tigerlily74
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Iowa
I purchased a large piece of furniture (an armoire) from a family owned small business on Dec 17th. I paid for them to deliver it. Shortly after I got a new iPhone. I did not realize I was not getting voice mail messages on my new iPhone until a coworker asked me if I had received a message from her. When I realized that there was a glitch with my phone and got it fixed, I had two (and two only) voice mails from this business attempting to set up delivery of this piece. Now, I had not previously been too concerned about the lack of contact because we are having a terrible winter and we had multiple episodes of snow not lending itself to furniture delivery, and also because said business had posted on their Facebook page that they had a death in the family and would be temporarily closed. Just to explain that part.
That being said, when I did finally realize I had missed their messages it was Feb 1st. I drove there in person to apologize as I thought that was the appropriate thing to do, and to arrange delivery. I also planned on buying two additional pieces. When I walked in the store I was met with one of the family members informing me they had just sent me a certified letter that morning to inform me they had placed my item back in their inventory to sell as they had "tried to contact me multiple times, by text and phone, half a dozen times at least" which is absolutely untrue. I had no problems whatsoever with my text messages. I pointed out that I would be able to pull my phone records if needed to verify this and that it was easily verifiable. They never once offered me a refund, and instead just kept arguing about how they couldn't reach me all these times, told me they consulted an attorney which cost them $25 and sent the letter which cost and additional $7. I again apologized for any inconvenience I may have caused them and offered to pay for these fees as well and told them I still wanted my piece of furniture, at which point they asked if I was going to pay a $25 storage fee as well since they "had to move it to storage and back". At this point I finally lost my cool because the piece of furniture was sitting in the exact same place I left it when I purchased it 7 weeks prior and said "No, forget it." and left. She still never offered a refund at any point during this several minute conversation. I posted on their FB page later that night (very civilly) asking for a refund and they deleted it. I did get a certified letter from them a few days later that stated they put my piece back in their inventory. It had the carbon copy of the original receipt in it where they documented calling me THREE times only on the receipt in their own handwriting. There was not refund check included in the letter. The letter stated my item was considered abandoned after 30 days. It was there for 7 weeks. What can I do about this? Do they really only have to keep it for 30 days? Am I owed a refund at least? I am told by other small business owners locally that she does most of her business with college kids in the immediate area- I'm concerned she's doing things like this to them and they don't know any better. Thank you in advance for your help.
That being said, when I did finally realize I had missed their messages it was Feb 1st. I drove there in person to apologize as I thought that was the appropriate thing to do, and to arrange delivery. I also planned on buying two additional pieces. When I walked in the store I was met with one of the family members informing me they had just sent me a certified letter that morning to inform me they had placed my item back in their inventory to sell as they had "tried to contact me multiple times, by text and phone, half a dozen times at least" which is absolutely untrue. I had no problems whatsoever with my text messages. I pointed out that I would be able to pull my phone records if needed to verify this and that it was easily verifiable. They never once offered me a refund, and instead just kept arguing about how they couldn't reach me all these times, told me they consulted an attorney which cost them $25 and sent the letter which cost and additional $7. I again apologized for any inconvenience I may have caused them and offered to pay for these fees as well and told them I still wanted my piece of furniture, at which point they asked if I was going to pay a $25 storage fee as well since they "had to move it to storage and back". At this point I finally lost my cool because the piece of furniture was sitting in the exact same place I left it when I purchased it 7 weeks prior and said "No, forget it." and left. She still never offered a refund at any point during this several minute conversation. I posted on their FB page later that night (very civilly) asking for a refund and they deleted it. I did get a certified letter from them a few days later that stated they put my piece back in their inventory. It had the carbon copy of the original receipt in it where they documented calling me THREE times only on the receipt in their own handwriting. There was not refund check included in the letter. The letter stated my item was considered abandoned after 30 days. It was there for 7 weeks. What can I do about this? Do they really only have to keep it for 30 days? Am I owed a refund at least? I am told by other small business owners locally that she does most of her business with college kids in the immediate area- I'm concerned she's doing things like this to them and they don't know any better. Thank you in advance for your help.
