Complaint Review: The Master Craftsman

Last week in February Stop by Conestoga Mall, see Master Craftsman, arrange in-home estimate.

March 3, 2005 Craig C. visits in home, and describes the company:
- Highest quality
- You pay roughly 1/2 of new price to refinish
- Dunk-tank approach
- Highest quality fabrics

- They call and tell me that I have to pay to have the drawers fixed, for they don't open. I explain they did open and lock correctly when Craig C. was there. They didn't believe me until they called Craig C, and he said yes it was so, and that the desk had been damaged in transit. They said they would fix the lock mechanism.

- They call me and say that the drawers need new runners, and this would cost some amount to manufacture. I asked them to give me an estimate, and they called me back with a figure of $400 dollars to manufacture'. I felt this was steep, but allowed it to proceed. I told them that this should have been noticed by my in home estimate', since a worn out drawer runner would create obvious wear where the drawer bottom rubs the desk. I said yes trusting that they saw something their trained estimator' with years of experience did not.

- They called me and told me that the chair needed to be re-glued (even though it felt extremely solid for the past 10+ years of daily use it had received). They told me this would not cost a lot of money, possibly $150.

- They called me and asked me about the pencil case in the middle drawer, to see if I wanted one manufactured. The estimate they gave was over $300 dollars, which I felt was severely overpriced, so I said no.

- They called me and asked me if I wanted the upholstery scotch guarded'. I told them, this seemed very unusual and distressed me, since one would think if I were paying $900 for Master Craftsman' to upholster a chair, that the fabric would be scotch guarded'. They wanted to charge me $150 for the treatment. I said no'.

- I received a call from one of their people in charge of arranging delivery, who said he noticed that the desk did not have the protective finish they usually apply. It was described that this finish creates a non-abrasive surface, otherwise staples and papers may scuff the finish. I was told that this treatment' costs $150 to $250 to put on as it requires multiple layers and drying time. I explained I was extremely alarmed and upset at this news. I told them I was alarmed because:

o The company keeps calling me, often with a week delay in the calls, always asking for more and more money.
o The company did not send me the updated
o It seemed incredulous that a delivery specialist' noticed a missing usual treatment' that gets put on desks.

- The delivery person went on to tell me that it was left off because I received a discount' on the order (even though right now, we're about $1000 over the original estimate). I asked the delivery person to show me where on my invoice I received a discount he could not find it. He said the in-home estimate's original value was much higher. I explained that the original estimate was for much more work (new pencil tray, lock replacements, etc) and that EXTRA work was taken off the invoice which I signed and put a deposit down on. I explained, apparently to no avail, that taking off EXTRA items is not the same as a DISCOUNT, and that not asking for new locks and a pencil tray should not disqualify me from the usual' treatment.

- I was very frustrated at this point, and asked the delivery person to fax me a summary of what they have done so far, and itemize the proposed work. They did not send it.

- I also asked to be referred to someone with who I could relay my dissatisfaction and work with to come to a resolution. I told him I needed to hear back that week, for I was going to the Mayo Clinic in Florida for health reasons, and would be unavailable for that week.

- I did not hear back from them

- It turns out, not all' fabrics they get are scotch guarded' sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't.


The original estimate was for: 3092 dollars. The final amount was $4030.75 a difference of 938.75 dollars! This extra charge is for fixing three table runners (small rectangular pieces of wood), and re-gluing the chairs. Seems excessive.

- When I got back from the Mayo Clinic, I was contacted by another delivery person. Apparently the old one was fired'. I re-explained the situation, and that I wanted a faxed itemized invoice, and to speak to a supervisor. I never received the faxed itemized invoice. I did receive a call from an operations manager.
- I called the operations manager, and explained my story from start to finish. He gave me contradictory information:

o The person I spoke with initially was misinformed, and now fired, and that there is no
o That sometimes' upholstery they receive is scotch guarded', and sometimes it is not', and they have to charge for it. Sometimes what is scotch guarded' one day is not scotch guarded' the next. Since scotch guarding' is just spraying a fabric with a sealer of sorts, and takes only a few minutes, I asked why they'd call me up to pay 150 dollars to have it scotch guarded. I explained that when someone pays 1000 dollars to refinish and re-upholster a chair, that something basic like Scotchguarding would be included. He said it wasn't included. I said that was like misrepresenting the thesis of their entire company: the master craftsman'.
o Exhausted after several hours of dealing with them, I called to make delivery. I was told that I needed to give a certified cheque to the delivery people.

