So now I have one for you. I order cabinets … delivery is dicey … on, then off, then on, off …finally on … and delivered. Yay! Drag the cabinets out of their boxes. One is defective (poor workmanship). Homeowner installation (cabinets only). The same company that delivered has scheduled a template for counters … which requires the cabinet be installed. To meet the schedule, I install the cabinet … it’s largely no good anyway, so I don’t sweat it. By the way, as soon as I find out the cabinet has an issue, I FAX the company a complete description of the problems and request that a replacement be ordered and delivered by the time the counters are scheduled to be installed (their schedule).
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They ignore my FAX … I make numerous phone calls to resolve this and keep things rolling along. I finally cancel my order for the cabinet and counter due to lack of response. I ask for a refund: the cabinet, the counter (fabrication and install), an estimated reinstall fee for the cabinet, and an estimated delivery cost. They say to bring the cabinet back for a refund. I say no, come tear it out and take it back.
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Here’s my logic … even though I installed it, I’m no longer in a position to install it the second time … or feel my time is now worth something. If I could no longer install it, I would have to pay someone to do so. If I paid someone to begin with, I’d have to pay them again to do it over. Plus I may likely have to pay a delivery fee for the new cabinet (I paid a single delivery charge for all my cabinets including the defective one).
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Am I justified asking for a reinstall, delivery cost, and for them to come tear it out and return the defective cabinet at their cost?
Replies
No doubt, after all the poor communication on their side, you feel totally justified in demanding better support from them. If push came to shove, I'd be on your side.
But you know what they're going to say. If the cabinet was defective, why did you install it? Even though it made sense to put it in temporarily, in light of the need to make a template for the counter top, that would be viewed as a separate issue, in a court room. They know that.
The fact that you installed a defective cabinet brings your claim into question. Perhaps it was damaged during the installation and you're trying to get a free replacement. That's a hypothetical which any decent lawyer would propose in court.
So you're not going to get any free removal/installation labor out of them and, unless you back off your demands and become more diplomatic, you may not get a replacement cabinet from them, without paying for it.
Of course they should know better than to take their customer service so lightly. In this day of the internet, no business can make that their standard practice without it having an adverse impact on sales.
Best wishes for an amiable conclusion.
I felt their contract and schedule held me to installing it as there were penalties if I wasn't ready for counter template. The cabinet was defective. We took pics showing clearly the problems. Thinking in hindsight ... could have informed them of the problem and said that unless a replacement was provided ASAP, I wouldn't be able to meet the template requirement. That would have documented fault, I suppose and put them back on the hook.
Hindsight. Pay your money take your choice.
Clew
Justified? Yes
Gonna get it? Probably not!
What brand were these cabinets? Inquiring minds need to know - time to out them.
Doug
Really didn't have a problem w/ the brand of cabinets ... generally all were fine ... just the usual big volume production and you are bound to have a unit that had bad workmanship and it gets overlooked in the QC. ... although it shouldn't have been overlooked. I won't bad mouth the cabinets ... it was the provider that was the problem.
I feel for you
I've had cabinet deliveries like that in the past. it helps when you order a cabinet to put a name with the face that takes your order. thats something you wont find in the big box home centers
a local lumber yard who supplies cabinets will take up your cause for you if there is a legitimate issue.
any stock cabinet can be reordered and delivered in a few days. some times they want a rush order mark up depending on who's fault it is.
you should have returned the defective cabinet as soon as it was noticed. you could have installed a plywood blank in its place to keep the project moving forward. that would suffice for a counter template
It was 20 miles one way to return something I had to pay a delivery charge for. I did FAX them immediately and asked them to take care of the situation.
The plywood blank would've been a reasonable alternative ... didn't think of that at the time.
Installing the cabinet theoretically did keep the project moving forward ... but it stalled out when they didn't get a replacement back to me in time for counters to be installed ... we're talking weeks here, not days.
Yeah ... big box store ... kids managing the department that don't have a clue what is going on or what to do when something goes wrong and certainly don't have any customer service acumen whatsoever.