ALEX DESIGN dba Buy Direct Cabinets and Furniture

It was an awful experience The owner Alex came to our home and gave us a quote. We originally wanted to keep our existing cabinetry and just add on but he insisted we change all the cabinets so they would match. We decided that made sense and went with it. He came over and spent great time working out the possibilities with us showing us what we could have. After he left we called our Contractor who hired this cabinet guy Alex and asked if he would provide us with an estimate for the work he proposed. We didn't expect it to be too extreme because Alex told us we didn't have very many cabinets so it would make more sense to change it all out and would not cost very much. We had major sticker shock when we were told the price. We understand cabinets are expensive but we were only getting the vey basic shaker style NON soft close cabinets. He quoted $8500 which did not include the money he would be collecting from the contractor that hired him to do our kitchen island. We made an offer and asked if they could make it happen without losing their profit margin. Alex asked for $500 more from what we were offering. We decided to give in. Well he then was suppose to come back to go over the final details of the cabinets. Well let me tell you when he came back he was rushing through and his whole demeanor had changed. He was still very professional but a huge change from our intial contact w/him. I asked for a few pullouts since we were spending so much money already and he was the one who had assured us he would give us a good deal and convinced us to change ALL the cabinets. At that meeting I was practically begging this guy to put in a trash pullout for god sakes. He was very reluctant to do much extra anything. I don't know if he was unhappy with the price or what. After he left I had a few concerns he was prompt to answer my questions and get back to me. Well then came time for the cabinet installation. He sent 2 men to do a three man job. We had to show these men that they were placing the cabinets too low. These men worked from 9am to 7pm all day basically trying to do 2days of work in one day. As they were leaving they asked for the remainder of the pmt. I told them i felt more comfortable giving it directly to Alex. They said ok and left. Later I would be SO THANKFUL FOR NOT MAKING THAT PAYMENT THAT DAY. Two days later when i finally had a day off work I began cleaning the cabinets and was SHOCKED to find a slew of problems from the cabinets not closing all way and the crown moulding falling off and misalignment and cracked glass on corner and glue seeping out. Very sloppy work. So I immediately called Alex and texted him all the pics. He apologized and stated his men would be back to fix everything. THANK GOD I DID NOT MAKE THAT PAYMENT THE DAY OF INSTILLATION BECAUSE I GUARANTEE IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN AN ARMY TO GET THESE PEOPLE TO COME FIX THEIR CRAPPY WORK. To make a terrible long story short one of the same men came back to fix it all. Well he would fix 2 things and come ask for the payment. After inspecting his work we would find he conveniently missed a bunch of things. He would fix a few more & again come ask for the money. Again we would do an inspection and find things he completely overlooked or ignored who knows. Anyways when he FINALLY finished I gave him the check and told him to have Alex cash it in the morning it was 3:30 pm and i needed time to transfer the funds as i had no idea what day these ppl were going to show up. The man says ok i'll tell Alex it's no problem. Well it became a problem when i got a text from my bank saying my acct was over drafted. I didn't understand. I called the bank and apparently Alex cashed the check an hour after his man left even though it was post dated for the following day. So how you ask was he able to cash a post dated check ? He went through an ATM machine who obviously could not question him on the date. He calls me Sat morning with extreme anger saying the check bounced. I told him yes because you cashed it an hour after i gave it to you when i specifically told your guy not to. He says you have to pay me now. I will drive to you to pick up cash. Well we are going back and fourth and I ask him to redeposit the check and he says he cant because the bank has it and will mail back to me which is untrue. I asked who his bank was and he was very hesitant to tell me who he banks with. I call my bank put a stop payment on the initial check and call him back tell him I will save him a trip and mail him another check which he thanks me for. Well a few days later Im doing a walk thru the kitchen and discover the f********* d**** he sent to do the fixes apparently splashed the dark expresso stain on the side of our antique white island. Then he apparently tried to clean it up because he left a huge spot where he wiped so hard that the finish rubbed right off. I sent Alex the pics and got no response. I call him the next day and he finally answers his phone and asks what pics ? I say look at your phone. He does asks my men did that ? Of course who else could !! He says well we can go pick up the stain ourself from his warehouse and fix it. Did i mention his office is over 1 hr away. I ask the contractor if he would have one of his men get the stain for us as they will be coming from there anyway. These poor men go out of their way to pick up the stain and Alex himself gives them the stain. They bring it to me AND ITS THE WRONG STAIN I SAY DONT walk.....RUN from these shaddy people. They do not genuinely care about their customers. Well at least they pretend to care until they have all your money then you are on your own. I would NEVER EVER recommend them. We had to work with them because the original contractor we had a contract with hired Alex so we were stuck with this guy. RUN. Pay the extra money. The cheap comes out expensive in the end my friend.