Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  09/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  On 3/15/23, I signed a proposal with Delta Cabinets to have my cabinets refaced and get new drawers installed. Measurements were taken at various times by 2 employees. I wanted the work done in June. I was told that, worse case scenario, work would take 3 days. Work was done by a few different men on June 14, 15, 16, 19. I went out of town for a week and work resumed on 6/30. After that day, I noted many problems such as drawer handles not being level-(no template was used to drill the holes!) and some doors were not closing correctly. Also, there were many rough edges and a lack of shine to doors. A field supervisor, ***, came out on 7/5 to inspect. He stated that the hinges needed adjustments. On 7/6 and 7/10, a different worker came and re-stained some doors and tried to make adjustments to the hardware. He drilled 2 more holes in a drawer front, making it unusable. Two of them were to be replaced by *** on 7/27. One of them was re-made too big and there was also a problem with the other. *** stated that he believed the doors were warped and would need to be completely replaced. That is the LAST time that anyone did work at my home. After 7/27, several cracks appeared on doors. As I began to put things away in the drawers, I noticed that they were not the same size as my previous ones. I have no idea why. Several of the drawer fronts do not even match the others - the grain of the wood is different.In August, the company moved its shop down the block. During that time, I emailed the owner, ***********************, several times but he did not respond to many of them. I also left voicemails during the whole process. I think he returned a call 1 time. He has NEVER set foot in my house during this whole process. He apparently has no plan of what to do and no intention of doing anything to fix the multiple issues.I have paid him according to the schedule I was provided. I will now need to use another company to correctly finish the job I paid Delta Cabinets to do.

  Customer response

  10/02/2023

  There are many items in your response that I have questions or concerns about.

  
  

  • Im not sure why my cabinet refacing is involved in your hurricane *** insurance issue.  *** was 2 years ago.  Are you telling me that the wood you used was sitting in your shop for 2 years?

  • I dont know why the doors need to be tested for a cause of warping. Surely you dont plan on using the same doors? Many of them have problems beyond warping. These include cracks, splintered pieces, crooked handles, poor stain application, etc. 

  • You state that different hinges may solve the problem.  If that is the case, why wasnt it tried before? There are some doors that need to have a hinge that stops at 90 degrees because they hit things when opened completely. I mentioned this to one of the workers and he implied that different hinges could not be used.

  • You state you would send them for testing.  Send them where?  Im confused because you also say you are capable of testing at the new shop. You also state that a first step would be more testing? What tests have you already performed?

  • I asked about a warranty for future purposes. Some of the problems with the doors, specifically cracks, occurred after the last time your workers were at my house. This is why I asked for a copy of the warranty.

  • There are multiple problems that occurred because of human error/incompetence. How will these issues be addressed? Do you have different/better workers who will ensure that these problems dont reoccur? These include but are not limited to:

    • Holes that were drilled for handles without using a template. This caused the handles to be crooked and whole drawer fronts to be taken away for replacement - one of which came back the wrong size. 

    • Drawer boxes that are smaller than my previous drawers. 

    • Pieces of trim that are falling off because they were not secured correctly.

    • Doors that need additional stain and some kind of varnish so that they match the drawers. 

    • Drawer fronts that are obviously from a different batch of wood because the grain is completely different from everything else. 

    • Mismeasurement of cabinets and drawers.

  • I cant believe that after all of this time and mess, you would still want me to pay the remaining balance of less than $500. I want you to refund me a lot more than that after all the time Ive spent dealing with a situation that is not my fault.

  • You state that a tech would pick up the doors for testing. Who is that?  Why are you not coming yourself to see what is wrong? Ive asked for you to come out many times.

  • What do you mean about a remedy is discovered and decided that negates a reason to reinstall? 

  • My definition of quick is not anything that takes months.

  • What do you mean by 2 schedule blocks each week?  What do you consider a block of time? What would be done during this time?

