Delivery – A Four Hour Window - Not

OK, the entertainment center has been on order for two months, and finally it is scheduled for delivery today. I have been quite anxious to get our new entertainment center, but to tell the truth, it has been so long since I have seen it in the showroom, I have almost forgotten what it looks like.

Yesterday I received a call to tell me about the “four hour window” in which it would be here. It had to be right in the middle of the day, between 12 to 4 PM. No going out to lunch for us today. All plans will have to be put on hold until my delivery arrives.

Not that I expected them to get here exactly at noon, but I did sit by the front window, just in case. After about an hour, Katie walked by with a look that said they probably wouldn’t be here until much later. I didn’t want to think that. I wanted to see the truck pull up the street any minute, unload my entertainment center, set it up in the location I had sitting empty in the family room. After that we could take a break to grab some lunch. And, finally, what I was really looking forward to, I would like to arrange all my Rookwood, colored glass and favorite pictures on the 20 glass shelves that were on this massive piece of furniture.

By 2:00 I moved back to the family room and listened for the truck to arrive. It felt more practical to think they were coming any minute after 2:00, being right in the middle of their "four hour window."

By 3:00, I started a load of laundry and turned the TV on.

By 4:00, Katie walked by and said I had been duped. Hungry, she was ready to leave for a bite to eat.

I decided to call the delivery number and ask where they were. I was told they would be here any minute. No longer than 40 minutes the woman said. Hmm… perhaps they should have called me; after all, they were late on their “four hour window.”

I spent the next forty minutes back in the front room watching out the window. No one came.

At 5:15, I called again. Where are they? It shouldn’t be much longer.

At 6:00, I finally heard a truck pull up the street. I watched as they threw my precious pieces of furniture on the street. The boxes were ripped open in the rain and then carried to my family room. I immediately dried the wood and glass. As the sixth and final piece was about to be carried in the delivery fellow asked me to come out to the truck. He pointed out a manufacturing defect in the most prominent piece. We can leave it or take it back he said. Oh my, another two months to wait, was my immediate reaction. So, I called the place where I made this purchase and asked for the manager. Customer satisfaction was my goal. I was told they would replace it and to keep the damaged piece until it could be replaced.

The delivery men left at 7:20.

Famished, we ate immediately.

Then, as I looked so forward to placing my favorite objects on the glass shelves, there were no hooks to rest the shelves on. In addition, there were scratches on the wood and two damaged shelves.

This “four hour window” turned into almost a “SEVEN and a half hour window.”

Actually, I think a “two month, 7 ½ hour window” would be more accurate. And now, they will probably have to add another couple months to get the right pieces. More accurately, this will be a “FOUR MONTH plus window”… and I am not waiting by the door.