Sprout Soup

Description of Work: Sprout Soup is one of two local retailers of the high-end Stokke brand baby furniture (cribs, etc.). Because I believe in buying locally, I chose to purchase a crib for my grandson through them rather than on the web. The crib was to be shipped directly to Santa Cruz, CA, where my son and his family were moving. Sprout Soup told me it would take about a week from order to arrival, so I timed the purchase in such a way that the crib would arrive a couple days after my son and his family arrived. Meanwhile, as my son and his family departed Columbus, they gave away my grandson's old crib, figuring he could sleep in his playpen for a few nights while waiting for the new crib to arrive. The crib arrived six weeks after the purchase. In the meantime, Sprout Soup was uncooperative in giving us information. They said they could not give us a tracking number or get information from the company as to where the crib was. When my grandson's mother and I started calling Sprout Soup more frequently after five weeks, to try to get ANY information on the crib, they did not return calls or answer e-mails. I finally called Stokke directly and was told that they could not find a record of any such order. By now, my credit-card had been charged and payment was due. So, I drove to Sprout Soup and asked that my credit card be credited and the order cancelled. The clerk did so. When the owner of Sprout Soup (Alissa DeRochie) found out, she 'suddenly' learned that the crib was due to arrive in Santa Cruz in a few days and told me that I would have to pay to have it shipped back to her store, since I had cancelled the order. When I said I would not pay for that, as this was none of my fault, she essentially accused me of trying to get a crib without paying and told me she would immediately contact UPS and tell them not to deliver. At this point, my grandson had been sleeping in his playpen for nearly six weeks, lacking a crib, so I allowed her to recharge my credit card in hopes I was getting the true story this time. The crib did finally arrive six weeks after the order was placed (via Fed Ex, not UPS, by the way). However, Ms. DeRochie had decided on her own to cancel the rest of my order for accessories that are supposed to accompany the crib, so I will have to start over with that. I will do so through the national company. In sum: Ms. DeRochie first gave us wrong information about when the crib would arrive, then persistently ignored our requests for help and information, and finally threatened to cancel our order altogether (and did in fact cancel part of it). This is unprofessional to say the least. Particularly towards the end of this, she was also rude and insulting. As much as I still believe in buying locally--and as much as I will miss buying the nice toys that Sprout Soup also sells--I will not patronize this store ever again.