Jimmy's Custom Cabinets

Cabinets the product was not delivered and installed in the time frame promised. The product (cabinets) were not the quality promised.During the week of 08/23/2015 to 08/30/2015 we met thru my contractor Ted L[redacted] and the three of us went through the home and discussed cabinets for the home. We made a verbal agreement with a written contract to follow that you would provide Kitchen, hall bath, master bath and an entertainment cabinet in the living room. Cabinets were to be of better quality and finish than the Kraft maid cabinets that were currently installed in the home. Kitchen cabinets were to be the same with the exception of the island that would be two long cabinets approximately 72" in length back to back. The hall bath was to be one linen cabinet and one sink basin approximately 53" in length. The master bath was to be a men's vanity, a women's vanity with three linen cabinets and tub surround. The living room entertainment was to fill the void on the right side of the fireplace and match the cabinet on the left side. Our agreement was you Jimmy B[redacted] would have the master bath cabinet's ready in one week so the tile man could finish and have the other cabinets ready in two weeks. On 08/31/2015 I wrote check #1405 for $6,000.00 with a remaining balance of $6,000.00 due upon completion as agreed. This check was for 50% of the job. To this date you have told me you would get me an invoice and contract and I still do not have it.On 09/14/2015 I tried calling you to get cabinets dimensions so I could buy appliances after a text you finally called back and gave me the dimensions and at that time I text you the exact dimensions of the microwave and range so you could get the face finished. At this time you still had no cabinets installed and were past the deadline with no communication.I had made several calls and left a few messages you finally called and said you would be out on Wednesday or Thursday 09/30/2015 or 10/01/2015 after you were a no show and a few phone calls you sent a text that you would be out on Friday 10/02/2015 three days shy of five weeks since we had made a deal. I lost two days of work as we had planned on you having the house so we put other workers off.You did finally show on 10/02/2015 late morning and since I had not heard from you I was not going to lose another day of work for my painters so I had them get to work when you arrived you could not install due to painters painting oil. This could not be helped as you would not answer my calls or communicate with me. You came back on 10/05/2015 to install the cabinets and at that time we had a discussion with you Jimmy B[redacted], myself and Ted L[redacted] about the time frame and quality of the cabinets, you assured me you would fix the issues I had and due to the time frame being three weeks over due and the master cabinets being four weeks over due I said proceed. When you started install a lot of confidence was lost as you installed three cabinets in the wrong place and possibly more as I was not there the entire time. You cut a large hole in my wall near the refrigerator cabinet that was unnecessary if you would have installed the correct cabinets on that wall. You were unable to finish the install because you built the cabinets to the wrong dimensions that you measured. You had to take three or four cabinets back to make drastic changes. Your excuse was the walls were not straight/square and you should not have used the measurements of the existing cabinets, that's not a valid excuse because if you had measured the existing cabinets they were installed and in perfect working order so yours should have fit. At this time you still had not brought the hall bath cabinets, master tub surround or the living room entertainment cabinet. You stated to me and Ted L[redacted] you would be back on Wednesday 10/07/2015 or Thursday 10/08/2015 and once again you were a no show without any communication.On 10/12/2015 you were coming out to finish installing the cabinets that had not been installed and install all the cabinet doors. Once again you were a no show and approximately mid-morning you called to Desired Settlementinform me you were going to pick up the doors in Mississippi as he shipper would not deliver to your shop.On 10/15/2015 you came by late afternoon to install the hall bath cabinets and the cabinets that were incorrect in the kitchen and to show me an issue with the staining on the doors. You stated you were arguing with the manufacture and were going to drive to Arkansas to get the correct doors. So here we are seven weeks since I ordered with nothing complete no living room entertainment, no tub surround, no linen closet in hall bath and no doors or hardware on the cabinets.Communication has been so bad that I've had to call Ted Lark and have him try to get in touch with you as you would not respond to my calls. When there has been no rush by you and extremely poor