ComplaintsforSH Custom Cabinets LLC

• Initial Complaint

  10/25/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am filing a complaint regarding the conduct of Steve H******* the owner of SH Custom Cabinets. I met with Steve regarding building custom cabinetry for my grandfather's house. I believed the house would be fixed within a 6 month period given the promises made by Steve H*******. The cabinetry delayed our repairs by several months both flooring and plumbing depended on cabinetry to button-up the process creating a hardship for all involved. Steven provided a bid in late January and we agreed to price of which I paid the 50% upfront to locked-in price of materials and the job would have a guaranteed completion date. While working with Steven he made guarantees about quality, timeliness, pricing and install everything appeared to be relatively simple and easy. Where I begin noticing problems was when I asked for a copy of the contract that I signed after providing a $4500 check written out to his business. Approximately, from the time of Mid February this year 2021....I begin hearing excuses about receiving the receipt after payment, then he asked to come out a few more times interacting with my assistant and the contractor. After meeting Steven the next two times to remeasure my assistant and contractor became concern regarding the hesitancy of Steven H******* getting the project started because of claims about having issues with his business partner over a woman and needing to move his shop of which I have no idea where it is located since he moved. In any case, the threats, misuse of funds and requests for additional funds became a major interruption then he lied about being a contractor. The overall nature of conversation and hesitancy to complete the job lead me to ask for a refund as the threats toward my father, his demeanor created concern for all parties involved. In addition, I asked him to not come back after speaking with with an investigator regarding findings as it was unsafe. I mention this in the event of retaliation. He "Breached Contract".

  Business response

  11/10/2021

  See attached documents: (Contract, 1st Invoice, 2nd Invoice)

  I would like to address all issues brought up by the customer;

  - Original bid was made end of January with an updated bid beginning of February. Contract was signed 2/18/21 with no "guaranteed completion date" due to the current status of the home. Flooring, plumbing, general repairs from contractor were still needed to be done before cabinets were built and dropped off. Both flooring / plumbing were able to be taken care of prior to cabinetry being built. Mr. ****** agreed to everything written on the contract and it was signed & dated by both parties. (See attached contract)
  

  - Explained to Mr. ****** that my company had nothing to do with the install portion of the cabinets, and that would be all up to his contractor. What was offered and agreed upon was re-spraying of the current kitchen and attaching new upper cabinet doors to existing cabinets. (See attached contract)

  - Over the next few months, I had stayed in constant contact with Mr. ****** about his current timeline for the kitchen and when we would be starting. Around the end of June, I had returned to the residence to get final measurements prior to starting the build process. Around this same time, the price increase for EVERYTHING in Oregon had been on the rise. When I had met Mr. ****** upon returning to the residence, not a single thing had changed in the home...no progress had been made on getting the kitchen or bathroom ready for new cabinets. Regardless, the initial conversation with Mr. ****** was to explain and come to an understanding about a price increase on the original bid that we had made due to the price increase on lumber, hardware, materials, etc. Since Mr. ****** was making a home insurance claim for the water damage on the original cabinets, his response was "I'm ok with it, but you need to take that up with my contractor and insurance company since they are taking care of it all."

  - Explained that we could come to a middle ground on a price increase so both parties were happy with it. Mr. ****** stated he wanted an idea of what that number would look like ASAP so we could get it all figured out with the insurance company. This is where things started to go downhill...July 1st, I had sent an email to the customer and his contractor of all three documents attached (contract & both invoices). Over the next 2-4 weeks, I received numerous phone calls from Mr. ****** about how I am ripping him off due to a price hike out of nowhere that wasn't discussed, his contractor not thinking I'm a real cabinet company, etc.

