I have been working with BuildDirect for the past 1.5 yrs as a partnered vendor who lists products on their e-commerce platform.

I'd like to write this review to warn other businesses to NOT work with BuildDirect at all. Do not even THINK about it.

The whole business seemed like a scam/fraud after their "bankruptcy" in November 2017. I would say, nearly 100+ vendors were not paid by BuildDirect because they did not properly manage their financial accounts.

BuildDirect owes us $9,000. In effort to "rebuild" their business plan, the Canadian PWC gave us an ultimatum: "You can either receive 5% of the $9,000 or fight against the business plan; however, if you still lose the 'vote against proxy' you may not get any money at all because BuildDirect doesn't have it anymore"

Seriously? 18 years in business and this is how you run it. Eventually, we moved on from this matter since as a start up business (2 years in business) we had no power over this messed up situation against an 18 y/o business.

This is where my review actually begins: Our company had moved on from the lost settlement (and yes, THEIR customers still kept the items) and 2 months ago we were informed by a "Senior Category Manager," named *, that 90% of our items that showed no sales would be removed from the website. We attempted to call him to ask if he could reconsider this decision (he stated that he makes all the decisions, not corporate and that we can accept it or move on) and he said the decision was final and that we can "refer to his first email about removing SKUs." Yeah, obviously we can refer to it. We're just asking him to reconsider it from our perspective.

During all of this, we realized that every sample piece that we gave to BuildDirect (we paid nearly $3,000 for freight) for them to store and send to their customers, they were charging us $5.00 per piece. We had actually received a quote for $2.50 per piece from a previous employee in email.

We sent an email to BuildDirect corporate office with * cc'ed and we mentioned the lost settlement of $9,000.00 and that they had been over charging us for the sample pieces.

In return, * called our office and threatened to charge us $5.00 on every single sample piece sent out in the past, that was originally $2.50 per piece. (he was furious, probably because we cc'ed him with the corporate email). Knowing that the suing matters were out of HIS control, * still dealth with this very unprofessionally.

ALSO, * stated that BuildDirect would be removing their market place system and rebuilding their business model to become a fulfillment center. So he also warned us saying that our current SKUs on the website would soon be removed as well and that there would be no drop-shipping business relations with vendors. (Just to warn other vendors now!)

