WWYD?!? Big Box Disappointment (Kitchen)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For anyone reading this yes you can live in a house while the kitchen is being done, even with babies. We set up our old fridge, a hot plate, microwave, and a bookshelf for a pantry in the basement near the utility sink. We lived like this for three months.

Our game demod everything and we threw out everything - because we expected the job to last 2 weeks.

We also don’t have a suitable basement base as it is undergoing asbestos abatement and foundation repair.

Nothing takes two weeks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those of you saying we can live in the house without a kitchen, I’m not sure you understand. We are 27 weeks pregnant (high risk) and have an 11 month old crawling around. Cooking and eating is done three times a day. We do not have appliances, a countertop, or sink in the kitchen. The project was scheduled to last 2 weeks. The store royally screwed up, it will be now 2 months until we are back in kitchen.

Sure, if I had to do this again I would avoid the situation that I currently have where accountability is spread across different people at different points in the project.

This is clearly big box fault. They measured the kitchen. They designed the layout. The hey put the package together and sold it to me.

My contractor used the cabinet delivery date as a reference point for when he started the work. He knew it would be one week of demo and site prep, so he started work demoing kitchen 1 week prior to receiving delivery. He finished everything on time. We received the cabinets and all he’s got to do is install. Except he can’t because the layout in not functional with an existing door. This is a big box error. They came out and measured. They designed. We paid them for that service.

So our contractor flags the issue. The store replaces a cabinet that is too wide. Fine…smaller sink but let’s get this over. Hurry up and wait 4 weeks for the new replacement to arrive. And it’s the wrong dimensions again. It’s the correct width, but wrong depth. You can’t possibly pin this on me or my contractor. This is incompetence with customer service- period.

Trust and believe their legal team will agree to wash their hands of this. We are no longer interested in getting free appliances. We are washing our hands with them, taking our business to Lowe’s. We will request full refund for the 14k in cabinets and agree to drop it here.

Ultimately they did not deliver on many different levels.

I am not to blame for not using their installer. I am in my right to hire my own installer.

The store offers in home measurement services, for a fee- don’t blame me that I didn’t have my contractor double check their measurements. Sure, hind sight is 2020, but there’s a first time for everything.

You and the contractor signed off on the order each time. You can still make meals or get ready made meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those of you saying we can live in the house without a kitchen, I’m not sure you understand. We are 27 weeks pregnant (high risk) and have an 11 month old crawling around. Cooking and eating is done three times a day. We do not have appliances, a countertop, or sink in the kitchen. The project was scheduled to last 2 weeks. The store royally screwed up, it will be now 2 months until we are back in kitchen.

Sure, if I had to do this again I would avoid the situation that I currently have where accountability is spread across different people at different points in the project.

This is clearly big box fault. They measured the kitchen. They designed the layout. The hey put the package together and sold it to me.

My contractor used the cabinet delivery date as a reference point for when he started the work. He knew it would be one week of demo and site prep, so he started work demoing kitchen 1 week prior to receiving delivery. He finished everything on time. We received the cabinets and all he’s got to do is install. Except he can’t because the layout in not functional with an existing door. This is a big box error. They came out and measured. They designed. We paid them for that service.

So our contractor flags the issue. The store replaces a cabinet that is too wide. Fine…smaller sink but let’s get this over. Hurry up and wait 4 weeks for the new replacement to arrive. And it’s the wrong dimensions again. It’s the correct width, but wrong depth. You can’t possibly pin this on me or my contractor. This is incompetence with customer service- period.

Trust and believe their legal team will agree to wash their hands of this. We are no longer interested in getting free appliances. We are washing our hands with them, taking our business to Lowe’s. We will request full refund for the 14k in cabinets and agree to drop it here.

Ultimately they did not deliver on many different levels.

I am not to blame for not using their installer. I am in my right to hire my own installer.

The store offers in home measurement services, for a fee- don’t blame me that I didn’t have my contractor double check their measurements. Sure, hind sight is 2020, but there’s a first time for everything.

You and the contractor signed off on the order each time. You can still make meals or get ready made meals.

