Unless you are okay with terrible customer service, DO NOT bring your business here!
My wife and I were planning on doing some kitchen remodelling, so I decided to check out the SODO district because I've driven by plenty of times and noticed there are a TON of kitchen/construction type businesses all around. We were looking at doing cabinets at first. But if you're going to redo cabinets, it's your chance to do counters; and if you're doing counters, it's your chance to replace the sink....you get the idea. One thing led to another and we ended up remodeling the ENTIRE kitchen. Such a big investment definitely calls for some serious research and planning. (My specialty!)
I counted about 8+ kitchen/bath places within a few blocks radius of Pius, and guess what? I VISITED THEM ALL! There's ABC, G&S, KK, 1st Ave, Pius, Panda, JR, and more.
My initial thoughts were that Pius was pretty good. As far as the showroom, they've got some decent cabinets on display, as well as a wide variety of granite patterns/selection. As far as the store location goes, they definitely have a huge advantage over the other places because they're right on that busy intersection so they get a ton of exposure. (Although their actual store sign looks pretty bad)
When I first walked in, I was greeted by John. He took the time to sit down and give me a quote of the kitchen remodel that I had in mind. I was a bit surprised that he was like a high school aged kid. Anyways, that doesn't bother me as long as they know what they're doing. Getting a quote for a complete kitchen remodel can take these stores up to 2 hours. I'm serious. Just thought I would warn you all. They always tell you it'll take just a little bit, but it always ends up taking forever. I'm not taking any points off for that because it was like that at all the places I visited. Even after they draw it all out they then have to draw it in 3D using their computer software so expect to stay a while. After John was finished, he gave me a business card and went through the quote with me. He even offered me some 30% discount that he said is the "contractor discount"....so not for normal people who just walk in. He actually didn't finish all of the 3D drawing on the computer so he said that he would e-mail that to me later. No problem.
After a couple days of waiting, I stopped by Pius again since I was in the neighborhood visiting other kitchen places. John wasn't there so I was then helped by a young girl named Avis. Of course, all the employees had no record of John's file that he made for me, so guess what? We had to start the whole process ALL OVER AGAIN. I sat at the bar stool by the counter for over an hour for Avis to draw the sketches, do the math, and formulate the quote. When I mentioned that John had offered the "contractor discount" they had no idea what I was talking about and did not honor it at all. Another employee was using the computer so Avis said she would draw the 3D visualizations on the computer and e-mail them to me later. No problem.
After a few days of inactivity, I decided to call Avis up. She said that she was really busy and didn't have a chance to e-mail me the drawings but that she would do it later that day for me. Almost a week passed with no activity or contact. My wife and I were in the neighborhood looking at another kitchen place and I decided to swing by and see what was going on. The second Avis saw us walking in she started scrambling. I could tell she knew that she forgot to follow-up with her e-mail to me with the quote and drawings. She then came over and did the whole "Did you get my e-mail?" I was like "You did NOT e-mail me". Avis and her coworker started doing math and computer drawings right there on the computer and then finally came up with some more numbers. Here's the crazy part. Of the 3 different times that I'd gone to get quotes. All 3 were different prices, and they even had the cabinet counts wrong! One time they said I had 19 cabinets total, the other time it was 20 cabinets total....do these guys know what they are doing?!?
Here's my take on it. If you are running a business and a client comes in and you take 2 HOURS of your time to sketch out a cabinet layout and calculate measurements for them. Why wouldn't you follow-up with them? During this whole time, Pius didn't ONCE call or e-mail me. How much does a kitchen remodel cost on average? I would say that average kitchen remodels can easily go over $10,000.00. Is this not business that you would want?!?
It's been like 2 months and I still haven't gotten that follow-up call from Pius....and guess what? MY KITCHEN IS FINISHED! Since Pius clearly didn't want my business (ONE phone call), I decided to go with your competition only a few blocks away!
So be warned! If you are okay with bad service, & you don't mind calling every single day to remind them to do simple tasks, then maybe go with Pius. Otherwise, save yourself the headache! read more