*Personal information redacted by admin

I purchase just over 2000 square feet of engineered flooring from Build Direct and while I was searching for a floor they were great to deal with. After the floor was installed we noticed that the floor was creaking and cracking throughout the house. My wife and I were expecting a baby a few weeks after the floor was installed so we decided to wait a while and see if any of the noise went away, and it never did. We decided to call Build Direct to see if there was anything that could be done and they said that they would send out a third party inspector and see what he said, which I thought was great. The inspector came to our house and was about a half hour late but things happen and I wasn't upset. He told me that he was going to inspect the floor but he wasn't able to discuss any of his findings with me, which was also fine. The inspector then used little magnets to find where the floor was nailed/ stapled down. He checked the entryway, playroom, living room, and the kitchen but when he was making his way into the dining room I noticed he stopped in one area and started taking pictures. After he took those pictures he didn't inspect anymore of the floor in the dining room, mid room, master bedroom or any hallways. He then asked to go into my unfinished basement where he saw that I installed all the floor joists 12" on center and commented on how solid and well built the floor was. When he was about to leave I asked if he wanted to see some of the extra floor that I had stored in my basement and he agreed to look at it. He inspected it and put the tongue of one piece into another and held it up in the air to see if they would stay together and the wouldn't. He then left and I realized I forgot to show him where the floor was delaminating.
When the inspection came back it said that the floor wasn't milled properly and that it wasn't installed properly. I spoke with the salesman from BD and he told me to think about what I wanted to do and what I thought was fair and get back to him. I thought about it and thought it would be fair for them to replace the material and pay for the labor of tear out and I stall and I would cover any miscellaneous issues for example trim, paint, clean up, a place to live while this is going on. When I approached him with that he said it was only standard for them to cover the floor that they sent me and nothing else. At that point I was wondering why they gave me an option if they have a standard procedure. Were they hoping I would ask for less than their standard? And that is the beginning of me finding out what kind of company BD really is. I talked with the salesmans manager an few times and he inisited that it was the installers fault and the installer should be held responsible for all of the labor and that the installer should have inspected the floor to make sure it was it was milled properly before he installed the floor. I then talked to the installer and asked him to come to my house so we could look over the floor and he agreed to do so. He also brought magnets to find the staples. I showed him the area where the inspector found the staples to be spread to far apart and the installer agreed that he made a mistake in that spot and we went on to inspect other areas of the house and didn't find any other problems. The installer offered to fix the small area where his staples were spread to far apart but we both agreed it would be a waste of time since this was just an area of maybe 5 square feet and it's making the same noise as the other 1,995 square feet that was installed properly. I then again talked to the manager at BD and he continued to blame the installer and said that if I wanted them to pay for everything that I would have to call the inspection company and have them change the report, which made absolutely no sense to me, but I did it anyways. I called the company out of Atlanta Georgia that BD hired and he said that the manager was already in contact with him and he told the manager at BD that it is his opinion that BD should be held responsible for the floor and all costs. I then called the inspector that came to my house and he agreed and went on to say that if they refuse to pay for the labor then he recommends taking them to small claims court and he would go there with me to explain everything. The inspector said he would do that at no costs because he was upset with the way I was being treated. I talked to the Manager again and told him how my conversations went and I told him the inspector told me that they had already talked and they BD should be responsible for all costs and the manager denied having that conversation. I then called the inspection company back to confirm and they gave me the name of the manager and confirmed the conversation that they had. They said that they feel like they did their job and BD wasn't acting accordingly. I called the manager back and he just talked in circles and said the only time they cover installation costs is when the floor is delaminating, at that point I remembered that mine was delaminating in a few areas and the inspector didn't catch it, so I told him that it was delaminating, he then laughed and wouldn't talk about that anymore. He just continued to point fingers and wouldn't accept responsibility. I then took pictures of the floor delaminating and emailed them to the sales person and left messages with the manager and they have continued to ignore it. I then sent an email asking if I needed to have another inspection that included the delaminated floor and he did say that there was no need for another inspection and asked if I have picked out a floor yet from their web site. I then emailed them saying that if they weren't willing to talk about this and come to an agreement on labor costs then I jut want the money that they promised and I will try to take them to court for the labor costs. I waited a week and a half and didn't get a response, so I emailed them and said just to send the check and I still haven't heard from them.
I have been dealing with Build Direct now for 6 months on this issue and I continue to get the run around. I was willing to accept that the floors were bad and they needed to be replaced, things happen. But the way that they have treated me, the pointing of fingers, my time that they've wasted and the stress that they've put on my wife and I has been horrible. I have never in my life posted a review good or bad and I've had bad experiences before. But this one has been the worst.
I am a firefighter and like most people a blue collared worker that works hard to provide a decent an happy life for my family. So most people could understand to come up with roughly $10,000 because a huge company is taking advantage of you is just sickening, stressful and infuriating. At this point I'm hoping for the best and expecting the worst.

UPDATE:

Initially, I gave this company 1 star and titled my review "stay away from this company". Today I received an e-mail from the vice president of BuildDirect who stepped in, had already reviewed the entire situation so that I didn't have to start from scratch, listened, and took the time to really understand everything that had happened. He was so distressed by this situation that he not only offered to make the customer whole by providing a full refund for the door, but also to cover all of the additional costs we incurred.

Beyond that, and after he finishes taking care of everything for his customer, he promised to dive into the sales and management personnel involved in causing the situation to escalate to the point it did and implement immediate changes to ensure this doesn't happen to any other customer.

Though I wish it never went as far as it did, having a VP step in and do what he did, as well as show so much compassion for the customer, truly says that this company deserves a second chance. It's not very often that you find a company willing to go above and beyond for a customer and BuildDirect proved that to me today. Therefore I have changed my 1 star rating to 3 stars.

Based on only today's experience with the VP, BuildDirect would receive 5 stars without question, but I think it's important to understand that as of this moment, it took weeks of back and forth, as well as a lengthy online review posted across multiple websites, to rectify the issues. I truly hope that this never happens to anyone else and I do encourage others to give BuildDirect a try.