  - After about a month of going back and forth, Mr. ****** finally decided that he didn't want to proceed with my company building the cabinets and wanted to cancel the contract and would like a full refund. I explained that lumber and materials were already purchased and the contract stated "non refundable" deposit...Also explained that the best solution would be for us to just move forward and get the cabinetry built. Mr. ****** declined and threatened personal and legal action if a refund was not in his mailbox within the next few days. After a few more conversations with Mr. ****** and him not satisfied with my response about the refund, he stated he no longer wanted any communication without his attorney being involved and "that he would see us in court."

  - The allegations of issues with a so called business partner that I don't have, threats, misuse of funds, lying about being a contractor, etc. are all false and are subject to slander and defamation.
  

   

  Had I canceled the contract for whatever reason, it would be my full responsibility to refund a customer their deposit money. The contract that was agreed upon and signed by the customer CLEARLY states, "non refundable deposit". Since this was on the customer's end and I tried numerous times to come to an agreement to get their cabinets built and nothing was agreed upon, seemed like going separate ways was the best for all parties involved.
  

  Customer response

  12/02/2021

  
  Complaint: ********
   

  To Whom It May Concern:

   

  I would like to request the complaint be reopened as I was not able to respond quickly enough due to continuing family emergency issues.  My father was impacted by this incident financially, and I have been trying to take care of him as he has terminal illness during the time in which we had been dealing with an insurance claim.  My father and I hired this company to make the cabinets, and as a result have had an extended claim process due to the inactivity of this business.

   

  We would like to complete this complaint and include letters from our General Contractor, and my assistant that helped to communicate with SH Custom Cabinets as well provide purtinant details from communication involving inappropriate texts from the owner.  The behavior of this individual owning the business involved physical threats, insults among reports received about this individual who has a history of violence that an Officer encouraged me to look-up regarding Assault 1, 2, 3 and 4.  At the time because of the volatility of the business owner the Officer recommended along with my General Contractor suggested to remove this person from the project altogether to avoid an incident.  My last visit with the owner had involved him bringing a friend with him to ask for more money several months after taking a $4500 for down-payment at which time Steven the owner had been insultive and confrontational.  Steven's friend had approached me with a concealed weapon, but then backed up trying to arouse a response I assumed that is when I decided to look into who this individual was we had hired.  Much of the communication there after was abusive and involved insults in front of my Contractor and insults with threats of physical harm to my father over the phone.

   

  Questions also that I had and documentation needed from SH Custom Cabinets were:

  1. I need the name of his insurance company along with a 'Certificate of Insurance' which I asked for and never received.

  2. A copy of the receipts of purchase of materials that should have taken place after receiving my check of $4500 as promised to lock our rates in according to binding of contract. 

  3. SH Custom Cabinets should have provided the 'Consumer Protection' contract that the State of Oregon requires and he said he would furnish and never provided.

  4. The scope of work was drawn-up but did not provide the product after having measurements of matching doors to the cabinet, and standardize sizes of vanities along with exact measurements of the lower cabinets.  The products we requested he had and should have furnished before floor was laid.  There should have not been anything that would have disturbed him completing the job within a reasonable time.  "We had the old cabinets on premise" so there should not have been a delay.  I would like a further detailed description of that as well.

  5. Further explanation of why he stated he would install the cabinets and told us my General Contractor, assistant and myself that both his business partner and he would install the cabinets about taking my check then 6 months later told me otherwise.  Before he had the falling out with his business did his partner have the Contractors License, Bond and Insurance or did they both have the credentials?  What changed during the bid and receipt of my check for down-payment over the span of 6 months?  What is Steven's business partners name and contact information at the address in Cottage Grove Oregon?  Can the business partner furnish the credentials that they claimed to have?

  6. Another question is where is the business located specifically, as he claimed he moved the cabinetry shop in the middle of receiving my check and around June 2021 due to a fall-out with this business partner?  Due to all the problems he was having financially and otherwise as a result of the business partner fall-out my project had significant delays causing financial hardship on my father I would appreciate getting more particulars of the current address.

