19.7K views
New Reviewer
242 comments

BUYER BEWARE!!!! Our Never-Ending Nightmare with Cabinets To Go

We placed a nearly $4,000 order with Cabinets To Go on 6/13/12. The standardized Cabinets To Go receipt and paperwork we received stated that we should expect 1-2 weeks for shipping. Carrie, the representative in the Raleigh, NC office that we worked with and ordered from, told us we should expect 10 days for shipping. The 1-2 week timeframe on the CTG paperwork would have placed our delivery somewhere between 6/20/12 and 6/27/12, and the 10-day estimate from Carrie would place our delivery date on 6/22/12. However, we have received no cabinets by 6/29/12. As soon as CTG received our payment (which was made in-full and immediately upon ordering on 6/13/12), all communication stopped completely. We were extremely satisfied with CTG's customer care during the designing and ordering process, and Carrie exchanged 35 emails and 5 phone calls with me over the 5 days that we spent considering our options and making our decisions. However, as soon as CTG got our money, customer care went out the window.

It is now 6/29/12 and we are still waiting for delivery of our nearly $4,000 order, which was paid for in-full and upfront. Furthermore, we received no communication from CTG in regard to tracking our $4,000 shipment, updates on delivery, or even scheduling a delivery until I started asking questions on 6/21/12 about where our cabinets were. We understand that CTG may not be able to pinpoint an exact delivery date immediately upon ordering. However, we never even got the opportunity to request an estimated delivery date during any conversation with CTG, because these delivery estimates were bestowed upon us and this topic of conversation was completely initiated by CTG! If you are going to give an estimate, it needs to be an accurate estimate. If something goes wrong during the processing and shipping of an order, the customer needs to be told, so as to adjust their expectation for delivery. We were never told that the delivery estimates provided by CTG needed to be adjusted due to processing or shipping problems, so we expected the estimates to hold true.

When we had received no cabinets by 6/21/12, I contacted Carrie in Raleigh to inquire about the status of our order because we had not received any correspondence from CTG during the 8 days that had passed since paying for our cabinets. Carrie responded via email on 6/22/12 and told us the cabinets were in transit, but one item was on backorder. So, our cabinets been shipped and no one had told us, and part of our shipment was on backorder but we were not informed about this. So we waited for 5 more days, but when we still had received no cabinets on 6/27/12, I began calling and emailing the CTG headquarters and their customer care representatives. At this point, it was 9 days after our items had shipped and 14 days after we had ordered, and we still had no cabinets. Chris, the corporate customer care representative I spoke with, informed me he was very concerned about the lack of customer care we were receiving and would forward my concerns on to the Raleigh office, something I had already done on my own.

Later that same day (6/27/12) Carrie forwarded me an email that she had received on 6/18/12 containing details about tracking our order. (It took 9 days to get our shipping information forwarded to us from CTG, and we had to request this information from them!!) We were directed to contact CGL (the carrier that CTG uses for delivery) directly about our order. CGL must have been informed that I was on a mission to track down the cabinets, because a few minutes after I got the email from Carrie, Katarina from CGL called and left a voicemail requesting that I contact her to schedule delivery of our cabinets. I called, but was told the scheduling team would not be back until 9:00am the next morning. So I called them back at 9:00 on 6/28/12 and asked to schedule our delivery. Katarina told me she could not yet schedule delivery, as our cabinets had not reached the distribution terminal in Fayetteville, NC yet and she could not tell me what day we could expect to get our cabinets. I called CGL three more times over the course of 6/28/12 and spoke to three different CGL representatives, all of whom gave me different answers about when we could expect delivery and whether or not they could even schedule delivery yet. My fourth call to CGL on 6/28/12 ended with the representative telling me that the cabinets would arrive in the distribution terminal in Fayetteville, NC during the night on 6/28/12, and she said she thought we could get delivery on 6/29/12. Exasperated by the back-and-forth of the last two days, I emailed the CTG headquarters a second time and updated them on the mess that we were dealing with. I also called the "customer care" number that Chris had left for me and left a voicemail for him with the same update.

