Rios Heritage Woodworking

We were about to buy the cabinets ready to assemble from an on-line specialty source and have a contractor install them, but very worried about the amount of work to install and get them right as there were some tricky areas. Jose Rios, of Rios Heritage Woodworking was recommended by the company that was going to do our granite counter-top and arranged his schedule to meet us before we left for vacation, December 21. He rang the bell exactly as the clocked ticked 7pm, the time of our first appointment. He was very friendly and personable. He showed us photos of other work he had done and the pictures looked good. He reviewed our existing plans for the kitchen and as we were leaving for vacation gave us a quote right there. The price was excellent, $3,000 less than the cost of buying it on-line and he was going to do the install. We wanted it soon and he agreed to finish in 6 weeks. We were thrilled to have found someone who could do the work at a great price, within our schedule and with what looked like good quality and to the specs we wanted which were really hard to find people who would do it, special formaldehyde-free plywood, FSC solid wood. He wanted 50% up-front. We ended up agreeing to give him $3,500 for materials so he could get them on order during the holidays and be ready to start after. We left on vacation happy.
After Christmas, the horror started. The whole story would take many pages and we will write it on a blog soon, but for now the cliff notes: He did not return emails or phone calls on a timely fashion while we were on vacation and he was supposed to give us updated drawings and details, then he got sick, then we waited, then he stood us up for our 2nd appointment after he was well, and our 3rd appointment, and our 4th appointment, until finally at a come to Jesus meeting he agreed to start to deliver partially on the base cabinets within a week, upon which 3 weeks passed and after calling him every day and our granite company also calling him, he finally started work and sent pictures of some of the base cabinets Feb 26. They were wrong! Made of white melamine and low quality. I went to his shop, we had a 2nd come to Jesus meeting upon which I discovered he was still in February working on other clients work due in December and would not likely have ours done until mid-end of year, so he agreed to return our deposit back within 3 weeks. After 3 weeks he said 1 week later. Then he asked to pay back some of it by working it off moving some cabinets, we agreed and he stood us up for that appointment! Here we are 7 weeks later and he has returned no money and wont give us any date on returning it, we now have to take him to court. What a horror!
He is a very smooth talker, and I wont deny he has woodworking talent (based on what I saw in his shop, not what he did for us), but I hope you read this before falling for his empty promises.