Richard Farmer Furniture Refinishing

Richard and his brother did a lousy job. Very poor workmanship. They badgered me for money and promised to stand behind their work. After getting paid, they refused to take my calls or to answer my text, Do not use them.

8/12/2020 - DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH RICHARD FARMER FURNITURE REFINISHING SHOP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!! I brought them a bed-side night table to have the top refinished. I paid $245 up front, including delivery when completed. It took them four months to get it done. I asked if the coronavirus situation was interfering, and Richard said "no". Every time I called to check on it, they told me nonsense about what a tough job it is. The table is not mine, but belonged to the home owner of the residence I was staying at, and when the table was done, Richard would repeatedly miss appointments he made with the home owner to deliver it, and made excuses and tell lies like "he's only available after 6 PM". This has been going on for another month (five months total), and the home owner refuses to have anything to do with him anymore. So, I have to pay the home owner for a new table. STAY AWAY FROM RICHARD FARMER!!!

I believe I have never met two more rude people than Richard Farmer and his brother. Argumentative to the core! They wouldn't even bring the tables into my house; they just refused, saying "this is where we picked them up; this is where we drop them off". It was in my driveway! I paid $800 for the 2 tables which I thought was very high but the oak furniture needed help. When I got the tables back, I was not happy. Some of the same marks were still there and the finish and color looked like they only applied one coat. I would not use Richard Farmer again and if he were the last refinisher on the planet!

He took everything back to his shop. The finished work was excellent. The brass looked beautiful.

We put $1500 down at the end of May, and the Farmer Brothers took some of our furniture. We were promised to have all of our furniture done in 2 to 3 weeks. They first started our furniture at the end of June and came to get the rest of our furniture. It was all done in 3 days and delivered in two days. It was pushed out too quickly and there were some dissapointments. Some of the furniture turned out real nice, but the biggest dissappointment was our dresser top and high boy dresser. They refinished the dresser top which was green lacquer, and it turned out nice, but the speckles that were put on to match the rest of the dresser was not done to our liking. There is a big black speckle right in the front that stands right out, and they said they couldn't do anything about it unless they refinished it again, and it would cost us more money. In the beginning they told us they could refinish the top of the dresser to match the rest of the dresser. We asked about the speckles, and they assured us that they could do the job including the speckles. The high boy dresser had damage from the shop, and concealer was used in several places. They refused to acknowledge that the damage came from their shop. The high boy dresser was delivered with several white paint rub marks on the side. Terry put some type of concealer on it when he was here. It didn't cover it up. When we opened the high boy doors after it was delivered, it was covered with some sort of lacquer and was rough and sticky. It looks bad. Originally there were only a few scuff marks in that area from opening and closing the doors. We wanted it touched up if they could match it, otherwise just leave it. It should of been left alone. The high boy dresser should of never left the house. It just needed touch up on the bottom on one side, the bottom drawer fixed from rubbing, and possibly the scuff marks touched up. The bottom drawer was never fixed. The top of the china buffet turned out nice, but there was varnish that was rubbed off under the top. They didn't own up to that. They just told us they took the top off and that wasn't their fault. They told us it had to have been there before they picked it up. It wasn't. We know what our furniture looked like when it left the house. They fixed it, but it still needs more touch up on one side. One antique chair that was refinished was another dissapointment. It turned our nice except for one leg. There is a big spot in front near the seat that didn't take the stain. Richard and Terry said it was the wood and there wasn't anything they could do about it. We know in the past from doing our own staining, somethings do not take stain easily, but have to be worked with. Since they did everything so fast, it just seems they did not want to take the time out to work with it. Our sewing machine was done very nice, but there was just one streak that didn't cover with stain. We asked to see if they could touch that up. They did and showed it t us, and after that Terry went in to spray it with something, After they left, we noticed the varnish had come off of that area from the spray. We called and asked if they could come back and fix the high boy dresser, and sewing machine. Richard said he would come back and take care of it when he would come back with the antique dropleaf end table that we insisted needed more varnish on the top and one of the dropleafs needed to be fixed, as it did not go down all of the way. The top of the dropleaf end table was dull and not smooth and needed more varnish. All said and done, the day they were were suppose to deliver the table, we got a call from Richard saying that we had to pick it up and they would not come back and fix our high boy dresser and sewing machine. Richard said their work was done and lost money on us. He said they took a $2000 loss on us. We told him if that was the case, why did they seem in such a hurry to take on our job. We negotiated in the beginning, and they agreed to do all of this for $4000.00. Richard and Terry said they would take care of us and assured us they would make everything right. Well that didn't turn out to be true. After they got our money, they were through with us. We could fly a kite. Now we have hire someone else to fix the dresser and sewing machine. and find out if there is a way to fix the big black speckle on the dresser, and the area not covered by stain on the antique chair. By the way we got two other quotes before we went with the Farmers for less than $4000.00, but we went with the Farmers because of their reputation. It was not a nice experience for us. We have lost trust in the workmanship in the world today.

