This was my response to the customer. Thank you. Hello [redacted],
Thank you for taking out the time to write your detailed
review and criticism, as you can tell based on our reviews it is the first one
for us. I am not surprised to see a bad review however
I am...
surprised to see the context of the review. I think back to when we were at the estimate stages
and you saying to me that you never had luck with contractors... In hindsight I
should have paid more attention to that very telling statement.
After reading the review carefully and going back through my
notes and our emails, I would like to clarify a few things;
I guess let’s start with the Armstrong vs ACPI (comment that
implies that the kitchen cabinets were switched on you). We obviously already had this discussion,
however since you are bringing it up I would like to address it again. [redacted] cabinet division did get sold and
from the time of the original date of estimate (April 2014) to the date of
delivery of the cabinets they went through an official name change, but as I previously
explain and showed to you, the entire division got sold, the manufacturing
plant, people running the company and factory, people working in the company
and in the factory and the cabinets all stayed the same. I know you did not believe me the first time
I presented you with this information, at which time I invited you back to the
showroom and you and your husband verified and agreed that the cabinets in the
showroom from which you selected the cabinets in the first place and which were
selected before the name change, were in fact the same identical cabinets that were
installed in your home. Moreover, I feel
it is very important to remember that you did not select the cabinets from a
picture or from me telling you how good or bad they might be, but rather
selected them in person from an installed kitchen in the showroom.
The most surprising comment that I saw in your review was
about no work getting done. The last
meeting we had, I was asked by the both of you unanimously not to continue any
work until the situation with the cabinet doors is resolved. Which brings me to the most interesting part
of this situation. As I mentioned previously, you and your
husband physically selected kitchen cabinets from an existing kitchen that is
installed in the showroom, the process that took you over 4 months to
decide. You have stopped by the showroom
at least 3 times to look at the cabinets and other items before making your
final decisions. Again I have to stress
that the cabinets that are installed in your kitchen are identical to the
cabinets that you’ve selected from (you’ve already verified that at our last
meeting and the cabinets are still here if there is a need to verify them
again). 90% of your complaints regarding
the cabinets (finish, style, pullouts, and hinges) are exact to the cabinets
that you’ve selected from. There is no
bait and switch, there is simply buyer’s remorse. Any contractor, any store salesperson, etc.
would have told you that you selected a product and you received that exact
product and that’s that, I went the direction of trying to resolve your
concerns and look for solutions even offering to change the door styles at my
expense.
You are stating that the project was $45,000 and have
requested $25,000 from me to resolve the dispute (which until this morning I
was not aware existed) and that is after you added a half a bath remodel, 3 new
solid core doors, new trim, light fixtures and finishing trim and painting work
for your window installer, for which I only charged you materials and roughly
half of my labor cost and saved you close to $4,000 because I felt bad for how
things were going with the vendors. I
could probably keep going about all the free customization of the cabinets,
pullouts, new shelves, sending cleaners over a half a dozen times while we
waited for the replacement materials to come in, but let’s just say that no
good deed goes unpunished. As of now you
still have not paid in full and there is a balance of just over $8,000 (which I
obviously did not ask for even once, as the project has not been completed),
you stopped the work because of nothing more than simply noticing things in the
door style that you now do not like, but were and are there in the door style
in the showroom. I’ve met with you on
Sundays, early mornings and evenings to meet your requests and changed things
around to try and get this project to your liking, I feel that I went above and
beyond for you and was willing to continue doing so, you obviously
misunderstood my commitment to doing the right thing as some sort of a twisted
admission of guilt and therefore have an opportunity to correct your error in
selecting the style of the cabinet (and other items) at any expense to me, my
company and my reputation.
I will be there tomorrow as promised, but since you have decided
to take this approach I am feeling very differently about my continuing to go
the extra mile for you.at continuous expense to me. The issues that
exist (outside of the door stiles) are manufacturing issues and will be
addressed tomorrow with the manufacturer.
The last conversation I had with the customer we had an appointment for me to come out and take a look at the bracket only (I will address the rest below), I showed to the appointment and there was no one home or no one answered the door. I haven't heard from the customer since, until this...
complaint. The other items on this list are incorrect and misleading. This is the first time I hear about any power issues, after we left everything was working and it was not brought up in any single conversation (out of the many that we had since). There were two staircases painted / stained for the customer, but only one was redone by us (the upper staircase's wood was installed by a previous contractor and I implored the customer to redo that work as the wood looked old with an oily surface on it. The customer insisted that the wood was fine and that paint will cover it. I will point out that the stair case that we completed from scratch has no yellowing and we had to come back twice (at no charge) to repaint the upper staircase. After it yellowed again, I advised the customer that I will not continue to send painters to repaint the wood that I advised to be replaced from the begging. We left off on me fixing the rail bracket and not only was there no one there for the appointment and no follow up until this complaint, but now in this complaint there are items added that simply should not be there... I will be happy to provide copies of emails and texts back and forth repeatedly urging the customer to replace the wood on that staircase. Please let me know if you need me to provide additional information. Thank you.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: Dimitry is lying. I have absolute proof in the fact that I have saved all of the text messages from him. He said he was coming over. I waited all day. He never showed. I texted him again the next day asking what had happened... I have provided these images to you already. Let me know if you would like me to send you the screen shots of the conversations again. Happy to provide them to you.
