Bray & Scarff — Local services in Annapolis

Unfortunately, I do not recommend Bray & Scarff for appliances or kitchen remodeling. Below is a summarized timeline of our experience:

May 2021 – Finalized kitchen design and paid all deposits (cabinets, countertops, labor). We were told that due to supply chain issues, to expect 12-14 weeks for the cabinets to arrive. With those delays factored in, the project was expected to begin in August 2021 and conclude in September 2021.

June 2021 – Finalized appliance selections and paid for all in full, including extended warranties, delivery, and installation. We were told to expect significant delays on the range and refrigerator we selected – could be 6 months to a year.

August 2021 – Projected start date of the kitchen remodel. To our surprise, the appliances arrived and were delivered (only took 8 weeks), but no cabinets.

November 2021 – We were told cabinets were being delivered, first the week of the 15th, then the 24th. No cabinets.

February 2022 – Told cabinets were FINALLY shipping the week of March 14th.

March 2022 – Told the cabinets did not ship on the 14th, but they were going to ship on March 17th. By the end of March, we were being told that the cabinets had left production and were with the carrier waiting to be delivered... no cabinets.

April 2022 – Discovered an issue/concern about the appliance warranties, and still no cabinets, but a new shipping date of April 18th was provided (so they weren’t with the carrier back in March?)… Decided to cancel the project and request refunds.

The warranty issue with the appliances was related to the delivery dates. Bray & Scarff will not store your new appliances at their warehouse while you wait on the remodel (even though they were handling it all for us). Instead, the appliances go to the first person who will accept delivery. What they do not tell you is that when you take delivery, the warranty clock starts that day (even if they are delivered still in the boxes and not opened or installed). So, we lost over 8 months of the extended warranty coverage we paid extra for and pretty much all of the manufacturer’s warranty while the appliances sat, still in the boxes, in our dining room. When we raised the concern about the warranties with Bray & Scarff, their response was that is how it works and nothing could be done about it. So, after ~44 weeks of delays, excuses, and misinformation (and still no cabinets), plus the unwillingness to address our appliance warranty concerns, we no longer felt comfortable working with Bray & Scarff and requested refunds of all the deposits and the installation fees we paid for the appliances (I wanted to return the appliances, too, but I was not willing to pay a 20% restocking fee). Luckily, they did process the refunds, so we are now able to start over. Note: I noticed someone replying to the negative reviews and providing an email to reach out to them to discuss customer service issues. I emailed that account a week ago and never received a phone...

Purchase was easy, great sales staff. Great service team. Less than friendly service scheduling personnel. Service member has been out to the house for service so many times in the last 2 years, he knows the names of my pets.

Bought an entire kitchen set (top end Kitchen Aid), and got the extended warranty. This is where everything went wrong. Service scheduling is weeks out at the best of times, and a month or longer when they get busy. For the 2 products I have had issues with, both items have been out of service in excess of 6 months each, with the microwave being down for close to a year during the service contract period. The warranty company they use does not honor the contract as presented, and rather than replacing a unit after 3 failures, they continue to throw parts at it and refuse to replace the unit as detailed in the service contract.

Current down time for the most recent failure - 10 weeks and counting. They were out today to provide the service detailed by the diagnosis, and they unit still does not work. I am awaiting a reschedule to perform a new diagnosis, and expect that to be available no sooner than 2-3 more weeks. At this time, I have been without the microwave about a year, with 4 diagnostic visits and 4 repair visits. Only 1 of the repair visits yielded a lasting repair. I understand the difficulty identifying a sporadic failure, so have no issue with that , other than the time to schedule the visits.

I would actually be happy if it could be repaired properly, but the scheduling process is overly cumbersome. They will not put you on the schedule until the parts arrive, and have no expedited service lead times for contract holders.

We ended up purchasing a few items from Best Buy for my Mothers kitchen, and they had a service team in house within a week to replace a faulty unit under their extended service contract.

My recommendation, don't buy their extended service contract. The product they offer are great, the service personnel are friendly and accommodating. They need to overhaul the service portion of the business, and either adjust the relationship with their warranty company, or change who they use. If you can, find a third party provider that has good reviews. I never had to place a service call until the after the base warranty expired, so I have no information on how they react on a manufacturer warranty service, but expect the time delay would still be an issue.

I expected better.

• UPDATE * 151 days after failure (under warranty) I should have a replacement microwave/hood and will be able to cook in my...

This is kind of a 2 part review. First my salesperson was Mickia. And I must say she has worked tirelessly to help resolve my issues. She is outstanding to deal with. Back in August I purchased a cook top, dishwasher, refrigerator, beverage cooler, oven microwave combo. All kitchen Aid products. The cook top and dish washer was in stock so i took them that day. Mickia said estimated delivery on the other appliances was mid Sept. That got pushed back until Oct. Then I got a call from someone (Not Mickia) saying my beverage cooler and refrigerator was in and would be delivered on Thursday. So I sold my old refrigerator the day before. Needless to say there was a mix up and my refrigerator was not in stock and wasn't delivered. You can only imagine the situation. So Monday morning first thing I was waiting at the door of the Annapolis store. Mickia went to work right away trying everything possible to help me resolve the issue. she looked for a loaner to no avail. Then she started calling all the other stores that had the refrigerator I ordered as a floor model. after 3 attempts the 4th was a charm. and my refrigerator was delivered the following Thursday. There was a few small issues since I now purchased a floor model but Brayer & Scarff is taking care of the issues. If Mickia hadn't pursued this the way she did now the estimated delivery of the model fridge i ordered is months away.

No of the issues with delivery dates are the fault of my sales person or Brayer & Scarff This covid-19 issues has just about every business having trouble meeting supply demands and delivery dates. Giving you guys 5 stars only because of the customer service provided to me by Mickia. I can only hope all your staff works as hard as she does trying to resolve issues that arise with customer service.

I'll update this after I see how the service dept...