Reason for cancelling the order for that fancy bathtub

If you ever ordered a clawfoot bathtub that came without the claw feet, please put a comment below this post.

Your friendly Pharmer went to Signature Hardware, in Erlanger Kentucky, a couple weeks ago (9/20/17) to purchase a new tub.  The cast iron claw foot tub in our bathroom has seen better days, and the finish is decaying.  No debridement could save this tub.  It’s past time for a replacement.   So the very nice sales representative at Signature spoke with me at length about a new one, and we went to the warehouse to pick one out from a group of them which were in stock, settling on a Donnelly model with a smooth finish, and a work order to drill an overfill hole in tub.   After a good deal of work trying to get the bathtub plus the work order into their system, I went on my merry way, expecting that tub to be delivered fairly quickly, with the hope that we could install it before a party to be held at the house.

Not a chance.  Today, just  I dialed up the lady who sold me the tub.  No answer.  So I dialed customer service  just before noon, and the lady who answered me was able to correctly identify my name from my phone number and pull up my invoice right away.  She seemed to understand the issue with the order, referencing a special note on it concerning the work order.    She told me that she would have the lady who sold the tub to me call me back when she traced what was going on with the order.

Nope……… no call back.  So I dialed both numbers again just before 5pm.  This time, the customer service rep seemed unable to find my number, asked for my name twice, and finally found the order, after I explained that the first rep could find my name and the order from my phone number.  After investigating, she told me that my tub had not been shipped because they were waiting for the claw feet to be shipped to them. 

This is why I initially asked if  any readers have ever been shipped a claw foot tub without the feet. (Some tubs have screw on feet, but one would expect them to be packed with the tub.)   The Donnelly tub that I saw in the warehouse, (which I explained to the rep) came with the feet attached (welded on, in fact). She then put me on hold for consultation with her supervisor. Returning to the phone, she admitted that the warehouse supervisor remembered showing me that tub, among others, and that there were four of them in stock.

Despite the rep saying that the tub might ship by Monday, (which she later admitted was not likely),  I decided to cancel my order.  The missing claw story bothered me.  There were obviously no separate claw feet on the order, since none were required for a tub with welded on feet. Was that a stock explanation for late or missing orders?

Moral of the story, Signature Hardware people………. don’t make up strange lies about why y’all screwed up an order and forgot to send it.  It destroys your credibility with the customer.