Stateline Reliks

I stopped by Stateline Reliks after getting a referral. I spoke with Richard and he explained that he re-finishes furniture and Carl Re-upholsters. I then emailed a picture of the sofa and chair I wanted reupholstered. The following is the response from March 5th. Hi June, Thank you for your inquiry. We can upholster your sofa and chair for you. This will include stripping of existing fabric, tightening of any loose joints, re-tieing springs, adding new jute (burlap straps that hold springs, these dry rot over time) adding stuffing/foam/padding where needed, clean and touch-up any exposed wood (i.e. legs) recover in the fabric you supply. You will need 18 yards for both sofa and chair. All of this for $1300 for virtually "new" furniture Allow 3-4 weeks for completion from time of delivery to our store. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions your may have. The sofa, chair and fabric was picked up. They also offered to re-upholster a small ottoman and took this as well. I am not sure the exact date the furniture was picked up but do recall asking for a more specific estimate of the date the furniture would be completed. I explained that my husband wanted a more specific date but we were not in a hurry. I had special ordered 1 and 1/2 yards of fabric for pillows and dropped this off with the 18 inch pillow forms to be covered at there store on March 23rd. I knew that there would be left over material and I ask that it be returned. At that time I was told my work would be done the following Friday, March 30th. On Monday, April 2nd they called and said my furniture was completed and they would deliver that evening. First they showed me the pillows, I received a 16 and 18 inch pillow. Instead of 2-18 inch pillows. They explained the fabric had been cut incorrectly for a 16 inch pillow and claimed at that point there was not enough fabric to make 2-18 inch pillows. I then looked at the ottoman. It had been pieced together with scraps and hand stitched together it was not acceptable. The style looked nothing like the original. Carl agreed that he was not happy with the finished project either. I immediately saw issues with the sofa and chair. I mentioned the welt cord placement, multiple seams in the front and the attachment of the welt cord to legs. I pointed out where the fabric was not smooth on the chair. It just did not look right. He offered to correct the chair corner. Carl offered to order more fabric to make me another 18 inch pillow. He also offered to re-upholster the ottoman with fabric I had on hand. He asked for partial payment, I wrote a check for $1000 since I believed they would fix the issues. I gave them some chairs glue since we had discussed this before. The chairs that they glued were fine. We noticed that evening that the fabric placement of the sofa and chair was not smooth. I called the next morning at 10am and spoke to Carl and he agreed to fix the puckering. At that time I told him that he did not need to re-upholster the ottoman or make the pillow. The pillow stripes did not match. I decided it would be less frustrating if I simply did the work myself. The more I looked at the furniture the more mistakes I found. It was apparent that either they did not know what they were doing did not care. I did not actually sit on the couch and chair while Carl and Richard were in my home. When I did, I realized that when I got up, the cushions did not remain stationary. So the cushions constantly have to be adjusted. The cushions weight did not feel the same. They felt light as a feather and are too thin. I contacted the last upholsterer and was told that the original cushions contained Marshall units. Maybe he was mistaken. But, bottom line the materials used are inferior and the workmanship is poor. On closer examination, two of the four cushions are covered completely in Dacron and two are not. Two different thickness of cheap craft foam was glued together. This is not furniture quality foam. Apparently, they were having problems with the sewing machine (seams are covered with notebook paper) as the stitches are not consistent in size and are skipped in places. On April 5th I sent this email: Do you have the Marshall units that were in my sofa and chair cushions? If so, I would like those returned so the cushions can be redone using these units. I expected that my items would be re-upholstered using the same quality of materials and workmanship as the original .Here are a few other items that need correction: Seams restitched in places Puckering eliminated Padding reworked in back of sofa and chair so it is smooth. Stitching in back of sofa and chair removed and redone so stitches are invisible Welt cord seams moved to cushion backs There are other items that need attention too and I'll point them out. Thank you. I began calling other upholsterers to determine what it would take to fix the problems. I Followed up with a phone call and I thought Carl agreed to fix these issues. But an email received before they returned my chairs just mentioned that they planned to address the issues. On April 10th they returned my chairs and other items. We attempted to discuss the other issues. We did not have the opportunity to go over the list I prepared. They challenged every issue I brought up. They stated they were not going to fix all my items. When I pointed out the visible stitching -they told me it was actually staples. Neither should be visible. When I pointed the visible staples and uneven seams under the arms of the sofa and chair, I was told no one looks under the arms. They told me I was too picky when I told them the welt cord should be uniformly placed in a straight line. They did not see problems with anything I pointed out. We were told the styling was changed because of the different fabric used. The only item that they specifically agreed to correct was the welt cord in the cushions. They kept repeating I would never be happy. I agreed since they did not see any fault with the work. We had to assume they did the best they could. It was puzzling to me that Richard continued to make comments on the upholstery when I had been told Carl was the actual upholsterer. Richard even criticized the previous upholstery work. I began to wonder if Richard actually did the upholstery work and this was his first project. They also indicated the workmanship was my fault because I rushed them. At no point did call to see when the work would be done or in any other way indicate I was in a hurry. Since the upholstery was not completed per the terms of the agreement and we did not have any reason to believe it would be corrected to our satisfaction, I refused to pay the remaining bill. Richard mentioned we were just attempting to get them to agree to lower the fee. He stormed out of the apartment saying he was going to file a suit. I sent an email the following morning containing a list of all the issues. In this email I asked what items they would be willing to correct. There was no response. Here are some of the items listed: Padding/stuffing/foam not used, or not used sufficiently, upholstery is not smooth and fabric is puckering. Hand stitches (and/ or staples) should not be visible. Welt cord seams should be in back of cushions. Welt cord around legs should be secured. Cushions should retain shape, be stationary, and be uniformly covered and smooth. Two of the 4 cushions were completely wrapped and two were not. Cushions should be same size and same material as originals. Foam should be same thickness as cushion. It appears as if two different types of foam were used. . Welt cord uniformly placed (in straight line when appropriate) and uniformly secured. Seams under arms should be straight and smooth and staples should not be visible. Padding/stuffing/foam missing from band (or decking). Pleats improperly placed. Fabric application directly below seat cushions in corner not consistent with original pieces. The fabric is folded over instead of secured to frame. Exposed wood not touched-up. Seams coming apart and stitches are catching. Pillow stripes do not match. Fabric should be pulled tight in corners (where back meets seats) and secured. My furniture is not acceptable. I was promised that my furniture would be virtually new. New furniture does not have the issues identified. And, clearly some of these issues would not be identified without close examination. Since my furniture was returned, I've had four experienced upholsters exam it. All agree to restore my furniture to its original state (pre Stateline Reliks) would require that we start over and the cost will range from $975 to $1400, plus fabric which is approximately $400. The highest quote required the least amount of fabric as they were going to reuse a lot of the fabric. A couple of the comments from other upholsterers "pitiful! "I am so sorry, this makes our industry look bad, no one will want to have there furniture reupholstered". Clearly, Stateline Reliks does not have the skill or desire to correct the issues and professionally re-upholster my furniture. I believe I am entitled to a full refund so I can have the job completed properly. The furniture is scheduled to be re-upholstered in the middle of May.