Among several complaints, the primary ones include would be careless staff, poor quality products.
1. Salt & Pepper's invoice is inclusive of design, product and installation. Payment in full is due upon receipt of products. If you decide to got with this company regardless of the review that follows, you should ensure that you negotiate for a hold back until installation is complete and inspected.
2. First contact was Lisa; her title is unclear. She sells, measures and apparently organizes the process.
3. While Simpson's is marketed as "one stop", selections are limited. They really pushed the LVP; when I asked about LVT, Sean said that there really wasn't a market for same. I found a limited selection of 4-6 styles of LVT in the store independently. Sean did say that there was a much larger selection at their Ingersoll store but made no effort to liase a request and the Ingersoll store was dismissive.
4. The contractor Lisa suggested was fairly average. However, I would not recommend hiring a contractor that relies on Simpson's/Salt & Pepper for referrals. When problems and delays arose at Lisa's end, the contractor was naturally aligned with his source of referrals.
5. Lisa and the contractor represented that purchasing a an OTC Microwave from Simpson's/Salt and Pepper would be superior quality. To my own detriment, I took advantage of the "one stop shopping" idea and purchased said microwave. There was not a huge selection if any. The microwave was stored at Simpson's and delivered when renovations started. The box was tattered and clearly bore the words "Showroom". When I asked Lisa upfront whether the microwave was a floor model, she denied same.
6. The job was small, admittedly warranting only a few week's time. The contractor was on time. The entire job took almost two months. Staff carelessness at both Lisa's end and the supplier's end was the primary cause. On day one of installation, instructions for installation that came with the proper cabinets were for the wrong address. Then it was discovered that the wrong sized cabinet was sent for over the range and that fillers had neglected to be taped properly. Lisa blamed their supplier but it soon came out that another employee (Maya?) had keyed in the wrong specifications when ordering the cabinets. It remains unclear whether fault was shared.
7. Delay was compounded by an injured installer which could not be helped. However, when installation finally happened, there was some damage made to the new floor (eg. Marks made by dropped tools) and to the shelves in the cabinet (eg. Drilling in screws too hard and cracking the shelving surface). Lisa was difficult to reach through all of this.
8. What you see in the showroom may not necessarily what you get. Salt & Pepper uses different suppliers and you may get products that look the same but are a cheaper quality. The cabinet sides in my case appear yellowish compared to the white doors and the difference is apparent.
9. Recently, almost 4 months post completion, I discovered that the fan on the microwave does not work. It makes a noise but does not pull air. I contacted Lisa right away. She asked for a serial number without any explanation of process. When asked for a follow up, she replied that the request for repair had gone to a service agent. Today, I received a text from an unknown number; the text identified the sender as the tech for the microwave and s/he asked for the serial number of the microwave (?).
I think all is is sufficient enough to warrant a zero grading review.
This review has 3 images.
to view the gallery.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $30,000.00
