California Closets

I worked with Emily, the designer, who was amazing. The installer showed up exactly on time the day of the install to put in our new mudroom unit. Up until then we had given C.C. a 10 star rating.

The intall was almost finished when the installer told me he had made a mistake. I told him to leave it as is and we would see if it was liveable. Once he was gone I noticed a few more mistakes including a mistake in the width of one of the unit pieces (which is probably why the installer made that particular mistake in the first place!)

I communicated this with Emily immediately. She contacted me back and told me C.C. offered to give us a 10% discount on the unit (before taxes) or a 10% discount on a future unit or to re-install the unit (which is the preferred approach).

We made a decision that the unit was liveable and not worth our time or energy for them to come in and re-do it (due to it being in an area with a cable box where many things could go wrong, the elevator fee the condo charges to book the elevator, and having two children under the age of 3 at home). I communicated that I felt a 20% compensation would be more appropriate since we DID NOT WANT a reinstallation and there was more than one mistake made with the unit.

The next day I received a phone call from the Sales Manager whom I had never spoken to or met. I reiterated that I thought a 20% discount would be the best solution for us considering the stress, time, inconvenience and various issues with reinstalling the unit. She told me that what I was asking for was "unreasonable". She interrupted me on many occasions and continually questioned why we wouldn't want a re-installation. The 20-minute conversation was extremely unpleasant. I found her approach to be aggressive and more company-oriented than customer-oriented. When I asked if there was someone I could speak to other than her, I was told that the owner of the company, Adam Shearer, would be that person but was unavailable to discuss matters further. We got off the phone with the mutual understanding that we would be getting a 10% discount on the unit and I was walking away an unhappy customer.

I ended up emailing Adam Shearer. He contacted me back almost immediately and after we spoke over the phone he did end up offering us the 20% discount. He apologized for the Sales Manager's miscommunication regarding his willingness to correspond with a customer. He explained that he is always willing to communicate with a customer. He also assured me that the installation problem is a rare occurrance and that the preferred way to correct the issue is a reinstallation but he would respect our decision to forego that option.

At the end of the day, I am giving C.C. an 8 star rating because:

1. I loved working with Emily who designed the unit and I would most certainly work with her again.

2. The installation happened on the Thursday and the issue was finally resolved on the following Friday - which I consider to be a relatively short time line in this case.

3. The quality of the unit and it's system is wonderful.

4. California Closets is a well-run company that is willing to do what they can, within reason, to make sure their customer walks away happy.

At the end of all of this, I would consider working with C.C. again.