Castle and Cubby

3.0
based on 2 reviews

2 reviews about Castle and Cubby

17 May 2022

These guys are just wonderful to work with. We called with an impossible task - mud kitchen for our twin daughters birthday in ten days! The Castle and Cubby team were there for us - laughed at the timeline and were able to deliver for us. They are amazing!

Approximate cost: $1000

verified email - 02 Jan 2022

If you are seeking a business who prides themselves of quality and efficiency before and after-purchase customer service/follow-up. Then this is NOT the company you want to choose.

I enquired about having a cubby house built in April 2020, the response from enquiry, quote to confirmation of purchase took about 20 days. Delivery was to happen 5/6/20, but delays due to covid pushed it to 19/6/20. Communication before delivery was poor, no response to calls, messages or emails. Jono (Brisbane manager) would say he would email or call back but doesn’t happen. Cubby was not completely done on first installation, with issues and waiting for another trip from them to finish up.

Back and forth messages for when they were going to return to finish up the job, and was told to lock in a day. Wait all day in the house, messaged with NO replies and no-one turns up. Set another day and a random contractor turns up instead of Jono as he had said would return.

The shelves inside the cubby was unleveled. And there were splinters all over the internal cubby making it dangerous for kids to play in. Which required another visit. Says will call back again in 20mins but NEVER received a call.

Within around 4 months of having the new cubby house, the bifold windows would not shut, as the wood started to expand and be unleveled. The “barn door” kept falling off when kids tried to shut it or during storms, causing the door edge to break off. The door is quite flimsy as wind would cause it to flap about and fall off. They had made it so it “should” close and stay closed but that mechanism does not work. The door won’t stay shut. Because of covid, lockdowns and restrictions, I left this until June 2021 to contact the company again.

Being quite annoyed at Jono’s management and response, I took to their instagram to direct message Castle & Cubby on 20/5/21. The person (assuming the owner on IG) got Jono to contact me but only received one missed call, on multiple attempts to call back, phone would bounce to voicemail. Jono would send text saying would call back in 20mins but no calls were received after that.

3 months later, 21/9/2021, I had to attempt contact again since noone had followed up since June. Back and forth, giving hopes of “organising now, will call shortly”, led to nothing again.

6/10/21, I call again, and was told they will get the carpenter Andrew to call me. What happened? Nothing again…. 5 days later was told he would turn up, and never did. Jono later says he will find someone else because he is “unreliable”. (What company sends a known unreliable carpenter to do a job?). Spent 3 days, each day waiting for this Andrew to turn up and no-one does.

13/10/21 they send Peter (who was friendly and helpful) to assess the areas that need repairing. Was made aware that for the price I paid (about 10.9k), the build is extremely overpriced and not well built. Photos taken of repairs needed and was told will return to fix once materials have arrived.

5/11/21, I get a text from Jono saying materials will arrive next week to start repairs. What happens again? Nothing. No communication.

So the last text I sent 6 weeks later on 19/12/21, asking when repairs will start. Am yet to get any response. And now it is 2022.

Do I recommend this company? I hope you have been reading and know the answer. Don’t be tricked by the pictures and instagram post. This was a very regretable purchase.

Lastly, this cubby quickly moulds internally, especially when you have unrepaired doors and windows that won’t shut to keep moisture levels low.

Approximate cost: $10900

kellies621 28 Jan 2022

Hi Sarah

Thanks for chatting with me again just now and I am so happy we are moving quickly to resolution.

There is absolutely no denying that your experience has been poor and has caused unnecessary pain. I am so sorry; that I was not aware of this sooner and that the crack team of myself and our operations manager Fiona were not there to guide you through smoothly at the time. As you mentioned, now that we know there is no stopping us to get this fixed for you in a swift manner. Girl power to the rescue!

As I explained there are absolutely no valid excuses for the lack of communication you experienced, because despite all the challenges, at any given point Jon had the opportunity to ask his teammates to step in and help, and instead he chose to run away from his stress. Internally as a family, Jon and I have had some very tough conversations about his behaviour and within the business, with our staff, we have been open and transparent about this situation seeking to clarify our values around honesty and transparency and asking for help when you are apparently drowning in the stress. As mentioned apart from fixing your issues immediately the wheels are in motion to effect change within our business so that we stay true to our values and remember the reason we do what we do.

As we discussed, THANKFULLY, your experience is not the true reflection of our business as a whole and the experience that most of our customers have. It is very difficult to get 8 years into business growing substantially year on year and with many successful relationships in the residential, education, and commercial spaces whilst concurrently acting in this manner. Since your issue, we have chosen to close the Northern NSW workshop due to a lack of qualified staff as a result of the building boom and timber supply issues. We have also been lucky enough to employ an amazing Operations Manager (Fiona) to help with customer success and also a Production Manager to ensure quality before it leaves. These growing pains of small business are hopefully behind us!

As we discussed, sometimes in business when 1 thing goes wrong, all of the things go wrong, and unfortunately, you have had this experience. I really appreciate your listening as I explained the situation regarding the issues that existed in our business at the time your product was made and for understanding the complexity of situational issues such as border closures, covid delays & restrictions and mental health issues in business. I am so glad that we are on the same page!

Please know again that Fi and I are determined to have you with a smile on your face and speaking highly of our business again. Cleaners are being organised for the mould (which we found incessant ourselves in northern NSW with the La Nina weather pattern), new products are currently being built in our Melbourne workshop to replace the ones that were not built to standard at the time and a repaint and sand should have things looking as they are intended.

I appreciate your kindness and understanding Sarah and I respect your decision to retain this review until we have rectified those issues.

Yours humbly

Kellie

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