Tracy is Very Confrontational, myself and my husband were both informed by his employee that he would be including the hinges, Adam asked us “did Tracy say he was taking the cabinet doors down” the answer was yes then Adam said then he will be putting in new hinges. When he came to hang the cabinet doors he asked where the hinges were and as I tried to explain to him that his employee had told us that he would be including them Tracy wouldn’t even let me explain what his employee told me and was yelling over me and telling his helper to put them all back in the truck that there wasn’t any hinges to hang them with (which was untrue if he had listened and not yelled over what I was saying, we had the original hinges just in case there was an issue) We just wanted our cabinet doors hung up so we told him to go ahead and hang them. Normally I am not confrontational back but when someone is so irate like he was I stood my ground with him, we had kept the hinges just in case but why wouldn’t I believe what his employee told myself and my husband.
While his helper brought in the cabinet doors and drawers (very carefully I might add) he seen that one of the drawers had a mark on it after he had put it up and was very quick to blame the person bringing them in that they must have did that.
Then he forgot 2 of the cabinet doors back at the shop. 1 hour drive both ways plus re-doing some of his work. You would think that he would keep one job together or count the cabinet and drawers before bringing them to the customers house, very unprofessional.
While he was gone we looked over the paint and found a couple of other spots that needed sanding down and re-touched up. Which he did repair when he came back with the other doors, but not before making up some reason for them being like that…. but not his fault! After years of working in a paint factory myself I know what dirt in paint looks like and that is what is was. Will post a pic if I can.
Also when he was putting the faux drawer one under the sink back in; there are plastic pieces in back of it to snap it in but when he was putting it back I heard a snap and saw the piece of plastic fall to the floor, he also saw it as I seen him look down at it, I picked it up and said oh here is the piece of plastic you just snapped off, he didn’t even acknowledge me or it. Then he had to take it off again because he put it on upside down.
He then had 3 screws left over and asked me if I knew where they went…seriously, we later seen that there were 3 screws missing in the lazy susan ….you would think that he would have figured that out being he put the other screws in and there were holes with no screws in them right next to where he put some!
When the in home painter (his employee) was here (by the way he gets 5 stars ***** very polite and did an awesome job) but when I asked if he was going to be painting underneath the cabinets he said that Tracy doesn’t include that, eye level only! Meanwhile if you were sitting at a kitchen table you would be able to see the unpainted underside. So his employee being the nice guy that he is painted the underneath of the cabinets. So after everything was said and done, 1 day after the cabinet doors were hung we noticed that 2 of the doors were hitting each other when you would open one then the other one would get pulled.
We asked him to come back and re-align them which he did, a week later.
While he was here he made every excuse as to why they were hitting, one the wood was dry….or the screw was loose….then it was the screws were not long enough.
Then the same day after he left we opened another cabinet and it came off in my husbands hand, the hinge came right out along with the screw, what he had done was where the original screw was he screwed the new one right underneath, and then must not have bite in so he drilled another hole only biting into the bottom portion of the wood so when we opened the cabinet the screw and hinge came right out… (see picture if I can post one) We had e-mailed him asking if he had broken a screw in the bottom because when my husband tried to fix it there was something in the wood that was preventing the screw to go in, when asked if he would come back and fix it he said, No.
Then he went on to say that the wood was dry and that the screws needed to be longer but he didn’t say any of this when he was putting the cabinet doors back up, only after the issues came up, but of course he was paid in full so he refused to come back so we have to get someone else in to fix it correctly.
When the new guy was here fixing Tracy’s work he happened to open the opposite cabinet door to the one that fell off and noticed that it was loose, it looked like the screws were loose just like the other cabinet door that he came back to fix, only thing is the screws were not loose like Tracy said but they were stripped by him when he hung the cabinet doors up.
This has all happened in a 3 week window of him being here.
With him everything is someone or something else’s fault all he did was complain the whole time, oh the contractor who did these cabinets this or oh the wood is dry, then afterwards it was … oh the screws are loose, or oh the screws are not long enough.
