A Record of Rockers Returned

For years, we shipped chairs, many to people who had never seen them, without getting one back.  I hated to see the perfect record broken though I knew it had to be eventually. There are all kinds of people and situations;  the guarantee has no fine print.

Over 1790 delivered, three returned.

The first chair came back with this letter:

April 20, 2004

Dear Gary,

It's really disappointing to have to ask you to take your beautiful hand finished rocking chair back, but my wife's anatomy is just not right for it.  We're not really surprised;  as a child M. was diagnosed with scoliosis and her spine has quite a pronounced curvature, which doesn't quite fit your chair.  I find it wonderful, but unfortunately our living room isn't large enough to accommodate a rocker she can't use.  When the chair arrived I called over our friend who is on the faculty at the School of American Craftsman at Rochester Institute of Technology, a studio furniture designer himself.  The styling and the workmanship are "studio furniture" quality.  That's why I'm so disappointed I won't be able to keep the chair.

I appreciate your taking full responsibility for the cost of returning the chair by freight.  The screw-together packaging was easy to reassemble and the chair is ready to ship.

Sincerely,
R.R.
Rochester, New York

This return broke my "no hitter", but not my heart, as the reasons were not fickle.  It was sad that we couldn’t provide a comfortable seat for this woman.

After several months two more chairs came back in quick succession.

The second chair came back because there was not room for it by the fireplace.  It was difficult not to ask, "Well, did you measure?"  But there are all kinds of people and situations and the deal remains:  you can try this chair in your home or business and send it back if you don’t want it for any reason.

The third chair return did require me to add a corollary and qualification.  This chair was ordered by decorators for a client who had not seen it.  He was elderly, thin, and frail, and wanted a tall chair with cushions.  So when shipping to a third party has been arranged by design firms, I need assurance that the ultimate investor* wants the thing.

* "Investor" because our furniture is not consumed in a lifetime.