Innovations In Design & Building

Review: [redacted] the owner of Innovations Kitchen and bath center does not know what he is doing. I hired him in June to remodel my kitchen. I gave him a deposit for cabinets that I had picked out in August. I did not hear a word from him the whole month of September. I called HIM in October asking what was the status of my cabinets..he says they are in a "holding warehouse" in South Jersey..?? Why?...I don't know. Then, he tells me he had fallen behind on a job he is currently working on. He would start demo on Oct7...That changed to Oct 16. Finally, demo! He rips out my kitchen leaving me with my old sub floor and a dusty mess for 6 weeks. During this time, he told me he the cabinets he ordered would not be coming, that the company was not putting out good product anymore...blah, blah, blah.. and I had to choose new ones, and wait another 4-6 weeks for their arrival. What that means is that he probably never paid this company and they dropped him. in the meantime, he asks for more money, then disappears for a week or more, coming back a day or 2, for an hour or so..basically doing nothing. In the midst of all of this, he is basically kicked out of his showroom rental space and has to move everything to his home. By now, I have missed hosting my daughters birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Cabinets come in...missing pieces, poor sizing, poor spacing..this guy claims to have many years of experience, but made amateur mistakes. His worker that installed our kitchen has still yet to be paid by him, 8 weeks later!! Shame on you [redacted]...and shame on anyone who decides to hire you. My kitchen is still not complete today, Feb 6. This should have been a 3 weeks job, and we are going on 4 months!Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for what been paid. I would like the refund so that I can pay his worker because they are saying [redacted] never paid them. I would like to bring in another contractor to finish his work but I need The cabinet he installed where the wrong type. We never picked them out.The uppercabinet he installed are not finished underneath.The refrigerater protrudes out past the cabinet by 8"The contractor buried some outlet which we need exposedThe lighting he install flickers at will

Review: In September 2012 we ordered kitchen and bath cabinets for a home renovation we were beginning. Mr. [redacted] of Innovations Design & Build was referred to us by a previous contractor we had thought would get the final renovation project. My husband (Mr. [redacted]) and I placed the order, and the following charges were authorized to my cc: 9/2-$7500, 9/5-$5000 and $3157 (total $1567) Since I get the text messages when my card is charged, I called Innovations and inquired what the purchases were - and was informed the cabinets and fixtures were ordered. Several times we visited Innovations between November and December. We were working for a January delivery for all the cabinets. We were under the impression our cabinets were built and ready to ship to our residence. We discovered in January the order for the kitchen cabinets ([redacted]) had not been placed since [redacted] claims he was now waiting on our new General Contractor (Mr. [redacted]) to give him the ETA. In addition, the cabinet order to [redacted] for the two bathrooms had not been placed as well. After numerous calls and emails between all of us, we tried to reach the manufacturers directly with little luck. The goal was to make sure our cabinets were in process, and that Mr. [redacted] did not run off with our money. We though we were close to finishing this project when the regional sales manager [redacted] became involved after we tracked her down. Communication is poor at best from Mr. [redacted]; emails and phone calls are seldom returned and last week he dropped of several replacement cabinet doors in front of the garage door - did not ring the doorbell - but texted as he drove away (my husband was at home). We do have copies of the emails for your investigation. We are currently waiting on 1 of 3base cabinets in each bathroom - this is preventing countertops, sinks and vanity plumbing, in addition to final inspections for the house - and 40+ feet of trim molding and refrigerator panelsDesired Settlement: We would like our missing cabinets and parts in non-damaged servicable condition, in addition to a complete detailed invoice. Several parts have been delivered damaged. He claims the insert for the trash pullout was delivered, but never was. Incorrect sized cabinets were ordered. There seems to be little or no QA when the parts are delivered to his office, since multiple damaged items were recieved. We have had to cancel other parts of the order (bathtub, counter, and toilets). Incorrect toilets were delivered, but we had to return them. This business relationship has been frustrating - we ordered all items in good faith, and worry that our money was used to pay for items for other clients. Even after involving the regional sales manager [redacted] (referred by the manufacturer), we are getting little relief - she claims she attempted to expedite the orders - and is now backing out and pushing us back to [redacted]. On 6/2, we had no choice but to reverse partial charges with my CC.

Business

Response:

This is in response to [redacted] complaint. They ordered cabinets in September to avoid price increases, even though they were not ready until the new year sometime. Cabinet orders where placed on hold until notice by contractor that he was ready. Cabinets are made to order and no one will hold them in a warehouse. Contractor gave me approx 5 days notice. Two different manufacturer's where involved.

When [redacted] came in in Jan, I tried to steer them away from one since I was having repeat problems with the company. They still wanted them so I ordered them. That is the product that they are waiting for, which is due in this week. The contractor made several changes and or adjustments and or errors to some of the other product. He damaged doors, modified cabinets, called me on a daily basis adding items, and some of the Items are extras and the [redacted] still have a balance, plus some of the items they are waiting for are extras too, that they have not been billed for. I want this to end just as much as they do, and I also gave them a $500.00 credit for the delays, nor do I want any of the money for the extras. I have been in business for 21 years now and have never had a negative comment against my business. Poor communication amongst all has led to a sour ending and I hope to receive the balance of cabinetry this week to satisfy the client.

The address you have listed for my business is incorrect. It is 1152 rte 10 west, Randolph NJ 07869.

