Once upon a time in Feb 2005, I went into Rusteak and put down a $400 deposit towards a dining table, with the verbal understanding we should receive it in April/May. The owner seemed to be a nice and trustworthy person so I did not think for a bit to put the delivery date in writing. I was to pay dearly for this mistake.
Time flew by and we did not receive any notifications from Rusteak about my table. There was an April container from Indonesia, and as I went to the store to inquire about it, [name removed - ed] , [name removed- ed] mother, had no idea about my table order, but she acknowledged that it was not in this container, and that her son will contact us as soon as he comes back.
He came back from his overseas trip, but we did not receive any notification from him, and more time passed by without any news about the table. So at the beginning of June, I called the store and talked to [name removed - ed], who assured me I should get it in July and that he will let me know when. Needless to say, I did not receive any updates from him, and at the end of July we went to the store asking about the status of my order. He was not there, just his mother. We contacted him on the phone right there, but he was not able to give us a date for the delivery. [name removed -ed] continued talking on the phone with my husband, pretty much accusing me of being a fraud, and that he never promised the table would be available in April or May.
Another month went by and we visited the store again in July. [name removed - ed] was not there and as usual, his mom was not able to inform us of our table order. We called him from the store and talked to him. We tried to get our money back, since no delivery was on the horizon. He was not open to give us the refund, stating that the store policy is not to give refunds on orders.
Things continued in a similar manner – we calling every month, just to find out nothing is there for us, and that maybe "next month" we will get the dreaded dining table. As much as we asked for our money back, he continued refusing us in an arrogant and insulting manner, completely disrespectful of us as customers – or human beings for that matter.
As the months went by, [name removed - ed] went to Indonesia in October, came back, and our monthly phone calls continued. Our last call was Saturday, December 10, 2005. We could not find him, but he called us back and told my husband that THE container with the table has arrived but that the table is missing from it, and that he did not know it was missing from it! As a consequence, he said he was open to give us a complete refund or we could buy another table in his store. I was not interested in his existing tables, so the next day, on Sunday December 11 we went for our refund. It turned out [name removed - ed] was not really ready for that, and he had no money in his account, or in cash for that matter. Finally, he called his bank and with their help he processed the return using his Visa account. After months of trials and tribulations, I was so happy to see this bitter adventure come to an end !
I found his attitude a completely unprofessional business approach, and he does not deserve any more business - from us at least. I am glad I found this website and it is time the future and existing customers of Rusteak find out about his business practices, and make an informed choice about supporting this type of business owner.
