Why Things Cost So Much

I'm going to give you one perfect example of why things cost so much.  You might not believe it, but it's true.  I recently bought a beautiful coffee table from a company in New Jersey.  If you've bought anything recently, you know that most furniture come unassembled, with a notice on the box that says "Some assembly required."  In most cases the assembly required is way beyond what a typical man or woman not familiar with construction could do.  Back to the table.

The table was ordered on March 6, and arrived about 10 days later.  They shipped it FedEx, and I tracked the progress of the package through their website.  It made seven stops before it got to San Diego.  I was thinking at the time that with all that on and off the truck and so much handling, it could not possibly come in one piece.  I was right.  The glass top was cracked, and the wood base which came in a separate bubble wrapped package, had a gash in the side of it.  I did not find this out until a week later, when my contractor was here to assemble the table.  I immediately called the company to inform them of the damaged goods.  They told me that I had missed the 24 hour deadline for letting them know if a product had come damaged.  Are they kidding?  I told them I didn't open the package until my contractor arrived because of the bulky nature of the package.  After much discussion, they decided that they would make an exception to the 24 hour rule, and send me another table.  But, they wanted me to send the old table back, even though I had sent them pictures of the damage.  "What for?"  I asked.  They said they needed it back for insurance purposes.

They sent me another table, first the glass, as the base was out of stock.  It arrived in about a week.  Ron and I opened it immediately, and found it crushed into hundreds of pieces.  I called the company again, and Mark in customer service finally said that this table was not meant to be.  He also said I didn't have to send the table back!

The last piece of this experience is with FedEx.  I called them to cancel pickup, since the manufacturer finally said I could dispose of the tables, and not send them back.  However, FedEx came to the house twice to pick up the table, even though I had cancelled.  All this for a $300 table.  How can they ever make money?