Mill Creek Antiques

I had Mill Creek Antiques restore a Dixie Oak for me that's been in my family for years. They had to replace some metal on the stove due to rust & do some minor welding/grinding in a few different spots which in my opinion they did do a good job. However there were several things that I wasn't so pleased about. I sent several pics of my stove (approx. 10-15) before I made the 2 hr drive to have it done in order to get a ball park price on cost. Over the phone I was quoted a price of $1200 but once I drove the 2 hours they told me it would be $1870. This upset me because I felt like now they've got me out here and I've spent this money on fuel, time, etc. but I felt confident in what they could do. I did not want to sacrifice quality as it was very important to me so I went ahead and agreed to that price. They did tell me that the finial I had on my stove was not the correct one but he would try to find one. I asked how much and he said it all depended on how much he could get it for and that he would call me to let me know. Several months later, no insult to them as he did tell me it would take several months, I went to pick up my stove. My Father was excited to see so he went too. Upon arriving we were shown the stove which looked good initially but after really inspecting my dissapointment began. There were several areas on the stove that weren't even polished all the way. After I pointed this out he offered to give me a free tube of polish. Sure this is something that can be fixed but why should I be the one to do it when I paid top dollar to have them do it. There were also several areas where the nickel plating was cosmetically bad and they could have done a better job. After several minutes of awkward conversation I figured it would be just as easy to just go on my way so my Father and I started to load up the stove. As we loaded it several of the decorative nickel plated pieces began to fall off. The screws that hold them down had not even been fastened down tightly. We finally managed to load it without damaging any of the pieces that were falling off and I then went to locate the accessories that I had them restore for me as well. As I was doing this I did notice the finial on top was different so I assumed he had just included this on the cost as I never heard anything from him but upon asking him about it he said he was "just" going to charge me an additional $375 for the correct finial. I explained to him that he was supposed to call me before they went ahead and purchased a finial and had it nickle plated. His response to this was "well if you dont want it I can take it off" & in the manner he said it wasn't very kind. I tried to explain to him that he was missing what I was trying to get across to him but I finally just said thats fine and told him I needed to grab my accessories. He looked at me funny and said what accessories. I explained to him what I was talking about and he said well we will have to go back in the back and find them. After 45 minutes of looking he finally found everything that was mine except for one poker & unfortunately there were several things that were not nickel plated like they should have been so he offered to take off $150 for the cost of the nickel plating. I walk to the front to pay the lady who rings me up & wants to charge me tax on my entire bill, including their labor??? I inquired about the tax and they gave me some excuse about how they charge tax to everybody. I really just wanted to leave so I paid the lady, she handed me my reciept and I left. This was a horrible experience and I would never refer anyone to these people. I felt ripped off. Sure I could have refused to pay & then what, they would have kept my stove. I could have left it with them so they could have fixed the cosmetic problems but then what, they come up with another way to tack on another 3 or 4 hundred & I have to make another 2 hour trip out there.