On April 12th I placed an order for 6 dining chairs with a Beverly Hills store called Ambiente Collection. The chairs were to be made-to-order by KFF in Germany. I was told the order would take 12 to 16 weeks for delivery. This is a typical delivery time for European furniture.
It has been well over six months and I do not have any chairs. I was told first that the order was delayed. Then I was told the chairs would be here in September. Come September, they were being held up in customs in Long Beach CA. Then they told me there was a mix up and they had not been shipped yet.
Angrily, I demanded some action and an explanation. All I heard was that the parties in Europe were responsible. Maybe they were, but Ambiente Collection is accountable. They then told me that they had now been shipped via air freight and that they were waiting in customs at SFO (my nearest airport). Sound familiar?
This had gone on for over a week. Knowing that air customs requires a 72 hour turn-around, I demanded an airbill. Sure enough, the chairs had not been shipped. I even contacted Leman's (Ambiente Collections' shipping company). The airbill showed that the chairs were supposed to have shipped on Oct. 3rd, but they had no clue where the chairs were and the carrier airline, KLM, had no record of the airbill.
By this time, I am not handling Amiente Collections "be patient" attitude well. I demanded my money back. The supposed owner of the store, Stephan, with a very cocky tone, said "NO" not without paying a 25% restocking fee. He had the chairs rerouted to LAX and that I could have them anytime. Unannounced to him, I showed up in LA. I called to arrange a time to pick them up and sure enough, the chairs were still in Europe. This was discovered through talking to another employee of the store who was not briefed on the situation.
My final complaint is based on ethics. If this store was holding me accountable for chairs that are severely late in delivery, they should have never changed the shipping method from air to a MUCH longer method of surface. I can only believe this was done out of spite and cheepness. It additionally is acting in a way that is truly not in good faith.
I have executed every possible option to reason with this store and I have had no success. I have yet to get my money back. I am additionally doing everything possible to let this store know they can't continue their shoddy business practices. When someone buys respectable goods at a premium cost, one should at the very least receive decent service.
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