An envelope recently arrived at the Northeast CONTACT office from Martha Wallace, a member of Northeast CONTACT from Portland. She wrote, “I have a dilemma which I hope you can take care of for me. I have contacted you to help me before and you helped me big time by obtaining a large refund on a case which I thought was hopeless.

“In September of last year I saw a catalog at a friend’s house which had in it exactly what I have been looking for.

“There was a set of six pottery pots with a Mexican design, painted in bright, beautiful colors. I have six windows in my sun room where I want to plant ivy in ceramic pots. The pots match my color scheme as well as my ivy-patterned wallpaper.

“I sent an order to Desert Sands Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, enclosing a check in the amount of $96.50 which included postage and handling. The ad did say it would take six weeks before delivery.

“I waited patiently and the package arrived the first week of November.

“When I opened it, my first thought was of how beautiful they were. Then I noticed five of the six pots were cracked. There was no way they could be used as planters. When the ivy I planned to place in them was watered, the water would run out. I was heartbroken.

“I wrote a letter to Desert Sands Inc. the next day explaining that five of the six pots were cracked and I would like replacements for them as soon as possible.

“When I receive no reply after waiting three weeks, I wrote a second letter telling them to send me authorization within the next two weeks so I could send the damaged ceramic pots back to them and I also request that they mail me new ones. Again, I received no answer. Can you help me with this, my newest problem?

“Enclosed you will find a copy of my original order, their invoice, and both sides of my cancelled check.”

A CONTACT caseworker wrote a letter to Desert Sands Inc. on behalf of Wallace, reiterating the problem, and added, “Martha Wallace thinks your pottery is very beautiful but obviously it cannot be used for the purpose intended. She planned on planting ivy in the ceramic pottery. This cannot be done since when the ivy is watered, water will leak out all over her window sills and run down her walls.

“Please send Martha Wallace a call tag if you wish her to return the cracked pottery pots back to you.

“We are also requesting that you send her five replacement pottery pots to go with the uncracked one in her possession.

“If you do as we ask, within the next 14 business days, with notification to Northeast CONTACT of the transaction, we will consider this case satisfactorily resolved. However, if you choose not to honor our request we will continue to pursue this matter.”

The CONTACT caseworker then wrote Wallace, sending her a copy of our letter to the business. We asked that she get back to us shortly after the 14 business days were up to let us know whether she received a response from the business. We went on to say that if we should hear directly from the business, we would then get back in touch with her.

A week later we received a telephone call from Katerina in consumer relations at Desert Sands Inc. She apologized for not replying to the customer and went on to explain that the company is very small and never expected to receive the amazing volume of orders that arrived.

“We will be sending five new pieces of pottery within the month and she need not send the cracked pottery back to us,” Katerina told us.

Northeast CONTACT thanked Katerina and related to her that we would notify Wallace of our conversation. We wrote Wallace immediately, telling her to expect five new pottery pots before the month was out.

Less than three weeks later, Wallace called us to say: “I received six pottery pots from Desert Sands Inc. all intact. Thank you so much seems inadequate for all your work but it is all I can say. You people are a blessing.”

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast Contact for Better Business Inc., Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit organization and America’s oldest consumer advocacy agency of its kind, established in 1972. For help, write to Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329, or e-mail consumerhelp@

bangordailynews.net.