairs in February, I was told, in a not-so-friendly-manner, that if I wanted Don to re-do the furniture, I must tell him VERY PRECISELY what I wanted him to do. SO, I inspected the pieces again, marked them with little paper tabs and wrote exactly what was wrong and needed to be re-done. ALSO, I suggested that if the helpers did not know how to finish furniture, maybe Don should do it.
February 2 FURNITURE MEDIC picked up the 8 dining chairs. After we were back in the house in May or June I called to ask whe I could get my chairs back.
After several attempts to contact FURNITURE MEDIC (noone returned my alls) and ( they must have caller I.D.) someone finally answered the phone and responded to my request to have Don call me. He said that since I did not want his "qualified technicians" to do the work, that he would have to do it himself, and that he had 3 or 4 hours left on each chair, and only one hour a week to work on them at all. THAT ADDED UP TO 24 TO 36 WEEKS! I told Don I needed them by July because we were having company.
The chairs were delivered in time for my company. One of the men said; "It WAS a 'rush job' for Don". The dining chairs are no longer the color of the mahogany table. SOME of the OLD stain remains, but only streaks. Lots of other colors are on the chairs.
One arm chair has, apparently, been turned upside down ON A HARD SURFACE in order for the glides to be hammered into the "feet", because something has scraped the new finish off of the "shoulders" of the chair. Shortly after it arrived, some chips fell out of the arm, probably from the same trauma. OH, and one leg is noticeably longer than the others... so the chair rocks. It was glued together crooked. I am almost done...
i made an appointment with Don for September 12.
ON SEPTEMBER 7 I GOT A LETTER FROM DON SAYING HIS OBLIGATION TO ME WAS FULFILLED.... TO CALL HIS LAWYER! read more