Try as we might, you can't always get a sofa or sectional through a given passageway. Some days you just don't know until you get the piece on site. This presents a huge problem if special ordering however, because what do you do with a piece that won't go into your home? The factory will not take it back, the dealer will not take it back, and you have your new $$$$$ sofa or sectional out on the sidewalk with the delivery guys scratching their heads while you hit the panic button. If you're ordering long distance the problem is even more pressing as there is no where to store the piece while planning a workaround.
This happened yesterday with one of my customers in New York City on a custom Leathercraft sectional. Even though we attempted to minimize the odds, when Sun Delivery got to the Apartment complex, the elevator was not big enough - the large section of the piece simply bumped up against the physics of the elevator being too small. My customer called me, and I said "Keep trying to fit it in, tell the Delivery guys to push HARDER!". What else can I do, 300 miles away? It was 2:30 p.m.
So while the delivery company pushed, I got on the phone to a company I had heard about, but never used before:
www.drsofa.com
I called them, and in the phone tree was "Dial 211 for a Furniture Emergency". I laughed, and dialed '211' - certainly this qualifies as an emergency. "Kathy" answered, and in a calm, soothing voice assured me they could handle the crisis. They even had a team in Manhattan that was just finishing up another job and could go over there right away. Price was $ 369 (sectional had no decorative nails, thank goodness - nails are a problem) and they remove the cover on the back, the internal materials, and cut the vertical back off the piece. Then they take them up the elevator and put it all back together using steel mending plates. Did I have concerns about cutting into a brand new $ 9,000 sectional? - you bet I did. So did my customer, but we were really out of options and I'd heard they do good work. The Sun Delivery team gave up after an hour, but they worked very hard to get it in there and left the sofa outside the elevator. Dr.Sofa showed up in an old ambulance (they have a sense of humor apparently) and laid blankets out on the sidewalk and went to work in the dark in 40 degree weather. Got it done.
My customer called me today and said they did an outstanding job! Looks exactly like its supposed to be, and there is no flex or issues with the modification. He was very happy, all things considered - though it did add some unexpected expense to his new Leathercraft Sectional. Photos should be coming, I'll post them when they arrive. Working together we managed a viable solution to a tough problem.
We try to plan for all things, but getting pieces into a home simply can't be guaranteed. Its a best guess scenario and 99.8% of the time we get it right on guessing, but if you're that .02 percent and it won't fit you need to have a backup plan where to store your new furniture until you can figure out a way to get it in the home.
Kudos for Dr.Sofa.com
If you think it might not fit, discuss options with your dealer before you order, or look into alternatives such as Jeff's www.simplicitysofa.com, which is designed just for what we experienced.
