Closet World ripoff dishonest sales and 3 week installation of 2 day job the business that doesn't give a dam City of Industry California

I currently work for closet world. Yes it's true we do own a couple of other closet companies. Closets by design is not one of them however. They are a sister company with a different owner.We both have the same prices and product though. Sure,one in 30 instalations can have problems but we keep coming back 10 times if necessary at no cost to the client. It may be a pain for the client to schedule weekdays off for us to come by but else can you expect. Because we dominate the market we can buy our wood in bigger bulks and underbid everyone else 10-40%.Especially with our lifetime guarantee you cant go wrong. These negative comments only represent 2% of our business the others are extremely satisfied with price and product.

I am a former Closet World Designer who still works in the industry for a major, well respected competitor. Let's set the record straight about Closet World and the other local closet companies. Closet World and its parent company does own Closets by Design and Home Closets. They do not own California Closets or Closet Factory, which are independent companies. In Southern Calif. Calif. Closets has the best service reputation, but Closet Factory has the best product and service quality.

Closet World sales managers actually tell Designers/sales reps during sales meetings to "sell it and forget it". That means that the installation dept is so messed up that it is unlikely that you will get any follow up or referral business out of any customers you sell. For a time last year, the designers were actually forbidden from calling the Installation Dept. on behalf of our customers to try to help our clients with problem installations!! The Installation Supervisors were instructed not to take calls from Designers. This left the customers with problems swinging in the breeze. I had one customer who experienced 5 no-shows before CW actually showed up to complete her install.

KRON in the Bay Area has recently reported that the Calif. State Contractor's Licensing Board is investigating CW due to the exeptionally high level of complaints and that their contractor's license might be in jeopardy.

My recommendation is if you must do business with CW (although I'd recommend against it): Pay the first 50% by credit card, so you can dispute the charge with your credit card company if anything goes wrong. Second, do not sign off the job and pay the 2nd 50% on the day of installation (although don't tell the installers until they are packing up to leave). Until you have lived with a closet or home office for a few days, you won't know if you have any problems. You really need to load the system up first to find out if you have any bowing of shelves, drawers that don't roll well, etc. If you sign off the job and/or pay the 2nd 50% and then experience service problems, you'll never get the company to come back out to fix them. But if you owe them money, they'll be much more responsive to your calls.

Better yet, do business with Closet Factory or Calif. Closets. You'll be much happier and have far less headaches.

In response to the comment that California Closets is related to Closets by Design: Not True. California Closet Co., Inc., founded in 1978, is owned by The Franchise Company, a Canadian company which promotes franchise growth through extensive management learning and development.

California Closets has been the innovative leader of the storage space solutions category since it's inception in 1978. We are the only national brand in the category. We have over 100 franchises in the U.S., eight in Canada, and numerous international locations. Our vision and values inspire us to deliver a customer experience "second to none". We take great pride in delivering excellent customer experience to those that chose California Closets. We back our product and work with excellent warranty and customer service policies. [DELETED] Thank you.

We have been dealing with Closets By Design to get work completed that began two months ago in April!!!! The design was flawed to begin with, allowing for closet doors that bang into the ceiling lights. This has yet to be remedied and we have had to take out the lights from our bathroom/dress area just to open the closet doors.

Then, they put in some doors that were the wrong size. That finally got fixed on the THIRD or FOURTH visit. They put in panels that were taller than the closets, we're waiting on getting that taken care of....

The bottom line is, the designers don't take responsibility for flawed designs, the company doesn't take responsibility for sh*t, and the installer teams (it's never the same ones as the last time) have zero communication with each other and don't get the right equipment or instructions when they do show up (and we've had
a few cancellations). For our money, we could have hired some average joe who said he knew what he was doing and he would have most likely gotten the job done a heck of a lot faster with fewer mistakes than these clowns.

And I don't know about the Closet World connection, but we were told that Closets By Design and California Closets have the same ownership. What about California Closets???
Can anybody recommend any of these closet-type companies that put out good designs and back it up with quality materials, quality installations by professional crews, and guarantees??? We are ticked off by the money and time we have put into all this, not to mention the sheer frustration and anger.

Steve,
Sorry to hear about your misfortune with Closet World and as described by the ex-employee below, Closet World is indeed in business with Closets By Design and Closet Dimensions.

I wish to add to this, I have some intimate knowledge of Closet World and their shady business practices as well as the treatment of their employees. Lets just say that it wasn't right that you were treated the way you were, but most of the employees at Closet World are treated like animals. This of course carries over to the customer. It doesn't make it right, but if you have heard some of the stories I have, you would probably understand. This is a family-owned company where nepotism reigns supreme. Most are treated by the family like outsiders and don't last more then a year, but the ones that do are usually burned out and used-up, and frankly, it comes out in the work as you have experienced.

In has been my experieince in 27 years of building construction that when you have a unhappy crew, it will show in the workmanship and especially the craftsmanship. It doesn't help either that most any yahoo with zero experience can walk off the street and deem himself a carptenter and get hired almost immediately by this company.

I recommend this: next time, file a lein or construction bond before construction begins. Make sure you have a signed contract as well as exact promised date of completion. If they don't finish, it will cost them. If it isn't doen correctly it will cost them further!

Also, this is where it pays to properly take out a building permit with the city. No matter how large or small, and it may cost you up front for a permit, still, it allows you more leverage in the process. Now the city is involved! It also insures a safe installation as per the building code. Why it may seem excessive, I can assure you if you did, the problems would likely cease to exist.

To all, if you experience the same or similar problems with Closet World, I urge you to contact the California State Department of Consumer Affairs and file a complaint against Closet World and their associates companies to the California State Contractors License Board.

Trust me when I say this, the CSLB makes no hestiation in suspending a license when there is due cause.

Good luck

Closets by Design does happen to have the same parent organization. This is not deceit; it is a business practice followed by many large organizations of our time including Proctor and Gamble.

While there are complaints that surface, Closet World performs over a hundred installations per day. If you take the ratio of successful installations to problems, these are only a blink on the radar screen. Closet World has been in business for over 14 years and takes pride in providing excellent customer service to their clientele.

I am an ex-employee, but prefer to remain anonymous due to the fact I am still working in this industry. For your information & research, if desired, Closet World is also the owner of Closets by Design and have been and still are very deceitful to individuals who call for bids. If the individual wants three bids, which most do, they will normally go to the yellow pages and Closet World is listed as l) Closet World; 2) Closets by Design; and 3) Home Organizers Inc.. They will send three different designers to each appointment, never mentioning the other two companies. It seems this is the sly way of monopolizing the industry.