Update....

Since I'm on my way out the door for a girl scout meeting, I need to make this short, but still wanted to update the ongoing saga with By Design.... the $1400 bench that took 6 months to arrive and felt apart in 20 days.

Let me first start by staying this.... Since I didn't go into cardiac arrest yesterday, I'm pretty sure my heart is good for many more years. I have to tell ya... I haven't been as mad as I was yesterday in AGES. Oh. my. word. I was ticked. That's putting it nicely.

For those of you that don't me know well... a little quick background... I went to college on a full ride debate scholarship. I'm not afraid of conflict, and don't buckle under pressure. People don 't intimidate me, and I have no problem speaking my mind and standing up for what I know to be right.

Anyway....

Since I hadn't heard from the owner all day -- and she promised to call me before the end of the day, I finally called her at 3 and was told, "Oh, I was just thinking of you and going to give you a call". Yea, right!

In a nutshell, we agreed on the money ($1400) and the time frame (6 months to arrive and falling apart in 20 days). After all, they did me a favor and put a note in the computer, so that when they printed off the invoice, it automatically showed up. Their own paperwork details the problems with the bench. Priceless.

Since we were in agreement on the fundamentals, I thought the conversation should go well. Definitely not much to chat about, right? Wrong!

In a nutshell, she was not going to give me my money back. She admitted that the fabric wasn't a good choice for the bench, but wanted to replace it with another piece, or re upholster the current bench. NO WAY. Not a chance am I taking a refurbished bench when I paid so much for it. She told me what great quality it was and how she's shocked this happened, and wants to make it right. I told her countless times that the way to make it right was to refund my money. She kept going on about the great quality of the bench and I told her that if that's what she considered quality, her and I had very differing viewpoints of quality. I then told her that if I bought furniture at Target and this happened they'd refund my money no questions asked .... and clearly they were a much classier operation than Target.

We went round and round for over 30 minutes. She kept telling me that her husband said that the two choices were (i) in store credit or (ii) fixed bench. Neither one was acceptable to me. After all, she's had the bench in her possession since February 23, and it's now mid-May, and she didn't take it back because I didn't like the color. IT WAS FALLING APART - by their own admission. I asked to talk to her husband. She wouldn't let me.

We ended the conversation with the understanding that she'd call me back today. At my insistence, she was going to call the company and request her money back. I went on to tell her, that regardless if they gave her a refund, I still expected one, and would take it to small claims court if I had to. Oh, it wasn't pretty. I was hot. At this point, it wasn't about the money... it was the principle of the matter, and I wasn't going anywhere....

She did call me back this afternoon. She didn't want to chat long -- that's for sure. I would have eaten her alive. She told me that after thinking about it last night, she'd refund my money. She knew I wasn't going to back down and quite frankly didn't want to deal with me anymore. She honestly believed that I'd take her to court and didn't want the hassle. AAAAHHHHH.... It's finally over. Now I just need to check my card and make sure the refund is on there.

For all my friends who have had to listen to the story, in great detail, over the past 48 hours -- THANK YOU. YOU ARE SAINTS, YOU ARE WORTH YOUR WAIT IN GOLD, AND I THANK GOD FOR BRINGING YOU INTO MY LIFE. YOU ARE THE BEST.