Regards,
[redacted]
I am not sure what I can reply with when someone calls me a liar... I will not paint the staircase for the 4th time (the last two times were for free). I specified over and over again that the wood should be replaced, if the customer wants me paint again, there will be a charge. I would like the customer to provide more details regarding the electrical aspect as this complaint is the first time electric came up and even months later when the customer was going back and forth with me regarding the paint and the bracket, it hasn't come up once. When it went out and what caused it. I have no problem fixing my mistakes, but do have a problem being expected to fix other's.
Here is the verbiage from the follow up complaint: Hope you are staying as warm as possible during this cold spell. I just wanted to update you on the cabinet holding my microwave/oven. It has now started to develop a secondary crack, approximately 1.5 – 2 “ below the first crack. Again, not on a seam, and not a perfectly straight crack either. I have not run another clean cycle in the oven, that maybe caused this cracking. The underlined text refers to the same defective cabinet that has already been scheduled to be replaced and is sitting in the warehouse. Here is the email from the regional manager: All,
The replacement items have been ordered & the QC Manager
is giving them the white glove treatment
at the plant. They are going to put a heavy painted finish
on the doors. I’m not going to provide a delivery
date yet because I told them we didn’t want them rushed thru
the plant….I should have a better idea in
the next day or two of exactly when they will ship to
[redacted] but that will be within the delivery window we discussed.
I’ll be back with everyone as soon as I have a definitive
date. Which clearly addresses the time time table issue. I am again not certain with what I can respond as this is a manufacturing issue and I am doing everything in my power to address the situation.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: This message was sent a few weeks ago as an update to still unfinished work. Since then I have met with the contractor and reviewed the strategy. Until I see work performed I cannot accept that anything is resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]
This was my response to the customer. Thank you. Hello [redacted],
Thank you for taking out the time to write your detailed
review and criticism, as you can tell based on our reviews it is the first one
for us. I am not surprised to see a bad review however
I am...
surprised to see the context of the review. I think back to when we were at the estimate stages
and you saying to me that you never had luck with contractors... In hindsight I
should have paid more attention to that very telling statement.
After reading the review carefully and going back through my
notes and our emails, I would like to clarify a few things;
I guess let’s start with the Armstrong vs ACPI (comment that
implies that the kitchen cabinets were switched on you). We obviously already had this discussion,
however since you are bringing it up I would like to address it again. [redacted] cabinet division did get sold and
from the time of the original date of estimate (April 2014) to the date of
delivery of the cabinets they went through an official name change, but as I previously
explain and showed to you, the entire division got sold, the manufacturing
plant, people running the company and factory, people working in the company
and in the factory and the cabinets all stayed the same. I know you did not believe me the first time
I presented you with this information, at which time I invited you back to the
showroom and you and your husband verified and agreed that the cabinets in the
showroom from which you selected the cabinets in the first place and which were
selected before the name change, were in fact the same identical cabinets that were
installed in your home. Moreover, I feel
it is very important to remember that you did not select the cabinets from a
picture or from me telling you how good or bad they might be, but rather
selected them in person from an installed kitchen in the showroom.
The most surprising comment that I saw in your review was
about no work getting done. The last
meeting we had, I was asked by the both of you unanimously not to continue any
work until the situation with the cabinet doors is resolved. Which brings me to the most interesting part
of this situation. As I mentioned previously, you and your
husband physically selected kitchen cabinets from an existing kitchen that is
installed in the showroom, the process that took you over 4 months to
decide. You have stopped by the showroom
at least 3 times to look at the cabinets and other items before making your
final decisions. Again I have to stress
that the cabinets that are installed in your kitchen are identical to the
cabinets that you’ve selected from (you’ve already verified that at our last
meeting and the cabinets are still here if there is a need to verify them
again). 90% of your complaints regarding
the cabinets (finish, style, pullouts, and hinges) are exact to the cabinets
that you’ve selected from. There is no
bait and switch, there is simply buyer’s remorse. Any contractor, any store salesperson, etc.
would have told you that you selected a product and you received that exact
product and that’s that, I went the direction of trying to resolve your
concerns and look for solutions even offering to change the door styles at my
expense.
