Complaint Review: Taggywail - Bonnee Gruber

We ordered a custom entertainment unit to be designed and built by Taggywail. It was Bonnee Gruber who told us that we should build this unit in Alder wood. We were unfamiliar with this kind of wood before she told us about it. They verbally promised to build it in all ALDER WOOD. They gave us their literature which said custom wood pieces are quoted in Alder wood.

Their literature says plywood may be used only in non-visible areas. Their literature says custom wood pieces are built using "only natural hardwoods."

They built our entertainment unit with Alder face pieces only. The rest is built out of BIRCH PLYWOOD.

Taggywail has stated in writing, to the credit card companies when we filed a dispute, that they always use Birch plywood! This is a lie, either on their written literature or in their writing to the credit card company. Taggywail has made two opposite written statements.

Some pieces of plywood are only 1/8" or 1/4" thick. It is so thin that the shelf pins were protruding out the other side of the wood. Nail heads are coming through the wood in numerous places all over the entertainment unit. Most doors on the unit are warped. There are chips, cracks, globs of glue all over unit. The stain is uneven and doesn't match all over the unit.

The 6 separate pieces of the unit do not fit together in many places. The unit looks like separate pieces just placed next to one another. In some places the pieces can't fit together because the sides of the individual pieces are warped.

Taggywail did not use tempered glass on the sides of the display area. We have been told that this is dangerous because the glass they used can shatter and hurt someone badly.

When we asked Bonnee Gruber, the Interior Designer and a principal owner of Taggywail to come out to our home, her first day back in her office after we received the unit, to see this unit, we were told she could come out 1 whole week later. We said that she was making this the bottom of her priority list and she should come sooner.

Bonnee Gruber refused to come sooner. She sent us a fax stating, "...I need to reiterate Taggywail's scheduling policies. I personally devote my professional time, almost exclusively, to our firm's most major accounts. Other than to oversee the actual design and shop drawings, I rarely get involved with individual sales such as yours."

We spent just shy of $17,000 for this horrible piece of falling apart junk! This is far more than we wanted or expected to spend. We were new to the Phoenix area at the time and had no other contacts for comparisons on custom furniture. We were promised verbally and in their literature that Taggywail would build our "dream piece". We decided to bite the bullet and that our children could inherit it and that it could become a family heirloom.

Bonnee Gruber, while we were planning this entertainment unit, would tell us stories about all the sports stars for whom she did decorating. She told us stories about how these stars would give her hundreds of thousands of dollars and tell her to go ahead and decorate their house!

It must be these people who give her so much money that are considered by Taggywail to be its major clients. Our spending close to $17,000 on this unit and over $1000 on fabric for chairs didn't qualify us in Bonnee Gruber's eyes, for her personal time and service!!!!

If you want to hire a company that commits to offering a personal service and you don't plan to spend obviously a great deal more than $17,000 Taggywail is not the company for you. It seems you can only hire Taggywail with Bonnee Gruber's personal services if you plan to spend much more money than we did.

You need to beware, Taggywail is claiming that this amateur, inferior, defective piece of junk is a wonderful piece. They claim they can "repair" all the defects!

Your guess is as good as ours as to how they can "repair" the entertainment unit which was built out of different and inferior wood to that promised in both their literature and verbally.

There is not one area of this 14 foot long, almost 9 foot high piece that is without defect. Why would anyone believe that the second time around they could match their stain on all parts, their wood wouldn't be warped, it would come out without chips and cracks. One crack is 16 1/2 inches long and so wide that you can see right through it.

After receiving this entertainment unit we have learned of 3 other custom fine furniture makers and 1 restorer of fine furniture. They have all come out to our home to evaluate this piece. Every one of them has stated in writing for the credit card dispute that this entertainment unit is beyond "repair". All have stated that we should get our money refunded. Taggywail has refused to return our money.

The bill for this unit was paid on 2 separate credit cards. Fred Gruber, another principal owner of Taggywail, told the second credit card company that the first credit card company had found in his favor and had returned his money. This was a lie. The first credit card company has made a final determination and returned our money to us.

The first credit card has refunded our money and the second credit card company has recommended that our money be returned. This credit card company is waiting for their arbitration board to approve this recommendation. This recommendation can not be final until it is officially approved by their governing arbitration board.

Mary
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.