Response from Minuteman Design Center, Inc.
[removed member name], We sincerely apologize for your experience with our company and are truly shocked by your review of our company. We would like to take this opportunity to respond to your review point by point. Honesty: First and foremost, we must state that we take pride in providing great workmanship and customer service with each and every one of our clients – and you are no exception. We have not, do not and will not ever treat anyone – clients, friends, family – with dishonesty. We understand that you may be unhappy with our performance, however, stating that we are not honest is unacceptable. J.C., the owner of the company for over 33 years, has been active in the Albuquerque community for most of his life and this personal attack on his honesty and business acumen is libelous per se. Price & Pressure: We understand that you and J.C. met and that you were given, in our opinion, a fair price for what it would cost to perform the work you requested. Your quote included building and finishing 25 raised panel doors; stripping and refinishing 15 drawer fronts & 48 feet of frame; finishing and installing crown moulding; removing, building and installing a granite countertop, installing new hinges, panels for side of cabinet, and a microwave. Unbeknownst to J.C., you were an Angie’s List member, however, he gave you the Angie’s List discount regardless. It was at this time that you provided us with a deposit to secure your spot on our calendar. J.C. was unaware that you wanted to obtain more estimates before making a final decision. It is not our intent to ever pressure a customer into hiring us without them performing due diligence, nor have them feel that after they have hired us, that we must be paid in full “or the job [will] not…be done in time.” If we made you feel pressured, or rushed, we apologize for that, that is never our intent. Payment: With regard to us being paid in full or us not finishing on time, we did receive a deposit from you, however, the balance was not due until the job was satisfactorily completed. Your comment suggests that you were required to pay us before we would finish the job. That is untrue, as noted above, we collect payment after we satisfactorily complete the job. We simply do not prolong jobs in order to ensure payment, doing so goes contrary to being paid. “Nickel and Diming:” With regard to us “nickel and diming” you, that simply is not true. If this is referring to the extra $50 that was charged for shaving the frame for you to install your refrigerator, you explained to J.C. that your refrigerator was too big and would not fit and asked us to shave the frame. J.C. asked our wood worker how much it would cost to do this, and the price of $50 was discussed with you. You replied that your neighbor would do it for you for $50 also, and gave us the go ahead, stating we might as well do it since we were already there. J.C. did ask you to pay the woodworker directly instead of having you pay the company and have the company pay the woodworker. Additionally, there was an extra charge for us to build panels. We were required to pay a woodworker to do this. You, however, failed to mention that we: 1) removed a cabinet; 2) made a new corner shelf; 3) converted a cabinet to have a glass door; 4) added crown moulding; and 5) installed handles at NO CHARGE. Workmanship: While we were working on your kitchen, you never mentioned that you were you unsatisfied with anything. If you would have, we would have worked with you to rectify the situation. In fact, we have a text message from you stating, “Hi just got home the cabinets turned out beautiful!!” We also have photos and video of the kitchen after we finished it and we agree that it looks beautiful! Vendors: We admit we did have a subcontractor working for us who was previously incarcerated and recently experienced legal troubles. We had him performing work for us at our shop only, and he NEVER worked in ANY of our customer’s homes. We extended this opportunity because it was difficult for him to find work with his background and we wanted to give him the chance to get his life back on track and become a productive citizen. We are not aware of the circumstances surrounding his situation and will not comment further on it in this forum. We look for the best in people and will continue to do so. Likewise, we are currently working with the Heart Gallery of New Mexico, an organization offering crucial support to foster teens that have not been adopted. We created a program with the Heart Gallery wherein we bring in an individual, assist with life skills training, and provide them with kitchen and furniture restoration training. As far as pushing you to use a particular vendor, we apologize if we made you feel that way, as that is never our intent. When customers ask us if we can do a particular job, we always refer them to people we have worked with in the past and trust. It is always up to the customer whether or not to use a particular vendor. As it turns out, in this business, many vendors end up becoming friends, as is our case with the tile company. In this case, you asked us about a tile installer and we referred you to a vendor we use. Yes the vendor met with you multiple times and yes once with his spouse. Like our business, many small businesses are family owned and operated and when family begins working, they sometimes accompany the others on sales calls to learn the business. Also, our tile vendor does have a showroom that is currently under construction – we know this first hand because we recently built and installed the display units used in the showroom. In any event, we DO NOT believe that having a showroom or not as being indicative as to the quality of work of a vendor. “Hugging.” We apologize if you felt uncomfortable about the “hug.” J.C. has been doing business since 1981 and in those years he has come to think of his customers as friends, thus he occasionally will give a one-armed side hug so-to-speak to a client that he feels had built a friendly rapport with. In this instance, J.C. was unaware of your uncomfort, especially when you reciprocated the action. Again, we sincerely apologize for any uncomfortable feelings this may have caused. The Door. It is our understanding that you have a metal door with what appeared to be a plastic hook attached to it. It appeared to J.C. that the hook had fallen off the door, leaving behind a dry residue, which he believed to be dried glue. Our woodworker did find a hook on the ground, matching another hook on the door. While J.C. may have used an unorthodox method of wiping the residue, it was his grandfatherly instinct to lick his thumb to “clean it off.” Furthermore, after J.C. offered to try to clean and reattach the hook, you covered up the area while he went to grab some materials from his vehicle, preventing us from trying to help. We want to reiterate – we do our best to satisfy our customers. That is the reason why we are entering our 34th year of business. We invite our customers to engage in meaningful dialog with us to ensure that their project is done on time, within budget, in accordance with the work order, and to their satisfaction. This review would have been unnecessary if concerns would have been addressed as they surfaced.