Frustration

We came back to Illinois on June 14th with a list of things that had to be done. Somewhere near the top of the list was staining the house. I normally get on line and handle the ordering of stain myself. This time the dealer we had bought the log home package from called. He had a client who was interested in a ranch style log home and wondered if we would be willing to allow him to tour ours. While we were on the phone he indicated that he could get stain for me if I would like to order through him. The last time I had ordered the brand I use it didn't seem the same as the first two times I had used it. He explained to me that the woman who had developed the stain got upset with the company that was manufacturing it and she left. When she left she took the formula for the stain so they had to reformulate. He was ordering from her new company and it would be the formula I had originally used. Sounded good to me so I ordered 20 gallons knowing that I had about 2 gallons left from previous times. Mixing that in with the new would stretch things far enough. Stain was ordered and arrived last week. It went from the FedEx truck directly to the garage. After all I had other projects going on then. New flower gardens, weeding, mulching, and mowing. Today is the beginning of staining.

It begins with the usual stuff. Get the ladder out, put drop cloths on the concrete drive so it doesn't get stained. Stand ladder up against house. Time to open the box the stain is in and get it shook up and poured in a bucket. The weather this morning is great. It is 8:00 in the morning and the temperature is just reaching 60 degrees. High today predicted at 70 degrees. You just don't get days like this in Illinois in July. The weather is predicted to stay this way until Saturday. By then a large portion of the house and maybe the garage will be done. I've got a couple of young fellas lined up to help out so it should go quick. I open the box and start shaking the five gallon bucket to mix it back up. It doesn't look quite right to I check the label. I ordered honey gold and they sent me medium red brown. It is not like they are close in color. I talk to my supplier and he states he ordered honey gold. He contacts the manufacturer. They apologize and indicate they sent the wrong stuff. The right order will go out today. They hope it will be here tomorrow. The drop cloths get put away, the ladder taken down off the house. The weather is perfect and the painter is frustrated. Customer service takes another hit. How hard is it to get me the right stain? I don't want an apology. I want to stain when I am not basting in my own juices.