WORKS FLOOR & WALL

I thought long and hard about whether or not to post this review. In the end, I am posting this because I had looked for reviews when I chose the Works and had I found any I would have most likely never had the misfortune of doing business with them. We purchased a 2nd home in Palm Srings and immediately began a major remodel. I needed countertops, tile and carpet and went to The Works to get a bid from them on all three. The showroom was nice and the sales associate that helped me was pleasant. I made my choices and a time was set for them to come out and measure for the estimate. It is important to note that I was not replacing the kitchen cabinets, just painting them and getting new countertops. The bid came in, it looked fair,and as I had limited time in town to get everything done, I chose them, didn't bother getting a second bid, and flew home. The first red flag came a few days later when I had to point out to the sales associate that the color choices he had listed were incorrect. He assured me that it didn't matter, the prices were all the same. Fine, but I wanted a bid that listed everything correctly. He then backpedaled a bit, said maybe he had better check on the prices and get back to me. A new bid arrived, different prices---turns out they weren't the same after all--with the higher prices reflected, but the color choices listed still incorrect. I contacted him again and by the 3rd bid finally had what seemed to be the correct prices and colors. On the next trip down I dropped by and left a sizable deposit that they required to begin the templating on the countertop job. Fine, I did it and then left town. A couple of weeks later I got a call from my contractor---the technician doing the job noticed that there was an entire wall of countertop that had never been included in my bid. WHAT?!? The cabinets were always there and the kitchen is not THAT large, it should have been pretty hard to miss. In hindsight, at this point I should have gotten my money back and gone elsewhere, but I was 1200 miles away, I had already made 2 trips down and we just didn't have the time to start all over, things were moving ahead of schedule on every other aspect of the project. Although I wasn't happy, we had little choice but to go ahead and have them order more to get the job done. Weeks later the countertops arrive to be installed and again more problems. There had been a major communication error from the salesman to my contractor and the edge detail on the countertop did not work with the subtops he had ordered we install. Everything went back to the fabricator to be reworked. At this point it is 2+ months since the process began with them and I still had no installed countertops. The next week the countertops return, half of them are installed, with the largest one being taken back (again) because it has been seamed incorrectly. I confess, I am running out of patience with these guys...and then the bill arrives. Mind you, my kitchen is still not installed, and the bill shows that the added countertop is at an exorbitantly higher rate than the rest of my kitchen! This really makes no sense at all. Even comparing it with other bids I was then scrambling to get, the price was crazy out of whack. Neither myself or my contractor were able to get a straight answer out of them as to why the price was so ridiculously high. We were able get excuses, lots of them, as to why it was everyone's fault but theirs. Sorry, but to me excuses are not an answer. My contractor and I made real attempts to get them to adjust the price. The job had been nothing but screw up after screw up and the added countertop was a totally nutty price, compared with the rest of the job. After a few days of posturing by everyone involved, I finally asked that they either adjust the price or remove the countertops and give me my money back. After 2 1/2 months of mess ups they opted to give the money back. What I suspect they knew, that I didnt know at that point was that in the 2 1/2 month time period that I has been dealing with them, waiting for them to get it right, the material had been discontinued and there was none available on all of the west coast. That is why the originally missed countertop was so pricey---the fabricator had to buy whatever he could buy to fill in and had to pay a premium price. They were basically leaving me high and dry with a kitchen planned around a countertop that I could no longer get. A week after the money was supposed to be refunded a check still hadn't been issued so I requested that they wire it into my account. They said they could but that I would have to incur a wiring fee of $25. REALLY? After all this they couldn't do the right thing and cover it? They had messed up nearly everything they had touched, cost me extra money, caused a lot of stress, and cost my builder money in delay after delay after delay. Apparently not, because I paid it---I just wanted to get it all behind me and move on. In summation, I would be unable to recommend the Works to anyone. My experience with them was fraught with screw-ups and mistakes, with no integrity shown to assume responsibility and make things right. After 20+ years in the design business working with contractors and subcontractors for others and having completed countless remodels myself, I have dealt with my share of incompetent people,but these guys are in a league all of their own.