closed corner BUBBLE!!!!!!!!!

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trofeo

True Grumbler
Joined
May 25, 2005
Posts
71
Location
Seattle, WA
So, I just recieved a closed corner gorgeous thing I have been waiting for, and noticed a hugeish bubble in the umber painted side!!! Imagine my horror.
As I don't have the time to order a replacement, the vendor said they would send me some paint.. (that was the only solution they offered..)
Does anyone out there have experience finishing these high end frames? I don't want the side I work on to not match their beautiful, yet bubbled, side.
*Do I sand off their paint, including the bubble, and then paint it again? Will there be a noticable indentation where the bubble was? Do I need to seal it with something?
AND... should I ask for a discount from the vendor, who didn't even APOLOGIZE for their extremely expensive creation having a gastly bubble?
What do y'all think??
Thanks ;)
 
If the bubble is excess paint, just sand it down flush. If it is a detached /loose area, take it off, fill and sand flush. Plastic wood is usually OK. Once you decide to refinish it yourself, you will save a lot of headache by not trying to match one side to the other three. You don't know what materials they used or the process. Do something similar on a spare moulding scrap until you like the look of it, then do all four sides. If you post a picture of the frame side, we can offer advice about achieving a similar look.

Paul Hardy
 
Bet your bippy they better be offering a discount! Talk to your rep. Tell him/her that you are disappointed and that your shop rate is $xx an hour to repair their poor quality and what are they going to do to make you happy, cause you ain't happy right now...
 
you might want to go round to a local Furniture fix-er-upper & bleed their brain as to how to, what NOT to, etc!!!!!!!! would be well worth your trouble!!! I'd even drag the framewith you for show&tell
 
The sides of high end frames are often sealed with
casein paint and if you fill the loss, you can repaint all the sides to keep it uniform. This paint is easy to work with, in that role.


Hugh
 
If I were in your shoes I would ask to speak to the supplier's production manager about how to repair it. I'm sure they've had to make this type of repair.

And yes, you should be compensated for your time spent addressing this in the form of a discount.
 
Thanks all!
I will be sure to ask for a discount..
The bubble looks as though it is paint that is lifted off the wood surface, (so it's hollow and i can "squish" it with my nail). I will follow your advice, Hugh, and remove it and fill the crater then repaint it.
the vendor is sending me some paint that they used.

I think I'll call the vendor too and get some free finishing tips from them..
Thanks for the advice and help!!!!
 
I would send it back. I know you said you don't have time, but:

What if something goes wrong while you're fixing it? It would turn around from being the supplier's problem to yours.

What if it looks "slightly" different and the customer doesn't like it (remember, that thing is expensive), then what? You'd send it back to the supplier and have less leverage and maybe no discount, because you tried to fix it. And you have one disapopointed customer on top of that.

Let them replace it, Period. You didn't create this defect, they did.

And like the others said, not only you need a discount, but an apology too and a promise their shoddy work will not happen again.
 
I'm with Paul ... there should be no reason to accept anything less than perfection ... when all's said and done, isn't that what's expected of us by our clients?
 
Here's an update:
I called them again to talk about it, and the plan now is that I am to try to repaint the sides.. (I found ANOTHER bubble on another corner too!!!!!!!! RAAAARRRRRR).. and if for some reason I ruin it I have their word that they'll pay for me to ship it back and they'll repaint the sides for me and then send it back right away..
But, I thought I'd try. & It looks ok.
The woman I spoke to said that they seal their paint with something, but she was so vague about it and wouldn't tell me what they seal it with.. Does anyone know what i can use to seal this frame so my customer can have his beautiful thing this weekend?!? It has a matte finish and makes the paint color slightly richer, I think. (The paint they sent me is the same color, but is slightly lighter when dry and more "chaulky" looking than their finished sides were..)
Any ideas? The hardware store is open til 6
 
I'm with Paul. Call them back, demand (request strongly) a replacement on an OVERNIGHT shipment. You've paid for a "high end" product, you should get a high end product, and not have to spend your VALUABLE TIME fixing this thing, especially now that you've found another bubble.You've already spent too much time on it.

They could've sent you a new frame in the time it took them to send you the paint!

Get a replacement faster than the time you're spending "trying to" fix it.

Repeat after me "Time is Money...Time is Money...Time is Money...
 
