PCS question - ruined furniture

[lovely2012]

Need advice - the movers absolutely ruined one of our sofa's during this last move. They offered us the money we paid for it, and want to take the ruined one.  Fair enough.  Problem is, Pottery Barn stopped selling it just after we bought it (and NO, it wasn't clearance).  It was only 2 months old when it went into storage and they ruined it, so you can imagine how upset i am.

Do we have any other options?  No, buying one in another fabric is NOT an option, I think it looks tacky.  We looked at their slipcovers, which are ok, but we'd have to buy one for each couch, and end up paying close to $600 out of pocket, which doesn't not make me happy.

Also, they didn't come out and appraise our broken items until 4 months after we moved in - aren't they supposed to come out quicker?  I thought they had 30 days - and if they'd come out within 30 days, the new sofa would have still been avilable.  Do we have any recourse against them not following procedure?  It's not even really about the money as much as I don't want them screwing us when THEY were negligent.

And I guess this leads into the obvious question - while I don't think Pottery Barn is over the top expensive, are we doomed to buying cheap furniture for the next 10 years because they're going to break it and not replace it?  We have very expensive bedroom furniture (that's also not replaceable) and now I'm wondering if I should just sell it to someone who will take care of it.

[JennyCaps]

I'm sorry I don't know for sure any of the answers. I will say though that we are purposely not getting nice furniture anymore. I have seen too many people get their belongings ruined or lost and I don't want that hassle. All our furniture is dinged up (we never filed anything though because it's such a pain just for some dings) from our moves and will not buy anything really nice until DH retires. We are getting some nice furniture passed down to us from family and it will stay in storage until we have a permanent home. Good luck!

[Apollos82]

Oh, man...this scares me! :(

We're probably PCS'ing in the near future and I don't want my stuff ruined! :(

I'm really sorry that happened to your furniture. I'm in love with pottery barn, so I understand your frustration! Good luck. I hope it all works out well for you guys.

[buppyluck]

 We got here in May, we moved here (hawaii) from Germany and they ruined quite a few expensive items (both car seats were molded, clothes were molded, our couch was molded (but we were able to get the mold out and they will reimburse us for the cost of the couch) etc) we are still awaiting a response...you have to file with in 30 days, it can take them quite a bit of time...we are STILL waiting....Good Luck. We have bought some nice stuff (we can only get while we were there ie a German shrunk) it is your choice to whether you buy nice stuff or not...

[lovely2012]

Oh, yuck, mold. :-(

I guess I'm just confused.  I know we are owed full replacement value, which they did agree to, but when the item isn't replaceable - no one's been able to tell us what we're entitled to then, you know?  It's very frustrating.

ETA: and yeah, we took all our REALLY irreplaceable stuff with us, wedding pictures and the like.  But this is a couch, you know?  Who could have predicted this?

[LOswald0314]

I don't think it matters that the item isn't replaceable. We've had things broken that we couldn't just go out and buy an exact replica of. You just have to take the money and buy a new couch.

[buppyluck]

 What they had us do was go and find something as close as possible to what was ruined and then gave us the value of that...we are still just waiting...

[lovely2012]

Quoting LOswald0314:

I don't think it matters that the item isn't replaceable. We've had things broken that we couldn't just go out and buy an exact replica of. You just have to take the money and buy a new couch.

So basically we're screwed and out $1300?  We can't buy a new sofa that is even close to the old one because it won't match the loveseat (we already checked fabrics and nothing matches) and they won't give us ANY money unless we give them the ruined one.  Which means we can't use the money towards slipcovers that would cover the damage and make the couches match. :-(

[LOswald0314]

It does suck. But you're not out the money, just take it and find another couch... I'm sure you could find one if you look around. You could get an entire living room set for that much money! It's a risk you take when using movers :(

Quoting lovely2012:

Quoting LOswald0314:

I don't think it matters that the item isn't replaceable. We've had things broken that we couldn't just go out and buy an exact replica of. You just have to take the money and buy a new couch.

So basically we're screwed and out $1300?  We can't buy a new sofa that is even close to the old one because it won't match the loveseat (we already checked fabrics and nothing matches) and they won't give us ANY money unless we give them the ruined one.  Which means we can't use the money towards slipcovers that would cover the damage and make the couches match. :-(

[jas_momof2]

They're not going to give you above and beyond replacement value because you can't get it anymore...  That's just not reasonable. 

Take your antique furniture...  It's not like it's 1800 and you can go out and buy another one...  It is what it is.

As far as the 30 days - that's on you to file, they can take their sweet time after that to do the appraisals and such.  It's a long process.

[nelopyma]

I can't answer the part about how long they took to do the appraisal and such, but you're not going to get any more than full replacement value.  Many times, you don't even get that.