   

  7. Note Question: If Steven now states he is not a contractor my question is the following.  If Steven planned on creating a product that had exact measures and existing cabinets that we were replacing on the property why would it matter if the drywall was up or not if he did not state he would install the cabinets he was to produce?  In order to install cabinets you have to have a contractors license which he is admitting he lied in the response through the BBB by saying the property was not ready for him to complete his project.  Otherwise, Steven would have produced the product shortly after receiving my check of $4500 then told my General Contractor to install the product sooner that 6 months with nothing to offer.   

   

  Thank you,

   

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

  Direct: ************

   

  Business response

  12/17/2021

  I have no interest in wasting more of mine or the BBB's time in disputing allegations that are simply not true. The customer continues to make false accusations & statements that again are subject to slander and defamation of character.

  Once again, the customer signed a contract that clearly states "non refundable deposit." Offered to build the products that we agreed on, customer declined and wanted a refund. Offered to deliver materials that were purchased with the half down deposit, customer declined due to not having any use with lumber & hardware that wasn't built. Again, offered to just build the cabinets like previously agreed upon so we can move forward...customer declined and threatened to have me arrested if I step foot on his property for any reason.

  CLEARLY explained to the customer this was the final offer and that if he chose to 1) cancel the contract, 2) not take the materials that were purchased...then we would be subject to keeping the "non refundable deposit" and using said lumber and materials for another customer.

  Customer's response was that he wanted his refund in a check within 3 business days or else he would attempt to solve this in court and then hung up the phone call.
  

  After 3 days of no refund check, customer called and was screaming over the phone, wondering where his refund check was. During that phone call, he stated he no longer wanted any communication with myself or anyone involved with my company without an attorney present. Agreed with the customer that was probably the best option for all parties involved...apologized for not being able to come to an understanding and wished him the best moving forward.
  

  Customer response

  12/20/2021

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This response from the business is a fabrication of the truth, and I will be submitting shortly all documentation from interested parties that were affected by a more than 8 month wait for the product that SH Custom Cabinets was paid to provide.  I am not aware of anyone that throws away $4500 just to do so, again where are the receipts Steven showing you purchased the materials on the date you received my check.  You had stated you would be working on my project multiple times over the period of 8 months of hearing your excuses.  In addition, you also stated you would install the cabinets which you alluded to the fact and stated you were a contractor not true.  As a matter of fact, why would I provide you with $4500 and agree to pay the other half of this amount only to install the cabinets myself.  My contractor and the insurance company would have not agreed to enter into a contract with you if we did not believe you would install and piece together your product that's why we hired a specialist in your field of work.  So why would anyone provide $10,000 to some random person to provide a product that I could have purchased at HomeDepot if I wanted to install it myself?  Another question is why would I throw away money that the insurance company set aside for this project it does not make since any of your claims Steven?  You have multiple professionals involved here in this project plumbers, drywallers, electricians, insurance adjusters, a general contractor among others that were working alongside you, waiting on you after 8 months of excuses and were affected by your lack of performance why would someone say, "Hey I don't want to do business with you and keep my money."  Not to mention don't you think the insurance company would want to know why the project was taking so long.  You never furnished any evidence of materials that you purchased for this project the day you received the check nor afterwards, I have just your words stating you said I did not want to do business with you.  That seems like an expensive decision on my part that would affect the insurance claim, and costs of utilities among mortgage payments to our house all so I can give you the money.  Too many people were involved here that tried working with you Steven, and you have a history of violence.  When you did not provide any product then acted the way you had to my father, the contractors and others then made that last threat then that's when I looked into your history and advised you to stay off the property. 

  My father is dying of cancer as I told you before, so do you think we have time to play around and throw money away and the project was held up because you did not provide a product do you think the insurance company or the contractors have time to waste.  I am asking for a full refund Steven this is not going away, and another thing facts are facts defamation or slander have to do with falsehoods.  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ******

*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. ↩