I'd rate a six if I could.
Ok, so, I bought a massive 2-door, five shelf cabinet from Restoration Hardware. Paid a lot (ALOT ALOT) for it, and to have it delivered. Measured it twice, figured if I was off, the delivery crew would figure it out. Paid for delivery. The movers arrived with my piece, got it onto the freight elevator, up to my floor and realized, this thing will NOT fit. It wasn't going to make it off the elevator. The movers got it back,)not the elevator and took it down to the freight elevator lobby, stood it up after getting it off the lift, and said...here are your options. They could put it on the curb for me, or I could have someone come, CUT 9" off the bottom of the piece and then reattach it all, Frankenstein-style once they got it into the apt. I paid them and sent them on the way. Meanwhile, the bldg super and the maintenance guys said, let's see what we can do. Three hours later, we only managed to take the doors and back of this massive cabinet apart. This thing was built like a tank, and it was gonna take heavy munitions to pull it apart. Because it was sooooo nice, no one wanted to destroy it, so the super said it will probably have to be cut apart. He said, leave it here overnight, go upstairs, google it, get some rest, try again tomorrow. I decided to google it, and there's some wild stuff out there, so I came to YELP. Found three companies in NYC that offer furniture disassembly/reassembly. There's a competing firm with a similar name and not as many reviews, so I looked at NY Couch Surgeon. I searched around, dug through the NY Couch Surgeon's site again, walked away, looked again. Slept fitfully.
In the morning, I called Fabio, shared the situation and prayed he would leave the Sawzall at home. He quoted me the price (reasonable range considering the predicament), we scheduled a time (important to note here that the man is fully insured, thoroughly professional). He and his worker arrived, and first things first, went to see the apartment, surveyed the entry, elevator, and final location. Next we went to the odorless, backless, expensive ass cabinet that was too wide, tall and big for what we hoped to accomplish. I want to pause here to say to you that Fabio makes it very very clear that he doesn't prefer to mess with RH furniture because it is very very difficult to pull apart without damage. If you need that high end piece moved in, but don't want it scratched, DONT BUY IT. Seriously, if you care about it looking pristine, pay a carpenter and get the item custom built into your space. Not gonna happen otherwise - the piece is going to be damaged/scratched because you failed to plan. I failed to plan and had to write a glowing review...don't do what I did.
So Fabio and his guy muscle the cabinet onto the freight, we get to my floor, the thing will not exit the elevator. He grabs a sledge, separates the base from the case, and he and his guy are able to get it off the elevator. Now for the SURGERY. The piece will not go into the apartment as is, so he locates all the screws he can find, removes those, then he breaks the glue seals holding this thing together, and bangs apart the case slowly but surely using the sledge. Once he gets one side freed, he removes the shelves, Carrie's the remainder of the carcass into the apt, and then, REBUILDS the cabinet exactly where I wanted it, this time using stronger screws than original to ensure it doesnt fall apart. Short story long - HIRE THIS MAN.
I'm not just writing this because the NY Couch Surgeon pulled this off - I don't write reviews. His service was impeccable. He had everything he needed to get the job done. He considered all options before breaking out the dreaded Sawzall (I had nightmares about that thing). When he finished the job, you wouldn't have known he was there. No walls, ceilings, doorways or floors were scarred or marred.
I'm not a paid spokesperson. I'm a real guy whose ass was in a sling, and the NY Couch Surgeon helped us get it done.
And though my pockets are lighter, my very expensive, too-wide, too-tall, 2-door Restoration Hardware cabinet stands exactly where I envisioned it. Call this man. read more