Dog Gone It (or, How Oly Saved Two Dogs' Lives)

I often think that interior design is 20% creative, inspiring work and 80% problem-solving and trouble-shooting....everything from tracking back-ordered products to securing missing components to replacing damaged goods to figuring out how to handle a drunk contractor -- but that's a story for another day.

Earlier in the week I received a forlorn e-mail from a client who had just taken receipt of a few fabulous, not inexpensive case goods from Oly Studio. My first instinct when I read the words, "I'm so sorry to bother you but..." is to brace myself for what will follow, but what I read surpassed even my wildest expectations. Here's an excerpt:

"This may or may not be a first for you in client dealings, but here goes: I was hoping that when I woke up this morning, it was a nightmare of some sort, but one look at our dining room at 6:15 am reminded me that it wasn't! Our dogs (1 big and 1 small) slept out of their crates last night for one of the seldom nights that we let them. They are so well behaved and easy going that leaving them roam and sleep where they choose has never presented a problem in the past. So, when I woke up at 1:15 am to a funny noise I assumed it was them fighting over a piece of stray bone or dog toy. To my incredible dismay!!!!....they had been gnawing on the leg of the brand new dining room table. Maybe they mistook the claw feet as real?! I don't know but they normally aren't chewers. I almost started to cry."

I almost started to cry myself, reading this, as she had just taken delivery of the table only a day or two earlier, after waiting several months to receive it, and it was not an inexpensive purchase.

Here's what it looked like when she received it:

And here's what the legs looked like after man's best friends had their way with them:

The horror!

I immediately contacted Oly, who were not immediately optimistic about remedying the situation, being that their pieces are all handmade and not assembled from components. However, to my delight, I received a call from their wonderful claims manager, Tammy (yea, Tammy!) letting me know that in an amazing coincidence, they had just received another Oscar dining table with a damaged TOP -- the legs of which can be refinished to match our black top, and they are providing it to my client AT NO COST!

We all hear so many stories of horrific customer service that I simply had to share this tale of heroic effort from Oly. Readers, please visit Oly and buy, buy, buy! Of course I am happy to help with the "buy" component. ;-)

Thank you, Oly, for thrilling my client and allowing two dogs to live another day. I'm betting they will be doing some serious crate time going forward.