---------------

INITIAL REVIEW:

We purchased an iron door from BuildDirect in Aug of 2015. As I wanted to get as many specifics about the door as possible before placing my order with a company I had not worked with previously, I gave them a call and got a really nice guy on the phone who tried his best to answer my questions. I asked if all the necessary hardware to install the door (nuts, bolts, etc.) were included and he said absolutely. I asked if standard door hardware such as the latch and deadbolt could be used and he said "yes, the really great thing about these doors is that they are so easy to install and you can use any standard door hardware you want".

When the door showed up via freight we were very impressed with how it was packaged and protected. Everything looked great. Even though my wife and I own a company that renovates homes, we hired a company that specialized in iron door installations to install this new door and remove our existing front door. Once the install company took a look at the door when they were going to install it that's when the issues came to bear.

The door was one complete piece with the threshold welded onto the frame so there was no way to adjust the threshold to make it level with the ground. The mortising that was supposed to fit any standard hardware wasn't manufactured correctly so neither the latch nor the deadbolt pieces were able to sit flush. This caused the door to not be able to close (i. E. they were too shallow and the door hardware stuck out the sides). The strike side of the both the latch and deadbolt were in the wrong place causing the door not to close and seal properly. The deadbolt strike plate mortise had a piece of iron overlapping causing no strike plate to be able to be installed. The door also slightly touched the frame when closing and the top of the door, on the hinge side, had small piece of iron that wasn't even with the rest of the door, causing it to scrape the top of the frame every time it was opened and closed. Oh, and no hardware to install the door (nuts, bolts, washers, etc.), nor even an instruction manual or paperwork was provided with the door. Just the door itself in a big wooden pallet had arrived.

Unfortunately all of these issues only reared their heads after the door was removed from the pallet and/or installed (i. E. bolts drilled through our door frame, our drywall cut out to use the welded on mounting brackets, etc.). Luckily our install guys had bolts that fit but we had to make multiple Home Depot runs to get the rest of the hardware necessary to install the door.

I immediately called my sales rep at BuildDirect and since it was Saturday, he was not in the office. I did speak with another sales rep that said he couldn't answer anything because he wasn't familiar with the door. I explained that this was a pretty serious situation and requested he find someone else at the company who was familiar. After leaving me on hold for a while he came back and told me there was maybe one person who could try and help but he was on the phone and would have to call me back. I am still waiting for that phone call.

On Monday, after e-mailing my sales rep, I received a call back from my guy who couldn't understand why no one reached out to him over the weekend so he could step in. He said he spoke with his "category manager" and asked me to take as many photos of the issues as possible. I took 11 detailed photos and notated each one with a detailed description. That wasn't good enough and they asked me to take additional photos, suggesting the door wasn't level. I proved that both the frame and the door were perfectly level and installed correctly and that wasn't good enough. They asked for even more photos and I once again complied, this time taking a 6ft level and proving without a doubt that everything was perfectly installed.

It was obvious that neither the sales rep nor the category manager had any idea what this door looked like or how it was manufactured because I kept getting e-mail questions asking if I had removed the mounting brackets (impossible as they are welded onto the frame) or if I had drilled through the door (why on earth would I drill through the door when you use the mounting brackets to install it?).

Back and forth we went as they tried to somehow blame me for the problems. Finally they said they had found someone to come out and take a look. I received a call from a general handyman who admitted he had little to no experience with iron doors, nor could resolve any of the issues, but explained that he was asked to take pictures, assess the situation, and give them a price to repair it. I called BuildDirect and said that while I'm thrilled to have someone come out and take care of everything, the guy they chose couldn't possibly give them an accurate assessment as he was a general handyman, not a door specialist. I provided a few different names/numbers of people that worked for iron door companies here in town and my BD sales rep said he agreed that the handyman was probably not the right person. He said he would get with his category manager and call on a more qualified professional.

On Sept 9th and I received a call from the handyman asking if he can come by and take a look at the door. I told him I was under the impression that BuildDirect had cancelled with him in order to find an iron door specialist. In a huff he says "I was only doing this as a favor to them" and hung up. Again, I called my sales rep at BD and asked what was going on since I hadn't heard anything from them since last week when we spoke about them finding a more qualified specialist. I was told that they weren't going to look for anyone else, they never contacted any of the people I suggested to them, and never cancelled with the handyman. I said that it would have been nice to let me know so that I could have been ready for an appointment that, as far as I knew, was cancelled.

