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Review 8/1/2009
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We've purchased five pieces of furniture from Black Sea Gallery and love the unique, diverse styles offered. They are good about negotiating prices, which is fun to me. All of the furniture we've purchased has been great until recently.
About 9 months ago, we purchased a really cool, red painted old sideboard for just under $1000. It was cracked on top, but it just added character to the piece in my opinion and they lowered the price significantly. It matches our decor like a designer selected it. We love it.
THE BAD NEWS. We noticed it was often dusty (inside & out). Like it had powder on it here and there. I just thought our house was dirty from our old carpet and that the dust got inside too because none of the doors and drawers are super tight. Then, about six months ago, we tore out our old carpet, scraped our acoustic ceilings, and painted our entire inside and out of our house. I expected the dust/powder on that piece of furniture to be less, but it wasn't. At first I figured it must just have lots of drywall dust that entered through cracks that is settling out. Finally, about 4 weeks ago, I completely emptied the cabinet and thoroughly wiped down the entire inside and outside. A week later, when I opened the cupboard I noticed little piles of powder on the shelves. I wiped them away and sure enough a few days later the piles were back. I notice it on all the shelves and around the base of the piece.
I called the store and spoke to Max who said he was out of the store, but would be back in the store within 30 minutes and he'd call me back that evening or the next morning. He never called. Two days later, I called again and left a message for Max. No call back and no messages even though I left both my home and cell phone numbers again. Finally Thursday (7/29/09) I called again and a woman answered. She insisted that if the piece was infested before we bought it from them, that all of their furniture would have bugs and none of their furniture has bugs. I assured her that it's been showing signs ever since we bought it, but steadily worsened to a point that we just now realize there's a problem. She finally suggested she should have Tony call us, the gentleman who sold it to us. By the way, this was after she insisted that Max HAD called me so many times that he was frustrated with trying. When I told her that was hard to believe since I've received no messages, she told me my phone would not let him leave a message.
Based on the way they are handling this problem, I would NOT RECOMMEND using this store. First off, I'm a Realtor so my phone ALWAYS takes a message and I ALWAYS answer it. My husband and I both work full-time from home and we absolutely answer our phones. Secondly, after much research and talking to other furniture stores and wood insect specialists, it sounds like the piece we bought from them has PowderPost Beetles (PPB). It is not uncommon for insects to show up 1-10 years after infestation. The piece of furniture should be removed from the house immediately. It needs to be replaced. The PPB's can infest other wood in our home, preferring unsealed, grainy wood.
I own my great aunt's antique piano, we just installed beautiful wood floors, etc. Our house was completely fumigated 6 years ago, the last thing we want is wood destroying beetles. This company is selling infested furniture and not owning up to it. DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF BUYING FROM THEM.
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