Q: I’m having a problem with Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery. One of its delivery men scratched my wood floor. I submitted a claim form and a repair estimate.
Basically, Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery was responsive at first, but once I filed a claim it would not respond to my emails or answer my calls. I simply want to ensure that my
claim has been received, that it is complete and that there is a satisfactory resolution. Can you help?
Richard Park, Washington, D.C.
A: Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery should deliver a response, even if just to acknowledge your claim. I’m sorry you haven’t received a satisfactory answer from the company yet.
The company certainly doesn’t look like the type that would ignore a customer. On its slick website, it boasts of more than three decades of experience in delivering “an unmatched level of service” to the high-end furniture, antiques, and fine furniture manufacturing industries. What could possibly go wrong?
But something did.
Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery’s site doesn’t say much about damage claims. However, its “get a quote” form mentions that valuation coverage for loss or damage is for a maximum period of 30 days. “Metropolitan will evaluate and determine [the] disposition of any claims submitted within 30 days of receipt of completed claim form.” In other words, the company could take up to a month to get back to you.
Now, as I see it, that doesn’t mean they have a license to ignore a customer until the 30-day mark. So, if Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery wasn’t even acknowledging your emails or calls, I just don’t see any reason for that.
When I asked for your paper trail — the correspondence between you and Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery — a different picture came into focus. The company was responding, but it was giving you what can best be described as the runaround. It asked for more documents and details to finish your claim. And you’re right, it never specifically acknowledged that you had completed the form to its satisfaction. I would have been worried, too.
But let’s take a step back.
A Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery employee shouldn’t have scratched your floor. But if he did, the company should quickly acknowledge the damage and fix it. You might have also appealed this to a supervisor at the company. Once you’ve found the name of one of its executives, figuring out their email address is easy. The naming convention is [email protected]. But all of that should be unnecessary. You deserve a prompt, positive reply.
I contacted Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery on your behalf. A representative noted that claims take up to 30 days. The company cut you a check for the full amount of the damage.
Christopher Elliott’s latest book is “How to Be the World’s Smartest Traveler” (National Geographic). You can get real-time answers to any consumer question on his forum, elliott.org/forum, or by emailing him at [email protected].
