My Mattix Dilemma...

Three years ago, my wife decided to re-model the kitchen. Fortunately for me, I was able to set up a three-week teaching gig in Tokyo, avoiding the trials and tribulations of ripping out the kitchen and getting all the new stuff in. When I returned, we had a lovely new cooktop, oven, microwave, as well as new cabinets, pantry, and new hardwood floors.

Hurricane Katrina changed all that. When the drainage system backed up in Jefferson Parish, that hardwood floor, appliances, walls, and the bottom cabinets in the kitchen had to be ripped out. Our general contractor, Homeland Construction, has the walls back in place and painted:

The upper cabinets (Quality brand, in their "Cathedral" pattern, "Champagne" finish) survived. Both my wife and I liked what she had done three years ago with the kitchen. We had the uppers and they saved the countertops when the kitchen was demolished, so we decided to go back to Mattix Cabinets and have them re-make the bottom cabinets.

My wife called the same salesperson we had three years ago. He still had all the specifications and measurements from the initial design and order, so it was a no-brainer to get this going. Or so we thought.

Three weeks later, wife called Mattix to check on the status of the order. When he took the order, the salesperson told us the cabinets would be ready in two-three weeks. That sounded optimistic, so we waited past three weeks. Mattix told us that they had no order for our kitchen. They had the order for the bathrooms, yes, but nothing on the kitchen.

The salesperson claims he e-mailed the order to the office and they either did not receive it or they did not process it. Either way, the company now says there's nothing they can do, and it will be another four weeks before we will get our cabinets.

There comes a point in many projects where things narrow to the "critical path," where the next step in the plan is dependent on the previous one. Installation of our kitchen cabinets is a good example of this. Without the cabinets, we can't have the kitchen floor installed. It's the same tile as we're using in the den, so that is all on hold for weeks. We can't take delivery on the new range, refrigerator, and dishwasher, because there's really no place to put them except their locations in the kitchen. Our home will not be back together before Christmas now.

When a business makes such a costly error, usually they try to make things right. Unfortunately, Mattix Cabinets is not that kind of business. They're not interested in expediting the order, and they don't want to give us any financial consideration for the inconvenience. They don't have too, of course. They're the only Quality Cabinets dealer in the metro area (the next closest place is in Baton Rouge).

So, our dilemma is whether or not to continue doing business with Mattix Cabinets. My immediate reaction was fairly colorful and direct--I suggested to wife that we cancel not only the kitchen, but the order for the two bathrooms as well. She pointed out that cancelling the kitchen would mean we would either have mis-matched cabinets in that room, or we'd have to rip out the upper cabinets and spend extra money on new ones. She also likes Quality brand cabinets. Either way, we'd be starting from scratch with another company and that would delay the reconstruction even further.

As of today, we're going to continue with Mattix, against my better judgement. It makes sense financially, even if it means giving a poorly-run company money they really don't deserve. They may be working overtime, but they're also charging full price for their cabinets. We're not getting a "hurricane discount" from them. If they lost our order because they're inundated with orders, that means they're making money hand over fist. If a business is charging full price, it's reasonable for a customer to expect full service. If the business doesn't give that service, it's also reasonable for customers to demand it, or some sort of compensation as an alternative.

To sum this up, we strongly suggest you avoid using Mattix Cabinets if you're rebuilding post-Katrina. They weren't a problem to work with three years ago, but clearly the storm has changed that. They've obviously got enough business already that they don't need yours or mine, so I suggest you take yours elsewhere.