Fake RTA Cabinets Reviews

For years I have wrestled with the idea of writing this. Mainly because I never want to run a business that bashes our competitors as a strategy to make more money. That being said, I do believe in the Golden Rule and I personally would have wanted someone to tell me this years ago before I blindly purchased RTA Cabinets online.

To be fair, there are companies out there, our competitors, who do have good reviews and DO NOT use the deceptive strategies that are written in this post. If you do not end up working with us, at least you will know how to avoid the bumpy road I once traveled.

This is written from behind the scenes, and after years of research.

A Bold Claim

Many of the online reviews you will find for online cabinetry companies are a part of a deceptive strategy to get your money. I know, that is a bold claim. But it is true.

Once Upon a Time

For those who don’t know, I started Walcraft Cabinetry because I believed it. I read the reviews, scoured the internet, and purchased kitchen cabinets from one of our current competitors. My experience? NOTHING like what the reviews said. It was really bad. In fact it took three months for me to get all of the items I needed! Unanswered and unreturned phone calls, and emails galore.

I believed what they said, had a terrible experience, and have vowed to never, ever, not even once, allow one of our customers to experience what I did. I just was not educated and I was naïve to the world of internet marketing.

I wrote this so that you do not have to be.

What To Look For When Reading Reviews

For all that is good, DO NOT count on the reviews on anyone’s website. Those are all hand selected by the company. Even a blind squirrel gets a nut every now and then. It is easy to collect those nuts and feature them. And only them.

You must look off page for the real reviews. More on that later.

Star Ratings on Google Listings

When you see a listing on Google after searching for a term such as “RTA Cabinets”, the star rating under the website listing means nothing. A company can simply add that to their website code and Google displays it. So if I want Walcraft Cabinetry to have 9,876,809 five-star reviews, we can punch that in. (Update: Google has changed how this is done. It is now a little harder to fake, but still very doable.)

This is simply phase one of creating a false first impression. Not always, but most of the time. To avoid the ones who are intentionally being deceptive, ask them where that rating is from. If you hear, “Uh, um, eeh…” you know that it is a fake. If they tell you, read through them to see if they were collected immediately after the sale and not once their order was completed.

There’s currently a company online who boasts a high star rating, yet recently removed their Google Local Listing (where a companies Google reviews are listed) because they had received so many one-star reviews. Shortly before taking it down I counted 13 out of their last 15 reviews were one-star.

Yet their listing on Google has a super high star rating. Go figure.

Google Reviews

BE REALLY CAREFUL when reading reviews on Google. Look out for a very deceptive strategy that you’ll begin to see when you read the reviews. Here is how you can spot it:

First, do not just look at the rating. If you do, you may see something like 2,323 reviews 4.7 stars! “WOW, that’s good. I’ll buy from them.” DON’T do that. You need to read the reviews.

Often you’ll find the company has their designers acquiring five-star reviews BEFORE the cabinets have even been shipped, received, or inspected.

They read something like this, “Wow, __________ has been a great company to work with. I’m very impressed. Sally has been an amazing designer. I cannot wait to get our new cabinets. __________ is highly recommended in my book.”

These are reviews that are gathered with deceptive intent. Here’s how it works. The designer has been trained to ask for a good review. It goes something like this: “It has been great working with you Doug! Can you please do me a favor?.. It really helps me a lot when my manager reads reviews about me. Can you leave a five-star review with my name in it?”

The Customer Just Wants to Help

The customer has enjoyed working with the designer, they’ve connected, and they want to help. So they leave a five star review. Here’s the problem. Half of their order shows up, they reach out to Sally and she doesn’t respond for five days.

She eventually let’s them know that the order fulfillment team will be in contact soon. It does not happen. So he keeps calling and eventually finds out his order is back ordered and will not be in for two more weeks. Their kitchen is demolished, they’re doing dishes in the bathtub, Mama’s wondering if she married the right man, and they’ve ended up having a one star experience!

Too late, already left a five-star review.

Is this always the case? Nope. But it sure does happen a lot. Do you want to be one of those stories? I didn’t think so.

So keep reading through those five-star reviews. The ones that are a part of this strategy will be pretty easy to spot now. And guess what else you’ll start finding when you read through them? One, two, three, and four star reviews. These are the ones that typically come in organically AFTER they’ve received their cabinets and have gone through the real purchasing process.

There are MANY working parts in this industry. That is why it is essential to read reviews that are written about the entire process.

Up Next

Now that you know how to spot this strategy, I am going to give you one more pointer for reviewing Google reviews. It’s pretty simple, click the “sort by” button and hit “newest”. You will now be seeing the most recent reviews for the company. This will help you to determine what buying from them is going to be like now, not two years ago.

This is VERY important as there has been massive issues in the RTA Cabinets world recently. A multitude of companies have not and will not survive it. Their supply chain is having major issues, and their customers are not happy.

What Do I Do?

Well, first off do what I wrote above. Second, look to sites like the Better Business Bureau for the complaints and reviews. DON’T trust the “A+” rating. That’s fake too. In fact, here is a screenshot of Yelp’s profile. Notice that they have a 1.04/5 star review rating with over 1,300 reviews, and a whopping 2,586 complaints, yet they still have an A+ rating! Pretty sure if one of my kid’s performed like that in school, they would not be getting an A+.

That being said, you will see real reviews for the company you’re researching. Look at Houzz and Yelp as well. Search “their company name + reviews” to see what other real reviews you can find.
Once you do that you will truly know who you’re dealing with and will then be able to make an educated decision on who you want to trust with your hard earned money, and your kitchen dream!

Comparing Apples to Apples

I’m going to be kind of blunt here. And I really do not mean to offend anyone. We hear it all the time. “I’ve got this price from ________, and your apples to apples quote is a little higher, can you match it?”

Dear reader, if you think your cabinetry purchase is just about cabinets and price, you’re setting yourself up for a VERY stressful situation. You need to be purchasing the company, not the cabinets. There are SO SO SO many working parts that all need to work in unison for you to arrive at a happy place regarding your cabinetry purchase.

Isn’t that what you want?

To feel like you made a good purchase? To walk into your kitchen filled with the feelings of accomplishment, not regrets? To stay happily married?

If that does not matter to you, and does not have value. If your quest is just getting the cheapest cabinets, then thanks for stopping by, we’re not for you. We do not work with manufacturers who crush dreams, and we do not have a commission based design team who chases the sale. Whether you buy from us, or not, your designer / customer service rep makes the same amount of money. They’re with you, no matter what.

In Conclusion

I encourage you to go do the same for us. Do your due diligence and try to dig up the dirt. You’ll find out that purchasing from Walcraft Cabinetry is not an apples to apples comparison. Not even close. You’ll find that we will LITERALLY do whatever it takes for you to be happy!

You may think purchasing cabinets is no big deal, and you can treat it like buying a widget on Amazon. For all that is good, do not do that.

When you read the real reviews, and the real stories, it will be crystal clear. If you end up finding another company to purchase from who has good reviews besides us, good for you. I just don’t want you to do what I did years ago.

P.S. No reviews, or very little reviews, can be a good, or bad thing. A new “unproven” company may be like we were years ago and will do whatever it takes to earn a five-star review from you. Or not.