Then, it turned out that they’d only given me 20 square yards of carpet, not the 26.6 square yards I paid for.
Apparently, somebody there has at least a bit of a clue about how to do decent customer service, because they called my house today. My wife gave them my email address, and they just sent me this in email:
I received your letter today in the mail and I would like to apologize for your experience. I will refund you for the entire roll of carpet. I will work with our associates and review “how to measure carpet accurately” with each associate. I hope this makes up for your time and poor experience. If you need anything else please feel free to contact me. Again I would like to apologize.
Good turnaround time and acceptable resolution (more than I asked for). As far as I’m concerned, the issue is resolved to my satisfaction. Although I do still wish they’d gotten it right to begin with.
Speaking of which, while writing this blog entry, a light-bulb came on over my head, and I think I figured out how I ended up with a 15-foot length of carpet instead of a 20-foot length. I suspect that the machine they use to measure and roll carpet is calibrated to measure square yards, not length. Either the associate who measured my carpet didn’t know that, or he knew it but heard “20 square yards” when what I had said (repeatedly) was “20 feet long.”