My mind boggled again: why not a normal cheque, like normal companies? They said it was because the delivery company did not work for them I said, why would that matter? They bring you the cheque anyway. I told them I was not going to waste more time and money going to the bank to and pay to get a cheque certified. I told them I would pay with Visa. They said they couldn't take Visa I asked: Why Not! I paid my deposit on Visa.

o It took several days, but I was contacted by the operations manager who finally took my visa card, and said I would have to sign the slip when they delivered the desk and chair.

FINALLY, I thought, it was over. Even though they gouged me at every turn, lied to me (or at least, contradicted themselves to the point of absurdity), I would, after three months, get my desk and chair.

This was not to be, for when the delivery people came, they first told me to have a look at the chair which I did. I noticed many problems, which I took pictures of (while the chair was still in the truck):
- The brass I had asked to be polished was loose, almost snapped off in one place.
- There were white fingerprint' type marks that seemed as though someone with residual white latex paint had
- There were scratches ALL OVER the chair these scratches were fresh and on top of the varnish they re-applied. Factory dust was impregnated into the scratches as though the chair had been pushed around, scratched and scraped in the factory.
- There was a HOLE in the side of the chair that clearly occurred AFTER it was re-varnished.
- There were new screws added to the chair horrific screws that were not there before, decreasing the value of the chair substantially. Apparently designed to hold in the upholstery, these screws were NOT EVEN FLUSH with the wood. One screw was almost 1/4 an inch out of the wood, and screwed in on an angle. A good craftsman' would countersink the screws. These had not even had sawdust / wood flakes removed, and were rough to the touch. I almost cried when I saw the worksmanship'.
- I told the delivery people immediately I could not accept delivery of the chair.

The delivery people asked me to inspect the desk while it was still on the truck to see if I would take delivery of it. In the light of the truck, the desk seemed okay. At the time, I did not see any flaws in the desk (it was around 8:00pm and starting to get dark) and figured all the problems remaining with The Master Craftsman' were the chair issue. I certainly didn't want to send the desk back with them, in case it fell victim to the kind of damage the chair has experienced. In comparison to the chair, it was night and day. However, just after the delivery folks left, I sat at the desk and inspected it more closely and found several defects (see attachments):

- The large secretary drawer on the left side would not close that's right the door would not close. I felt like a fool for paying over 3000 to have a desk refinished and not even have the drawers close.
- There were large portions on the right side drawers which had no varnish on them. It appears that the drawers were NOT REMOVED WHEN VARNISH WAS APPLIED. Unfinished wood is sitting in clear view.
- (Incidentally, the delivery people did not measure the door, and the legs scratched paint off my door frame. They could have put some cloth over the feet of the desk (as they did in their 2nd attempt). That would have saved my door frame. I took a picture of that.)

Upon noticing the flaws, my hands turned white and I almost fainted. I sat on the floor, feeling completely shamed. They had charged me a mint and delivered scratched up, damaged, and poorly refinished work. Further, they sold me on their method of dunking furniture in a big vat of solvent stripper a method they claimed was superior to other carpenters who perform spot applications. Yet, under close inspection, one can see that large portions of the desk were never exposed to any sort of stripper/solvent so they must not have used the process they claimed.

After contemplating all of this for a few minutes, I called Royal Bank Visa Security to see if they could stop-payment, or retract the payment. I managed to file an insurance claim with Visa, which they said was probably not insurable as this was a service' and not a product'. I told Visa if it was just a service, why did they charge me GST and PST? They told me it had to be tangible and personal property'. I told them the desk is tangible, the varnish is tangible, and it is my personal property.

Anyway, after an hour on the phone with them I did get them to put in a claim. Even if the claim is denied, I hope to pursue it through public arbitration, as Visa's web site is amazingly vague. I also called Visa's merchant dispute, and again was told that they could do nothing. I can see now why The Master Craftsman' wanted a Certified Cheque' they must have known that I would not be happy, and would stop-payment on the cheque immediately.

I feel extremely victimized. I've been promised master quality and delivered sloppy amateur work. I've been over-charged (had I not started saying no', they would have charged me 6000 to refinish one desk and one chair! They said I should expect to pay expect to pay 1/2 of new my desk and chair are not $8,000' or $12,000' new). Even through the large fees were charged, I would have been happy to simply have quality work done, but it did not happen. I love quality work, and pay for quality, which is what their sales pitch and materials all indicated, and why I went to them. They totally misrepresented themselves.

After dealing with the shock of all of this, and spending an hour and a half speaking with Visa, I started writing this re-count with a mind to take The Master Craftsman' to Small Claims Court (barring of course they make right on their service to me which at this point I doubt, as their service has been tragically flawed).

Paul
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada