Century Kitchens and bath Stole money and merchandise Wadsworth Illinois

In May of 2022 I went with my then fiancé to look at getting a kitchen remodel done by Century kitchen and bath. We also considered doing a bathroom remodel and talked about it at that meeting. Our designer put together both designs and we picked out items in the showroom to get a feel for how the rooms would look if we moved forward. We were provided a proposal that specified the cost of the individual projects based on our personalizations of the company design. I signed that proposal and we told the designer we would be in touch regarding whether we planned to move forward with the bathroom or not. We knew we wanted to do the kitchen for sure. 

Several emails/months later (September as I recall) we got in touch with the decision that we were only going to do the kitchen and I also informed the designer that I had married my fiancé and he should be included in email communications.

He provided us with a monetary value needed to hold the project. My husband took the money and added to requested amount. The money was provided to the company as a certified check. 

just prior to receiving any money and also without a contract in place (the only signed document was a proposal for both kitchen and bathroom, on only I as a potential customer, had signed that proposal) I received communication from the designer that the cabinets had been ordered. 

we were told that we would come to the office to do project review in January but that meeting never happened. I figured the designer knew what what going on and that the contact for work would be signed in April before the work began. 

however, in April I received an email from a different designer stating that Andrew had left the company and she had taken over for him. She requested that I come in to pick final items for kitchen and bathroom. I communicated back that we could set up a meeting and I also informed her that we were only doing the kitchen.

At the meeting she had the owner with her. Together they threw paperwork at us saying that all items for both projects had been ordered and couldn't be returned and we had agreed to do both projects and on and on. 

After leaving that meeting we sent screenshots of emails showing that indeed we had stated our wishes to only do the kitchen. The owner proposed a second meeting. At the second meeting he seemed much more reasonable. He stated that they had been able to return all product except bathroom cabinets and tile. They also had purchased the kitchen cabinets and had those. We talked about moving forward without Century kitchen and bath doing the project. We would keep the cabinets they had bought on our behalf and would take the tile we had purchased as well. They would deliver these items and issue a refund check for the balance of funds paid. The owner even said he would waive the delivery fee.

we set up a delivery date. The date came and we had the house ready to receive our cabinets. The owner was with the delivery men. They were bring cabinet boxes into the house. He was showing me a financial breakdown of itemized values placed on cabinets and tile and refund check. He addressed this statement to me with my maiden name. I told him I was married now and the name was not my legal name. He told me I must sign it as my maiden name so that signatures across his documents would be uniform. He told me to just put both signatures on the papers. I wasn't comfortable with that. Instead I put a single line through the incorrect last name and wrote the correct one next to it with my initials to validate the change. I was about to sign when he angrily snatched the papers out of my hands and stormed out of the house cussing. It was at this point he told his delivery men to retrieve the cabinets we had bought and paid for. He left and failed to leave our property with us. 

We will obviously be seeking legal counsel.

reason for taking the time to write this-be advised. Maybe it was a reputable company 10 years ago. But the current status is not good. I am sorry to be in this mess. And you can potentially avoid it altogether