  • You dont need to sense that I am past ready to be finished.  Ive told you in several emails that Im beyond ready to have this resolved. You either dont respond or promise to get in touch and then dont. It would never have gotten to this point if you had listened and responded to my concerns from the very beginning. You also mention patience. I have been patient for more than 3 months past when the job was estimated for completion. Patience has its limits. 

  • You have been stalling on completing the work since at least July.  ***** told me that there would be a plan in 1 week. No plan arrived. Someone will be in touch this week.  No one contacted me. Meanwhile, youve had $10,000 that I paid you because I trusted you and took you at your word.  I dont anymore. 

  
  

  Due to your lack of knowledge and understanding of the scope of the work to be done and your repeated lack of communication with me, I think that the best thing for both of us is for you to refund me the total amount that I have paid so that I can start over with a different company. I should not have to wait months to have a job completed that was begun 4 months ago but was supposed to take 3 days.

  
  

  
  

  --
  

  *********************

   

  Here is an email I received from Delta:

   

  From: Delta Cabinets Office Manager <************************************@gmail.com>
  Date: Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 10:18 PM
  Subject: Cabinets
  To: *********************** <******************>, ********************* <****************>
  

  
  
  

  *****, 

  Please remain patient and amicable and we can get past this. 

  
  

  I understand your frustration and sense you are past ready to be finished with this. I too want this over, and resolved as soon as possible. 

  
  

  Resolving this among ourselves can be very affordable and relatively quick. Quick meaning "months" rather than "years".

  
  

  If this gets turned over to the attorneys who are working with the insurance companies regarding the mess hurricane *** put us in, Things could become complicated. We dont want this any more than you do. 

  
  

  We are coming into a  time within the next 2 weeks where we will have the time and can get back to looking at your concerns and decide what we can do. 

  
  

  I would recommend as a first step, More testing. 

  We need to test the doors (worst of) for the cause of warp.  And breach of tolerance to determine if different hinges may solve the problem. 

  
  

  How? We remove 3-5 of the worst of the apparent warped pieces, while still under acclimation of the **** and send them for testing . This is a type of testing we are now capable of performing at our new facility. We were not capable of performing these tests at our old facility. Now, We can.     

  
  

  That said, Please keep us apprised next week, and week after schedule options for you. Once ours match up, we can arrange a tech to pick up the subjects to be tested. We will retrieve up to 5 of the doors/DF's that you deem to be the worst. 

  
  

  We will pick these up, perform tests required at our facility, Then, We can make some firm decisions. We can have these back and reinstalled within 3-5 business days, Unless, a remedy is discovered and decided that negates a reason to reinstall. This is what we are hoping and planning for.  

  
  

  You mentioned "Warrantee '' in one of your earlier mails. 

  We can take the warranty path if you prefer, however, 

  Warranty SOP's pick up once projects are closed up and all material and labor is (Paid In Full).   

  
  

  Your project is not (Paid In Full). Therefore the weight of the warranty laws will not help you.

  
  

  Please let us know how you would like us to proceed.  

  
  

  Subject Product Collection Schedule: WE:10/7/23 and/or 10/14/23  

   2 schedule blocks each week would be fantastic. 
  

  Delta Cabinet Doors & Custom Cabinetry 

  280 ***********.

  *******, ** 70123

  ************

  Business response

  10/05/2023

  *********************:                                     CC: BBB New Orleans                         10/3/23
  
  Hello **************, We were surprised to hear of your complaint to the BBB as I thought we were working together pretty good on a resolution to your concerns. Nevertheless, we intend to do everything the same as we do with all our jobs regardless of what category our customers fall into at the time.  We have two categories for our customers. #1. Happy, and #2, OTW to Happy . This stands for On Their Way.To Happy.
  
