a bit of a mix up

Back when we used to have Lonnie's son's and families over for swimming and cook-outs, we needed a lot of outdoor furniture. Over time we accumulated nearly two dozen assorted chairs and a couple of tables.  Some were those light weight plastic chairs and some were mis-matched ones I'd found on clearance. Then there's a set someone left behind when moving and one cushioned set that I bought years ago.

Now we don't have the gatherings here anymore...one of his granddaughters has a big pool now and everything at her house is kid friendly.

So we decided it's time to get rid of most of that hodge podge of chairs and get a couple of nice ones for tho two of us...ones that we really like for beside the pool.

Sam's Club had just what we were looking for. A cute set with two swivel rockers and a bistro table.
I ordered online and had it delivered.

When I saw the two big boxes on the front porch I thought maybe the chairs were already mostly assembled.

It was rainy that day so my idea was to take everything out of the boxes to take inside, leaving the boxes outside.

But when I started unpacking the second box - it was the same as the first box.  More chair parts and no table!

Well here's the problem...both boxes are labeled "Box 1 of 2".  Someone at the shipping department didn't understand that they should have sent a "Box 2 of 2" instead.

So what I received was parts for 4 complete chairs and a few table legs!  It should have been two chairs and one table.

I figured I could straighten it out with a phone call but after being put on "hold" forever my call was suddenly disconnected.

I tried their online "live chat" and got a message that the average wait time was 38 minutes.

I was finally able to submit a message through their "contact us" area on their website.

I got an email back with a canned response stating it would take them longer than usual to take care of my request...because of the corona virus.

Still waiting to hear from Sams Club,  but one day I went ahead and put together the two chairs we ordered.

They had everything nicely packed and protected against scuffing and scratching.

The instructions were pretty lousy but all the hardware was sorted and labeled in this plastic shrink packaging. Assembly tools included.  Nice! 

They went together easily.   Just what we were looking for...aluminum frames so no rusting. swivel action to follow the sun, and no need for cushions and replacement cushions.

Hopefully the mix-up will be taken care of soon and we will get our matching table and they will schedule a pick-up for the other huge box that's now residing in my foyer.  At least we're not responsible for loading it up and lugging it back to the store.

We can't enjoy sitting poolside yet anyway. In early April, when Lonnie called the company that opens and closes our pool, they told him they are booked up until the week of May 11th.

With kids out of school because of the virus lock-down, everyone wanted their pool open earlier than usual this year.

It's definitely too cold to swim right now anyway and I'm glad the cover wasn't off the pool when the maple tree showered us for days with a massive amount of "helicopters".

More than the usual amount of them it seems.  Those things are so hard to sweep off the porch...getting stuck between the boards.  Squirrels are enjoying snacking on them though...and "squirreling" them away in the soft dirt of my flower beds. I'll be seeing lot's of tiny maple tree sprouts this summer!