communication on your part all of a sudden there is a since of urgency on your part because you know I'm going home to see my family on 10/20/2015. This project should have been completed three weeks ago and has been held up by the cabinets. I set my flight date to more than cover finishing the house. My tile man can still not finish his job; the plumber cannot finish, the carpet is in and waiting on the other trades so he can finish, all due to you the cabinet man.Now we can get on to the other issues:Time frame: Not metEqual Quality of construction: Not metExcuses: Plentiful and always someone else's faultCommunication: Very littleJimmy, Ted and I went over our concerns with you before you started your installation. You assured us the items of concern would be repaired. After the initial install Ted and I spoke at length about our concerns as none of the issues we discussed were repaired and we had more issues with the way the cabinets were installed, i.e.; split wood, wrong cabinets installed, lack of glue, wood not cut to proper length too long or too short, cabinets not level, bowed fronts, cabinets out by inches in alignment, cabinets not plumb and level, poor quality workmanship, lack of pride in your product, etc. You have failed to repair any of our concerns thus far so I do not see you correcting any issues if we proceed any further.We have had discussion on the phone on how to resolve the issue to no avail, I will not argue and name call with you so I am giving you this proposal in writing. Below are lists of my proposals to dissolve this business relationship and avoid court on both of our behalf. These cabinets are coming out of the house when I get back to Memphis they will not be installed in my home.I have taken many pictures of the cabinets to document all I have discussed and probably more that I have forgotten. I will gladly send them to you. Proposals1. You have done some work and you are of the opinion that your cabinets are of excellent quality so refund me $3,000.00 of my 6,000.00 deposit and come and get your cabinet's and resale them. 2. I keep what is installed and I will uninstall them so my new cabinets can be installed.Business Response Contact Name and Title: Jimmy B[redacted]/OwnerContact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXXContact Email: [redacted]@gmail.comRegards to complaint:On Thursday, August 27th, I met with the contractor, Ted Lark, and said home owner, [redacted], at the home, to go over kitchen and bath cabinets for the home. [redacted] stated that he wanted cabinets that were of better quality than he currently had in the home. The cabinets, he had currently, were made of particle board and not very durable. [redacted] verbally agreed upon price and to pay half down so that I could start the job. I told both, contractor and homeowner, that my daughter was getting married in a week and would get started on the cabinets as soon as the wedding was over. [redacted] states that I said I would have cabinets ready in two weeks, and with my daughter getting married on September 5th, it was no way possible to have those cabinets ready in that time. I picked up half down, $6,000, on August 31, 2015. I also took door samples to [redacted] at that time as well. I deposited his check in the same week. As stated before, my daughter got married on that Saturday the 5th of September, and then followed, Labor day on Monday, the 7th of September. The check I deposited was an out of state check from California. My bank and myself both tried to verify funds so that I could order material for the job. Funds couldn't verified due to myself being a third party. The same statement was said to my bank as well. My banker suggested that I give check time to clear before ordering the material to be on the safe side. She stated that with check being out of California and with the Labor day holiday, I'd need to give it at least ten business days to clear the bank. As I stated above, I gave samples to [redacted] on August 31st to make a decision on what style doors he wanted for his cabinets. He didn't give me his request until Friday, September 18th, 2015. He stated he wanted miter doors/drawer fronts with a special profile. These style of doors/drawer fronts are not standard, and are considered an upgrade from what we originally had discussed, and he was made aware that the doors/drawer fronts would be special ordered. He was also made aware, that this upgrade would cost an extra $1,000.00. As [redacted] stated in his complaint, on September 14, 2015, he gave me dimensions of his microwave and range. How could it be expected to have finished products at that very moment, when I'm just receiving the dimensions? And at that moment, didn't even have a selection of door and drawer front styles yet. On September 30, 2015, I told [redacted] that I would be out on Friday, October 2, 2015, to install cabinets. He agreed. Once I arrived with cabinet boxes and drawers, I had to