GIFTED GARDENER

Description of Work: I ordered two sofas from The Gifted Gardener around May of 2011. I ordered the sofas from The Gifted Gardener, because I always loved their store, bought many small things from them over the years, and loved their taste and their merchandise. It is a small business close to our home, and I was happy about giving them my business and assumed they were responsible and honest business owners. I ordered the sofas from a fabric sample that The Gifted Gardener provided to me when I was picking out the sofas. I still have the fabric sample. The fabric sample provided to me by The Gifted Gardener and on which I based my decision to order the sofas shows a light brown background with a green vine type pattern and a little yellow on it and a pretty red accent. The overall impression of the fabric is of a vine type pattern. (I would not think "floral" when looking at this sample) I worked with Todd (who I believe is one of the owners) selecting and ordering the sofas. When the sofas arrived, I was shocked by what they looked like. They had HUGE orange and yellow and mauve flowers all over them. They did not look anything like what I remembered the fabric sample looking like. Because I was in the middle of moving into our house, I could not remember where I had put the fabric sample. But, I kept thinking, this doesn't look anything like what I remember the fabric looking like. The overall impression of the sofas was gigantic orange and yellow flowers - something that was not shown on the fabric sample that Gifted Gardener had me order the sofas from. I really hated them from the beginning, but because I could not find my fabric sample, I thought that I must have just not remembered what it looked like. (although I absolutely HATE orange and would never order something with gigantic orange flowers on it). I painted my family room 5 or 6 times trying to find a color that would work with the sofas and make them look better, even though the room had already been painted before they came. No color seemed to work with them. After clearing up and putting away moving boxes (around October) etc, I found my original fabric sample that I had ordered the sofas from. And, it was exactly as a remembered it. I realized, in fact, (not just memory) the sofas DID NOT look anything like the fabric sample. I went to The Gifted Gardener and took the fabric sample and my camera, which had pictures of the sofas, so that they could see them. I spoke to Todd, the one I had ordered the sofas from. I showed him the fabric and the pictures of the sofa, and told him that the sofas don't look anything like the fabric. He agreed that they did not look like the sample, and said he would contact the furniture manufacturer and have them call me. I told him that he was welcome to come over and look at the sofas anytime. (There were other issues with the sofas as well, being as the cushions were very saggy and the fabric was loose on the sofa and fraying - at this point the sofas had hardly been sat on). At another point after this (when I had not heard from the sofa manufacturer (Norwalk), I called Todd to tell him I had not heard from the Norwalk sales rep, and Todd said to e mail pictures of the fabric sample and sofas to him (Todd) and he would send them on to the Norwalk sales rep. I called Todd to see if he received the pictures and the e mail, and he said that he (Todd) did. I asked him if he could see what I was complaining about and dissatisfied with, and he said he did. And again, he agreed that the fabric sample did not look like the sofas. It seemed clear that Todd thought this was Norwalk's problem and something they should take care of. Again, I told Todd he was welcome to come over and look at the sofas in person. The Norwalk furniture rep finally came over in late November/December. He looked at the sofas, and agreed to replace the cushions. He has not returned with the new cushions, but I assume he will be coming in the next week or two. He, (the Norwalk furniture rep) said he would stop by and talk to the Gifted Gardener and ask Todd to call me. The Norwalk sales rep indicated that the fabric on the sofas was The Gifted Gardener's responsibility, because they are the ones who provided the fabric sample. The fabric sample was an incomplete picture of the fabric. It only showed a small portion of the pattern. There was no picture anywhere on the fabric sample provided to me of the whole pattern (which is huge and completely different than the small part of the pattern they used as the fabric "sample". The Norwalk sales rep also said that The Gifted Gardener should have either provided a picture of the whole pattern, or directed me to the fabric's website, which would have shown a whole picture of the fabric pattern. The Gifted Gardener did neither. I assumed the fabric on the sofas would look like the fabric sample The Gifted Gardener provided me to that I used base my decision on ordering two expensive sofas. Why would I think anything different? As it turned out, the only sample that they ever showed me, that which I based my decision to buy two sofas for $4800, was a total misrepresentation of the actual fabric. This was a dishonest representation of the fabric. I think that is The Gifted Gardener's responsibility. I ordered these sofas in good faith, believing The Gifted Gardener to be an honest business. Todd never called, but a sales lady called, spoke to my husband and she told my husband that Norwalk would replace the cushions, and that is all she said. I talked to the Norwalk sales rep again, and he asked me if Todd ever called me and I said no. He was going to call Todd again. I have not heard from Todd, and it has been a few weeks. This week, I contacted the Better Business Bureau, because Todd never called to rectify this. Todd acknowledged to me, in two different conversations with me, that the fabric sample does not look like the fabric on the sofas.