This is the rare time I have felt compelled to write a negative review. But I am taking the time to submit this review because I had a truly terrible experience, and I want potential customers to be aware of the shoddy and unprofessional service they can expect from this company and its owner.
We live in a new house in central Austin. We decided to outfit our garage in a manner consistent with the rest of the house, and Kenny and his company Black Diamond were highly recommended by others.
We hired Black Diamond to install floor-to-ceiling cabinets, wall slats, and flooring in our garage, for a total price of approximately $15K. From the start, we had some questions about the quality of certain products, in particular the plastic wall slats - but we decided to move forward because Kenny insisted there is no better product on the market. As it turns out, Black Diamond only sells and/or markets one type of wall slat, and therefore we could not consider any other options with this company.
During installation, our concerns continued to grow. Kenny and his crew made several installation errors that were alarming. Most notably, when they installed the wall slats, they did not install them in accordance with manufacturer specifications. We noticed and thought it odd that they only mounted the wall slats with half the screws that appeared necessary. When we asked Kenny about this, he was extremely defensive and argued it was better to use less screws and avoid screw holes. We then called the wall slat manufacturer, who unequivocally told us it is necessary to use double the number of screws to avoid product failure. Only after we presented Kenny with this evidence did he very reluctantly agree to use more screws (still arguing his position). We again raised questions about the overall quality of the product, and Kenny again insisted that it is the best product on the market.
Only a few months later, we experienced a total and utter failure of the wall slat system that is supposedly the best in the market. As our seven-year-old reached into a large hanging basket to grab a ball, the wall slat broke into pieces. Obviously, we were upset to see this happen, and we immediately reached out to Kenny. When we did, we barely got two words out when Kenny began attacking us. When I asked Kenny whether this particular product could be flawed, and whether there could be any better product on the market, he would not even engage in the discussion. Instead, he accused us of doing something wrong, he claimed to know his wall slats were superior to every other product in the world, and he was just plain rude and arrogant for no reason whatsoever.
Bottom line, I would highly recommend you avoid this company. From time to time, especially in construction (we have built and remodeled multiple homes), you will experience issues. The test of a quality vendor is not whether they ever experience hiccups (because they will at times), but rather how they deal with issues when they do arise. Black Diamond and Kenny flunked that test. If and when you raise questions, concerns, or problems, you will be met with a very defensive, rude, and unprofessional owner who has tunnel vision and closed ears about the singular products he has chosen to sell. read more