New Year Nightmare: How furniture makers damaged the walls of residents in Rostov and installed a "falling" wardrobe.

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When ordering furniture, few are immune to problems

Photo: Viktor GUSEYNOV. Go to the Photo Bank of KP

Sergey and his wife fulfilled their dream: they built a house and renovated it. All that was missing for complete happiness was furniture. The couple eagerly anticipated how they would arrange their family nest and organize their belongings. However, the pleasant preparations turned into a scandal and a lawsuit.

NOT UNDER THE NEW YEAR!

- When we ordered wardrobes for the bedroom, we asked for just one thing — to install the furniture before the New Year: in November. We always have many guests with children, my wife decorates the house, sets the table... But, as luck would have it, the furniture assemblers arrived on December 30! We had to distract ourselves, get nervous, and after their work, urgently tidy everything up, - says the resident of Rostov.

After this, the couple took a break. A year later, they decided to order furniture for the children's room: for their six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. To avoid new problems, they turned to a reputable company, or so they thought. Moreover, they had previously ordered a wardrobe for the hallway from there. The prices at the company were above average - about 600 thousand rubles for both wardrobes, but this gave hope for quality and timely execution of the work.

Sergey, his wife, and children visited the office, where they were greeted by an individual entrepreneur named Valery. The client asked him for only two things: to make the furniture on time — definitely by the New Year, and to send careful assemblers.

- The house is new with fresh renovations — I don’t want it to be damaged.

Valery assured that the furniture would be ready in a month and a half. And if, God forbid, his workers scratched something, the company would fix it.

Meanwhile, Valery's subordinates treated Sergey’s wife to coffee and the children to sweets. The atmosphere was inviting and friendly. This lulled the vigilance of the Rostov resident: he only skimmed through the contract.

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It’s good when furniture is made without a hitch

Photo: Vladimir MAZENKO. Go to the Photo Bank of KP

VARIOUS EXCUSES

The couple ordered wardrobes for the children. For their son, as a future schoolboy, with a built-in desk. They signed the contract on September 28 — specifically to avoid the pre-New Year rush.

Sergey made a deposit — more than half the cost of the furniture. The wardrobes were supposed to be installed in mid-November. However, the assemblers did not show up either on the scheduled date or afterward.

When Sergey called the entrepreneur, he heard a new excuse each time: either "the designer is drawing your furniture," or "the supplier didn’t deliver the material on time" (messed up with the paint, sent baskets of the wrong size...)

Eventually, Sergey went to the office to sort things out. He reminded Valery of their agreement. But the entrepreneur claimed he never promised to make the furniture in a month and a half. According to the contract, the deadline for completing the order was 60 working days.

The Rostov resident was taken aback. He showed the furniture maker the correspondence where Valery said quite the opposite. But he just shrugged: a document is a document.

What the family tried to avoid happened. The furniture was supposed to be delivered around December 25, just before the New Year.

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Some buy furniture in stores, others order from companies

Photo: Mikhail FROLOV. Go to the Photo Bank of KP

DENTED WALLS

The workers did deliver part of the furniture at the end of November, but essentially it was just skeleton frames. When asked: where is the rest? - the assemblers replied that some facades were not painted, others were painted poorly... In general, just wait.

About December 10, they brought another part of the furniture. Sergey was on a business trip. When his wife sent him photos of dents on the painted walls, the man couldn’t believe his eyes. His wife said that the “careful” assemblers sent by Valery had damaged them. One of them turned out to be an intern and was working his first day. Sergey called the entrepreneur demanding an explanation, but he said: don’t worry, we will sort everything out.

The work was completed, if one could call it that, on December 29. On that day, only one assembler came to Sergey’s house. He said that all the others were busy before the New Year.

The assembler attached the remaining pieces and called the owners to accept the work. The husband and wife looked and were horrified: in their son’s room, the tabletop sagged, and the wardrobe leaned and threatened to collapse on the child. And in their daughter’s room, there was a wide gap between the upper facade and the side wall.

When the man pointed out the defects, the assembler replied that he could attach the “falling” wardrobe to the wall, but couldn’t manage without a partner. Then he consulted about something with his supervisor, told Sergey "they will contact you" and left.

Valery indeed contacted Sergey — asking him to pay the remaining amount for the furniture — about 10 percent of the total sum. The Rostov resident replied that he would settle after the defects were fixed. He suggested doing this after the holidays — from January 3 to January 10. But no one showed up to fix anything.

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A high price for services is not always a guarantee of quality

Photo: DIANA IVANOVA. Go to the Photo Bank of KP

BLAMED ON THE CHILD

At the end of January, the couple went on vacation, which they had planned back in December. Suddenly, Valery appeared. He claimed to be ready to fix the shortcomings.

- We postponed our trip because of you. We are out of town, - Sergey replied.

Valery wrote to the Rostov residents in February, but they had not yet returned. The entrepreneur then got angry: “You decided to cheat me, I’m tired of this attitude!”

Sergey was also tired of “this attitude.” Upon returning to Rostov, he contacted a lawyer to resolve the conflict legally. The lawyer prepared a pre-trial claim to the company demanding to fix the deficiencies that occurred during the furniture installation. As well as to restore the damaged walls. Valery preferred to go to court.

- At the first hearing, he told the judge that my six-year-old son damaged the walls while swinging a saber. Allegedly, the furniture assemblers witnessed it. In fact, my son has never had a saber. And my children are well-mannered; they treat the house with care.

The court appointed an expert examination. During it, Valery came to Sergey’s house with specialists.

- He claimed that the gaps between the wardrobes and the wall were due to us overloading them. However, they were like that from the very beginning. And when the experts asked why he didn’t fix the defects right away, he stated that he wasn’t allowed into the house. This despite the fact that I asked him to come!

The court sided with the clients and ruled to recover penalties for the delay in the furniture installation, damages to property, and moral harm. Most importantly, it ordered the entrepreneur to complete the unfinished work and fix the defects.

LAWYER'S COMMENT

How to resolve the issue correctly

- In the run-up to the New Year holidays, many rush to order furniture but often encounter problems, - says Nikolay Gubin. - If the deadlines for the work are violated, the law entitles the consumer to a penalty of three percent of the contract amount.

If the furniture is made or installed with defects, the customer has the right to choose to demand: free elimination of the defects, a price reduction, the manufacture of a similar item, or reinstallation of the furniture. They may also expect reimbursement for expenses incurred in fixing the defects themselves