06/08/2022
So, first and foremost, I just want to thank my first real customer Josey and her family for their awesome patience and hospitality during the process of installing the cabinets below. Thank you Josey for your support and Matt Baca for referring me so I that could try to get my business up and running!!!
Secondly, sadly, I have to go on a bit of a rant….please skip to the end if you don’t want to hear my detailed description of the challenges and issues faced and encountered during this process. Please read if you’re thinking about doing cabinets in your own home, and are considering going through The Home Depot. To begin, I was graciously referred to my customer by a friend, who I appreciate very much for doing so, and as luck would have it I discovered that my customer had found cabinets she was interested in at the home depot in Arvada near me!
That is where the nightmare began…January of this year. In an effort to “make a long story short” let’s just say that Home Depot is probably the last place you should look for cabinets. Ridiculously vague, unprofessional staff members, horrible phone system, and three failed deadlines, with the initial “expected” date of 02/14/22 and a final delivery date at the end of April, and a subsequent date in May for final delivery of the correct cabinet doors after a conversation with corporate HQ, and the materials were all finally almost in completely in place. Almost.
After finally receiving everything, we discovered that we hadn’t received the “toe kick” for the bottom facia of the cabinets.
Graciously, one of the team members in the kitchen design department negotiated “free” toe kick for us thank God. Found out that the incorrect facia for the sink cabinet had to be pried off and shot back on with a finish gun. Which was done, also thank God we figured out the correct size for the finish nails after a failed test on the old facia with some that were too long.
THE BOTTOM LINE/LESSONS LEARNED:
Make sure you understand and manage customer expectations. Now having experienced what this process is like, I know to double all timelines, at least.
Make sure you know who you’re dealing with and how to get ahold of them directly. The Home Depot is a billion dollar (?) corporation and ”should” have it together…but that doesn’t mean their suppliers, or people answering the phones do. I was hung up on numerous times and became very frustrated by the lack of “caring” from their staff members. This seems to be a global phenomenon, all I can say is that if you don’t really care about what you’re doing, at all, do something else that you do care about. It makes everyone else’s life easier dealing with someone who is passionate and knowledgeable about their industry. If you’re one or the other, you can be helpful, if not and you don’t care….we’ll you’re not.
Use contracts!!!! Also with clauses that include acts of God, changes in prices, failures of suppliers to meet deadlines, additional costs for delivery of corrected orders…etc. One of the most difficult things about this type of situation is to try to remember details about what happened five months ago.
Finally, side gigs are great when everything works out and it is quick and painless, but when things go wrong…it can effect every other area of your life…. So, I have been seriously considering “not” continuing to do these types of things.
