Custom cabinet goof up

[Margarita]

Our basement is finally almost finished. We ordered some custom cabinets, two of which were supposed to be exactly the same. They are sitting right next to each other, and..........they're not the same. :mad: There are drawers in the middle (will try to get a picture up), and one set is a full inch lower than the other. So, everything is off.

We've already paid for them.

What should we do?

[meliz]

Call the manufacturer! He/she really should honour their agreement with you. I know if I were a cabinet maker I would want positive press out there and would do what I could to fix them. Call them, inquire nicely and then if that doesn't work, demand action! Then if *that* doesn't work, call the better business bureau. We encountered a jerk of a car salesman, and boy oh boy did he react when the bbb was iinvolved. :)

[Margarita]

Thanks for the reply, Meliz! You reminded me that I ought to mention that the guys we had build them are not a big business. They are just a couple of guys that finish basements, and one used to make furniture in Mexico. So they are independent.

Also, it will be a big hassle to get one of them moved back out of our basement (removal of all the cabinet doors *and* our doors to the basement and garage). I'm not sure if I want to go through it.

Anyway, here's a go at a pic.

[Lisa_London_Ont]

Hmmm....
I just dunno on this one..
I was going to say move the brackets, however the whole thing is off balance...
I totally understand reg. the guys in a small biz, and all the work to get them out, than new ones again in..However I agree with Meliz..
U should call them.

[meliz]

Hey again Margs,

Hmmm... well they don't look *that* bad. If I were looking at them w/out prior warning, I would not have noticed. (except that I know what to look for now). But you do notice and so it's always gonna bug you, I know (I am the same way). And they should not be off kilter like that. I still think you should call them and complain. This is shoddy work on their part, and even if they do nothing, they should know this. And at the very least, even if you decide to keep them as is, they should give some of your money back. Independent workers more than anyone should be out to satisfy customers, as word of mouth is so important.

As for solving the problem... Is it possible they can replace the doors in the basement, without removing the whole kit n' kaboodle? I dunno. Or maybe you could put coasters under one of them to at least give the illusion of parity?

[Margarita]

Thanks for the input, ladies.

Meliz, I don't think they could do a quick fix with it. They'd have to completely rebuild one to get them to match perfectly. It helped a ton to hear you say you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out, though. My mom told me no one else would notice, but I wasn't so sure about that.

I've been thinking about it, and since they did a really good job on everything else, I don't really want to call them up and throw a fit (which I'd probably have to do to get one re-done or get money back). We already got them at a great deal. We paid $200 less for them than we did a pantry that is about the same size that we ordered from our kitchen cabinet makers 2 years ago. So, I think I'm going to have B call them and just mention that there was a problem so they can be careful about it in the future. They should at least know that we noticed something wrong. And who knows, maybe that's all it will take for them to want to remedy the mistake somehow.

Now if we can just get the rest of our floor coverings in. %^&#^!@

[jessica]

Are they going to be right next to each other? If you don't have them right next to each other, I really don't think it will be noticeable. Maybe if B is going to call them he could just throw in a "is there anything you can do?" just to see they may be very apologetic and want to fix it. You just never know til you ask.

[stacyl]

I was also going to suggest not putting them side-by-side since they aren't exact. My DH does woodworking as a hobby and it's not difficult to screw up when making two of the same things. However, I know that it would drive me nuts to have them side-by-side. I'd constantly be staring at the lopsided-ness.

Of course, I'd still call but with everything you sound like you got out of this, I probably wouldn't throw a fit about the mismatch....

[Margarita]

They sit right next to each other just like in the picture. That's the only reason this bothers me at all. Otherwise, it would be no big deal. We would look into changing the setup if we had the room, but we don't right now.

Stacy, I know what you mean about it being easy to make a mistake, but my grandfather was a contractor all his life and made absolutely sure that his work was top quality. If I'd hired a hobbyist, I would be more understanding, but these guys are making a living off this. Still, since they're independent and doing it at such a low cost (we think they must get the materials directly from Mexico, making it possible to charge less), I'm tending toward being more understanding, too.

Another plus is that the cabinets are in the "playroom" area of our basement. So, hopefully I'll be too busy playing with Naomi when we're over there to notice much. Hopefully.

Oh, and my dad isn't too keen on helping us move one of those again, either. LOL We were afraid they wouldn't fit through the doors for a while!!

When our kid(s) are older, maybe we'll move the office into that area, and the cabinets can go elsewhere and be separated. So, this isn't a life sentence. LOL