ComplaintsforGrain and Shine LLC

• Initial Complaint

  07/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  May 17, 2024 we received an email for the deposit amount of $9818.65 which we then paid to *********************. From this point, it was a couple of weeks before we heard from **** again. When we were able to reach him, he let us know that his daughter had died, and that is why he was unreachable. We then offered a large amount of ***** for everything to get started. Once the job started, **** came with his ********** three of them ripped out all of the old kitchen. The cabinets are much smaller than our old cabinets so there is a lot of damage to the drywall. The whole kitchen needs to be re-painted and re-dry walled in many places. All of the cabinets fit in a much different way than we anticipated. They are much much smaller in depth than our old cabinets. There are many holes of wasted space between them. I expressed my concern to **** about the drywall and the way the kitchen looks. He paid for the drywall contractor to come and do the work because he failed to properly inform us of the difference between the old and new cabinets. I then paint the kitchen so he can come back out and finish the kitchen after drywall work. While painting I notice many mistakes so I take pictures and videos and via text message **** and I talk about how we fix it. There is a large gap Above our kick boards just below the bottom cabinets.There cannot be any gaps and open holes like that because it is just a mouse and insect Highway. Between most of cabinets, there is a large gap. **** insists this is the way the cabinets are made & that space does not need to be filled. underneath the cabinets above the countertop you can see cut wood. The drawers installed are all splintered & broke where they come together. He has since emailed us saying he will not finish the job unless we pay him the remaining total ******* first. Because of our many complaints, he says he believes we wont pay . He will not come out if I am home because he said I was rude via text. I have all the texts and email proof.

  Business response

  07/11/2024

  Dear Sirs,

   

  I have just received a copy of the complaint put forward by my customer ******* and ****.  Some of the things **** has written are true but are taken out of context and there for put things in a very different light than they are.  I was hired to replace the cabinets at their residence located in ****** WA.  We met at my show room on two different occasions.  The first was to meet and for me to hear what they would like done and for them to view the cabinets.  They got a first hand viewing of the cabinet brand selected in my show room.  Including the nomenclature of them.  I then went to their home and measured for the job.   This was a very difficult job as they wanted to re use their Granite counters and just have us replace the cabinets.  Granite is very brittle and I explained that this will be difficult but that my team would do its best to not break any of the counters or the backsplash. 

  I designed the new cabinets and sent them the plans for review, which after they looked them over they approved.  I then went back to re measure as there was some time between the first measure and them approving the plans for the new cabinets.  Unfortunately I did in fact lose my daughter very unexpectedly to breast cancer in this time frame and I am quite sure that my thinking wasn't the clearest at this time.  We then met at the showroom a  second time for them to review the cabinets and color choice one more time.

  After this second show room visit I went ahead and placed the order for the cabinets and scheduled a date for the work to begin.  We managed to get the counter tops off carefully and without any breakage.  That was the great start.  We removed all the cabinets  from the home as carefully as possible.  I think it bothered **** quite a bit when the cabinets were removed to find a dead mouse under them.  Once we removed all the old cabinets we immediately started to install the new cabinets.  Given my state of mind at the time  I don't think that I explained that the new cabinet's might not line up exactly as the old ones were.  This is due to the cabinets they chose are RTA cabinets and not custom cabinets.  Most upper cabinets are 12" deep unless they are custom made.  This was one of the first complaints **** had with the new cabinets.  She claims that the old cabinets were deeper than 12".  On my behalf she never said anything about the depth of the sample cabinets in my showroom.  Then it is true that my upper cabinets only come in sizes of 30", 36" and 42".  Their new cabinets are 30" as that was all that would fit.  Again it is true that the old cabinets were 1 1/2" taller than my cabinets.  This left a line under the cabinets on the sheet rock wall that wasn't textured as the old cabinets went down lower.  I apologized to them saying that I had not notice this difference in height and therefore had not explained to them that this was going to happen.  I explained I normally would have caught this but again due to my mind set at this time. I hadn't. Even if I had the only cabinets in the price range they were looking to spend would only come to 30" high.  I apologized and told them I would pay for my sheet rock guy to come and touch up every were to make it look amazing.  Which he did and that at the time they loved. 

