Babies 'n Beds

On 1/9/10, we ordered a Bonavita Hudson Lifestyle crib and a crib mattress from Bob, the owner. We paid $383.44 up front, with a $500 balance to be paid upon receipt of the crib. Delivery and assembly would cost extra and would be arranged when the crib came into the store. The usual waiting period is 12 weeks. My due date for my baby was May 26th, so I had allowed 2 months of cushion in case there were any manufacturer delays. Twelve weeks would have brought us to the first weekend in April. At the end of March, I called Bob to find out the status of our order. He said there were manufacturer delays because of Chinese New Year, but he hoped to have the crib in by the end of April. I checked back several times and received basically the same information. As the end of April approached, Bob's story changed. He then said there were other delays and he was hoping to have the crib in the first week of May. Each time I talked to him, he would tell me he would call me on "x" day with more information. I would always wait until 4:30 or 5:00 on "x" day, and never heard from him. I'd call him. In the first week of May, I received a different story each day. Now, the shipment was delayed because of dressers. Next, the shipment had arrived at the manufacturer in NJ, and gave estimated days that he "thought" it would ship to him, but he never had a solid date. Each time I called, he had no updated info. Then, he said he would talk to the Bonavita sales rep at a children's furniture show in Louisville. He'd call me with more information afterwards. I had to call him. He said he hadn't been able to reach anyone at the manufacturer's office because "everyone was at the show." As of May 9, he said the delays were due to a new chocolate line of furniture, but that he kept expecting our crib to ship to him that week, with no substantiated information. I contacted the authors of the book Baby Bargains, who had given Bonavista a high rating, to see if they had been hearing parent/customer complaints. They had not, nor had a retailer with whom they contacted. I also contacted another local retailer who said they had not had those issues, and that the Bonavita rep is generally very responsive to their store. I called the manufacturer directly at the beginning of May to try to ascertain when and if he had actually placed our order at all. I spoke with Kristin, who deals directly with the store. She said she could only tell me that the order had been placed. I called her again at the end of the second week of May, and she gave me more details - Bob placed the order on January 12th. Bonavita had the crib available since January. They were simply awaiting "more information" from the store - namely, payment. They provided a purchase order number. After 18 weeks, 2 weeks to my due date and no time to special order our crib elsewhere, we called him with the proof from Bonavita that he had lied. We did receive a refund on 5/16.