Vic's Wood Stripping & Refinishing

Aug 2023

I can see Vic has a few 5 star reviews - but they are all from years ago. Maybe years ago he got along better with customers, or he was better able to schedule/organize his workload. Or maybe he and I just had cultural/personality/communication problems. My experience with him in 2023 was not very good and the kitchen cabinets he build were barely sufficient, certainly not wonderful or excellent. His prices, at least what he charged me, are high and I expected better than I got for the price. I contracted him to replace damaged custom cabinets & to replicate exactly. Mine were solid wood & I clearly said I wanted all solid wood absolutely NO MDF/pressboard/particle board and he charged me a high price for that - but then cheated me and used mostly MDF. Initially he did seem very agreeable and capable of providing what I needed. I also gave him over two months of lead time to build my custom cabinets while other parts of my kitchen were being repaired. But as construction goes, some of my repairs got delayed. I kept Vic constantly informed of our delays and progress so there would be no surprises and he could be ready in spite of the delays. In the end I was ready for the cabinets only about 2weeks past the original schedule I'd provided him when I hired him 2 months earlier. Things went bad when we were finally ready for the cabinets. Vic's communication/response changed and got sparse, curt, even confusing. He was slow or didn't respond to my email or didn't return calls when he said he would. When he finally would give an installation date - he'd cancel it last minute on the very morning the installation was expected. He did that twice - so when I pushed him for a commitment he got pissy, behaved as if I'd insulted him, and told me he was overwhelmed, too busy, and he didn't have the staff to do my cabinets. What? he'd had the last 2+ months - how could he not have done my cabinets? I'd kept him abreast of my progress/status - but he never once mention problems OR that he hadn't even started/finished my cabinets. Now when we needed them he's suddenly "too busy" to do my job. He actually said I can find another cabinet maker or wait till he can get to me - then he left town on vacation. So be careful and don't assume he'll be entirely upfront/honest. Also compare his quote to 2 or 3 other cabinet makers before you go with him, you don't want to end up like me paying more than you should for something that's not what you contracted him to do and barely sufficient.