stack them into carport because he had wet paint and he requested me to wait. I went back and installed on October 5, 2015. As far as I was aware, no workers were ever stopped from working due to waiting on me. [redacted] did state that the trim guy was holding up progress but never was I told that I was the one holding up progress. Once I got to install, a wall was out of plum and a receptacle had to be moved. Since the wall was off, I had to take three cabinets back to the shop to make minor adjustments. The hole in the wall was far from being large. It was the size of a receptacle. It was done upon the approval of [redacted] and he was also present when it was done. I also taped and mudded the old hole for him, which isn't the cabinet guy's job. But, I did it thinking it was helpful to the homeowner. [redacted] stated that several of the cabinets were put in the wrong places, but they weren't. Not one cabinet was in wrong place nor were any of the cabinets ever taken down to be moved. The job couldn't be completed that day due to me having to make minor changes to the three cabinets and due to the fact I was still dealing with the special ordered doors. [redacted] states that I made excuses by saying that the walls were not straight/square. They weren't excuses, it was the truth. If I make a mistake, I own it. I am only human and am not perfect by any means. On to the special ordered doors/drawer fronts: In order for the doors/drawer fronts to be ordered, the frames to the cabinets have to built first. Once material was ordered and delivered to me, I started on building the frames. Once the frames were built, the door/drawer fronts sizes could be measured for each cabinet. Once I had all door/drawer fronts sizes, I special ordered the doors and drawer fronts. I received the doors and drawer fronts on the 12th of October. I started putting the finish on the doors and drawer fronts right away. I then realized that the doors and drawer fronts had water spots on them and were not noticeable until stain was applied to them. I then contacted the manufacturer of the doors/drawer fronts to get the problem resolved. I, then took some of the doors to [redacted] on October 13th, 2015 to show him what I was dealing with at the moment. I told him that I would resolve this issue and that it wasn't of good quality to install with his set of cabinets. Once the new products were delivered to me, I would put finish on them and install them. This issue was out of my control completely. I also installed the other cabinets, that I had taken back to the shop, on the 13th as well. [redacted] had me contact his granite guy once I was done so that he could come out and measure the countertops. I have saved message where I sent the address of residence to the granite guy for [redacted]. Also, on this day, October 13th, 2015, is when [redacted] added the tub skirt to the job. Which in return, would require me to order more doors for the tub skirt. I was scheduled to install the doors and drawer fronts on October 16th, 2015. I couldn't install them due to the floor man was sanding the floors. [redacted] had stated previously that he would be going to visit his family back in California on the 20th of October. He left on October 16th, the day of the scheduled installation. I was informed of his leaving early, once I arrived at the job and his father was there and told me so. I then, proceeded to try and reach [redacted] to reschedule another installation date but he would not answer my calls nor respond to any of my messages. I have printed all of my call logs and printed all of the text messages that have been sent between [redacted] and myself. He stated in his complaint that there was poor communication on my part. I disagree with this statement as so does the printed call logs from phone company as well as the printed messages that I sent to him trying to get him to contact me. I am the one that had to talk with Ted Lark to figure out why [redacted] wasn't responding. Ted Lark explained to me that he had spoken with [redacted] on several occasions and every time he spoke with [redacted] stated to him that he would call me. He sent me a message on November 5th, 2015, stating that he had sent me an email. The email was of his complaint. I told [redacted] then that I would put a lien on the home if it came to that. Once I started checking into the lien process, I then, found out that the house does not even belong to [redacted]. It belongs to his wife and two other ladies. I'm assuming that along with Ted Lark, they are overseeing the job. He stated that he had searched for me in the database trying to find out if I had a contractor's license. I am not the contractor. I'm the sub contractor. I am only by state law, required to have a business license, worker's comp, and liability insurance as a sub contractor unless I'm doing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, or HVAC work. I did tell [redacted] during