Richelieu has business policies designed to deceive customers. If they didn't have a stranglehold on distribution of certain product lines, I'd never buy from them again. As it is, I do everything possible to buy from ANYWHERE ELSE whenever possible & I recommend everyone else does the same.
I've been in the cabinetry & millwork industry for over 30 years & know several other shop owners that feel the same way as I do because of how they've been treated by Richelieu & PJ White (since being acquired). Even when I've politely, carefully & time-wastingly described my difficulties to their staff over various problems I've had, they've told me "we hear it all the time from customers" and "there's nothing we can do about it because it's our policy".
I'm not providing my name here simply because I'm a small business owner who can't afford to loose the ability to buy a few products that are only sold by them, should they get this & decide to blacklist me (something I would expect from them). But I believe that everyone should be aware of their practices. I've also noticed that there doesn't seem to be anywhere online where customers can voice their opinions & share their experiences - which alone says allot about them.
Here's an example: I purchased a very expensive piece of hardware & paid for it with my credit card in Nov. When I opened the package to install it I noticed that a piece of hardware was missing so I returned the entire item to them (at their request) rather than just going there & getting the missing part (or better yet, deliver it to me right away). As you can imagine, disassembling & packaging a large, complex piece of hardware back into its box & returning it to them was very time-consuming & disruptive to my project. Upon returning it, they acknowledged the missing part & had another complete item in stock, so I expected them to simply swap the defective one for the good one, but instead they told me I had to pay for the replacement one in full & that they would have to submit a request with another department for a credit to be placed back onto my credit card, & that would take a week or two. Even after discussing it thoroughly, I was given no options but to pay again for this item & wait for the credit. On Dec. 15th I received a credit invoice in the mail for the defective item, that looked like it was crediting my card, but the amount didn't appear on my credit card statement. So I waited & waited & finally on Jan. 23rd I called & asked where it was. They said they couldn't credit my card because they don't keep the number. When I asked why nobody told me that when I returned the item, they said they didn't know, & when I asked why I wasn't given the credit when I purchased & paid for another item with my credit card on Jan. 4th, he said "that information is on a totally different screen, so we wouldn't have even seen it".
I'm sure you can see the opportunity they've created for themselves to keep my money for the returned item had I not been diligent. Be careful, these guys are crooks! read more