Our contract didn’t sign for or receive anything. I didn’t sign for anything either. I guess I will stop venting here for for now because meeting with lawyer and the store’s general manager early next week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For anyone reading this yes you can live in a house while the kitchen is being done, even with babies. We set up our old fridge, a hot plate, microwave, and a bookshelf for a pantry in the basement near the utility sink. We lived like this for three months.

+1 and did the same during a high risk pregnancy, though in our case it was not the basement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For anyone reading this yes you can live in a house while the kitchen is being done, even with babies. We set up our old fridge, a hot plate, microwave, and a bookshelf for a pantry in the basement near the utility sink. We lived like this for three months.

Our game demod everything and we threw out everything - because we expected the job to last 2 weeks.

We also don’t have a suitable basement base as it is undergoing asbestos abatement and foundation repair.

Very brave to buy a house needing asbestos abatement.

[Anonymous]

Op - it sucks you are going through this.

But, first, two weeks? Have you literally never had a friend or family member do a renovation, or read about renovation experiences online? Two weeks is a completely unreasonable expectation for a kitchen redo. I’ve never heard of it taking less than two months.

Second, you say it was a “measuring error” but then you describe it s a swing door making the kitchen not functional. Is is a measuring error such that things don’t fit? Or is the measuring correct, and you and the designer just did not take into account a door that will open in a constantly annoying way? The latter is really not an error. It’s a sucky thing that ideally someone (you, the bb store, your contractor) caught, but here you are. But it’s definitely not “an error” in the same way ordering the wrong cabinet finish is.

Third, I don’t know why you’re expecting excellent service when you ordered from literally the cheapest option at there. Bb kitchens are notorious for bad service, cheap materials, and budget kitchens. And, to save more money, you used your own cheaper contractor to boot. This is another one of those things where it seems you’ve never had a friend do a renovation or read the internet. If I buy a light fixture at Home Depot, I know there’s a thirty percent chance it’ll be broken in the box or otherwise be crap. Why would you think a super cheap priced kitchen is better?

Finally, you seem to have a bizarre idea about how any of this works. Again, you just seem really naive about renovations. Free appliances? Free cabinets? Are you insane? I did a $600k whole house renovation with a high end company. Quoted 4-6 months. I laughed and assumed nine. Twelve months later we got back in the house. Delays were due to natural disasters, slow sub contractors, and some of it just due to my contractor deprioritizing me a few times. Super annoying but it is what it is. We rolled with it, invited my contractor to our move in party and have a social relationship with him now. The inconveniences you’re describing are super run of the mill for any renovation, esp cheap ones like you’re doing, and no one expects free cabinets for a 6 week delay. You just seem super naive about this process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op - it sucks you are going through this.

But, first, two weeks? Have you literally never had a friend or family member do a renovation, or read about renovation experiences online? Two weeks is a completely unreasonable expectation for a kitchen redo. I’ve never heard of it taking less than two months.

Second, you say it was a “measuring error” but then you describe it s a swing door making the kitchen not functional. Is is a measuring error such that things don’t fit? Or is the measuring correct, and you and the designer just did not take into account a door that will open in a constantly annoying way? The latter is really not an error. It’s a sucky thing that ideally someone (you, the bb store, your contractor) caught, but here you are. But it’s definitely not “an error” in the same way ordering the wrong cabinet finish is.

Third, I don’t know why you’re expecting excellent service when you ordered from literally the cheapest option at there. Bb kitchens are notorious for bad service, cheap materials, and budget kitchens. And, to save more money, you used your own cheaper contractor to boot. This is another one of those things where it seems you’ve never had a friend do a renovation or read the internet. If I buy a light fixture at Home Depot, I know there’s a thirty percent chance it’ll be broken in the box or otherwise be crap. Why would you think a super cheap priced kitchen is better?

