Complaint Review: Highland Cabinetry West Palm Beach - West Palm Beach Florida

We ordered cabinets from Highland Cabinetry and being out of state customers, we relied solely on communicating with Highland Cabinetry, Hci via email.  

We were asked to provide Hci with wall measurements.  A corner diagonal wall cabinet was one of the items we requested.  It was very important to us to have a corner wall cabinet since our kitchen is very small and we wanted to utilize every inch of space we had to work with.  

Highland Cabinetry presented to us a plan which included a diagonal wall cabinet.   Every email from Hci had an attachment with a plan which contained a diagonal wall cabinet.  Even though some minor changes were made to the plan, a diagonal wall cabinet remained in every plan.  As I’ve stated before it was a very important item for us, and we did not wish to change it regardless of what other changes had to be made. 

Highland Cabinetry assembled our cabinets, and they were delivered to our address in West Palm Beach.  Our contractor was there to receive the delivery.

When our contractor was able to start working on our project and installed the cabinets, we found out that instead of a corner wall cabinet the company delivered us three little cabinets that we did not order.  I contacted Hci by email and asked them to explain the change in the design.  Hci said that my contractor and I approved of this change when we sat down with their designer at their shop to finalize the order. 

 It could not be further from the truth.  I never came to their shop and sat down with their designer in person since I live in Ohio and all communications were always via email.  Furthermore, our contractor states that when he came to the shop for final verification of measurements, no one talked to him about our plan. 

Highland representative called me, and I paid the bill by credit card over the phone.  While I was on the phone with them no one bothered to tell me that we were not getting a diagonal wall cabinet but rather three tiny ones not wide enough to put in a dinner plate. 

Since Hci claims that the change in design was approved by me and by our contractor I asked them to forward to me an email in which they discussed with me the need to make changes to the plan.  Hci could not produce any written communications with me on that subject or my consent/approval of it.  I am not surprised.   I was never contacted by anybody from Highland Cabinetry and informed of any change in design, not in person, not by email, not by phone.  It is simply a lie they came up with to cover their blunder.   

Another ridiculous explanation they gave me in one of their emails was that the designer who worked on our plan is no longer with the company so there is nothing Highland Cabinetry can do for us.

Their cabinets cost me almost $2000.00 and I, a customer who pays the bill, should have been informed in writing of a major change in their design/plan.  It is a company’s responsibility and obligation to contact me for approval before making any changes to the original plan.  Had they done it, we would have come up with an alternative plan to accommodate space restrictions and at the same time keep a diagonal wall cabinet that was from the very beginning a very important feature for us. 

 Instead, Highland Cabinetry just attached a changed plan to our final estimate.  According to them, that was good enough for me to realize that there was a major change made.  Nobody from the company wrote to me and obtained my consent to get rid of the diagonal wall cabinet.

Since all prior plans had a diagonal cabinet in them, I did not think of looking at the plan yet again when I received their final estimate.  I saw their invoice and made a payment in full by giving them my credit card over the phone.  I could not even imagine that they would change anything in our plan without my approval to do so.  When I was on the phone making the payment (or prior) no one from Highland Cabinetry brought to my attention the fact that they had changed the plan and I will not be getting what I originally ordered. 

Even though the cabinets have been hung up, we did not put any pulls or knobs in the doors. We hoped that Highland Cabinetry will honor our original plan and send us the right cabinet. The company needs to take the cabinets they sent us back and replace them with the ones we ordered.  We have enough wall space to accommodate them.

We would like to file a complaint against Highland Cabinetry, Hci to BBB of Florida and Florida Chamber of Commerce for Hci’s terrible customer service, total disregard for the customer, and the company’s obligations to keep the customer informed of all changes in writing.  It is our hope that actions will be taken to hold Highland Cabinetry responsible.

I will be happy to provide you, if needed, with all the emails we received from Highland Cabinetry.