The City Farm

I have been searching for just the right tray for a long time now.  Well, since the week after Christmas.  It feels like longer.  I have invested (wasted?) waaaaayyyy too much time in this search, and have been plagued by indecision.  The tray is for our new coffee area that I created in the dining room.  John gave me a lovely espresso maker for Christmas, and with our tiny amount of counter space in the kitchen we just didn't have a square inch in which to keep it.

Hence the coffee bar in the dining room.  And the need for a tray to keep my buffet from getting splashed/stained every time we slosh a hot beverage while pouring.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to decide what I want, other than the obvious . . . it needs to be waterproof-ish.

After a ridiculous amount of online shopping, I finally found a tray on a new site I linked to from who-knows-where . . . the City Farm shop.  Hooray!  $23 or so later and my tray was on it's way.

Much excitement was in the air the other day when the tray arrived . . . best packaging ever!  I felt like I was opening an amazing gift with the burlap bag tied with ribbon and complementary hand cream.

Unfortunately, awesome as the packaging was, the tray was just not "It."  While it is waterproof-ish inside, the outside is some sort of shellacked paper.  And the paper was torn on one handle.  Boo.

Not a huge deal, but if I am going to spend $23 on an item, no boo-boos allowed.  So I called the City Farm and left a message, saying that I would prefer to return it, not just get a replacement.  (As unlikely as it is to have a spill hit the outside of the tray, I am leery of using it for a beverage tray.)  And I prepped to send pictures, fight to get them to pay shipping, etc etc etc.  The usual return hassle.

So I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least, when I got a call the next day from the City Farm, and was told that they were going to be refunding my money, but to go ahead and keep the tray!

Pretty sure I have never experienced the like as far as customer service goes.  I have yet to see the moolah appear back in my account as she just let me know yesterday, but have no doubt that I will see it come thru soon.

Having had such a good experience when I was expecting a negative, I am planning to keep the City Farm on my go-to list for fun and whimsical home accents.  Like these fun little dogs that require no training, don't pee on your rug, and don't need any food . . . happy shopping!



(The City Farm had no idea I was going to write this blog post when we spoke . . . I have not received any gifts or services in return.)