a conversation on the phone, that I would do anything I could to satisfy him. I also asked that he let me complete the job as I have a lot of time invested in this just as he does. I told him that once the job was complete, we could go over every cabinet if that's what he wanted to do and I would change, adjust, rebuild, etc. to his satisfaction. This job could have already been complete if [redacted] hadn't held me up on it. He felt the quality wasn't as good as what he previously had installed in the home. If I remember correctly, on the job, with [redacted], Ted Lark, and two of my helpers, [redacted] wanted me to tell/show him the quality difference in my cabinets versus his old cabinets. So I picked up one of the old, removed cabinets and shook it. It just about fell completely apart. I, then, took one of the new, built cabinets and shook it. Nothing on the new cabinet shook nor came loose. It was sturdy and well built. All of the cabinets that I build, are glued and nailed and also braces are put into place where needed for extra support. I, also, with [redacted]'s approval, then stood on top of one of the new cabinets to show him the durability of the cabinet. Time Frame: It changed when [redacted] chose miter doors/drawer fronts that had to be special ordered. Then, when doors arrived to me, they had water spots which were out of my control as well as anyone else's. I wouldn't have dare installed them with water spots on them. That would've been poor quality. I also had to make some minor changes to three cabinets so that was a minor setback on time frame. Once I came to finish installation, I learned he had left early for California. His one week trip has now turned into a month.Quality of Construction: The custom cabinets that I installed are made of real maple wood versus the particle board that the old cabinets were built from. The new cabinets had real maple wood mitered doors and drawer fronts versus his old cabinets had standard particle board doors and drawer fronts. I install these cabinets with heavy duty drawer slides and concealed hinges. [redacted] made a statement about some split wood. I am only aware of a shelf having split wood. I told [redacted] that I would be more than happy to replace it. He also states that cabinets were installed wrong. Once again, not one single cabinet was installed in a wrong place and every single cabinet is installed in its right place. Once again, I use wood glue on all cabinet parts. [redacted] made statement about cabinets being out of level. I use a level when installing to make sure that every cabinet is level and plum. Once job is complete, I recheck to make sure it is level again. No cabinets were out of alignment. One cabinet was shimmed because of the wall but [redacted] was aware and was okay with it. Quality of workmanship: I take pride in my work and I have offered to [redacted] and Ted Lark, to finish what I started. My offer still stands. I would love nothing more than to complete the job and show [redacted] how nice this set of cabinets will be once complete. All he has seen is the cabinet boxes and drawers. The drawer fronts and doors and crown molding haven't been installed yet. He has no idea what the finished the product will look like. I have 62 doors 26 drawer fronts stacked and ready to be installed. They have been ready since I showed up to install and couldn't. [redacted] had already left for California so I was at a standstill. I haven't failed at completing this job nor have I failed at any repairs this far. I have been ready for weeks to finish the job and make any necessary repairs that is needed per [redacted]'s request. I have asked already and will ask once again, to please allow me to finish the installation before passing [redacted] on the products. If any concerns arise after the completion of the job, we can deal with them accordingly. [redacted] has requested for a refund and for me to uninstall the cabinets and resale them. I cannot resale them due to being custom built to his home and his home's measurements. They are made just for his home. He also states that if I don't uninstall them, he will. His cabinets, once complete, has a 1 year warranty. If he removes the cabinets himself, it voids that warranty. Also, if [redacted] uninstalls them himself, he could possibly cause damage to them that can't be repaired. In 20 years, I have never had a customer refuse to let me finish the job nor have a complaint to this multitude. I have custom built and installed for the Best of Homes Shows, and in other contractors model homes. I have built and installed cabinets in the range of $100,000.00-$1,000,000.00 homes. Proposal: Again, I'm asking to let me complete the job. If there are any concerns or repairs needed at that time, they can be done upon completion. There isn't one thing on this job that can't be fixed or adjusted. If He wants new boxes for the cabinets, my offer still stands on rebuilding them.Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)There has been a lack of communication on [redacted]'s part. [redacted] gets hostile when his quality and workmanship is questioned. All this considered I will not receive a truthful response to my complaint to the Revdex.com. The fact remains with multiple witness that [redacted]'s Cabinet's engaged in a verbal contract with me not Ted Lark to build quality custom cabinets with no contractors license. [redacted] asked for 50% down which I have recently found out is against the law. Law prohibits requiring more than 1/3 down. I made the check directly to [redacted].It's great that "[redacted]" now makes the offer to build new boxes and correct all of his mistakes. He never made that offer until the response to the complaint I filed with the Revdex.com and the STATE OF TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INSURANCEBOARD FOR LICENSING CONTRACTORS. I made reservations to leave for California over two weeks prior to leaving on the morning of 10/20/2015. This was no secret to [redacted]. He started harassing me the day before I was to leave.Since notifying [redacted] and filing this complaint I have done my research and hired a licensed reputable cabinet company to build and install custom cabinets in our home. The new cabinets are built and installed by the professional licensed company. So at this point my prior offer for resolution to [redacted] remains.Proposals1. You have done some work and you are of the opinion that your cabinets are of excellent quality. Refund me $4,500.00 of my 50% $6,000.00 deposit and come and get your cabinet's and resell them. If you chose this option no complaints will be filed.2. I keep what is installed and I will uninstall them so my new cabinets can be installed. Complaints will be filed.I will consider any other reasonable proposals that do not entail finishing the job. SEE ATTACHED CERTIFIED LETTER TO [redacted] BUTLER CABINETSDue to [redacted]'s untruthful response, there will be no resolution thru this complaint with the Revdex.com. It will most likely be resolved in a court of law. At this point I would just like the complaint to remain on file for future homeowners. Homeowners need to be able to review and decide for themselves whether or not to hire [redacted]. Hopefully this can save another consumer from unscrupulous activity. Another complaint was filed by someone else about [redacted]'s Custom Cabinets that was unresolved in May of 2015, however no information was available for review. Complaints need to be viewable for all consumers so they can make an informed decision.Final Business Response I have several witnesses also, that I dealt with Ted Lark on doing the cabinets in [redacted]'s home. Ted stated to me in front of others that was present on the job, that he was the contractor over the job. We both had [redacted] be present when meeting at the home so that he could tell me what he was wanting in his soon-to-be remodeled home. That is something that is done on every job. Every contractor I work for has the homeowner pick out their stain, their wood selections, their countertops, their hardware, and they are present, on the job, to discuss what they are looking for in their kitchen cabinets. Again, I do not have to have a contractor's license to build and install cabinets in a home. I am not the one overseeing the job nor am I the one remodeling the home. The only people who have to have a contractor license is HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc. As far as half down on the job, it was verbally agreed upon with [redacted] to buy all materials for cabinets. If he had a problem with paying half down on the job, he could have said something on the front end and we could have worked something out. From the time I installed the cabinet boxes, I told [redacted] and Ted Lark that once the special ordered doors came in and were installed, if there were any problems, I would fix it.[redacted] has also stated that I harassed him. That is not true. I did tell [redacted] and Ted lark, both, that I would consult with my attorney if he didn't pay me the balance and let me finish the job. But as far as harassing him, I did not. Obviously [redacted] has done what he wanted to do and that was take out the cabinets that were installed and replace them with other cabinets from another cabinet company. Therefore, he isn't giving me an opportunity to fix any of his concerns or problems. In his proposals, he stated that no complaints would be filed if I reimbursed some of the deposit he paid. He has already filed two complaints, and has, as stated above, taken the cabinets out of the home. He also stated that he doesn't want me to finish the job. At this point, he has made all the decisions on how this case would be handled and has left me without any options other than to let this go into the court of law. I didn't want to have to take it that far, but he has left no other options.