The screws were not loose…they were stripped! by him.
So basically he told us the reason the cabinet doors were not aligned right was because the screws were loose from the wood being dry and the screws not being long enough (not true the screws were loose because they were stripped!) …. When he was hanging the cabinet doors if that were the case of the screws not being long enough then he should have mentioned this and we would have gladly went to the hardware store and got longer screws…simple right.
He didn’t come to this brilliant conclusion until the cabinet doors and drawers were up and are now starting to fall off into our hands and he was paid in full so he is washing his hands of the job.
Unfortunately, we did pay him in full, not because we were satisfied with his service but because he was so confrontational and at the time we didn't want to have to deal with his unprofessionalism anymore and really we didn't think there would be any other problems.
Do yourself a favor and check with the Better Business Bureau before hiring this company, wish I would have.
I also wish I would have not paid the invoice in full and kept back some of the payment, because he won’t come back to fix his mistakes but in all honesty I don’t want him coming back and stripping more of the screws or listening to all of the excuses of why this is happening, because nothing is this guys fault.……lessoned learned!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $2,500.00
- Company Response
Let’s start with a couple of mistakes I did make with this customer. Wait This person has altered her review no less then 3 times to change her story after I addressed each and every issue. Her comment about her wishing she had checked with the BBB first is hilarious, we had ZERO interactions with the BBB prior to her review! She is the only person ever to contact them and she knows that. The BBB notifies companies whenever an interaction takes place to allow business's to have a response, they subsequently list any interactions and how they are addressed. It is deplorable the manner in which she deals with small issues, she truly gives the Karen's of the world a bad name.( No offense to real people named Karen)
Another funny comment she added was that I should have told her on installation the screws were to short(she thinks the screws are stripped now?), first the screws held when we left and had they not have held I would have added longer ones at that time and second Adam did tell her he thought she needed new hinges, her whole argument is about these hinges. When she realised I wasn't giving her free hinges she said to install the doors with the old hinges, now I am the bad guy that mislead her for installing the old ones with short screws and weak hinges? I offered to hold off the installation and allow her time to buy new ones and she declined.
She says "nothing is this guys fault" I am here to tell you differently, my previous quotes say the opposite about my demeanor and actions as well as my workers. She refuses to believe that mistakes happen. Me not being perfect is a fault she can not get by.
Yes, I forgot to load 2 doors, in a shop that had about a 175 with similar looking ones it can happen.
She still believes that big 3/8" hole in her pictures is for her hinge mounting, Paula a little research on your part before complaining and you would realise that is a countersink hole for a screw that holds your cabinet boxes together.
On to the facts as she presented in her initial review as well as all the changes she has made since then.
When I was informed by my helper I immediately stated I would drive one hour each way and get the doors and return. That is exactly what I did. That’s fixing a problem as fast as possible, I am known for that, I do not run and hide. Upon my return the customer pointed out 2 drawer fronts with flaws, one with dust, one had a smudge that made the lacquer appear uneven. Again she expects absolute perfection!
I immediately sanded and fixed those two areas, no questions, I don’t hide from my mistakes, I am not perfect. In fact the customer and her husband at that time both inspected the kitchen again said it looked good and the customer paid me in full. One would think they have never made a mistake by her review comments? This is a very spiteful person who's logic is not based in the facts, if you read the entire response it should be clear that she expects everyone to be perfect, that is very hard to defend against. She simply does NOT know what she is talking about as it relates to the installation of her hinges and the bottom line is that she wanted new ones free and when we would not give them to her, she began with a barrage of lies, sarcasm and misleading comments & facts, it's very unfortunate, I did everything I could when asked up until the very end when she decided to set me up for this review, she even admitted she did not want me back to replace the last screw, it goes against what all my other reviews for the last 5 years say. I simply have no reason to treat her any different then all my customers.
It is always in any companies best interest to take care of mistakes or concerns as quick as possible and you would be hard pressed to find anyone that says I did not follow through and complete the job as hired. Getting paid by this customer was no different, the job was completed to their satisfaction and I got paid despite the mistakes I corrected fast.
