Homeowner Forum / Construction / January 2006

re: Thomas Andrade, Encore Cabinetry, Inc. and Matteo Family Kitchens
-- suppliers of Kraftmaid Cabinetry

Be forewarned.

Tom seems like a great guy on the telephone. But he will not return
phone calls once he has your money. I placed an order with him for
$20,639 worth of Kraftmaid kitchen cabinets; this excludes handles or
pulls which are additional. Everything arrived in wonderful shape and
nothing was missing; however, I had ordered a 15" wall cabinet with
glass shelves and they sent me 12" glass shelves, which are useless.
Tom promised to send me the correct glass shelves but he never did.

I have been trying for five months to order some additional items that
are needed to complete my renovation, but he will not provide a quote
on those items. It comes to about $2500 in product. Apparently that's
not a hefty enough order for him to be bothered. I called and told him
I would be posting this "negative press" if he didn't call back. He
called back but then never followed up with a price quote and an order
form. I first contacted him in August asking for the privilege to buy
more product from him. He says to fax him the order items, which I did
at least eight or ten times, but he never replies. He sent me an email
in October telling me he would reply in a week or two, and I never
heard from him again, despite several phone calls (you must leave
messages because he never answers either his personal cell phone or the
office phone) and at least five or six duplicate faxes. His email
account has been shut down for the last month, so he apparently doesn't
pay his bills. On some days when I called his cell phone numbers they
weren't working either.

Why is it so difficult for a business owner to reply to someone who
wants nothing more than to order the rest of the products needed to
complete my project?

What he doesn't tell you directly when you order is that there are no
pre-drilled holes for the hinges or door knobs or pulls. He does
mention that the doors are packed separately, but he tells you this is
done to cut down on damage. The truth is that by not installing the
doors, Kraftmaid charges him less, and therein lies your savings: YOU
will have to do what Lowe's and other sellers would normally pay
Kraftmaid to do. We purchased 49 cabinets, so this was no small
endeavor.

Oh, and those 49 cabinets and 150 doors and drawers arrived with
absolutely no instructions. Then you find out that Tom doesn't answer
phone calls! We managed to install everything without too much trouble
until it came to the corner cabinets and lazy susans. My husband had to
go to Lowe's to look at their floor displays to figure out how to
install the two doors on all the corner cabinets: turns out you have to
cut a  1x4" slot in the wood frame in order to mount the hinge
brackets.

I should explain that I was a very organized shopper. I provided him a
complete illustration of the rooms, a list from Home Depot of every
item number and their quoted price, and my own to-scale drawings. He
did nothing but quote me his prices and accept my check. I saved about
30% dealing with him but I can't say if it's been worth it, knowing
what I've been through and how much wasted time and energy I've spent
trying to get this project finished. So it's been 7 months now,
everything's been installed, it looks great (we did it all ourselves),
but we still don't have the rest of the crown molding we need, or the
bathroom vanity, or the closets for the laundry room.

I should mention that I had been extremely polite and friendly during
all this run-around he's put me though. But today I finally threatened
him. I called and left a message telling him I would post this "bad
press" letter on the internet if he didn't reply. Obviously, you know
what happened.

Oh, and Tom also doesn't sell you the cabinets in his company's name,
Encore Cabinetry, Inc.. He sells through a place in New Jersey called
Matteo Family Kitchens. Matteo will give you a similar run-around if
you call them directly, after having exhausted yourself trying to get
through to Tom. They quoted me prices for the missing items I needed
that were higher than Lowe's, or about 30% higher than Tom's prices!
Then the guy there, Everett, when I mentioned that I'd compared his
prices with Lowe's, told me he didn't want to sell to me. I asked him
why he hadn't just told me that in the first place instead of adding to
the run-around I'd already experienced.

So I have just placed my order with Lowe's and paid about 20% more than
Tom and Encore's prices.

Be forewarned. I wouldn't deal with this company again if they offered
me 50% off the Lowe's price, and despite the other negative things I've
read about Lowes.