After seeing a couple of comments on this web site, I sure wish I'd found it before we contracted with M.A.M. Design (on Monterey Road) to build our new kitchen cabinets.

Back on July 8, we had a broken water pipe on our dishwasher. Burst in the middle of the night and flooded the entire downstairs with about 1 and 1/2 inches of water. Luckily we woke up and were able to suck the water up with our shop vac. The insurance company was very responsive as was their contractor. We decided it was a good time to upgrade our cabinets as long as they needed to be replaced anyway. Then the real nightmare began.

We had seen M.A.M. at several home shows in the area and had spoken with them on several occasions. Since we needed to move quickly, we went to them. They came out and drew up their plans and told us it would take about 6 weeks to get our new cabinets. Let's see ... that would make it about mid- to late-September. Okay. In September they called and revised their installations date to the first week of October. They actually began work the second week of October. To date, 1/8/01, the work is still not complete. They were not only doing the kitchen cabinets, but also building custom shelving in our pantry. They made the cabinets for the pantry so big they would go through the door, so they had to take them back to the shop and cut them in half. We wanted special handles and they ordered them, told us they were in and then changed the story when time went by and they weren't installed and said they didn't know where they were and would have to check on the shipment. Calls from us were typically not returned. Glass in the doors was installed with big scratches. A couple of doors had big dings in the wood. When the handles finally came in, a couple were put on crooked. Complaints from us were again ignored. We finally took one of the doors and the drawer with the *really* crooked handle back to the showroom. The showroom manager told us he was not responsible -- it was the shop but that they would *probably* be done in time for Christmas (this was around Thanksgiving).

By this time, it was getting close to Christmas. We called a couple of times to see where we stood and, of course, the calls were never returned. I finally reached someone after New Year's and was told that the door and drawer were ready and they would contact us to come out and install them. I didn't want to trust them calling back or coming out, so I told them I would come to pick up the items. They agreed.

Last Friday, I went to M.A.M. in the afternoon. The cabinet door was ready, but the drawer was in pieces. I asked the showroom manager why I was told that it was ready when it clearly wasn't. Didn't they check things like this before telling their customers the job was done? He said that it was not his responsibility. He was only the showroom manager. It was the shop' responsibility. I asked him who was in charge of the shop and he said he didn't know. Again, I asked him who was in charge. He continued to tell me it was not his responsibility but would not tell me who's it was. That, I told him, was a huge problem -- no one at M.A.M. wants to take responsibility. Supposedly, they will be out this Saturday to bring the drawer. It remains to be seen whether they, in fact, show up.

We were considering having our bathroom cabinets done next year and it will definitely NOT be M.A.M. that does them. After what we've gone through with them, the only reason I can believe that they are still in business is because their references aren't checked and there is so much remodeling business these days in the valley that they don't need to have decent customer service or referrals.

The next time I'm at a home show and M.A.M. is there, I'll do my best to steer people away from working with them and, hopefully, save someone else the pain of dealing with incompetence.

Linda Rivera
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