  We have been helping homeowners find their way to Happy HomesOver 40 Years now. Its is hard to believe we have been doing this for so long. However,we have. And the proof is right here at the BBB Site. We have partnered with the BBB for many years on a variety of community functions. We have always addressed our cases promptly and thoroughly thereby maintaining our good rating.
  
  Before we talk about the cabinets, I would like to make a few clarifications to the record and bring our new audience (the BBB Site and its audience of third-party onlookers) up to speed with the matter that exists between You, and Delta **************** (A subsidiary of D & L Griding Co.Inc).
  
  #1. While **************************, do have a vested interest because I am employed by Delta Cabinet ********* Your motion is not accurate in that you imply, I am the sole owner. This is not accurate.  I am the ** of Delta. As manager, I am fortunate enough that I have technical employees within my command, inside a variety of fields that are much better than myself at certain tasks. Part of your complaint is that I never came out personally. Here is the reason for it. We had someone better, faster, more available, and more responsible for the technical makeup of the complaint.   
  #2. The job was finished, and payment was declined despite Delta having had finished the job and presented invoice three times. Parts and doors were reworked, repaired, refinished to your liking three rounds, no questions asked. Therefore, the job sat in open status, unpaid before the investigation into the damaged by *** investigation began.
  #3. This is a Multi-Level-Matter. Material in stock at our warehouse during hurricane *** became damaged by hurricane *** and is now subject to a lost-property-claim dispute between Delta *************** and **************************** It has been indicated in these court cases that some, or all the materials used in the door manufacturing of these doors may be affecting the stability of the doors built and installed at your home. Lawsuits for this barrage of worm cans are just getting started.
  
  The third bullet above has been the key element in the painstaking wait time between each bit of action and the move of our company which inevitably had to take place all as part of this overarching mess that we are tail spinning out of ever since hurricane ***.  
  
  You have probably figured out by now, one of our e-mails crossed in the mail with your BBB letter. We were reaching out with a plan that hoped to satisfy your concerns without having you have you wait for the courts to call.
  
  We plan to get your job corrected to acceptable industry standards one way or another. If you want to do it in public for the BBB and all to watch, whether it by web-blog or TV Documentary, I am OK with it. Just remember that everything takes longer when it is being filmed for TV.
   ****Our team will be in touch with a plan within 2-weeks****
  
  Meanwhile, please feel free to email me at my direct email.
  **********************************************************************************
  *********************** Acting for Delta **************** 10/3/23.
  

  Customer response

  10/06/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  

  *****, 10/6/23

  
  

  Thank you for replying. I have concerns about some of your statements.  If I am supposed to be communicating with a technical employee about these questions, please let me know how to contact that person.

  
  

  I do not think that my job is finished as you stated because I am missing 2 drawer fronts, have cabinet doors with cracks, and doors that dont close completely. These are not all of the problems.  Ive sent you emails with more comprehensive lists.  If you or your tech need that comprehensive list, please let me know.

  
  

  I have never been given an invoice. I have a paper, handwritten by you, that you emailed me on 6/16 that has a breakdown of what percent I was to pay and when. It states that the last 10% is due on completion. I did pay 5% on the 19th because you asked me to do so even though again, the job is not complete. If you need a copy of that, please let me know. 

  
  

  I never said that everything was to my liking.  How could I with all of the issues Ive told you about? This is why I do not think the job is complete. 

  
  

  I have no idea what you are talking about when you state: whether it by web-blog or TV documentary and it being filmed for TV. I reached out to the BBB as a last resort because I had not heard from you or anyone else from Delta *************** for over 2 weeks, even though you said my kitchen concerns would be addressed ASAP. 

  
  

  An employee of Delta ***************. is the one who told me that the doors were warped and needed to be replaced. I will agree to the testing that you mentioned in an earlier email. I can be home from school by 4pm on the following days so that someone can pick up 3-5 doors for testing and to inspect other issues: October 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19. Please let me know what day works best for your technical employee.

  
  

   

  
  

  --
  

  *********************
  

   
  
  
   
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