KIM TOWNSEND & SONS

The repairs to the nicks on the furniture were satisfactory. However, Kim Townsend created more damage than he repaired.

While repairing a nick in the rattan cane that wrapped the leg of a lounge chair, Kim Townsend leaned back and placed his hand on the arm of the sofa behind him. One of his fingers was covered with the brown oil-based glaze that he used to retouch the rattan on the lounge chair. When he removed his hand from the sofa he left behind a brown fingerprint-sized stain on the light colored fabric.

When I pointed out the stain to Kim Townsend, he blotted the stain using denatured alcohol on a sock. The stain, along with a ring surrounding it, remained after the fabric dried. Upon the advice of the interior designer who ordered the sofa, I hired a specialized upholstery cleaner to clean the stain. I asked the designer to bill Kim Townsend for the cleaning.

When the professional cleaner could not completely remove the stain I notified Kim Townsend that the sofa would need to be reupholstered to repair the damage. While Kim Townsend accepted responsibility for staining the sofa, he would not agree to pay for anything other than the cleaning. He said he was not responsible for restoring the sofa to the condition prior to the damage. He argued that the cleaning was satisfactory because it removed most of the stain.
 
To determine how to correct the damage to the sofa, I spoke with the upholstery cleaner and the sofa manufacturer. The upholstery cleaner recommended contacting the sofa manufacturer to determine what portion of the sofa needed to be reupholstered. The sofa manufacturer recommended reupholstering the entire sofa because the dye lot of the original fabric was no longer available.

I tried to work with Kim Townsend to reach a settlement for the damage to my sofa. He refused to file a claim with his insurance company. He did not respond to a request to work with a mediator to resolve the dispute.