Finally, you seem to have a bizarre idea about how any of this works. Again, you just seem really naive about renovations. Free appliances? Free cabinets? Are you insane? I did a $600k whole house renovation with a high end company. Quoted 4-6 months. I laughed and assumed nine. Twelve months later we got back in the house. Delays were due to natural disasters, slow sub contractors, and some of it just due to my contractor deprioritizing me a few times. Super annoying but it is what it is. We rolled with it, invited my contractor to our move in party and have a social relationship with him now. The inconveniences you’re describing are super run of the mill for any renovation, esp cheap ones like you’re doing, and no one expects free cabinets for a 6 week delay. You just seem super naive about this process.

UPDATED
Maybe you’re just pretentious or don’t care to read… They screwed up our project completely and at this point has offered us in writing a 50% discount. We are standing firm and are not accepting.

[Anonymous]

OP would not be in this place if they had a single accountable firm responsible for the whole job.

And the belief that ANY full demolition kitchen remodel would only take 2 weeks is absolutely astonishing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For anyone reading this yes you can live in a house while the kitchen is being done, even with babies. We set up our old fridge, a hot plate, microwave, and a bookshelf for a pantry in the basement near the utility sink. We lived like this for three months.

Our game demod everything and we threw out everything - because we expected the job to last 2 weeks.

We also don’t have a suitable basement base as it is undergoing asbestos abatement and foundation repair.

this alone tells me that you have no idea what you're doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - it sucks you are going through this.

But, first, two weeks? Have you literally never had a friend or family member do a renovation, or read about renovation experiences online? Two weeks is a completely unreasonable expectation for a kitchen redo. I’ve never heard of it taking less than two months.

Second, you say it was a “measuring error” but then you describe it s a swing door making the kitchen not functional. Is is a measuring error such that things don’t fit? Or is the measuring correct, and you and the designer just did not take into account a door that will open in a constantly annoying way? The latter is really not an error. It’s a sucky thing that ideally someone (you, the bb store, your contractor) caught, but here you are. But it’s definitely not “an error” in the same way ordering the wrong cabinet finish is.

Third, I don’t know why you’re expecting excellent service when you ordered from literally the cheapest option at there. Bb kitchens are notorious for bad service, cheap materials, and budget kitchens. And, to save more money, you used your own cheaper contractor to boot. This is another one of those things where it seems you’ve never had a friend do a renovation or read the internet. If I buy a light fixture at Home Depot, I know there’s a thirty percent chance it’ll be broken in the box or otherwise be crap. Why would you think a super cheap priced kitchen is better?

Finally, you seem to have a bizarre idea about how any of this works. Again, you just seem really naive about renovations. Free appliances? Free cabinets? Are you insane? I did a $600k whole house renovation with a high end company. Quoted 4-6 months. I laughed and assumed nine. Twelve months later we got back in the house. Delays were due to natural disasters, slow sub contractors, and some of it just due to my contractor deprioritizing me a few times. Super annoying but it is what it is. We rolled with it, invited my contractor to our move in party and have a social relationship with him now. The inconveniences you’re describing are super run of the mill for any renovation, esp cheap ones like you’re doing, and no one expects free cabinets for a 6 week delay. You just seem super naive about this process.

UPDATED
Maybe you’re just pretentious or don’t care to read… They screwed up our project completely and at this point has offered us in writing a 50% discount. We are standing firm and are not accepting.

Is that 50% off the final price? What would the state of your kitchen be after you accept that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your mistake was moving the window instead of just asking them to redesign the kitchen and reorder the cabinets.

Agree. Im sorry this sucks, but I would have waited for them to just get the layout right and reorder the cabinets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your mistake was moving the window instead of just asking them to redesign the kitchen and reorder the cabinets.

+1
You should not have conceded their mistake and gone out of the way to make it work. You should have been adamant that their measurements/design did not work, and it was on them to correct the design and order corresponding cabinets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those of you saying we can live in the house without a kitchen, I’m not sure you understand. We are 27 weeks pregnant (high risk) and have an 11 month old crawling around. Cooking and eating is done three times a day. We do not have appliances, a countertop, or sink in the kitchen. The project was scheduled to last 2 weeks. The store royally screwed up, it will be now 2 months until we are back in kitchen.

Sure, if I had to do this again I would avoid the situation that I currently have where accountability is spread across different people at different points in the project.

