Stokes Woodworking

1. We NEVER APPROVED any sample that looked like what was installed. Mr. [redacted] statement to the contrary is incorrect. In fact, Mr. [redacted] himself admits in his statement, “The plywood used for the panels had a more active grain than the original sample”.2. Birch does not take stain evenly unless conditioned beforehand. See these links: • [redacted]Apparently, Mr. [redacted] either did not know this or chose not to do this. 3. Workmanship is most definitely an issue with the cabinets that have been installed. Mr. [redacted] incorrectly states that we have only one issue with his work. This is incorrect – we have many issues, and have communicated that to him many times. In regards to the workmanship of the current installation, the past work that Mr. [redacted] cites as having done for us is irrelevant. The problems we have with his workmanship include the following:• First, ALL of the doors would need to be replaced since the grain is not what was approved.  • There is a hole in the cabinet in the island.• A base cabinet is the wrong size not allowing the granite to be installed properly. • There are two cabinet doors that are not the correct size; there are also cabinets for which the spacing is not correct.• The staining is so bad no two cabinets are the same.  The island is mostly plywood in the front and stained so dark that it does not even match the rest of the cabinets, and the cabinet around the refrigerator is totally unacceptable.  These issues have nothing to do with the third party contractor but rather the quality of cabinet installed by Mr. [redacted].  Why did Mr. [redacted] install cabinets with a hole, wrong sizing, poorly stained, not approved wood, etc? They should never have been delivered with all of these issues.  4. Mr. [redacted] states that “grain is not something we have much control over”. That is false. Mr. [redacted] demonstrated this himself by supplying us with a sample door that he proposed to use to replace SOME of the doors to fix the problem. While the grain pattern was better, the problem with this door is that the stain is not even close to the stain that is already installed. This would have been an unsatisfactory solution to the problem of the doors. And as we have stated many times to him, this is only one of the problems with Mr. [redacted]’ work.5. Mr. [redacted] states that he was not given a chance to make adjustments after the cabinets were installed by a third party. Mr. [redacted] had in fact recommended this third party. In addition, the fact that two of the doors were the incorrect size has nothing to do with a third party and everything to do with the kind of work Mr. [redacted] did on this project. The reason that Mr. [redacted] was not given the opportunity to correct this is that he did not propose an adequate resolution to the problems we have already enumerated. 6. Mr. [redacted] states that we “have also had problems with other contractors”. We deny this, and it irrelevant to the work he did in this case. 7. Mr. [redacted] makes yet another incorrect statement when he says that “The cabinets were delivered to her house and then installed within the next day. This gave her ample time to inspect them.” In fact the cabinets were delivered and installed the same day, giving us NO TIME to inspect them. Mr. [redacted] was supposed to deliver the cabinets on May 12 and they were going to be installed that same day – we have email documentation of this. Mr. [redacted] called to say that he needed another day and he was going to deliver them around 7-7:30am on May 13th. He did not deliver until later after I had gone to work.  The contractor was responsible for unloading the cabinets and installation so they were doing it all the same day.  We did NOT have these cabinets for 24 hrs. - that is not correct.  I came home at lunch time, saw the cabinets and stopped work immediately. I also called Mr. [redacted] that afternoon to discuss my concerns.  8. If we had been presented an acceptable solution instead of Mr. [redacted] disagreeing with our concerns, there would have been a different outcome.  Mr. [redacted] did not present such a solution.  It is not to our advantage to engage any further work from Mr. [redacted].   We have not only paid money to Mr. [redacted] to have these unacceptable cabinets installed - we now have to pay someone to take them down and dispose of them.  We also have been without a kitchen since May 11th.  Why would we subject ourselves to more emotional and financial duress if an acceptable solution was present?   In summary, Mr. [redacted] statement is filled with incorrect statements, his workmanship was poor, and he did not propose a satisfactory way to address all of the problems with his workmanship. We have pictures that clearly show the problems with the installed cabinets.Given all of the issues with these cabinets he should have admitted all of his mistakes and offered to remove the cabinets and totally redo them to what we approved and paid for, or given us our deposit back. Using his own words in his statement, he installed cabinets that were not what we approved - “The plywood used for the panels had a more active grain than the original sample”. He did neither. His proposed solution of replacing a few doors and/or panels does not solve all of the issues. 
Regards,
[redacted]

I have been in business since 1986. I have been continuously working since then and this is the very first complaint that anyone has ever filed with the Revdex.com. This customer has been very difficult to work with from the beginning and has also had problems with other contractors. Her...

complaints are completely unfounded and we are prepared to see her in court if the final payment is not received. Samples presented to her were the samples she approved. Samples were constructed with veneer plywood. Plywood is used for door panels and cabinet ends because it is more stable than solid wood. Solid wood grows and shrinks with changes in humidity.Plywood and solid wood take stain exactly the same. They are the same wood, the only difference is that the plywood has a thinner top layer of veneer on the finished sides.The plywood used for the panels had a more active grain than the original sample. It was the same wood she approved. She did not like the active grain, so I agreed to replace the doors that had this grain pattern.Workmanship should not be a part of this customers issues. We previously supplied bathroom cabinets to her at 2 different times. If workmanship were an issue why would we have been hired for a 3rd job.Customer has 1 issue: She does not like the active grain in some of the door panels. Wood is a natural product so the grain is not something we have much control over. Because she was unhappy, I agreed to replace these doors. I was not given that opportunity. I am not sure why she is blowing this up like she has. She has not given us the opportunity to get back in and make adjustments after the cabinets were installed by a third party. We offered to do this at no cost to her even though we were not the installers on the job. If we had the opportunity to go in and make adjustments with doors and spacing between doors and replace the panels that had grain she was unhappy with, there would not be an issue. The cabinets were delivered to her house and then installed within the next day. This gave her ample time to inspect them. If they were not happy with the quality, they should never have been installed. She is living in the house and had the opportunity to inspect them before installation. I will be happy to provide a more specific timeline if necessary.