ComplaintsforClosets by Design - Milwaukee

• Initial Complaint

  05/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  March 9th- initial installation of closet. many parts broken and not functioning. March 14th- spoke with **** and scheduled repair March 16th- waiting 4 hours for repair, no one ever showed up. called the office to inquire and was told i would get a call back. no call back March 20th- talked to **** and ****, expressed my dissatisfaction with incomplete instal & subsequent no-show appointment to fix. request refund. **** and **** insisted on attempting repair one more time. March 27th & 28th- extensive conversations and emails with **** to give info on all problems needing repair so installer would have everything. March 31st- installer didn't show up with anything to fix it. just measured for new board to be cut. told me it would be 1 week to get board ready April 26th- emailed **** to enquire why i hadn't be contacted. told paperwork was misfiled and they thought job was done. May 2nd- call from **** that product was ready. may 5th- install attempt #4- installers didnt do a complete reinstall as planned. filled broken areas with putty instead. drawers dont work. didnt have correct handles. talked to **** about problems. he promised to talk to **** and have resolution following day. may 6th- no call from dour or *************** 7th- i called office and was told neither could talk to ************ called later and said he couldnt make **** call me may 8th- **** and **** called. offered reinstall again. i declined due to continued issues and requested another refund. *more detailed account in documents due to character limit here, photos included*

  

  Business response

  05/16/2023

  The initial installment of the closet was done on 3/9/23.  At 7:17pm on 3/9/23, the customer emailed her ************************ stating she was excited about her new closet but there were a few minor items that needed to be addressed.  This included that her closet rods were scratched, a bottom drawer was not flush with the other drawers, and one clear mounting bracket was at a slight angle.  See attachments for the email and pictures that she provided. At 10:21pm on that same evening, 3/9/23, we received a 5-star review from the customer stating that she loved working with our company, the designer created a lovely design and the installer was fantastic.  See attachment for the 5-star review.  A service appointment was scheduled for 3/16/23 with an arrival window between 11am and 12pm.  The installer was delayed at an earlier service appointment that took longer than anticipated so he called the customer to let her know and told her he could be there at 3pm.  She refused, stating that she was busy.  On 3/20/23 the owner and installation manager together called the customer to review the outstanding service items at which time the customer stated she would accept a $500 discount and be happy with her current system.  She was told we do not provide discounts and we would reschedule the service.  On 3/31/23 an installer arrived for the service at 9am to fix the three items that were mentioned by the customer.  The rods were replaced and a base cleat was installed in place of the clear mounting bracket.  At this time the customer requested a new countertop be installed above the drawers. This was not mentioned in her original service request.  The installer did not have the materials on hand to replace the countertop so the adjustment of the bottom drawer was postponed until the new countertop could be installed. On 4/3/23 the customer reached out to the ************************ to review the outstanding issues with her closet and requested changes to be made to the design.  Her request was to reduce the width of the drawers from 27 to 24 and add an additional drawer.  She also asked for an additional shelf in the double-hang section.  These changes required rebuilding the entire closet system which we agreed to do at no additional cost.  Once these changes were finalized and produced another service was scheduled for 5/8/23 to install her redesigned closet.  The customer contacted our installation manager on 5/8/23 and was unhappy with the installation.  She emailed pictures of the new issues which were reviewed with the install team.  Per our installer the five drawers were in alignment and working properly when they completed the installation.  On 5/11/23 the owner and installation manager spoke to the customer and she requested a full refund.  She was told that we would not be refunding her money but would correct any outstanding issues.  The homeowner refused.

  Customer response

  05/16/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  I am appalled at the response from Closets by Design-  Milwaukee. It is clear that they are being overtly dishonest in their response. I have discussed all the numerous events and issues with them by phone, email and text with ******, **** and **** yet they chose to be dishonest in their response to my BBB complaint.
  
  
  My issues with their response are as follows:
  
  On 3/16/23 I was given a service window of 10:00am 12:00pm. I did not receive a call from them at all to reschedule the timing. In fact, I called the office at 12:31pm to inquire if they were still coming. The office staff told me that they would look into it and call me back. I went about my day and was never called back until 3:19pm by the service tech saying he was at my house. I was no longer home and not able to get back urgently to have the work done. I told that tech that I had called the office to see if they were still coming but no one there had any information on the schedule and no one called me back. I later spoke with **** and **** about how unhappy I was at the no-showed appointment. I know that they are aware that I was not notified that the installation time had changed. See call log for phone calls that day.
  
  I had requested a refund after the no-show service call because I didnt want to waste another day being available for a service tech to fix the problems. **** refused to just give me a refund after they missed the appointment and left me waiting for hours. I agreed to let them try one more time to install on 3/31/23 and had phone calls and emails with **** about all the problems. I expressed wanting all the issues to be fixed this time so it could be complete. See Email to **** document. The countertop was not a new issue that I just requested the day of the installation and that is clear from my emails to *********
  
  They completely leave out that after 3/31/23 they misfiled my paperwork and were never going to recut that board or reschedule installation. There was no contact with them on 4/3/23, I would be happy to review their documentation on this.
  