I called CGL at 9:00am on 6/29/12 to check on the arrival of our cabinets at the distribution terminal in Fayetteville, NC. However, I was told that someone at CGL had made an error since my last phone conversation with them the evening before, that our cabinets were put on the wrong truck, and they were currently at the distribution terminal in Atlanta, GA. I insisted that we get our cabinets before the weekend, but CGL said they had no trucks available to bring us our cabinets. I requested that CGL rent a U-haul and drive our cabinets to us, since this was their error and we were way past the delivery timeframes indicated by CTG. They indicated they would not consider this option. I immediately called the Raleigh CTG office and asked someone there to deal with CGL. A CTG representative named Bob told me that he would look into it, but I never got a call back. I called him again later that morning, and he said he had no information for me. I asked him to keep me informed, but I never got another call from anyone in the Raleigh CTG store. I called the CTG corporate offices again and spoke with Chris. He indicated that he was sorry for the inconvenience, but offered nothing in terms of restitution for the incredible hassle that our order had become, and did not even offer to contact CGL on my behalf.

Katarina at CGL called me several times over the course of the day on 6/29/12 and appeared very apologetic and concerned that the delivery of our cabinets had spiraled into a big mess. She indicated that she had called another shipping company called Saia Motor Freight in Charlotte, NC and that they could deliver our cabinets between the hours of 1pm and 3pm on 7/2/12. I indicated that this delivery time was not preferable, as we wanted our cabinets before then, but that it could work if need be. The director/manager at the Boston CGL location was also on the line and asked me to call Saia to confirm this delivery, and then call CGL back to let them know what was said. I did as he requested, but this is CGL's job and should have been arranged by them rather than by me, their customer.

So then, we were looking at a delivery time of 19 days at the very very best, but IF AND ONLY IF our cabinets actually got delivered on 7/2/12. As you can imagine, we were extremely displeased with the absolute mess that our order turned into. As CTG's customer, I shouldn't have even been expected to deal with their distributor, CGL, except to schedule the timely delivery of my order. I am CTG's customer, I just paid them $4,000, yet they put the burden of tracking down my cabinets on me. I am appalled that the Raleigh CTG office washed their hands of this mess, since they are the originators of the order and the people who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that we continue to get quality service DURING OUR ENTIRE Cabinets To Go experience. I am appalled that no one has said to us, "We are sorry. We messed up. We apologize that your order has taken so long to process." I am appalled that CTG headquarters has offered nothing in terms of compensation for time lost or for the hassle we have gone through, taking time out of our work day to do for them what they should be doing for us. And I am even more appalled that Chris, the CTG customer care rep, said, "I'm not sure how we can compensate you for this," during my phone conversation with him on 6/29/12. We can think of several ways, and we shared each of these thoughts with CTG:1.) Paying for and arranging for special delivery of our cabinets so we get them on Saturday, 6/30/12. The drive from Atlanta, GA to Wilmington, NC is only 7 hours long.2.) Offering our money back for what we paid in shipping and delivery costs. 3.) Offering a discounted price on our order, since we have been waiting for $4,000 worth of cabinets that have yet to show up.

This order and shipment of cabinets was only half of what we had designed for us by Carrie in the Raleigh store, and only half of what we planned to buy from CTG. We told Carrie up-front that we would have to split our purchase in two to make it fit our budget, and she indicated she would save her designs for us when we were ready to order the remaining cabinets. We had planned to order the other half of our kitchen cabinets from CTG around mid-July (more than $3,000 in additional cabinets on top of the $4,000 we just spent), but at this point, you can safely assume we will NOT be ordering from CTG ever again.

We told CTG, in writing and over the phone, that we were going to forward this account of our nightmare with CTG and CGL to the Wilmington, NC and Raleigh, NC news stations and request that they be aired as part of their respective "Buyer Beware" segments. We also told CTG, in writing and over the phone, that we would be uploading this account to any blog and/or internet forum we could find that is relevant to kitchen remodeling, ordering cabinets, etc. I completed Google searches on 6/29/12 for "Cabinets To Go Experiences" and "Cabinets To Go Reviews" which revealed that there are well over 30 sites, forums, and blogs through which potential customers are specifically asking past customers of CTG to review their personal experiences with the company. We will be posting to as many of these sites as we can, and we will be sure to clarify that, while CTG offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee policy on all purchases, they in no way guarantee their service OR the customer's experience.