As far as me being confrontational that is a far stretch, in fact it was the customer upon my arrival that became adamant about me bringing her new hinges without me even having any knowledge of a conversation she had with my 5 star employee.
The customer told me that my 5 star employee told them I would give her new hardware hinges.
I said I didn’t know anything about that, that my quotes are clear about what we do and do NOT include (my quotes are very long and go into great detail about what they do get, don’t get and what they can expect) my website is the same. I am very upfront and indeed a very direct person, I do not beat around the bush, this offended her and her husband. My truth they did not want to hear. Not oncw did I yell at anyone! My 5 star employee will attest to the fact that he never offered any new hardware, he knows that is not our policy. When I asked the customer if he said I would give them “free” hardware they did not respond by saying yes.
Adam simply asked the customer as he removed the doors if they were getting new hardware and that if they were that they should contact me about that so I am aware. The customer says my 5 star employee said that I would include new hardware, my quote and invoice to her did not reflect new hardware and despite my 5 star employee telling her to contact me regarding the hinges she did not. She did not even bother to double check with me what she says my employee was telling her.
So on the day of the install I ask for the hardware, they tell me I am supplying new hardware, I say no I don’t offer free hardware and they both become adamant about it, I then tell them no where in my quote do I say I offer free hardware and in a direct way. I felt I was being made a liar!
I then offer to wait to install the doors should they want to buy new hinges. They sure twisted that fact into I didn’t want to install them. It makes zero sense, the doors are ready to be installed, I drove an hour to install them and I in fact ended up installing them and got paid. They said they didn’t want to buy new hardware and said I should go ahead with the install. That is how I earn my living, completing the job and getting paid. Payment is a sign that the customer is happy with the work completed!
Then 4 days later the customer sends me a video of 2 doors rubbing, I responded within 15 minutes.
I stated I would come on the weekend, on Sunday night we ended up making arrangements for 5 pm on the Monday.
I showed up 5 minutes early. I opened the rubbing door, it had a lose screw, the 1/4” long screw that came with her hardware just didn’t bite down enough into the wood given the metal was already 1/16” thick and the hinge was lose.
I added 2 new longer screws to ensure they would bite deeper into the wood, they did. Customer inspected I left. Having said that, wood over time does shrink as it dries and the screw just didn’t want to bite and after several open and closing it gave out. This was isolated to the 2 doors in question not the other 40+ hinges. The customer wants you to believe I perpetrated this somehow. Makes zero sense that I would create a problem I would need to return for days later and have to fix especially given a 2 hour return drive time. I indeed followed up with the problem, showed up 3 days later with her permission and fixed the problem. I back up my workmanship.
I then get an email from the customer 2 days later stating the following:
“ After you had left on Monday Gary opened the door under the sink and the screw came right out of the top hinge. (this was a different 2nd door)
So instead of having you come back we are attempting to fix it but when Gary is trying to put a screw in the bottom hinge he is hitting metal. Is there anyway that you possibly broke a screw in there?”My response is as follows:
“Same issue as the other door.
The existing quarter inch pointy screws are not long enough given the wood is dry.
There fore the hole is too big for them.
I changed them to a 5/8" long screws that go deeper and bite into fresh solid wood.”Customer responds by saying “this is not the same issue as the other door, the other doors were hitting each other because they were not lined up correctly when you had put them back up.( false, the screws came lose, she doesn’t want to believe that even after watching me closely, 2 feet away, when I opened the door and replaced them, she clearly didn’t trust me)
Customer continues: “This cabinet door when opened literally Fell Off not because the existing quarter inch pointy screws are not long enough (admits the screws are short) given the wood is dry but because you screwed into nothing on the top...as seen in the picture she posted. How on earth can I screw into NOTHING? That door would have been hanging and falling off that very moment. That statement by her is purely misleading and frankly impossible to do.Customer: “Also as I have mentioned there is a broken screw where the bottom hinge was which now is preventing us from screwing into it. (How on earth can I screw into a 3/8” empty hole of that size and depth with a ¼” long screw that is 1/16” in thickness? if that indeed was the case the door would have fallen off immediately? This is pure fabrication on her part, a pattern that started as soon as she realized I don’t offer free hinges)
We can keep going back and forth with this but the bottom line is the cabinet door has fallen off and we would like to know if you are going to come back and fix it?”
