2022-10-25 Kitchen Chairs

Part 1. Kitchen renovation and some new chairs

In the early months of 2022, we started a kitchen renovation. Right down to the studs. Long story short, We ended up putting in an island at which we can sit to eat. In order to do so, we needed to have some counter-height chairs or stools. Looked some up online, found some I liked, and pulled the trigger on 4 chairs from Home Depot.

As we waited for the Home Depot chairs to be delivered, I anxiously tracked the UPS delivery. The delivery date came and went and there were no chairs. I called UPS to see what was up, and despite having tracked the delivery with a UPS tracking number, and that tracking information having details about the package, UPS was now telling me that the chairs were never picked up from the shipper (Home Depot) and that I should take it up with them. Ok, your tracking system says differently, but whatever, I'll call Home Depot.

Home depot is adamant that the chairs were indeed picked up by UPS and that UPS had them. What. The. Fuck. Home Depot is telling me that UPS has the chairs and UPS is telling me that Home Depot never gave them the chairs. I'm starting to question whether or not the chairs even exist. I called both companies back several times over the next two weeks, and eventually had to settle for a refund because they were the last of their kind in stock and nobody had no fucking clue what had happened to them.

Part 2. The second (and third) order of chairs

After giving up on the first set of chairs, the search begain anew for some other nice, affordable chairs. I fould a similar set at Wayfair and ordered them. They showed up a few days late, near the beginning of July, but no big deal; at least they're here. As a result of placing the order, I started getting Wayfair emails with sales, and such. After two weeks of sitting on these chairs, I saw that the chairs were reduced in price by nearly %50. That's pretty significant, especially when you buy 4 of them, so I called Wayfair's support and asked if there was any kind of price guarantee because I was still well within the return window of 30 days.

Wayfair told me that they did not do that sort of thing. I talked them through the fact that I was still in the return window and that I could just re-order the chairs, and return the first set and end up with the chairs for the lower price, and that we could both save ourselvers some trouble by avoiding a round-trip shipment of 4 chairs, but they would not go for it. I realized that arguing was pointless, so I did exactly what I said I could do: I ordered a new set of 4 chairs, got a return label for my existing chairs, and waited for the second set to arrive.

When they finally did arrive, I didn't even take them out of the boxes. I just slapped the return labels on the boxes on the second set of chairs and brought them right back to FedEx. I got my refund and continued using the original set of Wayfair chairs the entire time.

Part 3. The unexpected chairs

Fast forward to October 2022. I get an unprompted email from UPS saying that my Home Depot shipment will be delivered in about a week. What? I haven't ordered anything from Home Depot since the original chair order. I thought to myself, "Maybe they actually found those chairs and are finally shipping them to me." Turns out that is exactly what happened. Mid-October, I took delivery of the original set of 4 chairs, ordered back in June 2022 that were lost somewhere between Home Depot and UPS. The same chairs for which I've already had my purchase price refunded, and for which I received a $50 Home Depot gift certificate for my troubles.

Anyway, they're much nicer than the Wayfair chairs -- they were my first choice, after all. And it upon these chairs that we now sit at our renovated island counter. I guess I'm looking to sell my Wayfair chairs. So...win?