A & L Furniture Western Red Cedar Crossleg Picnic Table with 2 Benches

The table looks great and I trust it will give us many years of outdoor pleasure. But there were several issues that arose during assembly, one of them nearly catastrophic: 1. The pre-drilled holes didn't always align well with the threaded inserts -- which meant the bolts were going in at an angle. One of them was so mis-aligned that in the process of trying to screw in the bolt the threaded insert came loose and I had to pull it out. I thought I'd have to send the whole thing back, but fortunately I had some lag bolts and nuts handy and used these instead. 2. Because of the location of the pre-drilled holes, the notches at the top of the legs do not rest against the opposite notch on the bottom of the table- and bench-tops -- there's a 1/16"" to 1/4"" gap at all locations (see attached photos). That means the entire weight of the table and benches (and people when they're sitting on the benches) will be supported by the bolts instead of wood resting on wood. I don't know if that's the way it's supposed to be, but it seems odd. I deeply hope the benches won't collapse under us one day... 3. The instructions did not say to re-tighten the bolt that attaches the brace to the legs (after putting in the lag screw to attach the brace to the table- or bench-top). This is an oversight in the instructions.