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My experience overall was positive. Initially, I thought the estimated price for the repair was high. However, his responsiveness, and the quality of his work was outstanding. He demonstrated exceptional knowledge about furniture repair and refinishing, as my badly damaged table is now perfect.

Excellent craftsman. Just slow on turn around time. Had to call 2 times to get rocker back. He lost my phone number and address in the original order.

We stopped into the shop to make general inquiries about having our rattan breakfast room furniture refinished. Richard and his brother, Terry, were both there and gave us detailed info as to what they would be able to do for us. They came to our house that afternoon to give us an estimate. We agreed on a price and were told they could have everything back to us in 2 weeks. They took all pieces back to the shop that afternoon. The next day they called and said that the caning on the backs of the chairs was deteriorating and suggested that we might want to have them redone. We went to the shop and after seeing what would be done, we agreed to let them proceed. Honestly, we were pleasantly surprised at the fact that they did indeed get all pieces to us on the designated date they promised, considering all the detailed work that needed to be done. But everything we were told by the Farmer brothers came to pass. They delivered the furniture to us on time and we can verify that the quality of the work is wonderful and we would very definitely recommend them in the future.

I usually vet a business before I use them, however, in this case I needed the work done before a certain date, and they said that they would be able to do it. They were very pricey, but as I said I need the work done soon. So I gave them a shot. In hindsight I could have saved money had I been more patient. They personally were very nice people, but I will not use them again.

We brought the furniture from NC in March 2010. We made a large downpayment (about $500) and then gave them $100 a month. When were nearing payoff, they were supposed to start. We negotiated the price with Richard Sr, the original owner and craftsman, and his sons, Richard Jr and Terry. Starting in January 2010, they were supposed to begin work on the furniture. Starting in about February, the theme was 'a couple of more days', or 'we need the fabric'. They did not have to wait on chair cushion fabric to start the table, chairs or buffet. Fabric was delivered and still more delays. We would call on Friday and be told, "Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday." We would call on Tuesday, "Well, look's like it's going to be Friday or Saturday." We started dropping by just to catch them in person and try to talk to them. Finally they said it would be delivered on the first Friday in May. We set up an appointment at 9AM to look over the furniture and take pictures to send to my dad (his father had built everything for his mom as a wedding present). We told them we wanted it all out in the sun so we could take pictures and inspect it. When we arrived, it was all stacked and covered with blankets. We were told they couldn't unstack b/c other people's furniture was in the way and it had to be delivered first. We were assured delivery at 1pm. Many phone calls later, with many updates as to when it would be delivered, they showed up around 5:30. They told me someone had called in sick and Terry had to deliver in his place. THe people they delivered to first wanted their stuff moved around a lot...... First problem: the dining room table was in pieces. They had refinished it but not fixed a broken piece, so there was nothing to attach the screw to and fasten the top to the legs. I refused to accept it and RIchard Jr agreed to take it back and fix it, after first saying that fixing things wasn't really part of refinishing, it would be repair. After the table legs were fixed, they called to tell me to come pick it up. RIchard JR insisted that assembly of the table (with two leaves, six legs, two large table tops) was not included, nor was redelivery. I fumed, called him back and confirmed what he had just told me. Apparently Richard Sr overheard him and insisted they do it right. So they delivered and assembled the table. At the same time, they picked up the chair cushion that didn't fit. A couple of days later noticed that the chair cushions, which had been delivered in a stack for us to assemble, would only fit in one chair. This is to be expected b/c my grandfather made them from scratch, but it would have been nice if they had done the whole round robin and put them together, or at least tagged them somehow. Most of them are a little narrow and you can see through to the floor on the sides, but at least they are snug front to back. One cushion did not fit any chairs. When they came to pick it up to fix it (after nagging), the insisted on repeating the round robin, wasting more of our time. When picking up the chair and cushion, Richard Jr was very blunt that we had to come pick up the chair and new cushion. They called within three days and had the new cushion, which fit. I sent my husband to pick it up without me so I wouldn't blow my top! Later in the week, my handyman came to do some other work. His assistant was employed as a furniture refinisher for 6 years, and asked me how the insides looked. I hadn't even though to look at the inside of the buffet, but it was untouched, unfinished, maybe wiped down but that's it. The assistant told me they had way overcharged me, and for that price the back of the buffet and the insides should have been refinished as well. Then he showed me some cracks that had been filled in with wood putty that didn't match, and had been stained so it contrasted greatly with the table and buffet top. He was willing to redo the whole thing (inside and out) for $1200.

