The Slipcover Saga

Boy, do I have a story for y'all today...

So, do you remember this post when I came home with a lovely new Pottery Barn Comfort Sectional complete with slipcovers for quite the deal??! Well, my friends.. it has been the death of me!

We bought the sectional for a steal at $500, complete with all slipcovers except the corner piece. Which, missing that one sectional was not a big deal seeing as how inexpensive we were getting everything else. The sales lady assured us that all we had to do was go online and order the missing cover. And, being the PB online shopper enthusiast that I am, I knew she was right! So.. we brought home our new happy!

And, just so you know, this story isn't about the couch itself. The actual couch is the most comfortable thing I've ever sat on!!! WE LOVE IT! Seriously! It's deep and coushy (is that even a word??!) and just plain wonderful!

Anyway, back to the story. They slipcovers that were on the couch were the Washed Linen. I loved them! They were super soft and durable and I could just throw them in the washer and they were as good as new. Right after we bought the couch, I had Gray. So, I didn't get around to getting the missing slipcover. In fact, I really just didn't worry about it b/c when we would sit Gray on the couch, that's where we would lay him. So, it was kind of nice not having to worry about keeping a watch of the slipcover for spit up and what not. Well, I finally decided around October to go ahead and buy the slipcover. As Chris put it, we were tired of looking like hillbillys with a random unslipcovered piece of a couch. So, I used some of my birthday money that I received from the grandparents and FINALLY purchased the piece around the end of November. (It takes a while for me to pull the trigger on stuff like that. I mean, it was $500! That's $500 less I had to spend on cute clothes for my kiddos! ha!)

Well, it came in and didn't match. Like... not at all! It was at least 4 shades darker. I was NOT happy! So, I called PB. The first girl I spoke to was super sweet and told me that every batch of slipcovers is made from a new dye mix and that I would just need to send in one of my slipcovers and they would color match it. I was fine with that. I thought that they should tell you that online, instead of just letting you buy something and it not matching, but I wasn't going to pitch a fit! She then transfered me to the furniture dept to get it set up. Once I got transfered there, I spoke to someone else who then informed me that the Washed Linen had been discontinued and that there was nothing they could do to help me. UMMM... REALLY??!!! I was HOT! I explained to her how unexeceptable it was that #1, the sales associate gave me instructions, which I followed out, and they weren't correct; and #2, that NO WHERE online did it say anything about possibly having to color match; and #3, again, NO WHERE online did it mention anything about my fabric being discontinued! It was not in my budget to purchase an entirely new set of slipcovers. She agreed and agreed to send me one more slipcover to see if by chance it might match. If it didn't, then she would issue me a 30% discount on the new set. I was ok with that. By the time I got the 30% discount on the new set, it would only be about $100 more than I had already spent on the one piece.

Well, of course, the 2nd slipcover came and didn't match. But, it only came after waiting TWO WEEKS for it!! Dont worry, they had UPS pick up the original one the next day, but I waiting another 2 weeks for 2nd one! So, when it came it and didn't match, I called her and left her a voicemail. This was followed by 6 more voicemails over a period of a month! Do you think she called me back... never! By this point, I am just beyond livid and so over the entire situation. I just called and spoke to someone else.

I got a new girl this time. I explained to her what was going on. She told me that there was nothing she could do. I said, OH YES THERE IS! She transfered me to her supervisor who turned out to be the biggest J-E-R-K I've ever delt with in my entire life!! He basically called me a liar and said that girl #1 never told me that she would give me a discount b/c that wasn't company policy. He was extremely rude and at one point while Gray was crying (after me being on the phone with these people for over an over), told me to put my baby in the other room so he could have a conversation with me. WOW! Let me just tell you, the pot boiled over at that point and I officially lost my temper. I was yelling at him and saying not nice things. My children refer to this as the day that "Mommy yelled at the Pottery Barn Man". It was that bad. I'm not even gonna try to sugar coat it! (If you know me, you know that it takes ALOT for me to lose my cool. And even more for me to have a confrontation. I was just over the edge at this point!) I told him that his customer service was SH*TTY and that once she promised me a discount that he had to honor that. HELLO.. retail sales 101!

He told me that he would need to speak to girl #1 to find out what she had promised me. He said that he would call me back within 24 hours. Well, 24 hours came and went. No phone call. I called the afternoon after the 24hours. I left him a voicemail, in which he did return my call. However, he didn't recall our conversation AT ALL from just 2 days before. Like, nothing, not a tiny bit.. I had to refresh him on everything. This only made me even more mad! And do you think even spoke to the girl, like he claimed was his reason to get off the phone with me??! NO! So, at this point, I again was yelling at him. All he would offer me was 15% off a new set b/c (and I quote!) "Ma'am, I dont want to lose my job over your slipcovers, that's just ridiculous". So, to keep my sanity, I got off the phone with him. I decided to let myself cool down for a few days and then call again.

In the meantime, I was updating Chris with everything going on. He was not a happy camper over it either! He ended up making a phone call that I was unaware of and had a few words with the same people. Apparently, he was the magic touch I needed all along.

About a week after all of this happened, I got an email from someone in the home office. He was EXTREMELY apologetic and guaranteed to give me the 30% discount. So, he ended up having the 2nd slipcover that they sent to me (that had been sitting in my dining room for 6 weeks now!), picked up the next day and the amount that I spent on that credited back to me immediately. Once I received that, I was able to order the new set with my 30% discount. Let me tell you, this guy is INCREDIBLE!!! I dont know what my husband ended up saying to them, but it got the ball rolling!

So, today, I was finally able to place my order! Hopefully soon, our new slipcovers will be here!!! I will say, that I am definitely thinking twice now about what I purchase from PB. Their quality is superb, but their customer service?? not so much! Despite everything though, I am 200% happy with our couch and it has been a great piece of furniture for our family!

I'll let you know when the new slipcovers arrive! :)