Lofty Dreams

We've had lots of people ask about the status of the bunk beds we ordered in the beginning of the year. Rather than keep trying to remember what I've told to who, I thought I'd post about it on here. So here’s the latest story...

Many of you know we had been waiting on a set of bunk beds we ordered waaaaay back in January. We were told they would be finished at the end of March or first week of April--just in time for us to make the girls a new room before the baby came. But then we were told they were running behind and would need two extra weeks. Then, right around the time Josiah was born, we stopped hearing from the company all together. For weeks our calls and e-mails went unanswered. We didn’t know if we had been scammed or if the company had gone out of business or what. We didn’t know if we’d ever get the beds we ordered 5 months ago, or if we’d ever see the money we had paid when we placed our order. We didn’t know if we should somehow try to cancel our order and start looking for other bunk beds or just continue to sit and wait. Limbo is a terrible place to feel stuck in for so long—especially when you have one child sleeping on the floor because they don’t have a bed, and your house is a disaster because you’re waiting for much needed furniture with storage to arrive.

Needless to say, our patience was wearing thin with this furniture company. (That’s the family-friendly way to say it.) We filed a complaint with the BBB and read negative reviews that others were posting about their similar frustrations with this same company. Too bad none of this information was out there when we placed our order in January—believe me, we checked.

Then, a little over a week ago, God parted the clouds and let some rays of sunlight shine through. Tired of doing nothing but waiting and fuming, I got on Craig’s list to see if there might be any cheap bunk beds available while we endured our wait in Limbo. One of the posts was advertising a loft bed that sounded very similar to what we had ordered in January. So I inquired about it, and Dakota and I set up a time to go see it.

When we saw the loft, we knew it wouldn’t be exactly what we were looking for, so that was disappointing. BUT, as we were talking to the seller about his loft, he commented that we looked familiar to him. Dakota thought he also looked familiar. After a couple questions back and forth, we realized we knew each other from a church we had attended together five or six years ago. Small world!

But wait, it gets better! The loft he was selling was something he had made himself. Turns out he works in home remodeling/construction and does some woodworking on the side. His loft was obviously sturdy and well built, and we were impressed by the quality of his work. Before we left I mentioned that I didn’t think his loft would suit our needs, but I told him I was tempted to ask if he’d be willing to build us one like what we needed. And he said he could do that!

Right around the same time as this was happening, some friends of ours found a free bunk bed set we could use while we wait for our loft to be built. It’s just for the short term, but at least it gets Emma off the floor and sleeping in a bed at night.

Then (yes, there’s more), the very next night we got an e-mail from the furniture company that had kept us waiting in Limbo for so long. Turns out they did indeed go out of business and all pending orders had been canceled. (Ours included.) We talked with our credit card company and entered into a payment dispute with them, and it looks like we may be able to get our money back.

So in just a matter of 2-3 days, we got closure by finding out the furniture company had gone under; we learned our credit card company should be able to help us get our money back; we had friends find us a free set of bunk beds we can use for the time being; and we found an old acquaintance who is gifted in woodworking and will make the original loft unit we’ve been wanting!

It feels like a HUGE weight has been lifted from our shoulders and it is a wonderful feeling! We are still waiting on our friend to give us an estimate on what he thinks it will cost to make the loft, and we know we’ll have to wait a few more weeks for him to work on building it all. But we do finally feel hopeful that we will soon end up with what we set out to get way back in January.