Thank you, [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

Review: 9568101

We are rejecting this response because:1) Bob Stafford is not the root cause of the issues as stated by Ken Abato. Bob has done outstanding work as our General Contractor (GC) and has been recommended by me, my husband Scott Sorensen and the other vendors on this project. The root cause has been Ken and lack of communication to my husband, me, or the GC in a timely fashion or let alone at all. We constantly had to track him down. He also cannot confirm delivery or account for remaining outstanding items. 2) We are frustrated by the way Mr. Abato blamed others for these issues; he has blamed his two office administrators (former employees), JSI, Wellborn Forest, and Bob Stafford, our GC. 3) When we discussed the problems Ken had had with Wellborn Forest, the issue explained to us was the Java finish not coming out of the assembly plant with a solidly uniform color finish. Based on the sample in his office that a previous customer had returned, I liked the subtle color variation and advised Ken not to cancel the order since we did not want any more delays. At this time, we were unaware the cabinet order had NOT been placed with the manufacturer. 4) My husband visited Ken’s office in late March with a complete list of items still outstanding; a month later he returned to Ken’s office and discovered that Ken had not even placed the order yet with the manufacturers. 5) We ordered the cabinets in September and the communication should have been with us, as Bob was not hired until late October and started the project in very early November. After the mid- December visit to Ken’s office, when Ken informed us the cabinets would take approximately 5 weeks, we told our GC that the cabinets were due to be delivered in late January, so he planned accordingly. As the expected delivery date got closer, Bob Stafford called Ken to arrange a specific delivery date (yes, within 5 days of the date he called – believing the cabinets were ready to ship.) 6) We rescheduled the kitchen counter tops 5 times based due to Ken promising delivery of product, and currently have rescheduled the bathroom counter top delivery 5 times as well. He even advised us in person when he was here to pick up a damaged tub he delivered, of delivery that day - then called my contractor Bob Stafford around noon that same day - not me or my husband, advising the order was not coming that day. 7) As for the $500 credit and no remaining balance we will accept a $500 credit total to cover the 25 cabinet handles Ken advised us were free and were not delivered, the garbage can inserts that we had to buy as Ken advised us that he gave it to Bob Stafford which he 100% did not do, and the rented U-Haul truck to pick up some of the cabinets (by my husband) since delivery arrangements could not be made by Ken at that time, in addition to no invoice communication regarding credits for incorrect /damaged items returned , or current status of items ordered. Noting that this is the first time this has been offered to us by Ken Abato in any form of communication, we will accept Ken’s stated terms of a $500 credit and no payment for any “extras.” No further financial transactions from this point will be conducted. 8) As for communication issues with Bob Stafford, this is completely false. Bob advised us multiple times that Ken was not getting back to him in any way which is supported by both my husband and me in our on communications with Ken. We followed up on behalf of Bob Stafford and still were not receiving feedback from Ken. Our best form of communication was to go directly to Ken’s office, which was very inconvenient for both my husband and me. Noting that, Ken’s voice mail at the shop advised us that they were closed on Sunday and open on Monday which was backwards and was a wasted trip out to Ken’s on a Monday. 9) Ken did not inventory or inspect items - a bathroom tub was delivered to us damaged, the wrong toilets (2) were ordered and delivered here, cabinet doors were delivered damaged to us; In fact, Ken just delivered a damaged replacement door for one of the original damaged doors last week; when I communicated with Ken about the once again damaged piece he advised he did not inspect the piece as it was “just delivered to him”. Ken was not “aware” of one of the bathroom cabinets was missing from the U-Haul order mentioned above in addition to not realizing one of the 5 cabinets picked up that day was the wrong size until it was loaded on the U-Haul truck. We are still waiting on both of these cabinets to be delivered as of today. 10) Ken advised we could have items shipped flat directly to us to save time - we were not opposed to this at all, and urged him to have the items shipped flat for assembly here. 11) We are approximately 16 weeks behind on our project due to Ken’s inability to deliver his product to us. 12) We talked with and will be continuing to talk to both manufacturers based on our frustration. We were referred to Susan Glasser as the regional representative. As you see we are still dealing with this issue as she has added little to no value in finding a resolution. 13) The products are due next week – we have heard that before and will be pleasantly surprised if that happens. I would suggest the Revdex.com checks back on this to confirm. 14) The address we used to file the original complaint was pulled from the invoice dated 9/7/2012. 15) We will consider the transaction closed once we receive all the remaining items, have them inventoried and installed by our GC and inspected by us and there will be no further financial transactions between us (Scott Sorensen and Jennifer Tanforan) and Ken Abato of Innovations Design & Build. Regards, Jennifer Tanforan and Scott Sorensen

Regards,

Jennifer Tanforan

Business

Response:

The rest of the cabinetry is arriving tomorrow June 12th. I never said there contractor did a bad job. Only communication was what I said and ..well I am not looking for any of the balance that was left, even though some of the replacement product had absolutely nothing to do with me, but was damaged or modified by the contractor. I am delivering the cabinets, that are due to them and repairing the one door that came in damaged. I will always honor any warranty issues on the product they purchased, but if there is any additional items that they want and are not part of the original, example, would be the extra crown mouldings and larger panels they want for their kitchen, which are extras, I recommend that they purchase elsewhere.