This has been a mixed bag of experiences. The pros are that Richard let my husband and myself make payments on the furniture refinishing as we didn't have all the money up-front. We paid $300 down and about $100 a month for a year. We did tell them in the beginning not to hurry to get started as we couldn't make a big payment once it was done. They did negotiate on the price since we paid most of it in cash. The downside was we were ready to get the furniture in January and were told it would be ready then. It then became an endless series of phone calls in which we were told the furniture would be ready in, "two or three more days". If it was Wednesday we'd be told there would be a call next Tuesday. Something always came up to keep it from happening. My husband dropped by for a surprise visit and the furniture had been stripped, but not refinished. We kept calling and pushing and finally got it. We made an appointment to inspect it at their shop on Friday at 9AM and have it delivered immediately after if it looked good. All the pieces were stacked up and behind other objects that were going to be delivered that day and we were unable to inspect it. We were then told delivery would be around noon as the truck was already loaded with someone else's furniture. I kept calling all day and they kept giving me a later and later time. Finally they brought the furniture around 5PM. Terry & Richard looked exhausted. Terry explained he hadn't delivered furniture in years but someone had called out sick. The furniture did look beautiful and they were able to restore the original hardware. Before we chose them, we looked on the BBB and yahoo for reviews, and the only one we saw was obviously the owner's positive feedback on himself. We did due diligence, but... I was later told by someone else in the community that they have a reputation for good work, but enormous hassle getting it done. No kidding!

This job was a disaster!! We picked out the color of stain and Richard picked it up. He took the cabinet doors and drawer fronts to stain in his "Shop" he said. This turned out not to be his shop, because he did not want his father to know about the job since he cut his father out of our job. Unknown to us. He did this in his garage.! The prep was awful and rough. The stain was so sloppy and uneven in color with some areas very dark and some hardly covered at all. The pinkish hue was not even stained over in many areas which showed he did not prep them or remove old stain. The cabinet "Boxes" which he had to do in my kitchen were of the same quality - awful. I have photos. I told him about our concerns over and over again and he said he would fix it all. I had already paid him $5,000.00 at this point. He took 8 weeks instead of 3 and still did a lousy job. Twice he and crew brought and drank beer in my kitchen. Very unprofessional. They didn't even bring a ladder and borrowed mine which ruined it, stain all over and top step split. He left a can open that had paint thinner in it. We found this out because of feeling sick because of the fumes. This is highly flammable! Stain was on my ceramic tile floor and nearly all walls. He covered these up with paper, but did a bad job. He had his little daughter cover our floor with the paper. He was to cover openings into other rooms with plastic, but failed to do so - so my husband did this. My dishwasher, cooktop, and light switches were splotched with stain also. We ended up having to get someone else to completely do the job over from start to finish. They were unable to stain it again because of his bad work and uneven colors, so we were forced to have the new person paint them white. NOT what we wanted. We were forced to take Richard to court and we won a judgment for $3,075.00. This was the difference of what we paid Richard's to what we paid the new company. I do not know why the judge let him keep any money since all of his work had to be redone plus now we had to clean up all of his messes, remove stain and repaint our kitchen! This was finished in court on March 17,2008. The work began in September 2, 2007. We have yet to see any money from him. As soon as we have the money - we will have to replace all of the kitchen cabinets. We live in a home worth about $660,000.00. No one will buy it until it has new cabinets. These are now ruined!