Bray & Scarff

I wish I could give 0 stars for customer service and experience. We purchased a brand-new wall oven and microwave in excess of $8,000. The communications with the office for install info and responses to questions was poor to begin with. I probably could have gotten past us having to drive all the communications consistently sending and resending messages to get a response, but then the brand-new oven that was installed has not worked from the day it was installed. It hits 200 degrees and shuts off. The Sales office basically absolved themselves of any responsibility and sent us to Service to get help. That was an equally poor experience. The date we received to even get someone to diagnose the issue was 2 weeks out. At that point we would have no idea if it is able to be repaired or how long any parts will take to replace. When I asked the salesperson to escalate he indicated service was outside his influence. Great customer service oriented answer. So, I had to call service and send emails multiple times until I finally got a manager to call me back and was able to accelerate the date. The tech came and determined it needed a new cooling fan. Again, we waited for communications on how long the part would take and then when they would come back to install. I had to consistently follow-up and ask for status. At some point the second piece we ordered arrived (microwave) and they scheduled install. At this point, I determined that they had charged me twice for the same item. Something I had to find and point out and then provide documentation to get a refund. They then came back to fix the oven with the new part and it still won't work. The tech said I think there are multiple things broken inside of it. Now, we are in limbo of them working with manufacturer on approval of a replacement. As soon as I learned it was not able to be fixed I went into the showroom to speak with the salesperson - again and he was not helpful and condescending. Even telling me he didn't understand the urgency of my concern given I am going to have to wait at least 5 weeks for another one anyway. Leading with empathy is apparently not something their salespeople are trained in. Now we are one week past when the oven was determined not fixable and again I have been following up for status. Another week has gone by and a new oven is not on order. I have asked the salesperson multiple times for a manager to speak with and he has yet to produce a name. Honestly, I know it is not their fault the oven does not work but their complete lack of care, empathy, and customer service is the issue. In addition, to them being totally dismissive of the inconvenience this has caused. I will never shop wit them again. I will seek whatever alternatives are available to me.

After 6 repair visits, at which they either misdiagnosed the problem, brought the wrong parts, or both (and each of which required either my husband or me to take time off from work), they finally decided they couldn't fix the problem. Rather than working with GE to get the issue resolved, they gave us a generic 800 number at GE to call and left us to fend for ourselves. I am stunned that after such a large purchase they would so completely fail to stand behind their products. Do not buy from them if you have any expectation of after-sale service or don't want to replace your appliances after 1 year if there are any issues.

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I have had this microwave wall oven unit for over three years and it has been nothing but trouble. It is a Whirlpool. Everything from broken latch to a burned-out control board have gone wrong. Each and every time there is an issue with it you have to wait two weeks to have someone come look at it then it takes at least 3 to 4 weeks to ship whatever part and if you are lucky they get the right part. Usually it is the wrong part and you have to wait another 3 to 4 weeks. This is simply unacceptable and ridiculous to be without a vital kitchen appliance for a few months. Offer no apologies and have incompetent workers. I would never recommend them to anyone. The sales guys at the store do a great job selling but it is after you get it home that all the trouble begins. Do not buy from them!

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Shabree, the designer, did a truly excellent job of designing to our specifications and showing us what it would look like. She came out to the house first and took measurements with discussed options for each room. We then went through a few iterations where she would show us floorplans and renderings of how each room would look at the store. We eventually chose another contractor based on price, build quality ratings.

Their designer, Shabree, was wonderful to work with. However, she is only available certain days of the week, making it necessary to take time off work. If other customers spend more money, you are definitely moved down the list of priority, no matter when you started. In trying to extend our island counter top, it took weeks to come up with a design. First it was to add legs, then it was to add bevels (at over $600 each - needing 4 of them!!). Finally, on a THIRD visit, I met with a different "engineer", who came up with an idea of adding a metal plate under the counter - no need for legs or bevels. His comment? I don't know why they didn't suggest this before - we just did this in another house a couple of months ago. ugh. The contractor used for the tiling/backsplash was wonderful and did great work. Not only did we do the backsplash, but also added the stonework around our entire island. It looks great. We did end up with a small crack in the granite near the sink, but it does look so much better. The price was over budget in the end, more here for labor, more there. In the end, I love my kitchen. However, we started the process in January and didn't finish the planning until the end of march and start work until April - when I threatened to cancel if they didn't book the work.

