Contractor Express, Inc.

Review: We tried numerous times to work with the sales representative and he was hard to reach, made us feel uncomfortable about his own personal life (i.e., [redacted] and we were burdening him), and misrepresented the quality of the cabinets. During his initial sales pitch he clearly stated there was no difference between a semi custom kitchen that he could provide and a custom kitchen, except for a difference in price. And, he never offered us any comparison. He also never showed me an example of the color of the island.

On February [redacted], he emailed me apologizing for his lack of communication and clear misrepresentation of the product. During the install, after numerous attempts, we finally met with him. He continued to pressure us and told us “we have to continue and finish the job.” However, we kept noting significant errors and kindly tried to tell him that we were mislead by him. For example, I told him a cabinet was bowed. He measured it and agreed but then said my eyes were focusing on a pencil mark behind the cabinet and I wouldn’t notice it later on. He then said “Do you really want another cabinet?” (It is an end cabinet, I will notice it and should certainly get what I paid for).

There were other negative interactions with the sales rep. He was verbally abusive to my wife calling her a child. He said to me that I should visually be able to tell the difference between 1 inch and 2 inches, when I had a concern about fitting a counter top on the counter. On another interaction, he yelled at me that other things are more important than cabinets and said that “I don’t give a [redacted] about his family” as he stormed out of my home. I could not work through any issues with him any longer. At that point on Feb [redacted], I stopped all construction of my kitchen. I have yet to continue work and am now still without a useable kitchen.

There are significant defects with the cabinets and the level of quality is below expectation. Cabinets came to my home broken, were warped, the paint was peeling, were the wrong door style, the wrong color island, have seams where they should not have seams, no trash roll out where agreed upon, and the interior of the cabinets are splitting and are made of particle board not plywood. There are numerous areas where the particle board is splitting making it less sturdy and likely to not last long. The front doors show seems is some areas, which is a defective and will worsen over time. This was at a cost of $39,000. I met with another associate on Feb. [redacted], to resolve this issue after numerous unsatisfactory interactions with the initial sales rep who had just recently began working for the company. She said she would get back to me in a few days. A few days later I received a letter dated Feb [redacted] offering to fix some of the issues. The problem is that is the overall quality of the cabinetry that was misrepresented and which I never signed for.

I paid an initial upfront cost of $17,000 and the remaining amount of $22,000 was recently charged on my AMEX. I have tried to resolve this with the company but all they want to do is replace them with other low quality cabinets. I spoke with both sales reps. informing both of them that I wanted a refund to return the cabinets. I spoke with the [redacted] on Feb [redacted] and tried to resolve it. On Feb [redacted], he offered a $13,333.10 return of funds only if I proved to him that I would discard that cabinets. That would leave me with paying you approximately $26,000 for no cabinets. This seems quite unjust.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund. Their sales representative was new to the company according to the [redacted] who I spoke with on the phone. I think he mislead us and misrepresented the quality and construction of the cabinetry.

Business

Response:

Contractor Express has been

in business for over 30 years and this is the first complaint we have received

with the Revdex.com. We are

a customer-service based company and take pride in how we treat our customers. As soon as [redacted] contacted us to

discuss his kitchen, management was at the house the following day. We thoroughly inspected the installed Kitchen

and compared it to the plans, elevations and detailed master checklist and came

to the clear conclusion that Contractor Express ordered this customer’s

cabinetry exactly to their specification. All facets of the job (color, construction,

door style, & layout) were exactly as specified on the signed drawings and

final checklist. These details were

reviewed and agreed to by the homeowner prior to ordering. They had an interior designer who was also

advising them on these purchases. The

particle board construction was agreed upon after the price for all-plywood was

deemed too high. The homeowners wanted a

more affordable option and were taken to see a full kitchen installation by the

same manufacturer in particle board construction. The homeowners based their final decision to

go with particle board construction on how impressed they were with the

cabinetry on that jobsite. So, the

cabinetry was in no way misrepresented to them and the customer was fully aware

of what they were ordering. Installation

of any of the cabinetry indicates acceptance of the product and they installed

the entire kitchen. Because the

manufacturer built this customer’s cabinetry to the correct specifications they

will not accept return of any material, particularly installed material. It was only after the cabinetry was fully

installed that the homeowners started to complain about their interactions with

the salesperson and only then that they decided they were unhappy with things

that were made clear prior to ordering.

The seams between cabinets were discussed at length with the salesperson

prior to ordering and the homeowners chose to have the seams rather than pay

custom prices for a run of cabinets to be built as one box. There was no peeling paint, splitting

interiors or incorrect doors on the job (some drawer fronts were being swapped

out and had already been delivered to Contractor Express). We fully acknowledged that there were quality

issues with 3 of the cabinets (two had minor paint damage and one was bowed) in

addition to that, one filler piece was produced in the wrong color and a

garbage can insert was missing. These

issues were addressed immediately by the salesperson and replacement parts were

ordered. With hundreds of parts and

pieces for a kitchen installation, the likelihood of a few pieces needing

replacement is high and should be expected within reason. Other than this, the kitchen was in perfect

condition and looked beautiful. The

salesperson even offered to re-order a few things that homeowner willingly ordered

but was now unhappy with after the fact.

We also offered to pay the contractor bill to make all the necessary

changes. Many of the complaints [redacted] listed are not based in fact and are highly exaggerated. Management reviewed the documented

interactions (both email and text) that the salesperson had with the customer

and there was no instance of an apology for clear misrepresentation of the

product. The correspondence was civil

and professional on both sides for the duration of the purchase and

install. The homeowner is completely

unwilling to negotiate any resolution other than a full refund or a very deep

discount for cabinetry he knowingly ordered and which was produced correctly

for him.

The following is a list of

materials that Contractor Express is willing to order because of customer

dissatisfaction. While the issues presented by the customer regarding these

pieces were not due to any error on the part of Contractor Express or Dura

Supreme, we are willing to concede these issues as a show of good faith. Any

fees resulting from the installation of these items, however, will not be

covered by Dura Supreme or Contractor Express.

·

Provide ¼” plywood panels to cover hood liner

blocking.

·

Replace two piers on underside of hood to add a

spice pullout on the left side and rectify 2” counter top preference.

·

The above-mentioned MWD2754 (cabinet with the coffee

maker) will be cut down 1/2” shorter to accommodate the homeowner's preference

of 2” thick counter top.

·

Provide ¼” plywood panels to cover 32mm boring

on open shelf, glass door cabinetry and tall book cases.

·

Provide ¼” plywood panels to finish the underside

of the wall cabinetry.

·

Replace two panels above Subzero units as

5-piece panels.

This list constitutes the full scope of compensation

Contractor Express and Dura Supreme agree to make for this project. The

customer agrees to the proposed compensation and agrees that no further claims

beyond warranty issues will be made on this project.