  Then the next problem came up when **** complained about the layout of the cabinets and how she wanted more cabinets.  I explained that I had given them the floor plans with elevations and renderings before we started this job and they didn't have any complaints when they reviewed the floor plan and approved it.  I offered to get them an extra cabinet for over their water dispensing  area.  **** was happy with that and I told them I would only charge my cost for that cabinet.  I then ordered the cabinet and payed the extra $90 to have it shipped quicker.   Then **** noticed that there was a gap below the cabinets but above the toe kick area.  This is completely normal in the manufacturing of several of the brands of cabinets I sell.  I explained that this was how they are manufactured.  But I agreed to buy material to put in the gabs to close off this area.  Then **** accused me of not installing the cabinets correctly and that they needed to be fastened to the ceiling because there was a gap a the back of cabinets where it met the soffits.  I explained that the cabinets were installed properly being fastened to the back wall as they should be and that the gap was caused by the out of square ceiling and that I would trim off all the areas with moldings. She told me that was a way of covering my mistakes and that she had spoken to other cabinet installers.  Then she complained about some chipped out areas on the drawer boxes and I promised to replace with new ones.  At this time her husband threatened to not pay me until these items were fixed.  I calmly said that I will take care of all the issues as best as possible.  I asked him if he had seen the new invoice I had sent over showing the added new sink that we provided due to their old one was not in good shape and also the added extra cabinet they ordered.  I ******************* in the background say " Were not paying him another *****".

  These two comments both indicating that I was not going to get paid the balance owed of $3,707.09.  so I wrote to them saying that I would come out and finish this job.  I would replace all the chipped parts, touch up the nail wholes, install the last few doors and install the last two cabinets that had not been installed yet due to the sheet rock work needing to be done first.  But I had two conditions.  Firstly that I will be paid in full before I come back out to do the work and that secondly I was fin with **** putting blue tape any where she had a complaint and I would fix all of the issue but I didn't want To work while **** was there so asked the the work be done when the husband was home instead. 

  They chose to not have me come back and to have someone else finish the job.  I am now out at least $3000 for this job.  my goal is to always, as best as possible, have happy customers but sometimes you cant please everyone and I am afraid I was never going to please **** and I was never going to get paid. 

  ****

  Customer response

  07/13/2024

   
  Complaint: 21937679
  
  I am rejecting this response because: lets start with the first of many non-truths **** writes. Our first meeting with **** was at our house when he came to do his first measurements. My husband, myself, and our two children made it to his show room ONE time and one time only. In that one 15 minute conversation in the show room, we were shown cabinet doors, and doors only. There were no, other cabinet examples with width or any other dimensions shown. While **** was ripping out our old cabinets, he also ripped out a good portion of electrical wiring. He then left that sticking out of our wall, telling me I can take all this apart, but I cannot put it all back together thats not in my scope of business. I said OK because what else does one say. When we did have the electrical team, come out and fix what he had ripped apart, they were very unimpressed with the way he left things. as for me being upset about finding a dead mouse under our DISHWASHER NOT UNDER A CABINET. I have no problem with that. We have cats for this issue and our house was built in 1961, we also live out in the county and mice are to be expected. I simply wanted our new kitchen to be nice and tight and well-built to help combat rodents in that space, and that is what I tried to Express to **** on multiple occasions. **** also states that I claim our old cabinets were deeper, he absolutely knows this to be true as he is the one who ripped them off the wall. **** states he did not notice the difference in height with the old and new cabinets. HOW COULD HE NOT NOTICE WHEN MEASURING IS HIS NUMBER ONE JOB?? The very first day he came to our house when we met him and he first measured I said to him we want to pull out these two cabinets and not replace them. However, those two cabinets held all of our dishes so I would like a larger cabinet on the wall between the two windows. He said OK. Then when the insulation gets going, I see that he has a small cabinet in that space I said, how am I ever going to fit all of my dishes in there? He than States I couldnt put a bigger one there because it wouldnt be aesthetically pleasing with the space between the cabinet and the windowsill. He did not care what I wanted and chose to do things his way throughout this entire job. That is when I expressed how upset I was about the lack of cabinet space and I needed another cabinet. I said we can put it above our water dispenser and that would be fine because he had already tried to discourage us from putting a cabinet on that wall stating people will hit their head. At this point he finally agrees because he sees I am upset and says he will order us another cabinet. Of course we will be paying for the cabinet and I agree. I have included pictures of his last email to us. I will try to include the voicemail which he sent, which shows his tone of voice and how he speaks to me. Because our new jaws were put together splintered and broken We told him we wanted new drawers. He absolutely NEVER once offered new drawers! He claimed he could fix what was wrong with filler. My husband heard the voicemail that ***** left me and saw the way he was responding in texts and had had enough. He then called **** and they were speaking about all the minor issues and mistakes in our kitchen. **** was being very defensive, and trying to blame me for being unhappy with the way things were. My husband said he is very tired of dealing with ***** bully behavior and stated that if he will not fix these mistakes, we can have someone else rip out the cabinets and start over. I am in the background of this conversation, saying **** will not be paid his final payment until the job is complete. I never said we would not pay him , we just want a complete and satisfactory job BEFORE we do. My husband and I have owned our home for 17 years. We have never had an issue with anyone whos come to work on our home the way we have with ****. We are both very reasonable, not over demanding and pretty darn understanding . **** portrays me as someone who just likes to complain and is not satisfied with anything. This is so far from the truth. In the end, We would like these cabinets taken out and replaced with larger cabinets and we would like the job done professionally. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

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