You are stating that the project was $45,000 and have
requested $25,000 from me to resolve the dispute (which until this morning I
was not aware existed) and that is after you added a half a bath remodel, 3 new
solid core doors, new trim, light fixtures and finishing trim and painting work
for your window installer, for which I only charged you materials and roughly
half of my labor cost and saved you close to $4,000 because I felt bad for how
things were going with the vendors. I
could probably keep going about all the free customization of the cabinets,
pullouts, new shelves, sending cleaners over a half a dozen times while we
waited for the replacement materials to come in, but let’s just say that no
good deed goes unpunished. As of now you
still have not paid in full and there is a balance of just over $8,000 (which I
obviously did not ask for even once, as the project has not been completed),
you stopped the work because of nothing more than simply noticing things in the
door style that you now do not like, but were and are there in the door style
in the showroom. I’ve met with you on
Sundays, early mornings and evenings to meet your requests and changed things
around to try and get this project to your liking, I feel that I went above and
beyond for you and was willing to continue doing so, you obviously
misunderstood my commitment to doing the right thing as some sort of a twisted
admission of guilt and therefore have an opportunity to correct your error in
selecting the style of the cabinet (and other items) at any expense to me, my
company and my reputation.
I will be there tomorrow as promised, but since you have decided
to take this approach I am feeling very differently about my continuing to go
the extra mile for you.at continuous expense to me. The issues that
exist (outside of the door stiles) are manufacturing issues and will be
addressed tomorrow with the manufacturer.
The last conversation I had with the customer we had an appointment for me to come out and take a look at the bracket only (I will address the rest below), I showed to the appointment and there was no one home or no one answered the door. I haven't heard from the customer since, until this...
complaint. The other items on this list are incorrect and misleading. This is the first time I hear about any power issues, after we left everything was working and it was not brought up in any single conversation (out of the many that we had since). There were two staircases painted / stained for the customer, but only one was redone by us (the upper staircase's wood was installed by a previous contractor and I implored the customer to redo that work as the wood looked old with an oily surface on it. The customer insisted that the wood was fine and that paint will cover it. I will point out that the stair case that we completed from scratch has no yellowing and we had to come back twice (at no charge) to repaint the upper staircase. After it yellowed again, I advised the customer that I will not continue to send painters to repaint the wood that I advised to be replaced from the begging. We left off on me fixing the rail bracket and not only was there no one there for the appointment and no follow up until this complaint, but now in this complaint there are items added that simply should not be there... I will be happy to provide copies of emails and texts back and forth repeatedly urging the customer to replace the wood on that staircase. Please let me know if you need me to provide additional information. Thank you.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: Dimitry is lying. I have absolute proof in the fact that I have saved all of the text messages from him. He said he was coming over. I waited all day. He never showed. I texted him again the next day asking what had happened... I have provided these images to you already. Let me know if you would like me to send you the screen shots of the conversations again. Happy to provide them to you.
Regards,
[redacted]
I am not sure what I can reply with when someone calls me a liar... I will not paint the staircase for the 4th time (the last two times were for free). I specified over and over again that the wood should be replaced, if the customer wants me paint again, there will be a charge. I would like the customer to provide more details regarding the electrical aspect as this complaint is the first time electric came up and even months later when the customer was going back and forth with me regarding the paint and the bracket, it hasn't come up once. When it went out and what caused it. I have no problem fixing my mistakes, but do have a problem being expected to fix other's.
Here is the verbiage from the follow up complaint: Hope you are staying as warm as possible during this cold spell. I just wanted to update you on the cabinet holding my microwave/oven. It has now started to develop a secondary crack, approximately 1.5 – 2 “ below the first crack. Again, not on a seam, and not a perfectly straight crack either. I have not run another clean cycle in the oven, that maybe caused this cracking. The underlined text refers to the same defective cabinet that has already been scheduled to be replaced and is sitting in the warehouse. Here is the email from the regional manager: All,
The replacement items have been ordered & the QC Manager
is giving them the white glove treatment
at the plant. They are going to put a heavy painted finish
on the doors. I’m not going to provide a delivery
date yet because I told them we didn’t want them rushed thru
the plant….I should have a better idea in
the next day or two of exactly when they will ship to
[redacted] but that will be within the delivery window we discussed.
I’ll be back with everyone as soon as I have a definitive
date. Which clearly addresses the time time table issue. I am again not certain with what I can respond as this is a manufacturing issue and I am doing everything in my power to address the situation.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: This message was sent a few weeks ago as an update to still unfinished work. Since then I have met with the contractor and reviewed the strategy. Until I see work performed I cannot accept that anything is resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]