Brooklyn Kitchens News
Dear neighbors: Several folks in Park Slope and surrounding neighborhoods have dealt with Brian Ackerman at Brooklyn Kitchens (formerly known as Garfield Kitchens) for their kitchen cabinets, bathrooms, and similar items. While through the years (as evidenced by many local blogs, mailing lists, etc.), he has been a nightmare to deal with, lately, with the…
Dear neighbors:
Several folks in Park Slope and surrounding neighborhoods have dealt with Brian Ackerman at Brooklyn Kitchens (formerly known as Garfield Kitchens) for their kitchen cabinets, bathrooms, and similar items. While through the years (as evidenced by many local blogs, mailing lists, etc.), he has been a nightmare to deal with, lately, with the downturn in the economy, it appears he is acting in a fraudulent manner.
In the past it appears he has used deposits received from new customers to satisfy the orders for prior customers. There’s a phrase for that–it’s called a Ponzi scheme. And as we know, when the money stops coming in, the scheme collapses. With the recent downturn in the economy, the money stopped coming in.
A number of local residents have given Brooklyn Kitchens large sums of money, up into the high five figures, and he has failed to deliver product. Some of those customers are attorneys. Several of these customers have obtained judgments against him in court. Some new lawsuits have been filed against him as recently as this week.
I had a close call with Brooklyn Kitchens myself. I ordered everything I needed for a gut rehab of our South Slope townhome, at the end of 2007, and just barely got it all. The last item, glass shower doors, took six months to be delivered.
I started a website to alert my neighbors to my experiences. It can be found at whybrooklynkitchens.com . It has been instrumental in bring a number of aggrieved customers together. Don’t miss the email section:
http://whybrooklynkitchens.com/emails.html
Today I attended a meeting in the office of a Manhattan law firm with the attorneys of a number of defrauded clients. The attorneys will be meeting with the Attorney General in the next couple of weeks. The objective will be to press criminal charges against Mr. Ackerman, not just civil charges.
It appears Brooklyn Kitchens may be out of business. Reports indicate the store has been closed for a week.
Your neighbors are asking for your help in building a case against him. If you have had any bad experiences, particularly bad experiences that resulted in a financial loss, we are interested in hearing from you, and if desired, add you to the list of plaintiffs to which any settlement could be distributed.
Please email me, denton@speakeasy.net with comments or experiences.
Just a quick update: our numbers are now close to twenty and growing every week. If you were affected, please join our google group — http://groups.google.com/group/bkb_ackerman
I know there are many, many more of you out there!
Don’t be ashamed!
And for more, check out the following reviews:
http://brooklyn.citysearch.com/review/37268933?reviewId=50657911
Reading these is like re-living a nightmare.
A group of community members who experienced losses because of their business dealing with Brian Ackerman of Brooklyn Kitchens and Bath are banning together.
If you were affected, please contact us immediately. Criminal actions are being planned. There are some of us who were taken for $30, 40, and even $50k with no products delivered. Don’t be ashamed!
For more information, please contact me at akinyc@gmail.com
Please pass this message on.
Thank you.
thanks @unionstreet. Odd, some people seemed to have had decent experiences with small items. He owes me a few minor pieces and still can’t deliver them. When I heard that people were out 30, 40, 50K each I was floored.
If anyone you know was affect by Brian, even if you got all your pieces, please contact Audrey Roth or Denton above.
I bought a few smaller items from Brian back in the Garfield Kitchens days when we were renovating in 2002/3. He was a total and complete nightmare to deal with. I could never quite tell if it were more due to disorganization or dishonesty on his part. I recall that it took him many months to deliver a simple toilet to us. He misled us on the delivery date multiple times. Then he screwed around on the pricing. I vowed never to go back there and did not. We are not at all surprised by this news.
Agreed @slopefarm. Now I DEFINITELY know better!
call Help Me Howard on the pix news!!!!
*rob*
t-mod, it is because of Brian as well as the jerks that sold us our house that we finally adopted a no bs rule. We set our internal bs detectors on the most sensitive level whenever dealing with RE, contractors or vendors, and walk away at the first sign of bs. Too late to of much use for us, but I highly recommend it. Sounds like you live by that as well. We did not end up out of pocket, but there were several months along the way in dealing with him that I was ready to kill.
It took me only 5 minutes with this guy when I was cabinet shopping 3 years ago to recognize he was a liar and a scuzz. Probably because of the business I work in I have had to refine that sense about people, but I am SO glad I turned and walked out the door.