Internet Furniture Company Passing The Bernhardt $BUCK$

My wife and I ordered a Bernhardt Rendition master bedroom set from the Mattress Factory a.k.a. Furnitureorder.com back on 9-29-99. We were required to make a 50% deposit of $4,299 not including delivery. We were told the order would take 8-10 weeks and would be shipped and set up for an additional $1,487. The remaining balance of $4,299 would have to paid before delivery by way of cashiers check only, thereby bypassing all credit card protection. My wife and I are not exactly poor, but we are by no means rich either. We decided to purchase this beautiful set after knowing my parents spent a lot of money for theirs 40 plus years ago and still have it! Sometimes quality is worth paying quite a bit extra. We shopped the local stores in the Phoenix area and nobody was offering much of a discount because they all said it was a "showcase line" that was not mass produced. So I jumped on the internet to see what I could find since I've had luck buying on the internet before. I ran across a whole bunch of internet companies based in North Carolina offering great deals on many different brands. I placed my order from Furnitureorder.com after reading their bio stating they've been in business since 1977. The sales associate was very pleasant when placing the order and quickly faxed all documentation for our records. I phoned them the first week of January and they told me there was a delay and they would call me back in a few days with a shipping date. That call never came, so we called back. This time we reached an answering machine asking customers to email them via their website. We complied with that request without a response. Once again we tried calling their phone line and the answering machine intercepted and said "messages full", meaning there are so many messages from customers that they haven't cleared them from the machines memory to make room for more. We now call everyday and don't even get an answer, the phone just rings and rings. We have contacted Visa for assistance but don't know what they can do. Their policy states you must contact them within 60 days of the charge to dispute it and Furnitureorder.com's policy is "not subject to cancellation-no refunds". Don't get me wrong, we want this beautiful set from Bernhardt, it is our favorite, bar-none. But what can we do now. Stay posted as we await Visa's findings and as we attempt to contact Bernhardt for assistance.