Sonja M.’s Reviews of BuildDirect & more

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BuildDirect

Flooring

“Fake Reviews, Horrible Customer Service”

5/16/22

Verified purchase

We purchased a vinyl click-lock floor. The floor arrived damaged and continued to fall apart during normal installation. We couldn't even get three rows installed.

Customer service refused refund and cites mandatory requirement for this floor is installation by a "certified" professional. This was not mentioned in their product review, nor did the manufacturer mention it in our conversations with them.

We made our decision to purchase this floor while there was 21 reviews on the product with a perfect score of five stars. We made the mistake of not actually reading the reviews. Went back after all the problems and noticed the vast majority of these reviews were for a completely different floor (an engineered hardwood - see attached screenshots). For the actual vinyl we purchased, there were four very negative reviews explaining exactly the problems we had (after Build Direct lied and said there weren't ever any complaints about this floor).

When I brought this all to their attention, including the manipulation of including reviews for a completely different product to manipulate the stars the product received, they deleted ALL the reviews, including the negative ones pertaining to vinyl floor. There is now only two 5-star positive reviews that they left up.

We wrote an honest review of the flooring and of Build Direct customer service on their site. I now have very little hope it will ever show up on their site.

This breaks many consumer protection laws, including laws regarding false advertising and the Consumer Reviews Fairness Act. I will be making it my part-time job to make sure no other consumer is ripped off, lied to, and taken advantage of like we were.

Build Direct is a con. Do not do business with them. We just literally paid $1300 to them to teach us that lesson. Don't make our mistake, and don't risk your money.

Response to Build Direct's response: As I stated above, Build Direct took the wrong reviews off of the site for this product after I brought it to their attention via email but not before I grabbed screenshots. There were 21 reviews for this floor. Now there are only 2 left.

Also grabbed screenshots of plenty of other products where they have done the exact same hijacking of reviews, which is absolutely illegal and very shady business practices.

I will also be watching to make sure the negative review I left on the product will be posted. If it's not, that's yet another violation of consumer protection laws.

I'll be filing a complaint with the FTC about the review hijacking and the deletion of negative reviews. We'll let them decide.

Tip for consumers:
Read every review carefully to make sure it is for the product you are looking at. They have been caught posting reviews for different but similar products to get the star rating up in an effort to offload junk onto the consumer at a very high price. Also know that they delete bad reviews on products. Notice how most or all of their products have 4 - 5 star reviews? That’s no accident. Buyer Beware!

Products used:
Vesdura vinyl plank flooring - Mesa Tan. We could never actually use it, though, because it was junk and fell apart during installation. We couldn’t even get three rows installed.

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BuildDirect C. – BuildDirect Rep Over a year old

Thanks for taking the time to provide us with this feedback, Sonja. We’re sorry to hear that you feel this way about your experience with us.

Looking into your case in some depth, we can see that you made your order with us in October 2021 and first raised a concern in May 2022, long after our 30 day return policy.

The issue you required assistance with was not product-related, but rather with regards to the installation of the floor. The techniques you were using to install the product were breaking parts of the click system, which was evident in the video you sent us.

During email exchanges, both BuildDirect and the manufacturer of the product provided installation guidance in the form of written and video content to try to assist you, but your partner was still having difficulty installing the product. As your partner is not a contractor we recommended that you hire a professional to complete the installation to avoid damaging the product any further, however this advice was not taken.

While the product was damaged due to incorrect installation, our Customer Success team did offer 1-2 extra packs to account for any breakages that may have occurred in transit, despite the fact that your order was received seven months ago and all goods were signed for as arriving in good condition.

Regarding the reviews, we’ve checked the product pages on our website and do not find any issues as far as we can see. All reviews posted are genuine and unaltered. You can find both positive and negative reviews on product pages. On the specific product ordered, there are two reviews, one for the color you ordered and another for a different color but of the same product.

Again, we are sorry that we were unable to help further, but we do not provide installation services so would recommend considering a local trades person to be able to complete your project.

Kind regards,
BuildDirect