A-1 FURNITURE REFINISHING

Avoid these guys like the plague -- they are incompetence paired with dishonesty. We dropped off an antique fireplace mantle (one of an identical pair) that had been photographically documented in our house during many periods, but as early as the 1880s. We specifically stated that the mantle must be hand stripped and absolutely forbade them from putting it in the stripping tank as the many layers of moldings and carvings would likely result in warping and pieces falling off. After many weeks after the promised completion date, and many un-returned phone calls, we finally sent our carpenter down to find out what was going on. The mantle had been ruined. They admitted to having put it in the tank, proceeded to lie, saying that we had given them permission to do so -- even though they had warned us that it could fall apart, and then proceeded to claim that the mantle had no value anyway as it was a cheap Indonesian mahogany knockoff anyway. To add insult to injury, they demanded their $250 payment for ruining this historically-significant part of our home.