This is clearly big box fault. They measured the kitchen. They designed the layout. The hey put the package together and sold it to me.

My contractor used the cabinet delivery date as a reference point for when he started the work. He knew it would be one week of demo and site prep, so he started work demoing kitchen 1 week prior to receiving delivery. He finished everything on time. We received the cabinets and all he’s got to do is install. Except he can’t because the layout in not functional with an existing door. This is a big box error. They came out and measured. They designed. We paid them for that service.

So our contractor flags the issue. The store replaces a cabinet that is too wide. Fine…smaller sink but let’s get this over. Hurry up and wait 4 weeks for the new replacement to arrive. And it’s the wrong dimensions again. It’s the correct width, but wrong depth. You can’t possibly pin this on me or my contractor. This is incompetence with customer service- period.

Trust and believe their legal team will agree to wash their hands of this. We are no longer interested in getting free appliances. We are washing our hands with them, taking our business to Lowe’s. We will request full refund for the 14k in cabinets and agree to drop it here.

Ultimately they did not deliver on many different levels.

I am not to blame for not using their installer. I am in my right to hire my own installer.

The store offers in home measurement services, for a fee- don’t blame me that I didn’t have my contractor double check their measurements. Sure, hind sight is 2020, but there’s a first time for everything.

You and the contractor signed off on the order each time. You can still make meals or get ready made meals.

Our contract didn’t sign for or receive anything. I didn’t sign for anything either. I guess I will stop venting here for for now because meeting with lawyer and the store’s general manager early next week.

One of you had to sign off and pay. They don’t order cabinets without approval nor for free. And upon acceptance they should be checked. Two weeks for a kitchen remodel is impossible with countertops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - it sucks you are going through this.

But, first, two weeks? Have you literally never had a friend or family member do a renovation, or read about renovation experiences online? Two weeks is a completely unreasonable expectation for a kitchen redo. I’ve never heard of it taking less than two months.

Second, you say it was a “measuring error” but then you describe it s a swing door making the kitchen not functional. Is is a measuring error such that things don’t fit? Or is the measuring correct, and you and the designer just did not take into account a door that will open in a constantly annoying way? The latter is really not an error. It’s a sucky thing that ideally someone (you, the bb store, your contractor) caught, but here you are. But it’s definitely not “an error” in the same way ordering the wrong cabinet finish is.

Third, I don’t know why you’re expecting excellent service when you ordered from literally the cheapest option at there. Bb kitchens are notorious for bad service, cheap materials, and budget kitchens. And, to save more money, you used your own cheaper contractor to boot. This is another one of those things where it seems you’ve never had a friend do a renovation or read the internet. If I buy a light fixture at Home Depot, I know there’s a thirty percent chance it’ll be broken in the box or otherwise be crap. Why would you think a super cheap priced kitchen is better?

Finally, you seem to have a bizarre idea about how any of this works. Again, you just seem really naive about renovations. Free appliances? Free cabinets? Are you insane? I did a $600k whole house renovation with a high end company. Quoted 4-6 months. I laughed and assumed nine. Twelve months later we got back in the house. Delays were due to natural disasters, slow sub contractors, and some of it just due to my contractor deprioritizing me a few times. Super annoying but it is what it is. We rolled with it, invited my contractor to our move in party and have a social relationship with him now. The inconveniences you’re describing are super run of the mill for any renovation, esp cheap ones like you’re doing, and no one expects free cabinets for a 6 week delay. You just seem super naive about this process.

UPDATED
Maybe you’re just pretentious or don’t care to read… They screwed up our project completely and at this point has offered us in writing a 50% discount. We are standing firm and are not accepting.

No, you screwed it up. That is generous. Just return all the cabinets. You just want them for free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your mistake was moving the window instead of just asking them to redesign the kitchen and reorder the cabinets.

Agree. Im sorry this sucks, but I would have waited for them to just get the layout right and reorder the cabinets.

Yes in retrospect we now realize this was our mistake, though not our liability. We obviously face the consequences but legally it’s not our problem considering they are wanting us to sign NDA and offering us 50% refund.