California Closets

Loved the work they did to my closet 2 years ago. Called in two weeks ago to order more shelves but they have not been very prompt on calling me back and confirming orders. Must be a busy week for them. To be honest, I’m frustrated with the team at this location. And if I didn’t have to order matching shelves, I would not do business with them. Get it together please.

At first, designer Steve Platt was very nice. He said he would be designing our «dream closet». It turns out, we paid $ 3,000, for a closet we could have purchased at pottery barn or Ikea for $ 300. The closet system is very cheap looking and extremely overpriced, and if you don’t like it, in our case we hated it, they will do absolutely nothing to make the client happy. Stay away from this company unless you want to waste money. Its a scam. Very disappointed.

I wish I could give 5 stars, because that’s what the final product we received deserves, but some inital snags, later made right, force me to lower the rating (see below).
Let’s start with what was great: We had a wall of bookcases and storage cabinets designed and installed in our living room. Because they are immediately visible on entering our house, these cabinets needed not to look like something that belongs in a closet or garage – and in fact there’s no way anyone would realize that they are the work of California Closets. They simply look great. They are well-​proportioned, clean and modern, look substantial and like they’ve been there since our condo was built. They give us give us the exact amounts of bookshelves, drawers and cabinets and the look that we wanted – because we were able to design them together with our California Closets designer, Nina Jamolina, who was professional, efficient, patient and made excellent recommendations (some of which I needed to be convinced of but turned out to be right on the mark).
The installers were great – also very professional, went about their work efficiently, asked questions if they weren’t certain about something, and left the place spotless.
What more can one ask for? And why only 4 stars?
Because we’d invested considerable, frustrating time and effort working with an inefficient California Closets designer leading up to an attempted installation. On the day of installation, after about an hour and a half of work, the installer infromed me that the bookcases were the wrong size – too small for the area they were to cover. Little by little it then emerged that this «designer» had also allowed the use of shelves too thin for books at the width of our bookcases, that she’d specified wrong materials in certain places – well. the list goes on and there’s no reason to bore you with it.
When I told Cal Closets that I would no longer work with this individual, they agreed to send in Nina – and I’ve already sung her praises. In fact, we’re now working with her to design a unit for our study, and I’m thrilled to know that we are in good hands.
So I pass on to you the advice others gave us: ask many questions, double– and triple-​check everything, right down to the time of installaion. I guess if you get a great designer like Nina to work with, that may not be so necessary but it seems that it’s the luck of the draw. Kudos, however, to California Closets for making good on the initial disaster and for producing such great work in the end.

Thank you to Darlene for her excellent work. She went above and beyond to give me a beautiful and organized closet. It was a joy to watch her do her organization work and planning. I got a great closet and I learned a lot about organization. I highly recommend Darlene from California Closets.

Had an amazing experience with Andrew Rayas! I wanted to fit some closets into odd spaces and he helped me figure it all out. Loved the experience and my new closets.

Andrew Rayas of California Closets did a wonderful job designing our closets. We wanted to maximize capacity in the master closet and he did it beautifully. The closet is efficient, attractive and all that we hoped for.
Andrew also redid the guest room closet and made a smaller closet in the master into linen closet, both well done, attractive and easy to use.
If and when we move in this area we will be sure to have Andrew work his magic again.

I had California Closets build three closets plus a storage room. They were GREAT. They look very nice, and the service was excellent. I highly recommend.

I never actually had these guys do my closets, but Steve Platt came to my house three times and was so wonderful and helpful! He was very focused on saving me money and was super honest. I spoke to him on the phone a year later and he remembered me and my closets! I wanted to leave this review because it is so rare to find someone so helpful, genuine, and honest (truly honest, not salesman honest) and I recommend working with him! Before I found Steve I had already had the worst experience ever with The Closet Factory so Steve was a breath of fresh air.

Thank you Wendy from California Closets for making my custom closet experience so wonderful. She was super patient with me from beginning to end and answered all the questions I had to make sure I got the closet I wanted. We were always in contact and she really made the effort to make sure I was satisfied with my closets. The installation guys were friendly and installed everything quickly. The quality was also very good and not cheap. I was very happy with the final product. Thank you California Closets making this part the easiest out of my whole remodeling experience.

I would give them zero stars if I could.
We are repeat customers, having used California Closets for a bedroom closet in 2013. We were very pleased with both the product and the customer service that we received in 2013. So, when we needed a media closet, we called California Closets right away.
Wendy Bremer came to the house in December to design the closet. She was professional and accurate in measuring and laying out the storage system.
In February, Mauricio and Jaime came to the house to install the closet. The result should have embarrassed California Closets because it was so badly executed! Mauricio and Jaime scratched giant amounts of drywall and paint. There were holes between the walls and the wood. Custom carve outs (for outlets, etc.) did not line up. Mauricio and Jaime did not even arrive with all of the equipment that they would have needed to finish the project that day, as door handles and file cabinet liners were not supplied to them. The entire project looked like it was put together by unskilled, inexperienced men. What’s worse, Mauricio and Jaime put defective materials in high corners of the project knowing that I could not see it, even on a stepladder (my husband ultimately found it, and California Closets confirmed the use of defective materials in subsequent inspections by Ms. Bremer and Jesus Mendez).
During the installation, Mauricio repeatedly asked me to clarify the drawings. If this happens to you, do not assist the installer. Instead, tell the installer to call his foreman. Because I tried to help California Closets attempted to invoice me for unauthorized charges for so-​called «change orders» they claimed that I issued in the field!
In another attempt to defraud me, California Closets attempted to process final payment without my authorization and in an amount significantly over the amount agreed upon. I am currently attempting to work this situation out with them.
This project has been going on for almost five months, during which time California Closets has been to my house six times and attempted to defraud me on three occasions. This is not customer service representative of California Closets, which charges a premium claiming to provide superior products and service.
UPDATE******
The same day that I posted the above review, Jaimi Norton of California Closets reached out to me by telephone. She advised that members California Closets’ management team were not made aware of my situation. Ms. Norton adjusted the bill and apologized for my experience, which we both agreed was far beneath California Closets’ standards.
In light of Ms. Norton’s conduct — particularly her speed in rectifying the situation and her apology — I would use California Closets again. However, next time, I will contact Ms. Norton directly and be certain that she tracks my project.
It is good to know that Customer Service isn’t dead at California Closets! In the end, I received the service that I should have received all along. Thank you, Jaimi.

