The Furniture Mill

This is a company who had done beautiful work and provided excellent service on a number of my inherited furniture pieces, so when they told me it would take several months and cost $500 because of the difficulty of the task, I willingly agreed. Here's what went wrong: 1. On the receipt, it said don't use wax or Endust on the table. To me, a receipt is an indication of payment, so I didn't even think of looking at instructions. I needed to have been told not to do this. Once before, the company overseer did tell me to be careful with another Chinese piece that he had refinished, but that piece isn't lacquer. Because I was told that the piece was simply redone, my cleaning lady used Endust on it, as she always had, and it was damaged. 2. When I called The Furniture Mill to report this, I was told to drive to a township 40 minutes away to buy proper paint. Why didn't they tell me this initially? Or, better yet, for $500, why didn't they get the paint? 3. The man in charge of the project was very nice on the phone and was sorry to hear about what happened. He told me to bring in the table so that it could be redone in a week's time. 4. Before leaving to bring the piece back to the store, a 35 minute drive, I called to make sure the man in charge would be there because when I initially took the piece home, he was out of the office. I was told that he was there and would be there all afternoon. 5. He was not there, so I spoke with the woman who oversees the office, telling her that I need to discuss this with my lawyer, so I stepped outside and did so right then and there. My lawyer told me to get a receipt indicating that the Furniture Mill was in possession of my table and that it would be completed within a week's time, as I had been promised. She would not make a promise as to time. 6. I told her that I was not comfortable without the time promise, and, several times, she raised her voice and said, "take your table and get out of here!" The other women working in the store laughed repeatedly. 7. Although I told her that I am almost 70 years old, she refused to summon the young men in the workshop so that they could carry the table back to my car. I went into their studio and tipped them three dollars for their services. 8. Fortunately, a local craftsman examined the table and said that it should have been refinished a different way. He did his best to repair the damage and didn't want me to pay him, but I insisted upon doing so. 9. Perhaps because he had done successful work for me before, the overseer of the Furniture Mill agreed to refinish my table. I wish he had said that he doesn't do this kind of work. That would have been fine. Not everyone specializes in everything.

WONDERFUL. These were my parents when I grew up and while I know my mom says the dings and rings make "character" in furniture, I wanted the gummy like finish off. I dropped them off on a Saturday and they were ready in a few days. I wasn't in a hurry, but they were very timely and called me a few hours after I dropped them off to give me an estimate. I have orthopaedic issues that keep me from stripping any more furniture but I still wanted to refinish it. The price was very reasonable. I picked up the end tables that were stripped and I was very happy. I wanted to do my own sanding so it was just the bare wood with a few dings my brother and I probably did. They had the hardware off and safetly tucked in the drawer and loaded the pieces into my car. Their store is very home-town nice too.

It was fine. They're pleasant to work with.