  The subsequent contact with them was on 4/26/23 when ****** reached out to me about the install. I also emailed **** that day inquiring about why I was never contacted to reschedule.  It was at that time that he told me about the misfiled paperwork. I expressed my extreme frustration with the constant problems getting the closet installed. **** offered to do a total reinstallation, recut all boards, and upgrade my design at no cost since Ive had so many problems. I was in contact with the designer ****** on 4/26 and 4/27 to do some redesigning. The final installation was scheduled for 5/8/23. I made it very clear to **** that I needed the installers to come and be done by 1pm. I also insisted on having the best and most competent installers come so we wouldnt have any more issues.
  
  On 5/8/23 the installers came but they did not do a complete reinstallation. They left broken boards that were ******************* and just filled them with white putty. The drawers look aligned when closed but if you open drawers 2 & 3 at the same time they run into each other. They drilled holes in the front of the top drawer for the handles in the wrong spot and them filled that with putty. They also didnt come with the correct handles. They also took until 2:45pm which was way after the time I needed the work to be done. I was immediately in contact with ****** and ****, in disbelief that this installation could also have gone so poorly. I emailed and texted them photos in addition to phone calls to discuss all the problems. **** said he would talk to **** and get back to me the following day with a resolution. I was never called on 5/9/23. I emailed **** to remind him to call me. On 5/10/23 I called the office and neither **** or **** was available to speak with. I texted ****** to see if she could get in touch with them. Later that afternoon I finally again with ****. It took until 5/11/23 for **** to call me. I recounted all the errors his company made with my installation. He stated that he reviewed the photos and that they were not of acceptable quality on the installation. ****** and **** also reported to me that the installation was not done properly. See texts with ******.  **** offered to do another reinstallation and refused my request for a refund. I declined his offer to do another complete reinstallation since they didnt even do that as stated on 5/8/23. I do not have confidence that this company can correctly install this product since they have had 4 opportunities to do so and I still have a broken closet system. I have spent more hours than are reasonable allowing them to attempt to fix these problems.  I believe I am entitled to full refund at this point because they have had so many opportunities to install the product correctly and they cannot. I have many more supporting documents and photos, however the files limitations prevent me from uploading more. 
   
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

  

  Business response

  05/16/2023

  We acknowledge the customer's frustration with the installation and service process and regret that it has not gone as smoothly as the majority of our project do.  However, we have gone to considerable expense to make her happy, including producing two closet systems and paying installers for three trips to her house. We have also invested a considerable amount of time communicating with her.  We believe we can remedy the few remaining issues if given the opportunity and will not be issuing a refund. 

  Customer response

  05/17/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

  I have myself incurred an $1800 expense as well as numerous days of my time to purchase a professional closet system. I have given this company ample attempts to correct their mistakes and they have been unable to do so. They have proven that after 4 attempts to install this product they are not capable of doing so. Giving them more attempts seems like a further waste of my time and theirs. I am requesting a refund so I can use that money to hire someone else to actually equipped to sell and install a professional closet system. 

  Regards,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  10/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The closet installation was completed 9/21. But by 9/24, half of the closet had fallen down. I notified the company on 9/26. On 9/29 I finally received a response saying that the matter was going to assigned to the service department. The closet fell from the stack of shims it was standing on. I work in construction and it is not a good practice to support an entire wall of shelving on shims. There should have been some additional anchoring or 2x4's used to secure the closet. To date, I have reached out several times and have hear nothing back from the company. This closet cost about $8,000 and I cannot even use it. It came with a 7 year warranty, but what is the point if they don't service the warranty. They need to come back and fix this closet and re-inspect the others to make sure they are also properly secured and stable so they don't fall on someone.

  

  Business response

  10/31/2022

  On September 19th through September 21st our top installer, *****, installed three walk-in closets, a reach-in closet and a pantry in the home, which is an older home with uneven floors and walls.  According to the installer's report, we needed to come back and supply two accent top shelves and find a solution for the baskets that did not fit in the pantry.  We were unaware of any other issues until the customer reached out via email stating that one of the closets had "fallen".  All of our units rest on the floor and are secured to the wall. Due to the uneven floors and walls a larger number of shims were needed in that closet and they either shifted or were removed causing the left side of the unit to drop slightly.   Apparently there are no other issues with the other four spaces. Due to labor shortages and various other obstacles, we have been short-staffed and fell behind following up with outstanding issues.  The owner of the company spoke to the customer on Friday, October 28th and a service appointment has been scheduled for Thursday, November 11th, to secure the closet and address the other outstanding items.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