Wildest Delivery Story - EVER

After being in business for over 25 years, you get to 'see it all' as time goes by. One of the customer stories I like the best happened about a decade ago and it went like this....

My phone rang one late Saturday afternoon and a gentleman from the New York area (The Hamptons) called up and said "I would like to buy several pieces but only if you have them in-stock". I replied "Let me have your list"... and as he ticked them off by some chance happenstance I had eighteen of the nineteen items he wanted that were ready to go, in the same wood and finish he was looking for. He never even asked for pricing, just asked "Is everything is good condition?" to which I replied they were. That was enough and he said "Fine - I'll take all the pieces you have in-stock and would like them delivered." I then said, "Would you like to know the individual prices?" He said "No, a total is fine".

I knew that where he lived was approximately 5 hours from my store, and at the time we were making regular trips to Boston in our Freightliner so I assumed he wanted delivery when we were making one of those trips as we could do it for far less than a single round trip to his house. So I said "Let me pull out my calendar and see when we are coming up your way - probably in about three weeks or so." He interrupted me and said, "No, I want them all here by 9 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday)." I looked at my watch and it was 4 p.m on Saturday and my delivery guys were still out doing local deliveries and would be exhausted since they had started early in the morning.

"That's not going to happen, I'm afraid, sorry. Earliest we can do it is around Thursday next week and even then its going to be expensive to make that trip as a all-day one-stop drive."

He reiterated: "9 a.m. tomorrow is when I want the pieces, sharp. Either you can do it or you can't and our business is concluded." I pondered this for a second...this was a HUGE order, an entire truckload. We don't get those very often. "It will be expensive to do if I can pull it off, my delivery guys won't be happy." He said "Make it happen and call me back, I'm not concerned with the cost of delivery - charge what needs to be charged."

So now my head is spinning. My guys (who at the time made $ 10 an hour) will be back in less than an hour. It will take us four hours to load the truck - that's 9 p.m., and they they need a few hours sleep and will have to roll out at 3:30 a.m to be in the the Hamptons at 9 a.m., then a couple hours on site unloading and five hours home. A brutal day. I call them on the cell phone and explain what's going on with this $ 45,000 order. And of course, they howl with protest and say they're not going to do it - they would quit first. Then I told them I was going to pay them each a flat rate of $ 800 each for the trip and they changed their mind real quickly as that came out to $ 50 an hour for combat pay..lol.. 5x what they normally get. They said "SURE!" And I made the delivery fee on the load $ 1,800 to cover their pay and $ 200 for gas and tolls.

So I called the gentleman back and we had a deal. And it did take us until 9 p.m. to load the truck and they did leave at 2 a.m. so they wouldn't be late and got to his house an hour early then napped in the truck until the appointed time. They told me the place was massive, a genuine "estate" with a helicopter out front on a landing pad. All the pieces from us went in the "Guest House". They got back to the store about 4 p.m. on Sunday, tired but happy. They said they had never been to an house that fancy.

They had only been back about 15 minutes and the phone rang again, it was the customer we had just delivered to in The Hamptons. He said "I love all the pieces but one, and your guys were great and on time - that's what I like to see. The one cherry trestle table I'm not so keen on, so have your delivery guys come pick this up tomorrow - same time."

I was in shock. Pick it up tomorrow morning? I looked at the ticket..that table was only $ 1,129.00. I said "Sir, you realize it would cost you less money to simply give that table to your Gardener or someone on your staff than for me to send the truck up to get it and charge you another round trip fee?"

He said (and I will always remember this): "There you go again Duane, worrying about my money. All I care about is service, don't worry about my money, have them here at 9 a.m. to get the table." And so we did (but they took the small truck this time). Same $ 1,800 round trip charge and my guys were more than happy to collect another $ 800 each.

About two years afterwards, this same gentleman called me up again and this time rattled off a list of pieces for his Palm Beach, Florida home. Once again, I had all but two pieces in stock and this time I joked with him that it was 18 hours to Florida and we didn't have a jet airplane so he'd have to give us a bit more time to make the drive and he did - but just barely. And again, the delivery charge was huge but we were on time and showed up at his door an hour early right on A1A. This time there were no returns.

True story. This is also when I figured out that there are people with money - and people with REAL money. There is a difference.

Great story. Just curious, did this customer ever share how he happened to find your store/business? Ten years ago there was essentially no internet commerce and he certainly didn't drive by your store.

We used to advertise in national magazines quite a bit until that became too costly. Probably that way.

I know some friends in the entertainment industry in NYC who are just like that man. I'm not in their monetary league but, know them through a job I used to do, for a lot less than they make! But yes, they become indulged. And yes, they expect the world can turn for a price and most times they are willing to pay to get what they want. Why not? It doesn't impact them one bit if something costs more or less. *sigh* It must be nice. That is one heck of a story though!