My Bosch dishwasher was 2 1/2 years old when the intake valve broke on December 9. Fortunately, I have a 5 year extended warranty I purchased on the day of sale. I called the Bray and Scarff store located on Cranston St. Sterling VA that Tuesday morning. I was told someone would call me from their service department to schedule a date for service. The next available date was the following Tuesday December 16 with an 8 to 12 noon arrival time frame. On that Tuesday no serviceman arrived nor called within that time frame. I called the service number at 1:05 to report no one had arrived. I was told the serviceman was on his way and he did arrive within 15 minutes. The serviceman diagnosed a broken valve, but he did not have that part on his truck, and it would have to be ordered. The service department would call when the part came in and to allow 5 to 7 business days. On December 23 Bray and Scarff service called to schedule the repair date on Tuesday Jan 6 (2 weeks hence). On January 6 I received a call to reschedule due to the snow. No one could drive out in current weather conditions. The next scheduled date would be Tuesday January 13 between 8 to 12 noon. Two repairmen arrived around 10 A.M. to replace the valve. The replacement valve broke when a repairman tried to connect it to a hose. He called a nearby parts store and it had the valve in stock. He left to pick it up and returned in 20 minutes.After the second attempt, he closed the dishwasher and ran a cycle. All seemed to be running smoothly and they left. After the 1 hour cycle ended, I tried to open the door, but it would not open. I immediately called Bray and Scarff service to report this, and one of the repairmen said he would come out first thing next morning. On Wednesday January 14 a repairman arrived at 10:45 A.M. and said the black plastic toe panel on the bottom was installed backwards, thus preventing the door opening. It was installed properly finally and I ran a successful load that night. From December 9 to January 14, a total of 5 weeks, my dishwasher was not functioning. My experience with Bray and Scarff is very disappointing.

I had a Jenn-Aire microwave problem diagnosed by another firm - WRM Appliances (I can't praise WRM enough. WRM said the part was most likely covered by warranty, and that it would be better for me to use an authorized provider and get the part for free. He could have tried to scam me but he was honest.) BS advertises as a Jenn-Aire dealer and had a local office, so I called them. Based on the earlier diagnosis, I specifically asked if BS was an authorized service provider for Jenn-Aire appliances. BS said that yes they were. So I scheduled an appointment. The service person showed up as scheduled, and quickly diagnosed the problem (confirming what WRM had found). The service person said that BS would have to order the part and wanted a deposit (about $70). I called BS the next day, to confirm that BS understood that the part was under warranty and would be no charge (charging only for labor). BS assured me that the warranty coverage would be confirmed by Jenn-Aire. A few days later BS called with a repair estimate - about $500 for the (under warranty) part plus labor. I asked about the warranty; BS said that Jenn-Aire didn't say it was under warranty. The next day I called Jenn-Aire directly. The person was very polite and assured me that the part indeed was under warranty, and assured me the BS is NOT an authorized service provider. It appears that BS was not truthful about being an authorized service provider, did not check if the part was under warranty, simply priced an order for a replacement part and planned to bill me for it. The Jenn-Aire representative scheduled a service call with a capable service provider for me.

The delivery date arrived and the workmen called in advance and arrived on time. Unfortunately, the warehouse sent the wrong dishwasher. A call was made immediately by the lead delivery man and the store immediately researched the problem. The correct dishwasher was found and then to my relief the store was able to get it delivered the next day. Although there was a mistake made I was happy at how responsive and helpful the delivery men and the store were at correcting it. The delivery men were professional, friendly and cleaned up after their work. Two thumbs up to Tony and Danny for their professional delivery and installation. Kudos to Jim Arata for providing me with affordable, American-made appliances.

