May 9: We haven't received our door yet. It's finished and sitting in the factory in Mexico waiting to be shipped out. So far, the process has been arduous. Without getting into details in this review -- I'm trying to find out if anyone else has experienced a last minute "acceptable form of payment" switch-up when they bought their doors from Cantera. The 50% deposit was paid by credit card and this is the only form of payment I expected to use. One of the reasons, is that our card offers excellent consumer protection should there be any major issues with a large purchase such as a $7k door. Cantera all of a sudden tells me, the same day they let me know the door is about finished, that they've been under an audit for the past week and they can only accept a check for the balance. Why a warning or formal communication wasn't sent to all customers to begin with -- is very unprofessional and seems shady. When I expressed that I could only pay with a credit card, Anabel just says "sorry for the inconvenience." She offered no medium alternatives that may resolve the issue. This smells really fishy on many levels. An audit should not stop company operations, especially customers' ability to pay for the very expensive products they're selling. Supposedly, they're asking all customers to pay this way at the moment. I don't believe every single customer has the ability to finance these doors in cash...and I know our door is just on the lower end of what "luxury" doors cost...so, what does that mean for their business?? My husband has also left a message for Mauricio, but has not yet heard back. Has this happened to anyone else?
I should've done diligence and researched their reputation prior to even making first contact. Now that I see all these 0 and 1-star reviews of others' awful experiences, and some of the same issues I've had thus far (janky customer service, no/slow communication, apathetic attitudes, subpar design process), I wish I went with another company because what they say about the quality of the doors are probably true too, I'm afraid. My review is 1.5 star rating at the moment for the process/client servicing, but I'll revise, taking into consideration the actual quality of the doors when, if, they're finally in my hands.
Aug 22: Mauricio eventually got in touch and tried to blackmail us by holding our door hostage if I did not remove the original review. We consulted two different attorneys, both saying this is an unethical business practice. He also tried to get us to sign a janky waiver of a blurry picture of the doors whilst unfinished to say that is the door we wanted, so we could not dispute if something was wrong with the design (because the door had to be re-done due to missing dimensions in the original CAD). Our attorney advised us accordingly, and we conceded to an honest statement of what we saw in the picture. Mauricio finally released our doors for shipment thereafter, even though we were ready to pay for the balance weeks prior (see above). The doors have been installed for ~2.5 months. It looks beautiful. They are heavy doors, and it feels sturdy. We have not used them much because the deck it is connected to is unfinished so there's no reason to go in/out of it at the moment. But so far, so good as far as how these doors are supposed to work. There was a can of touch up paint that was supposed to arrive with it that we did not receive. I sent an email to Mauricio and Anabel, but neither replied. My husband also called Mauricio several times. No callbacks or replies from these efforts. Eventually, my husband had to track down someone else. He found a person in the engineering dept, whose name was on the Bill of Sale, Oscar, and called his cell phone number listed on b.o.s. (because no one ever answers the office phones). Oscar was helpful and responsive and had it sent to us a week after speaking. But it's a shame that the "account" rep and owner who sold us the doors, and are supposed to be our point of contacts failed to actually service us as their customers. Props to Oscar! About a month ago, it rained for a few days in a row, and we noticed the door was leaking. We (including our general contractor) called and emailed Mauricio and Anabel numerous times, to which they never replied. My GC was able to fix it but we had to pay for that out of our pocket, which we shouldn't need to if this is really under warranty. In conclusion, I'd give 3-stars for the doors itself (there are some small details I'd wish were done better such as concealing the screws, the paint quality, and sealers around door), and 1-star for the company itself. After my complete experience w/ Cantera, they do not stand behind their supposed warranty. It appears their management is disorganized. They're unprofessional and use unethical business practices. I do not recommend. read more