And still, it doesn't end. On June 30, 2012 Mark McIntire from the Cabinets To Go corporate headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, CA called me (someone had forwarded him one of my emails "" I'm not even sure what his position is in the company) and asked me why I was "causing such a debacle." I told him we were frustrated with the poor communication between all parties involved in our order, and wanted some acknowledgement from CTG that things had gone wrong. He said that I was "being ridiculous" and that he didn't "want to deal with this" so he was going to cancel my entire order. I told him if he was cancelling my order, then we were refusing to pay for any shipping costs, any restocking fees, and any previously acquired delivery costs, etc. etc. since we had never received anything at all from CTG. He said (or yelled, rather), "Didn't you hear what I just said?! We're giving you your money back!!" Then he hung up on me. I called him back and asked for confirmation that he knew we would be reporting this poor service to the Better Business Bureau, and he said, "Yeah, I got the message," and hung up on me again. I would have liked to assume that that was the end of it, but still it gets worse. A few hours later on 6/30/12, the Raleigh office emailed me a receipt of the cancelled order as promised by Mark McIntire, but only agreed to refund me a portion of what we paid for our cabinets! So, we still have no cabinets, and we have now actually lost money to CTG because they refuse to give our money back!!

Additional information:Mark McIntire of CTG can be reached at 603.608.7805 or mmcintire@***.comCTG Founder/Owner Tom Sullivan can be reached at ts2@***.comThe CTG Raleigh office can be reached at 919.301.0360 or store371@***.comThe CTG 1-800 number is 800.222.4638, and "Customer Care" is option 4 CTG "Customer Care" voicemail can be left by calling 909.532.8220Cindy Valentine in the CTG claims department can be reached at cindy.valentin@***.comCGL can be reached at 781.996.3011 or cglbos@***.com

Location: Jacksonville, North Carolina

Do You Have Something To Say ?
Write a review

Comments

chat-icon

Please avoid publishing any personal information and promotional content

You will be automatically registered on our site. Username and password will be sent to you via email.
Post Comment
Guest

So glad I'm taking the time to read the issues customers have been having. I'd started to wonder if I was going to have issues when I'd talked to someone by phone twice and emailed.

I'd communicated with Josh just last week, who assured me he'd send me a quote by the end of the day (Saturday), as he was with a customer. Still waiting for your call, Josh!!! I'd sent him my information, so if he'd had any questions, I'd have thought he'd have called/emailed me.

If it is taking this much effort just to get a quote, I can't imagine what chaos might ensue when actually placing the order, waiting for the delivery.

What a shame, as they looked like nice cabinets! Too bad that they won't be getting my business!

Guest

My son and I were going to the local CTG store in Orlando today 4/9/17, but fortunately they were closed so I spent time instead reading their reviews on line. Thank you for your painfully detailed and lengthy review which has prevented me from even going to the local store to price replacement cabinets.

I've sent the review link to my son as well, and we both will find somewhere else to buy cabinets. I have no desire to deal with this kind of problem even if there's a remote chance of something like this happening. We would have spent about $10,000.00 combined for both houses. Thanks for the details, and sorry you went through this.

My very similar experience with a North Carolina furniture company which took over one year to resolve taught me to stay far away from *** companies with bad reputations.

I noticed Bob Villa is a spokesman for CTG; he could do better than to associate with a company that has any reviews of this type. Maybe they'll pull it together, but that's doubtful.

Guest

Wow. I can't believe businesses think they can do this to the consumer.

I will share this with others. I feel for you man.

What a nightmare. Not to mention trying to live in a halfway renovated kitchen, feeding the family, etc.

Guest

We are going through a similar nightmare with ctg damaged cabinets and was told by our salesmen to just peel it off and get some stain. WTF did you just suggest me to do, or you can refuse that cabinet and we will send you another one.