Now the customer wants me to replace a screw she had already said her husband would do and admits she did not want me back in her house as well?
My response to that big hole she points out was “It is the same issue, the reason the door was touching was because the screw came lose.
I explained that to you at your home. The wood dries over time, the screws are no longer able to bite down as well. I put new longer screws in and it did the job.
The solution again is using a longer screw with a wide head that will drive deeper into the wood.
That large hole you see is where the installer drilled a hole to recess a screw to attach the cabinet box to the one beside it, hence why you feel metal inside. It may be in a different location or part of the wood however the size of the hole and the ability of a screw to attach itself is the issue. (the small hole in her picture is the actual single screw hole that was there that is required for the hinge installation)
The old screw was no longer able to bite down into the wood given the length and width of the screw and the wood being drier making the hole a slight bit bigger.”This customer refuses to accept that that big hole was NOT for a screw for the hinge. Imagine just how big a screw would need to be to fit in that 3/8” hole, the hardware screws on the hinges go into a slot 1/8” wide. All the other hinges are the same, I bet she will not post a picture of the hinge proving that to be the case. She refuses to accept something that is standard for joining face frame cabinet boxes, she wants people to believe I am evil, confrontational and do NOT know what I am talking about and hiding from the issue.
My last comment to her was that my quotes are clear about the hardware and that pre-existing defects in the wood or materials that make up her kitchen including hardware are not my responsibility, they are wear and tear issues, the hinges were approx.. 25+ years old. She accepted my quote that included these statements, she didn’t bother contacting me about replacing them when my 5 star employee suggested she should and I am being made out to be the bad guy.
Again, I am not perfect, I made a few mistakes, I corrected them quickly, got paid and addressed the issues she emailed me about quickly with the exception of returning to add the last longer screw she had already told me her husband would do.( I felt that her threatening tone to me, her unwillingness to accept what I was telling her would lead to a confrontation in her home and I wanted to avoid this, I felt I was being set up for something) I find out now she set me up for several bad reviews.
There is a great deal of fiction in her comments, some truths I admitted to and corrected quickly.
This is simply someone who isn’t getting her new free hardware and fabricated several versions of events to make me look bad. My 2 employees that she says were great will attest to the hardware conversation as I stated it. It simply would not be in my best interest to treat a customer in the manner she stated, especially since I corrected all the problems I admitted to and then got paid. There is no logic in her review as it relates to what she says and my follow up.
I went to great lengths to fix the issues and offer the facts as they were.
This is most unfortunate, not something I like to here from a customer. I did my best to address all issues, her confrontational tone, sarcasm and unwillingness to accept concerns in a clear and concise manner has me not wanting to engage her in her home once again. Her review filled with some facts I addressed and some fabrication took longer to write then taking a longer screw and attaching the hinge would take. I feel she is spiteful and would recommend that any other contractors be aware of how she deals with problems and make sure they get everything in writing although that doesn’t appear to have mattered to her in the end based on her review. IN the end I get a zero review for not attaching one screw and in the end due to her threatening tone, once the 2 flaws were corrected I did get paid. I hardly think I deserve a zero, perhaps not a 10 however a zero is simply given in spite as she didn't get her way and receive new hinges. The new hinges was nothing short of her being confused about a conversation and not following through with the owner of the company to verify what she says my employee stated. Adam DID NOT tell her I would give her FREE hinges period! It is simply not our policy to do so and that is clear on our website and within our quotes. I have in writing these facts her conversation has been greatly exaggerated on her part! If I was that bad I ask why she would pay me? She did so as she was satisfied with the final product once I corrected my mistakes. This is clearly about not getting free new hardware. Had she followed up with me regarding her conversation with Adam, I would have stated these same facts.