Took four months for Bray & Scraff to complete minor service to kitchen appliance. Salesman did not respond to follow up. Service team slow and inflexible.

The visit to the showroom was pretty good, although that's when the confusion began. One guy handled the appliances and a nice lady took our countertop order. The appliance guy assured us that yes, we could have a gas range without needing to vent to the outdoors. We did our own checking to confirm and ordered a lovely Kitchenaid gas range with dual ovens and a large Maytag microwave with filtering vent hood. Both appliances, by the way, are spectacular and we have no complaints with those purchases. The confusion: we asked--repeatedly--if Bray & Scarff (B&S) would arrange for a contractor to install the gas plumbing to the stove since our existing stove was electric. No, they told us, we had to do that. Are you kidding? You are supposed to be a "full service" kitchen remodeler and you don't offer this service? Are you sure? No--we don't do that? We asked again. Same answer. We asked the lady at the countertop station. Same answer. Whatever. We ordered the countertops we wanted, were told we'd get a free faucet--great--and went home. The stove was delivered on schedule, but we spent ***SIX WEEKS*** attempting to get the gas plumbing connected!! The quotes we got from plumbers ranged upwards from $1800 to run 10 feet of piping. We ended up pulling the permits and doing the work ourselves (I'm an engineer and it's not that tough). Lots of lessons learned. After a few disgruntled calls to B&S, I learned that lo and behold, they **DO** offer this plumbing service, and should have done it for us, and it would have been less than we were quoted by the plumbers. The store manager never made any offer to help us or to take anything off for our trouble. Six weeks without a stove is quite an adventure in cooking with a crock pot, expecially over Thanksgiving and CHristmas. Now for the countertops... B&S uses a countertop contractor who insists on the latest technology for "accuracy." They wanted us to clear all our stuff off the counters so that their guy could use a laser device to get "accurate" measurements to cut the stone. He showed up late, then spent several hours attaching tape all over the place before his "laser" could take the measurements. Total time to measure: 7 hours. It would have taken about an hour, tops, to measure the old fashioned way and draw a template. When the counters arrived, guess what? THey didn't fit!! The installers had to spend over an hour grinding and still had to squeeze them in, and they weren't cut to my specs, and the corner shows that they two counters are not at the same height, where they should have been shimmed to match. Further, the backsplashes could not even be trimmed to fit. So much for modern technology. That was 3 days out of my time. No big deal, right? I will not use B&S again. Kitchen remodeling is a major disruption no matter how it's done. Be sure you are going with a real "full service" remodeler who uses all his own people and not some subcontractor from out of state who doesn't report to the bottom line.

'My wife loves to cook, so for our 20th anniversary, I wanted to surprise her with a new high-end Wolf Range and matching range hood. I went into the shop almost 2 months prior to arrange the purchase and delivery/install date, as this was to be a surprise for my wife. We were going to head out of town for 2 days to celebrate our anniversary, my Mom was home with the kids, and so I arranged to have all of this work done while we were gone. Delivery was scheduled for a window of 10:30AM to 2:30PM. They didn't show up until almost 5PM, without calling. My Mom was frantically texting me when they didn't show, causing me to have to call them to find out where they were. No one bothered to call to say they were running multiple hours late. When they arrived, they put the old stove in the garage, and proceeded to "install" the new range. When I first purchased this range, I looked at the specifications to ensure my power and gas lines were where the Wolf specs said they needed to be. The only thing I could see that might be a problem was that the gas connection was about 4" high, and the Wolf specs stated they needed to be no more than 2.5" (to fit under the anti-tip bracket). I took a picture of it and brought it to the store to show the store manager, as if this needed to be fixed prior to the range being installed. Again, since this was a surprise, I wanted to address it in advance. He told me he had an installer who could "move the gas line if needed". I assumed that meant he could do whatever he needed to do it make it fit. When the two men arrived to deliver the stove, it was clear they had no idea about moving or modifying a gas connection, so they connected everything, and left the stove sticking about 6 inches into the middle of the floor, stating that the gas connector was too high and they couldn't do anything about it. Then they couldn't find the knobs for the burners, and after looking in their truck for 15 minutes, were starting to disassemble the stove to take it back to the store, telling me Mom we should "reschedule". She finally talked them out of it, and they went to leave. Meanwhile, I had requested the old stove be taken away, and they were ready to leave that, too. She had to chase them out to the truck to come back and get it. When we got home, my wife was excited to see the stove, but immediately wondered why it was sticking out that far from the wall. I immediately contacted the store, and the store manager told me he would handle it. Long story short, after a week and a half of going back and forth, he basically told me he wasn't prepared to take care of it, leaving me to have to call my own plumber to fix the issue. I wasn't really even upset about that, since I would have taken care of that myself in advance anyway if I had known this was going to be a problem. But the fact that I was told they were going to take care of it, I paid $225 for delivery and installation, and they really didn't do anything except cause me more work and tarnish the surprise. The icing on the cake was that they also put two huge gashes in my two-year old wood floor, and again, after being told by the store manager that he was sending my info to the claims department and that it would be handled since their installers are 100% insured, I am still chasing them around to see what they are going to do about fixing the floors. It's disappointing because I was actually quite pleased with my service experience in the store. But their delivery and installation isn't worth a d***, and I'd warn anybody and everybody before using their services. They are banned from my home from this point forward.

