Pottery Barn Kids (Lack Of) Customer Service

I don't think I've ever written a post like this before (I am a sometimes annoyingly positive person), but I have just had such a bad experience with Pottery Barn Kids that I must share it with my readers. R. has wanted their Larkin desk and hutch and chair for a long time. I saved up money and ordered it (it took a long time) and waited longer for someone to help me put it together (single mom + kids with special needs + bad back= not so easy furniture assembly). When we opened the final box (which contained the most important piece- -the top of the desk), we discovered that not only was that piece broken, but it also was in the wrong color (the rest of the set was white...this piece for some reason was dark mahogany). Long story short, when I called customer service, they tried to blame me for not noticing their error sooner. They told me "we're only human" and that "mistakes happen." When I asked what they could do to fix this problem (a standard question), they were stumped...and finally said I could return what was unassembled. I asked for a replacement part for the desk and was dismayed to find it had (suddenly) been discontinued. And since I had already set up the chair and some accessories myself, those were non-returnable. I would have to pack up the large furniture components myself and bring them downstairs again for UPS pick up today. Which I did, and it was not easy. Well, I was told UPS would pick up these boxes between 8am and 7pm today, and they never came. To add insult to injury, customer service cut me off during a phone call today, and then put me on hold for 20 minutes when I called back, and I never got connected again to the representative who had promised to help me (if they really wanted to help, I assume they would have called me back).

You know what I'm most disappointed about? My 7-year-old daughter, who as you know has not had an easy year, has been waiting and waiting for this desk. I spent a LOT of money I had worked a long time to save to buy her this set. Now we have parts of it that are non-returnable, but still don't have the actual desk. I have lost faith in a company that I really, really loved. And my daughter--who really deserved to have something good come her way--is crushed.

As much as I love how the furniture in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog looks, at this time I can not endorse any of their products until/unless they are able to show me the type of customer service a company of this caliber should deliver effortlessly.

I'm curious...have any of you had problems with Pottery Barn Kids customer service? Please leave your comments below. Heck, feel free to vent about any companies you are experiencing problems with. Group hug!