Putting cabinets together and no knobs or handles we paid for and have called 3 times and each time told they are a different vendor and are closed today we will get back to you and nothing happens unless I call.

And Still no knobs or handles. Messed up way of running a company.

Guest

Customers are not unreasonable for expecting what they have been promised for their money. If changes or other issues arise, a courtesy call should be made to the customer.

It is bad business to ignore your customers or their concerns.

People Don't "want it free", they want what they paid for. To have a business culture that sidelines your front line, your customers, you can expect karma to come knocking with turned backs and closed wallets.

Guest

Do not call the Denver office! Their salesman does not want to talk to you. Why should he "drop the customer in front of him with a credit card to talk to you?" I wonder that his convictions allowed him to pick up the phone at all.

Guest

I have same problem

Costumer series hold me 15 minutes on the phone

She's name Ashley

Guest

We ordered beautiful cabinets for our kitchen OVER $6000 worth and we just ordered another $4000 worth for our bedroom!!! We have been very pleased with EVERYTHING about cabinets to go in charolotte nc!!

Guest

I wouldn't want you as a customer either. Totally unreasonable.

Guest

Thanks for this detailed terrible experience! You might have just saved us from the same thing.

We won't purchase from them after reading this as we've been in the same spot as you with several other companies in the home remodeling retail business.

Hard to find any that are trustworthy, or professional any more. Hope you get all your money back...the very least that CTG should do, it's criminal if they do not!

Guest

Wow good for you to go above and beyond to write a thorough review. I was planning on purchasing our kitchen cabinets at a cost of $6800 through the Hartford Ct store ,but have decided after reading this review that I will look elsewhere. thank you for saving me headaches and heartache!

Guest

You should have hired a contractor for the job since you are too high strung to handle the process yourself. Things do happen.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1111307

Typical contractor attitude. "Things happen; it's going to cost more now".

Guest

well thanks for the info. on how they do business as i wont waist my time getting a quote for new kitchen cupboards.

Guest

I just wrote a review/complaint about Cabinets to Go in metro Detroit. Though I had a couple problems with finnish they were rectified and the local warehouse did repair damaged locking mechanisms.

My only problem is the metro warehouse does not stock cabinet doors and the shipping from California is not overnight it's when the next orders to your locale go out.

I like their construction materials and self closing drawer mechanisms and ease of assembly. Will use them again, but leery.

Guest

Sounds like some comments from CTG minions. Shame on you if you think the customer is being unreasonable.

I would expect if you say who your are to be pissed too.

Use a CC to purchase from CTG. Do a charge back, this affects the company's sanding with the CC company.

Guest

Yes, it has happens all over he country. I'm afraid to say anything because I have a portion of my cabinets, and some on the wall.

I have been waiting a long time to get the rest. I too have called and emailed everyone I could find information on. It's too bad because the cabinet line is a good buy. A good buy means nothing if you can not get your cabinets.

You can't blame the local sales people. This practice is from the top. Mr. Sullivan is either out of touch or simply does not care.

Sad, what it takes to build a company and how little it takes to ruin it. This is on the decision makers who write the policy.

Guest

I was considering $16,000 worth of cabinets from them but after reading this- there is no way! Thanks for the heads up. I'm sorry for your trouble.

Guest

Wow....that is all I can say...just....wow.

I used to own a retail store and my customers were the MOST important people who came through the door.

Without them, I had no business. Too bad CTG doesn't realize this.

I too was about to order from them. Thank you for saving me and saving my money. As a disabled veteran, I can't afford to have this sort of stupidity going on, financially or otherwise.

I have just purchased a wonderful house, but the kitchen needs help and now I will look elsewhere for my cabinets.

Which, brings me to an important question; does anyone know of a place that they WOULD recommend for cabinets...???

Thanks.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1043038

mycabinetman.com

View more comments (222)

Cabinets To Go Reviews

  1. 88 reviews
  2. 55 reviews
  3. 30 reviews
  4. 11 reviews
  5. 14 reviews
Cabinets To Go reviews