After a couple of months researching brands and stores, we decided to look at Bray & Scarff thinking they would provide a better customer experience than a large, big-box style store. The first salesperson we spoke with was very knowledgeable about all the appliances in the showroom and he helped us narrow our scope down to the GE line (we previously had GE Profile appliances). He was able to give us generous discounts (from the store as well as through GE) and he gave us an attractive estimate that included 0% financing. We left that first meeting strongly considering the sale. After talking it over for about a week, we decided to move forward with the sale, and added the washer and dryer. We returned to the store to finalize the sale, and found out why they were able to offer such attractive pricing. What they give you in discounts, they more than make up for in installation costs which are not negotiable. When it was all said and done, we might have gotten similar pricing from a big-box retailer and saved ourselves some frustration. In addition, at that second meeting our original salesperson was unavailable so we spoke with the store manager. He provided a great deal more information about the appliances we were considering, which left us wondering what else the original salesperson left out. When we finalized the sale we were advised that our cooktop would not be available until August, but we decided to move forward and scheduled the delivery of the rest of the appliances for July 27th. The delivery truck arrived at 7:30am on the 27th, but none of my appliances were on the truck! The driver confided in me that none of the deliveries he was scheduled to make that day were on the truck! They left, saying their supervisor had told them to return to the warehouse (in Laurel, MD), and that someone would be in touch to discuss another delivery. By 8:30am I was fuming. I called the store and spoke with a salesperson who said he'd figure out what was going on and get back to me. He called me back in 5 minutes to say that the delivery trucks were being swapped, and that my delivery would occur later that morning. I was mollified, but skeptical. The new delivery truck arrived at about 1:00pm. The two men were efficient and quick and very careful not to mark up the walls and floor. They were finished at about 4:00pm. When they left, everything was working. The cooktop finally came in and the delivery was scheduled for August 14th. In the meantime, we had a granite countertop installed with an opening cut to fit the new cooktop (it also fit the original cooktop, so we were not without a cooking surface). Unfortunately, there was a problem with some leftover material from the granite installation that prevented the new cooktop from fitting properly. I was able to contact the granite company, and they came out the following day to correct the opening. Unfortunately, the young man was not comfortable hooking up the new cooktop, so we were left with an inoperable cooktop, albeit one that fit the opening. Another call to Bray & Scarff to have someone come out to complete the installation, which was done about a week later (we had travel plans that prevented the installation from being done sooner). So, the moral of the story is that Bray & Scarff has a serious problem with logistics. While they did do the main installation on the day it was scheduled, the delivery truck snafu was a complete joke. Based on this experience, as well as other reviews, we will not be purchasing the warranty servicing offered by Bray & Scarff.