California Closets - Los Altos — Local services in Los Altos

We spent around $40k for our ADU built-in closets, cabinets and shelves. Blunders after blunders. Nothing went well at all. I don’t even know where to begin !

During design phase, the designer (Silvia) clearly wasn’t paying much attention to details. Details were missed during discussions or forgotten and design constraints were not properly explained to us. She also kept asking for the same information be sent over and over although she had received it (example: measurement for the wine fridge). If not because I paid attention, the wine fridge dimension would have been wrong and so does the design. And the “true testament” of her work came in when she messed up the drawing/design for our closet that requires fixing after the system installation. Even after fixing, they still got it wrong, and they still have to come back to fix it again. Just imagine how many times I have to be at home waiting for the installers !!!

And then towards the end right before installation, Silvia called and said “oh I forgot to ask if you want grommets for the desk and media center” and it will be additional charges. Really ? You forgot that TVs, computers have cables ? I didn’t make a fuss and paid whatever needed. Guess what happened on the day of the installation, the grommets were not installed !! I asked and the installer showed me how there was no grommets added in the drawing. So let me get this straight, she called me to add grommets and asked for the money, and then forgot to add them in the drawing after all that ??! Then what’s the point then ?

And guess what, after the supposed completion with the fix, the closet was left with stains on the back wall inside the closet (not outside) that I had to call for them to clean up. And she said “oh yeah that stains were there because we had to come to fix it” well, whose fault was it that the fix had to be done the first place ? She acted like we deserved the stains on the wall.

Scheduling, they were so adamant about coming on 1/7, and made me get off work early and they didn’t even show up. And when called they said “oh that’s because we have another one scheduled on 1/14”. Mind you, I accepted both appointments thinking that they have to come twice. No one told me that the 1/14 is a replacement for 1/7 and/or that 1/7 is cancelled. Horrible experience !!

Now today, after all said and done they sent me an invoice with $500 more than the revised agreed price. They already charged me more for the so called “material” that is required for the fix/repair (as a reasonable customer, I agreed) and now on top of the material charge that I had to pay for the fix/repair, they are charging $500 more on top of that ? I am still waiting for a response on this.

[update 1/17] They decided to remove the $500 original charged for the repair/fix/redesign after reading my review here. The manager reached out to me all apologetic but what’s done is done and it’s not like anything else they can do to fix the situation at this point, anyway.

My opinion doesn’t change on this: if you ever come across California...

CC provides good service, and the designer who assisted me was professional and patient. The quality of their work is commendable, and I would rate them five stars for both professionalism and craftsmanship.

However, I am giving a three-star rating overall due to an issue with my order. I have two long glass doors, and my original order specified one frosted glass door, covering half a door. Unfortunately, due to back-and-forth communication, the order was placed incorrectly. I was aware that frosted glass costs more and takes longer to produce, and I was fine with that. However, I ended up paying more for clear glass, which is typically less expensive.

The designer/salesperson acknowledged recalling the frosted design but ultimately submitted the wrong order. I understand that miscommunication may have played a role, and I recognize that I should have double-checked the order details myself. Still, I trusted that the correct specifications would be followed.

What disappoints me the most is that CC did not offer to rectify the mistake. Had they made an effort to correct the error, my perspective would have been different. I initially had no intention of leaving a review, but since they requested one, I felt compelled to share my experience.

Unfortunately, due to this issue, I will not be doing business with CC in the future. I also can't help but feel that a bait-and-switch may...

We had California Closets install cabinets in our garage and in our home two years ago. We had a great experience at the time and even though the prices were a little higher than others we thought the level of service was worth it. We were also told that we could move our garage cabinets in the future if our new garage was compatible with them.

We are now purchasing a new home and I called California Closets to get the ball rolling on having the garage cabinets moved. First issue is they claim that they couldn't have anyone move the cabinets for FOUR MONTHS. By then we won't have access to our old home! Who has a four month lead time when moving???

Second issue is that they quoted $3k to move the cabinets and the original purchase price was $6k. Who charges half the price to uninstall, move, and reinstall??! There would be no production costs at all. I could have even had my movers physically move the cabinets if that was an issue. We are moving to a new house in the same complex with an identical garage so we knew the cabinets would fit.

Now we're struggling with how to move these cabinets ourselves without the professionals who made them. We were looking forward to working with California Closets in our new home and we will now take our business elsewhere.

I no longer tell people that California Closets is worth the extra cost and will tell them to...