The handyman ended up rescheduling for the following day (Sept 10) and arrived 30 minutes earlier than his scheduled appointment with us. No problem, we were ready. We showed him the door and pointed out the various issues. He saw every one of them and informed us that BuildDirect is "very concerned about their online reputation". He also made sure to tell us before he left that "If it were me, I would expect them to provide a brand new door and pay for not only the installation but all of the finishing work required to make everything perfect". He even went as far as to point out that we would probably need a whole new door frame since the bolts to install this door had to be drilled into the frame.

On Sept 14th, after not hearing anything from BD, I contacted my sales rep again via e-mail and received a response saying "I e-mailed my category manger this morning. As soon as I hear something I'll let you know". Bear in mind that the handyman immediately reported back to BD from his truck outside my home, so they have been ignoring this situation since Sept 10th. It's now Sept 16th and I still have yet to hear from BD. It appears they are still ignoring the situation in the hopes it will go away. It will not.

Everything I explain to BD is twisted into somehow making the customer wrong and the bad guy, they don't listen to anything the customer is actually saying to them, and they make one excuse after another.

Having a nice new front door was supposed to be a wonderful change to our home. Instead we have had nothing but bad experiences with BuildDirect, are still working on all the finishing like the molding, etc. Luckily we were able to hire a welder was able to resolve some of the more serious issues so we can finally use the iron door we purchased. Additionally, we have had to order special door hardware in order to make everything fit properly, and spent yesterday creating a cement threshold extension so the massive trip hazard (i. E. the bottom of the door) is corrected.

The amount of time and stress involved in this process far outweighs any money we may have saved by ordering from BuildDirect. Most of what BuildDirect tells you isn't true because they aren't familiar with the products they sell, and if something arrives with bad manufacturing, they'll try to put the blame on you. Their prices might be amazing, but as we all eventually learn, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Stay far away from BuildDirect.

Don't even think of purchasing from this seller. They are based in Vancouver British Columbia thus avoiding U.S. consumer protection laws. Their wood flooring products are inferior and manufactured in China and delaminate (plies come unglued). Their wood flooring warrantees are a scam since they require the purchaser to maintain the humidity inside your home at 35-55% AT ALL TIMES. This cannot be achieved in virtually ANY HOME IN AMERICA. Please check for yourself the AM and PM humidity levels in the city you live year round. You will find that there is not a single city that will stay at 35-55% humidity at all times year round. BuildDirect simply uses this scam warrantee to void your warrantee when your floor delaminates or has other issues supposedly covered under warrantee (and as explained above can be used to void the warrantee on virtually even plank of wood flooring that they sell). If you do have an issue with your flooring, the terms of use of their website VOIDS your right to sue them in small claims court. Their terms of use of their website REQUIRES that any disputes be settled by an arbitrator hired by a company that Build Direct hires. You decide if that places you at a disadvantage compared to Builddirect (the de facto employer of the arbitrator). If you decide to pursue the arbitration process required by the terms of use, you MUST travel to Canada to do so. Stay away from this company!
Please also note when you visit review sites like TrustPilot and Reseller Ratings to look carefully at the supposed 5-star reviews. What you will find is that the majority of 5-star ratings are tightly clustered within a very short time period. For instance on Reseller Ratings you will find that over 90% of ALL 5-star ratings for BuildDirect were posted in a 22 day period. This is highly suspicious when ratings for this company span approximately a 4 yr period. I personally believe that BuildDirect encouraged their employees/affiliates to post fake reviews to counter the increasing number of poor reviews. Again if you look at BuildDirect reviews on Trust Pilot this same clustering of the majority of 5-star ratings occured in even a tighter cluster at the end of October 2013. I personally believe the majority of 5-star ratings in these clusters are fake.

If you have an interest in reading the response from BuildDirect about why they refused to honor the structural warranty on my flooring, you can google "My BuildDirect Nightmare," which is a thread on another forum which includes the input from a BuildDirect representative. I think it will give warning to anyone considering buying from this company when there are many alternatives
The photo shows some of the $10,000 worth of newly installed BuildDirect flooring that had to be ripped up due to wide delamination. It was replaced with another manufacturers Santos Mahogany engineered flooring which remains beautiful today without any delamination since it was not defectively manufactured like the BuildDirect product.