RIVIERA REUPHOLSTERY

Description of Work: After hearing an ad for Riviera Reupholstering on the Thom Hartman show, I called and made an appointment with Michael Segal, the owner, who came to our house to show us sample fabrics to reupholster our badly torn chaise longue. It was in bad shape because I had been suffering from back trouble for which I had an operation the previous week and hadn't been able to attend to the chaise longue until then. Michael showed us a fabric we liked. We picked it and then he noticed the antique bedside table next to my bed and said he had a European furniture repairer who could repair the table. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that until I saw the work he did on the chaise longue, but he said, as though he were doing me a favor, that he would write it up at that time because it was 70% off that week and if I didn't sign right away I'd have to pay full price. Several weeks later, when he delivered the chaise longue, it was a disaster. It looked like it had simply been draped in fabric which hung loosely everywhere, instead of being fitted to the furniture. He agreed to take it back and try again, insisting that my husband come to his factory to approve the re-do before he would deliver it. We tried to cancel the prospective refinishing of the antique bedside table, but he pointed out to us what we hadn't noticed before: he had written NO CANCELLATIONS on the order sheet. He redid the chaise longue until it was acceptable and said, since no work had been done on the table and it hadn't been moved out of the bedroom, and considering that I was still under the influence of pain killers when we had the first discussion that he would consider refunding our prepayment in full of $975.00 for the table. We wrote to him twice, called him several times, he says he's working on it. Working on what? The table is still here. It is now August and we haven't heard from him. He cannot be reached. We realize he will never give us back our $975.00, and never planned to. The "sale" which he warned us we'd miss if we didn't let him write up the order at the time, continued for another 6 months, just being replaced this week by another scam ad on the same Thom Hartman show. The man is a liar and a thief and we would like to warn other patron's of Angie's List to avoid Riviera Re-upholstering and Michael like the plague. Marion and Herb Freed