LeFort & Company Ltd

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First let me mention how hard I had to look for a good furniture repair person to work on this family antique.  I hired someone about 2 years ago and they were less then desirable with the estimate to actual cost (it ended up costing twice as much as the estimate).  I was very worried this would happen again.  I had called 3 other places and none of them responded very quickly nor very well.  I happened to see the Le Forte truck with a trailer going down Highway 3 one day and thought that I should call them because all my other attempts derived from Angie's List had been a fail.  What the heck, I gave them a call and I am so glad I did. <br /> We have a beautiful 9 foot tall antique breakfront with all glass doors that is used as a china cabinet.  When we bought our house in August we did not measure the ceilings and much to our shock and dismay we learned that the breakfront was too tall by about 5" in all of the downstairs rooms.  We anticipate living in this house another 5-10 years and despite the issues with the shelves falling due to construction issues, I was loath to let this furniture go.  It's been in my family for 5 generations so there is a bit of sentimental attachment but we also need to use it to store china.  So the piece has to functional if it was to remain in our house. <br /> From the start, Le Forte was professional, which was such a change from previous antique repair places.  I received a call from Caitlin and she set up the appointment after I told her about our little project.  She asked me some specific questions and I was able to ask questions about their policies, repair process, etc.  Richard then came out and did the estimate for us within a week of the call.  The estimate was emailed to me.  Once I made the deposit, I had to wait 6-7 weeks for the faux top to be made and for them to be able to come out for the assembly but it was well worth the wait. Richard suggested a faux top to be made that looked similar to part of the original top.  We also have a problem with the structure of the breakfront.  The shelves are supported by thin brackets and the sidewalls allowed too much play in the shelving.  This resulted in the shelves falling in the breakfront 2 times previously.  Not only did I have physical cuts and bruises from china falling on me, I was/am mentally afraid of this piece of furniture falling on me again but it's been in my family for 4 generations so I don't feel I can sell it.  When Richard explained what he wanted to do and the details I was really excited.  I did not anticipate how happy I would be with the results. <br /> Richard came out to assemble the piece and he did a fantastic job.  The top was just a smidge too tall still so some minor adjustments has to be made to get the top on.  Then he assembled the rest of the cabinet, secured all bolts and screws and leveled it.  He made sure the doors open easily (no dragging) and that the locks are in working order.  It looks fantastic and everything is secure so I feel safe about putting my remaining china in it.  I am looking forward to unpacking the remaining 7 boxes of our moving items and finally being completely unpacked as well as enjoying our family heirloom.  Best of all, the work was down within the estimate stated and I did not get any surprise additional bills afterwards. <br /> Thank you so much Le Forte and Richard for doing such and outstanding job.  I will be calling you next year about getting repairs to our other antiques completed.