Aiw Decorative Lighting

The formula for happiness: happiness = expectations — reality
By this formula, it’s hard for me to imagine how AIW could have done worse.
Short story: I went to AIW to see products that I’d researched on line. Wanting to do the right thing, I elected to place an order for two rather expensive ($ 800 total) lamp posts, paying a considerable premium over what I could have paid through an on-​line merchant. That was January 6^th. Credit card charge processed promptly. Returned six weeks later after no news. Said they’d look into it. Stopped in a week later. Said they’d forgotten to follow up, but would do so. Stopped in a week later to be told that the supplier had screwed up, and had lost the order, but that the lamp posts would be shipped within three weeks. Four weeks later, I was told that the product had shipped, and should arrive within a week. A week came and went, and no call.
Very short version: after many permutations on the above, and numerous sad, sad stories (I’ve been sick, I’ve been on vacation, my staff have been out sick, my husband is sick), I developed a somewhat macabre interest in what new obstacle each week would bring. On June 6^th — the five-​month anniversary of my order, I decided to pull the plug on the debacle, and advised them that I’d shown up to «fire» them. That day I was treated to an entirely new story: the manufacturer, Hanover Lantern, had gone bankrupt as a result of the economic downturn. Fascinating. I asked them to try to stay focused on the refund.
Unfortunately, the refund wasn’t so simple: … they no longer could find a record of the order.
Punch line #1: during the couple of weeks it took to get AIW to process the credit to my credit card, I decided to make a phone call to Hanover Lantern’s customer service. The nice lady on the phone laughed hard when I told her my story, assured me that they had not gone bankrupt, and gave me the names of local distributors.
Punch line #2: I placed an order with City Lights in San Francisco on June 28^th. The lamp posts I ordered from Hanover arrived precisely on schedule on July 28^th. Pretty good service, overall for a bankrupt manufacturer!
AIW strengths: pretty showroom, highly imaginative staff ready to spin wonderful fiction on a moment’s notice.
AIW weaknesses: answering the phone (zero percent), returning phone calls (zero percent), following through on anything (zero percent).