W1k2Q in Cambridge

*** I would NOT RECOMMEND hiring HF Kitchen Renos for your Custom Kitchen or whatever custom project you are wanting *** I ordered my Custom Kitchen many, many months ago and gave Helder a 50% deposit for materials required to build my Custom Kitchen. $1,890.00 Deposit Paid. READ all BBB reports on BBB Cambridge of which I found 3. Read all Homestars reviews also! The kitchen was to be built and installed by mid October 2019. I texted him many many times as the kitchen was not appearing to be progressing as promised and I started to wonder what was going on? I would receive short, vague answers, mostly answers like: I'm working on it, I'm running behind, then: next week, I will get this done, on and on and on ............... By the end of November 2019 I still had not received any component of this ordered custom built kitchen and I was becoming increasingly worried and skeptical about this contractor. Many evasive answers would be given by Helder when I began to ask more questions, and I knew then I had to start an investigation process, as it seemed to appear and I was left wondering " gee I wonder if my kitchen is " even started " or what on earth is going on ........ ? " I asked if my countertop was ordered and he said yes it is ( but it was NOT, as I discovered along my investigation trail )! I did not believe him, the .....so I called the manufacturer who was to be building my custom-made countertop ( the countertop was to be custom made from a very reputable supplier and the countertop was included in the quoted price from Helder ) ...The countertop business said the countertop HAD NOT BEEN ORDERED and continued to explain that $$ have to be put down by the contractor of 50% ( no exceptions to anyone; contractor or no contractor ) so the countertop was NO, NOT ORDERED; the order has not been placed; merely a SUPPLY ORDER was provided by them to Helder. That meaning to ensure the supply of the laminate was in stock from their supplier. MISLEADING EVENT arose ........ That's when I began to get worried as to a potential serious problem seemed to be arising by the looks of it and I feared the worst; that there was a $$ concern, and my investigation continues ... ( I was fearing that Helder had no $$ to start my kitchen, order my countertop, finish my kitchen ...... oh no it can't be I said to myself ) ..... so questions were asked and an email picture was requested asking Helder to show me in a pic email: what you have completed regarding my kitchen and Helder sent me a picture of a few boards and I nearly lost it; I said: OH MY GOODNESS ...... and realized my kitchen had been just been started! .... as time began passing by and many questions asked and same old, same old, next week, next Tuesday, give me a bit more time, I will do this for you and on and on and on with excuse after excuse after excuse. I confronted Helder point blank, right here in my kitchen, face to face, with my husband being also present: I asked Helder, did you spend all my deposit money and he said Yes I did on materials but Helder did not specify it was on my materials, so I said: Well it was obviously was not on my materials or we would not be facing this situation and my kitchen would be progressing and near Installation and completion! ** That's when I knew there was a serious problem; where did my deposit money go? Where did it get spent .......................................... what is going on here ................. so back to asking questions about my kitchen and when is it coming, when are you going to do this kitchen and on and on with chasing Helder and trying to get answers and a Kitchen ...........A week before Christmas I was delivered and provided/installed uppers & base cabinets; VERY POOR QUALITY cabinets ..... all off square and off sizes ordered ...as per specifications / requested. So backing up here: When an installation date was finally provided for INSTALL of these cabinets to take place: ( I will be there within the next few days ) ....... My husband and I had ripped out our entire Old Kitchen expecting the cabinets to be installed and finishing of kitchen to follow .......... we ripped out ALL kitchen, EVERYTHING, cabinets, countertops, sink/faucet, plumbing .... to give Helder a break and a hand! Then the nightmare began ..... Helder arrived with delivery cabinets, install began. When my husband came home from work and measured and looked at the overall job: very sloppy job, poor quality cabinets, all of them were off square, crooked, the edge banding strips were peeling off and loose; my husband --- lost it!!!!! All the cabinets were crooked and off square..... ALL OF THEM .............. so we said to Helder UNACCEPTABLE, we will not accept those cabinets ...... Helder agreed to rebuild all the cabinets NEW, fresh start .... and we gave Helder another ( of many many ) chances to make entire project heading towards the right direction, to get a kitchen, finished kitchen, as we ordered and paid the deposit for!!!! ** New rebuilds did not happen; the excuses, excuses, excuses, excuses, endless excuses began again by Helder and we said to each other " that's it, we have to come to a realization here and we have to face that we will probably never get a finished kitchen; NEVER, if we waited we would be facing months if not years of chasing him to get a finished kitchen that could potentially be TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE, based on what we see with our own eyes now, and the situation ..... how on earth are we going to get a Quality Finished Kitchen looking at the way this whole situation is going and based on the 1st unacceptable quality of the cabinets ..... DOUBTFUL we will .... near Impossible! , we said to each other " ........ so we fired Helder and demanded our FULL DEPOSIT BE REFUNDED in full ! ---- We trusted this contractor immensly when he came here to measure; into our home, and provide a quote ..... and we thought Helder to be a knowledgeable and experienced, trustworthy Contractor. Helder was very charming, polite, neat & tidy, and Helder exuded confidence through his personality, appeared to be knowledgeable and experienced according to his description to us about his business etc.,. and we hired him! ---- During the course of this situation ...... because Helder was not providing product and difficult to deal with; we had previously fired him 3 times along the way, then Helder would plead with us to please let me do this kitchen for you and on and on and on, and we kept giving him another chance; each time becoming more intolerant of his way of doing business and his excuses; all-the-while producing NO PRODUCT ........ We did on all 3 of those occasions also demand our deposit to be repaid back in full and the pleas from Helder would always continue: please let me do this for you, I will do this for you, you will get a finished kitchen, I will provide a quality finished kitchen, I am so busy, I took on too much work, I am in way over my head, I never quit, have fallen on hard times, I am only 1 person, I will get this done, I promise you, ...... on and on and on until WE COULD NOT COPE WITH THIS NONSENSE ..... THIS HIGH LEVEL OF STRESS AND INTOLERABLE SITUATION ANYMORE!!!! My husband fired Helder once and for all and we demanded our FULL DEPOSIT TO BE REFUNDED. ------- I am extremely disappointed, exhausted, angry, disgusted with this contractor! Unbelievable, unprofessional, unreliable business. I NEVER RECEIVED: DOORS, DRAWERS, DRAWER SLIDES, SHELVES, HINGES, KNOBS/HANDLES, MY CUSTOM COUNTERTOP as anticipated, and looking at hindsight I do not think the intention was honourable! -- I only received POOR QUALITY UNACCEPTABLE CABINETS .. terrible situation, just terrible !! +++ I have been left without a completed kitchen! We had NO Christmas in our house; how could I do a Christmas dinner and all the entertaining I so was looking forward to ......I cried so hard about that .... this was to be a special Christmas for our family, we endured a major health issue in the fall of 2019 regarding my adult child having to have major and potentially life-threatening surgery; and while the outcome was astonishingly 90% amazing, and we thank our great Lord for the blessed outcome; THAT IS NOT THE PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER HERE: The PRINCIPLE: I was to receive a completed kitchen by October 2019 and so Helder left me without a kitchen by Christmas Day! I WAS DEVASTATED .... EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTED, TOTALLY DISILLUSIONED, HYSTERICAL AND ANGRY !! **** " I really, really wanted to do a fabulous Christmas 2019 .. it was very important to me; it did not happen! Helder was aware of the situation, ( I had told him about my Son. ) Helder was aware of how important it was to get my kitchen in and aware of my expectations and a deadline must be met and achieved! Helder did not come through with a Kitchen, Helder LET ME DOWN ...... BIG TIME !!! I was so disappointed and ashamed of my choice of Kitchen Cabinet Renovator!I And so absolutely abhored that anyone could do that to a customer; just unbelievable, I cannot comprehend that way of thinking or lack of caring whatsoever and total disrespect. **** I have been left since 1 week before Christmas with NO COUNTERTOP, NO SINK/FAUCET, NO PLUMBING = NO WATER.... it is going on 6 weeks now and I have to wash dishes in my bathtub and I cannot cook decently to what we are accustomed to......... it's just a compete and overwhelming mess..... our house and our lives have been affected UNACCEPTABLY we have to go out and eat many times more than we ever did which is leading to added $$. The chaos and argueing between my husband and I ......unbearable ...... that this overwhelming stressfu lsituation has left us to deal with; we are both experiencing sleeping difficulites; a chaotic household, a TOTAL NIGHTMARE! DO NOT LET A SIMILAR SITUATION HAPPEN TO YOU ...... PLEASE ...... BEWARE, BEWARE of your choices in a Contractor ...... ***** BEWARE OF HF KITCHEN RENOS ****** There is absolutely no excuse or place for this type of depolrable service; ridiculous situation to ever be happening of a Contractor who runs a business ...... UNBELIEVABLE UNACCEPTABLE