Quality Home Center — Local services in Middle Township

The short of it: This place runs like this: salesman with very little knowledge of the actual work involved manages you and your job: returning your calls (I dont remember him ever being available when I called), ordering products and hiring contractors to do the actual installation, and you get what you get in the end.

The long of it: We hired QHC to redo our kitchen at our shore house this past winter, just countertop, sink & backsplash (not cabinets). Brett came out to check out the job and set up our estimate, and pointed out our existing backsplash was very high. It was just a piece of formica stuck to the wall, so it was as high as formica is wide. Brett suggested that be corrected when we had it tiled, and the freshly exposed wall would be refinished and ready for paint, which we happily agreed to. We ordered the granite countertop, and were called soon after informing us a crane would be needed to lift the countertop to the deck of our 2nd floor where the kitchen is. That would be several hundred dollars over the estimated cost. My husband had me call back because he had already been informed there would absolutely be a seam in the countertop, which he wouldve rather avoided, but the seam created 2 smaller pieces, so why would a crane be necessary? Brett called back and said thats correct, the crane was NOT necessary. So that unnecessary expense was avoided. The backsplash was soon installed, and when we checked it out, it was just as high as the original backsplash. My husband immediately suspected it was tiled right over the old piece of formica. I didnt think tile would stick to formica, so I called and asked Brett why the new backsplash was as high as the old. He said the wall was probably very damaged so the workman covered it with the tile. A month or so later, my husband began work on the house, and he noticed areas of the tile that did not sit flat on the wall; they were bumpy. Also, the edge of the backsplash bordering the refrigerator space was arranged vertically, unlike the rest of the horizontal subway tile. Thirdly, the grout was coming out. When I called, everyone I spoke with assumed the grout was coming out because, apparently, that always happens. Had my husband not been at the house doing other repairs and noticed the grout, we would not have known to call about it...so I guess it was supposed to be OK if we didnt complain? And yet, everyone at QHC knew it would need to be fixed, but didnt bother to tell us or arrange to fix it. My husband happened to be at the house when the workman came to fix the grout. He asked the workman why the tiles by the fridge didnt match the rest of the pattern. The workman said he ran out of tile so he just filled it in that way. My husband then told him to leave and called Brett. A different workman was arranged to fix the grout and replace the vertical tile by the fridge. Again, my husband was there when the new guy showed up. The new guy did a great job, and while replacing the vertical tile he and my husband got to see for themselves that the new tile was, in fact, installed OVER THE OLD FORMICA. When my husband asked the workman why the tile wasnt sitting flat throughout, the workman said because it was installed on the formica, which wouldnt have been a flat surface to begin with.

At this point, I dont even know what QHC could do for us, we dont want the kitchen pulled apart again, and Im sick of dealing with incompetence, so were living with the bumpy backsplash. Maybe had our tile job been outsourced to the 2nd workman originally it wouldve been done correctly. Thats up for debate.

We really splurged hiring out this job, since we usually do things ourselves. But being that it would require endless weekend trips to the shore in the off season, we didnt think it was practical this time, so we “treated” ourselves and paid to have someone else do it quickly and “professionally”. The expense for a crummy job has been a hard...

We ordered a fireplace on December 11 and were told it would take 4-6 weeks to arrive. I called the last week of January after not hearing from them and couldn’t get a return call for a few days. After I finally got someone in the phone I was told they would look into it and get back to me. Another 2 weeks passed and I had to call again, and again no return call. I finally got a call back and was told it would be another few weeks. I asked why I wasn’t called and told, and LouAnn responded by saying that they couldn’t possibly call every client who had a back order. This went on until the first week of March, when the fireplace finally arrived. Naturally it came with a damaged piece so I sent pictures and the serial number to Tim. He never acknowledged receipt or the submission of the claim. Weeks go by again with no update from Quality. I called and left multiple messages and no call back. I went to the store and confronted Tim and LouAnn and a couple days later I received an email saying it would be “several more weeks” for the replacement part, or they’d give me $100 in lieu of replacing. I opted to wait for the part and said I expect to hear back week of May 20 - never heard back. More phone calls left unanswered and not returned. I called and surprisingly the phone was answered by owner Brian one day and told him what was going on, he said it was unacceptable. Later that day I received a call from LouAnn saying the piece had arrived earlier in the week but it didn’t have a name so they didn’t call me. They delivered the piece and it’s a different color. My wife went to the store and was given the option of having a full mantel delivered to replace the old. LouAnn said they’d get it scheduled right away. That was a week ago, no call to schedule. I have called several times, no return call. Stay away from this place, the customer service is just horrible. Do yourself a favor and order what you need online from anywhere...

Quality Home Center did a great job converting an old, outdated kitchen into a much more usable space. They have an excellent selection of cabinets and countertops in varying colors and price ranges to fit any budget.

Our designer, Tim, was very friendly and informative as to how the project was going to proceed. Lu Ann was on-the-ball whenever we had an immediate question. Bret was very knowledgeable when he looked at the project in the beginning and made it clear that they would move appliances, perform electrical work, perform gas work, and perform plumbing work. In other words, they could (and did) it all. Mike, the primary installer did a great job.

The only issue we had is the place where we wanted the accent tile on the backsplash was one level lower that we requested. We were told that the accent tile would have been more difficult to cut around the outlets. We would have liked to have known that before installation.

We also should have been asked about the types of sinks that they had. We were offered stainless steel or quartz. We actually wanted shiny porcelain but were told that quartz was a better deal. The sink we got, although very nice and very functional does not have a smooth finish as it is textured and not shiny. We would have liked to have been shown not only the types of sinks available, but the types of finishes that were available.

Bottom line, we felt that we should have been shown, either in person or in pictures, more of the smaller options other than the cabinets and...