Wild Goose Chaise

Can't remember if we mentioned it on a previous post, but about a week ago, we purchased a living room set from the Naval Exchange (NEX) furniture store on base. We had been looking for one since moving into the house, since we left our old sofa and matching oversized chair in San Diego, concerned that they would be too big to fit into a Japanese home. In the NEX store a week ago, we found the perfect set: a dark olive green sofa with a matching chair and ottoman, advertised as a sofa/chaise set. I asked the salesman if the set came together for the advertised price and he said, "yes". Recognizing a great deal, Nicki and I jumped on the opportunity and requested that it be delivered ASAP. We were told that the set would arrive today (Dec 7).

I went home around 11:00am today to prepare for the arrival of the delivery crew. They showed up around 12:30pm and began unloading cushions and the sofa. When the sofa and ottoman were set up, they asked me to sign off that it had been delivered. I asked about the matching chair and was told that the "sofa/chaise" combo was all that I ordered. I asked the delivery guy to call the NEX so that I could inquire about the situation, since to Nicki and me the "chaise" meant the matching chair with the ottoman. The delivery man called the store on his cell phone and told the representative to speak with me directly, since the delivery guy's English abilities weren't all that great.

I grabbed the cell and knew it was going to be a long conversation when the representative asked me if I had picked up the sofa from the store or if it had been delivered to me. "Duh", I thought... "you just spoke to the delivery guy". Anyway, I politely told the NEX rep that the delivery guys were in the process of delivering the living room set, but the chair was missing. Again, the rep asked, "so the delivery team is still there?". Obviously, the rep was a couple of peanuts short of a circus. Once I was finally able to explain that the delivery guy, Nicki, and I were all standing in our living room together in a circle around the spot where the missing chair was supposed to be, the rep took my information and looked for the receipt. When she found it, she told me that we had purchased the sofa/chaise combo, which included only the sofa and ottoman. I explained the situation, how in the store I was told that the entire set came together. All the lady could do was apologize over and over again, and she said that there must have been confusion because the salesperson probably thought we just meant the sofa and ottoman, not the matching chair that was on display less than 5 feet away. But the rep did nothing more to help. Finally, she told me that I could go ahead and buy the chair if I wanted, for $450... I told her that I had already purchased the chair as part of the set. Obviously, this wasn't working out very well.

Then after apologizing a few more times, the rep told me that I should come in to talk to the manager, whom she said would be in the office tomorrow. I asked what time to come in tomorrow and she told me after a brief pause that the manager wouldn't be in tomorrow, but instead she'd be in on Monday. Yup, I thought, this lady's about a sandwich or two short of a picnic. So I asked if they could hold the chair until Monday and she told me "no, because there is only one chair of that type left in the inventory" (which furthers my suspicion that that chair was part of our set). Then the rep told me to hold on so she could talk to her supervisor (not kidding... I guess a supervisor is different than a manager). She said that we might be able to get a discount because of the confusion. When she got back on the line, however, she told me that we could not get a discount on the chair, but they would be willing to drop the delivery charge if we bought it at full price. I asked, "How is that reconciliation for this situation? We already paid for today's delivery and we were told the chair was part of the set that was delivered today." Once again, all I got was more, "I'm really sorry". When it finally dawned on me that the NEX furniture store has a monopoly and could care less, and this rep is four beers short of a six pack and doing nothing more than saying, "I'm sorry", I finally ended the call with an "I'm sorry too" and hung up the phone.

Then, as gracefully as I could, I handed the phone back to the delivery guy, signed his delivery form, and let him leave. The good news is that we finally have a sofa in the house and no longer have to sit on the floor to watch television. The bad news is that our matching chair is still property of the NEX furniture store. With any luck, maybe we'll find it in the bargain bin sometime in the future for less than they're currently asking.

PS - Later on in the Night

Tonight, we overcame the bitterness of the "chaise incident" I described above and decided to enjoy a little bit of time on our new sofa while watching TV. It inspired me to grab the camera and shoot a few pictures. As you can see, our Christmas tree is fully armed and ready for Santa, but we did wait until after December 1 to put it up and decorate it. This year is the first that we've ever had an artificial tree, but it serves its purpose well, at least for the next few years while we're here in Japan. I took a close up of the tree that turned out pretty nice and the other shot is one that I think I'll call "Twilight Zone", because it looks a little eerie with the bright white TV screen. Actually, I was playing with the camera's aperture on that shot, so it took the camera a few seconds to actually shoot. The only light that the lens picked up was from the tree and from the TV, which is why the screen looks blank white (and why Josh's head is blurry, because he moved too much during the shot). All of our other lights were off. Enjoy!