Would you buy a car that has one tire with a bubble or would make the dealer replace the tire?
Replace it!!!
What if your fix does not last and the customer brings it back?
 
OK everybody, quit beating up on trofeo. Their doing everything they can to make their customer happy and get the job out the door as quickly as possible.

I would have repaired the frame with the companies paint too. However, I would also be really really pissed at them and possibly out them here on the G.

The problem with samples from CC dealers is when you decide to not do business with the company any longer, what do you do about the money you paid for the samples. Eat it? Try to sell them?
 
OOooo that's true, Jerry.. If I decide to not use THEM anymore, what to do with these painfully expensive and addictive samples!??! Hummm...

I guess I just wanted to try to fix it because I really want to learn how to do this kind of stuff myself.. But now I'm kinda pissed because the cust.service lady never even apologised or anything! AND, I let her know that my rep quit being a rep loooong long ago, and no one has even contacted me to tell me who my new rep was, and that I wanted my rep to call me because of this dilema, and that's when she said 'If you send it back we'll pay for the shipping.".. What?!?! You're **** right! I mean, come on, like I'm gonna eat the cost of the shipping because of their shoddy craftsmanship? Heck no..

Ooo, got a little "energized" there for a sec.. Sorry

So, is the vote to send the frame back, or demand a replacement? She said they'd repaint the sides for me, but that means more time away from client.. It's already taken a month-ish to get the frame in the first place..

I am worried slightly about my fix not holding.. When I cut off the bubbles, and any other loose areas, it took off the gesso and left a crater (the lady said that wouldn't happen when I questioned her about that very thing..! She just told me to sand the edges with fine steel wool or sand paper, which I tried but the crater was way too deep.) I filled the crater with wood filler, and then let it dry and then sanded and painted the whole side with the paint they sent, which is very pretty, I must say. What if the part I fixed falls off? Will it? What if theres a moisture issue in the wood under my fix? Should I have let the crater area air out before fixing it? I guess we'll find out


I'll try the beeswax idea for sealing, thanks Jerry. What's a good source..
And, if I like the way it turns out when I'm done, how do I get reimbursed for all the extra materials I used to make this thing look good? Beeswax, wood filler, time, patience.. (Patience costs a lot in Seattle

Thanks Everyone!
Oh, and is it considered bad Grumble Karma to out this company on here? I wouldn't want to ruin anyone's impressions, as we all know how valuable impressions are.
(So much drama!! i love it....
 
"Let me speak to your supervisor" "Let me speak to your supervisor" etc until you get someone who cares whether or not you are happy. It probably wouldn't hurt to work into the conversation, "My colleagues on the Framers Grumble seem pretty unanimous that this should not be my problem. In fact, several of them have asked exactly which company you are. I have kept your name out of it so far, hoping we could resolve things to my satisfaction..."
And if I carried custom closed corners, I would want to know which company it is.
 
Originally posted by trofeo:
OOooo that's true, Jerry.. If I decide to not use THEM anymore, what to do with these painfully expensive and addictive samples!??! Hummm...
Click to expand...
So, let me see, you'd rather deal with those people with their crappy poor quality and crappier poorer attitude because of the beautiful samples??????

That's really not logical thinking.

And if their next 10 frames have problems, you'd still not divorce yourself of their samples???

Who is this wonderful vendor by the way??
 
I don't think you need to worry about the longevity of the repair. I might be concerned about matching the sealing techniques though. The difference in the sealing techniqes could make a fifference in the apperance. One finish might cause the color to fade faster in one of the two areas, or cause the patina to go flatter in one of the two areas. I don't know if there is a difference in how, for example, shellac compares to wax in UV filtering. They should have faxed you exact instructions including exactly what they use to seal with.

Could you post a pic of the both sample and the frame? It would help us understand the problem better. They way you describe it as gorgeous sounds like you didn't think you were ordering shabby chic. You probably paid more per foot for that frame than the highest priced moulding of equivilant style. If you had ordered moulding from one of the high end moulding companies, they would have replaced it Pronto! Forget the discount, they need to replace the frame. Not appologizing for the error is just plain bad manners and arrogance.

Sorry to drag your question out, but these are the supposed to be the very best the industry has to offer. It just galls me (to quote my grandmother) to be expected to accept a product that is no better than a mass produced BB ready made.
 
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