I had wonderful experience. My consultant Mona went above and beyond to ensure my satisfaction. She guided me every step of the way, spent a lot of time measuring and designing my closets. I couldn’t wish for a better person to work with. Installers were very professional and neat. Great crew!

We have had a horrible experience with California Closets and would not recommend them to anyone.
Below are all the issues we have dealt with and are currently dealing with:
1. During the consultation the rep failed to mention that the current shelf (its a brand new unit and the closets were left blank to customize) had to be removed prior to the installation. Had he mentioned it I would have had my staff remove it not a problem
2. They broke the news to us 1.5 hours into the installation and is charging $ 500 more than what was quoted.
3. I came home thinking the installation was completed and it didn’t look like much work was done at all. On top of mis-​quoting the timing, they left wood chips all over my house. It was a complete mess that took about 30 minutes of my time to clean up
4. We were told that they were going to finish the install the following Monday which did not happen. We called to find out a) why didn’t anyone contact us to reschedule and b) when are you planning on completing the job.
As it stands we still have not had the installation completed and are very upset.

This review is based on the exceptional customer service I experienced with this company. My consultant was Wendy Bremer. She spent plenty of time with me measuring all of my clothes and designing a perfect closet to not only fit my needs but fit my budget as well. She answered any and all questions and put up with me and all of my indecisive ways. I can’t say enough about how helpful she truly was in this process. I’d also like to mention Jace who did the actual installation of the closet. He was friendly and professional and came all the way back to the eastside in order to redo a tiny mistake that was made. He wasted no time coming back to fix it and was a complete gentleman about the whole thing. I am so impressed with the way that it all turned out and I would highly recommend both Wendy and Chase to help you along the way in the building process. THANK YOU both so much!

We recently remodeled our house and spent $ 10,000 for three closets. Given the amount of money that we spent, we expected quality installation… and we are shocked at how terrible the work turned out to be. Most importantly, they sent inexperienced installers who did shoddy work — for example, they drilled the inside of the drawers so much that it splintered the inside of the drawer face. So if you reach into the drawer and touch the inside of the front panel, you could cut your hand on the splintered interior. This is definitely BAD since these closets are for our children!
Worse, we’ve called and called and called the company and all we ask is they replace the splintered panels… and we’ve gotten ZERO response.
We don’t know what to do at this point other than sharing our bad experience online!

I would suggest that the prospect take a very active role in the design and installation process. I would not suggest that they rely on the advice of the representative without considerable thinking and involvement in the process and supervision of the installation.

I am so delighted that I went with California Closets/​Santa Monica. My design consultant is Steve Platt. What a delight. He was on time, friendly, and got right down to business. Right off the bat, I knew he was the «real deal.» I also called Closet World. She was also on time, but took three hours– only to tell me the design we spent all that time working on, wouldn’t work. After doing the ‘song and dance’ –calling the manager to see if she could get me a ‘deal,’ etc. Steve, returned my calls, followed up, and was obviously skilled at what he does. He provided a 3-​D rendering of his work, which Closet World doesn’t. The price was in range of what I had planned, and the quality is top notch. I almost went with the Ikea design, but was dubious of the box inside box concept. I also appreciated that Steve didn’t try to «sell» me on anything, and took the time to steer me clear of additions that I really didn’t need. Steve is just such a pleasure. I’m so excited for my new closets! THANKS. California Closet has such a reputation of being good quality, but expensive. You get what you pay for, and the price was reasonable. Looking forward to working together again!

Installation was accepted by my client but looked unprofessional and of poor quality to me. They also were very badgering when it came to payment even though my company pays within terms and have been in business for 20 years. I will never use these people again and would warn others that they’d be better off hiring someone from out front of home depot. That way you’d save about 95% of the costs and time as well as get better quality customer service, workmanship and materials.

I have never had someone be so rude to me when I’ve asked for an estimate for a product that I want to BUY!!! Gloria (I think she’s the manager) was so rude, so unhelpful, so crabby that even if the quote is competitive, I would never want to do business with someone like her! How horrible to be so rude in a sales-​based business. She definitely needs Customer Services and Sales Training 101. I can’t believe that business is still around with someone like her at the head…

I had two closets installed in 2005. Last month we had a collapse of one section of the closet. I called the people at California Closets. They came out the same day (a Saturday), didn’t ask how it happened (my wife had too many pants on one of the closet rods), they fixed it at no charge, and didn’t even bother with any paperwork. They also installed an extra support beam so this won’t happen again. That is a company that stands behind its product.