Thanks for pointing that out. It is so interesting to see a manufacturer respond to criticism. I am not sure if he served his best purpose, and let's face it, we all know there are consumers who will lodge complaints only with the purpose of wheedling money out of the seller or manufacturer.

I bet it is hard for manufacturers to read criticism and not be able to respond or tell their side of the story. I like the way Angie's List gives providers a way to respond to bad reviews.

That was interesting although I don't know what side to take! Ded, I have read many bad things about Angie's list and how it's run. I wouldn't ever rely on it.

In following the thread, I was torn as you were Bumble. But, I think what bothered me was that the customer wanted money only. If I had all those mistakes, I would want them corrected.
Getting money would not make me happy with a kitchen that had so many errors.
Yes, it's interesting that GW is a power to be reckoned with!

That was my feeling, too. If the cabinets were as bad as the buyer made them out to be when he/she posted on GardenWeb, a discount would not be enough to make me happy. And it seems as if the end result was no discount and no new cabinets.

I'm surprised at some of the responses on the Kitchens forum.

I think the company comes off badly in the exchange. It's really no business of the company why the buyers requested cash compensation instead of a new installation. There are so many possibilities---- maybe they are expecting a new baby and don't have time left for more kitchen chaos....maybe they have a local person who is willing to fix the problems or make new doors for the 20% they are requesting.....maybe they just don't trust the company to get it right on the second try. Whatever the reason, they have a right to ask for compensation that suits THEM and their schedule. For the company to do nothing is a statement of their own business practices, as well as really stupid PR (or lack of it). You'd think a company that manufactures and ships that much product would have learned how to deal with a public relations problem like this. I don't have new cabinets in my kitchen future, but if I did I would now not even consider this company.

kswl - We don't know why the customer wanted 20% off but if I was a maker of any product that I knew would be around for years in somebody's house and the quality control somehow failed and it was shipped then I would certainly like to make sure that it was corrected and that the poor quality wasn't around. I'm sure the cabinets has something that identifies their brand on them such as a wood mark inside and thus when/if the house is sold or other people see the kitchen then this bad quality would still be around and reflect poorly. I do find it really hard to believe that every single door/drawer would have made it through quality control without being caught, but I don't know that as I didn't read the original.

I do think it was handled poorly on both sides though. If I was the customer I would have specified why I came to the 20% off conclusion vs. why I didn't want to accept the current solution. Then at least it would allow the company to adjust their response instead of just giving them the feeling that I just want a discount. The company seems to have an appropriate response to the information they were given. I'm sure they have a policy for not issuing discounts except as a last resort due to people that pull stunts to get a reduced cost. I really dislike people that do that as they just drive up the cost for everybody else.

Good companies care very much about their reputations as well as customer satisfaction. I can understand SWP's urge to respond in a popular forum, though I don't think this particular post was handled well. I question the ethics & legality of publicly posting a private correspondence, I assume without the permission of the cabinet owner (who also owns the copyrights to her emails -- if you write it, you own it). Lawsuit time?

I bought Showplace cabs for our renovation ten years ago. They've held up great structurally, though the finish has worn off around the knobs in some heavily used cabinets. Not really noticeable until you get close and a simple DIY fix. My KD was selling them as her mid-priced line and thought they were a good bang for the buck. On the whole, I've been happy with them.

I don't believe that ownership of one's emails is an absolute in all situations, awm03. In our business we have to put a disclaimer at the end of all emails prohibiting their use by anyone save the recipient. Still, I agree with you that the publication of an email that a person sent with a reasonable expectation of privacy is a foolish move on the company's part.

I think neither party handled the situation very well but it's the business that left a bad taste.

The only type of response a business should leave in a public forum or review is something along the lines of: "We are so sorry you are unhappy with our product. Happy customers are our only concern. We would appreciate the opportunity to bring this issue to a satisfactory conclusion . . ."

Hi kswl, the law concerning copyright ownership belonging to the email author is pretty clear. Where it gets nebulous is the Fair Use aspect of it.

(OT) What's really frightening is fine print like this from Google:
"You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.
By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services."

Sheesh... so you own it and you don't own it when you use Google. Probably the same for Yahoo, et al.

Here is a link that might be useful: summary of email & copyright

Social media is a new frontier - for sure. I agree neither party handled it well but I'm sure they both did they best they could with what they know. No one has this social media thing figured out yet.

Many lessons to be learned from this - I hope the cabinet company understands this and takes some notes.

Awm, makes me want to start my own email service.... factor in the government's absolute right to email metadata (and contents, should they deem necessary), our emails are anything but private nowadays.... yikes!

kswl, I agree!