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Some of you may remember that I feel I was "greenwashed" by cabinetmaker Dura Supreme some weeks earlier. Instead of getting hardwood cabinets for my bathroom, I received mostly particleboard; that particleboard is not marked formaldehyde-free. The company, which touts itself as a green company, was unwilling to address my issues, and so my husband and I are out about $1400 and can't finish our bathroom remodel. I chose to write a letter to Dura Supreme, and sent it about a week ago. I have posted it here, redacting the names of my contractor and the person and her company who sold me the cabinets on behalf of Dura Supreme to protect their privacy.
April 2, 2008
Mr. Keith Stotts, CEO
Dura Supreme
300 Dura Drive
Howard Lake, MN 55349
Dear Mr. Stotts,
I recently purchased from Dura Supreme a custom made 42-inch bathroom vanity made from “solid hardwood” cherry. I chose Dura Supreme based on the recommendations of my contractor, [redacted], and [redacted]. They recommended your company specifically because I have specified green construction and no formaldehyde-containing particleboard or plywood in my home. They were both under the impression that because you tout your company as a “green” company you wouldn’t utilize these materials in your products.
I am writing because I am profoundly disappointed in the cabinets I received from Dura Supreme. I was astounded to find the cabinets constructed mainly of particleboard, a toxic building material made with formaldehyde resin. In fact, based on the literature on your site, I thought that I was buying hardwood cabinets, especially since I got a quote for complete hardwood cabinets from a cabinetmaker following this incident for less than your asking price. Particleboard is one of the worst contributors to indoor air pollution, causing respiratory problems, and a host of other health issues. There is no “safe” level of emission for formaldehyde in particleboard. The formaldehyde used in particleboard is considered a “known human carcinogen.” This is not my opinion; this is fact, and the information I just cited comes from the notoriously slow-to-act EPA (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/formalde.html), which recommends avoiding all particleboard and plywood, regardless of emission levels. The federal government is currently facing lawsuits from countless Katrina refugees who lived in FEMA trailers constructed of this stuff because they have become violently ill from the effects of formaldehyde off-gassing in particleboard and plywood.
What disturbs me most is that Dura Supreme positions itself as a “green” company. Your company touts its KCMA Environmental Stewardship Program seal; yet the KCMA is the kitchen cabinet industry group, not a disinterested body, and requires only that your building materials have “low formaldehyde emissions.” This “low” emission level is documented nowhere on your site. It’s unfortunate that there is no universal standard for the term green. Any product containing formaldehyde particleboard, at any emission level, is certainly not a green product, and I believe your literature and website are seriously misleading.
One of your representatives spoke at length with [redacted]and told her that Dura Supreme will not take the product back nor will they reassemble the product with formaldehyde-free particleboard or plywood. Because of this experience, and your company’s unwillingness to address these issues in a constructive manner with me or [redacted], I will never buy a product from your company again. My family and friends have been witness to this frustrating and demoralizing experience, and they, too, will not buy from your company. In addition to being a consumer, I also happen to be an environmental and consumer journalist, focusing specifically on products containing toxic components. In addition to my journalistic work, I maintain a blog on these topics, which has many regular readers and also attracts visitors who are in the market for various consumer goods and who come across my site in web searches. I have blogged about this experience on my website and, in good faith, will post any response I receive from you, should you choose to respond. My blog address is www.scienceforsale.com.
There are numerous manufacturers of formaldehyde-free plywood and particleboard. If you and the other members of the KCMA’s Environmental Stewardship Program intend to continue portraying your companies as “green”, I suggest you start using products that don’t cause harm to human health. As for myself, I won’t have to worry about bathroom vanities for a while; since your company refuses to refund the price of the Dura Supreme cabinets we bought, we don’t have enough money to complete our bathroom remodel. My family will have to live with a bathroom without a vanity until we can save enough to recoup our loss.
Regards,
Ashley Shelby
UPDATE: While I can see from Sitemeter that Dura Supreme has been keeping close tabs on my blog and on the comments people have made regarding my Dura Supreme postings, I have yet to receive any response whatsoever to my letter. This doesn't reflect well on any company; what makes the company look worse is not that they're lurking on my blog but that they are now posting anonymous comments on my blog claiming I had my money refunded and that Dura Supreme never claimed to be "green". I was, of course, never refunded my money. To suggest this is the height of idiocy. I am a full-time mom, a working mother (a small business owner), and a busy journalist, writer and editor. As if I would take time out of my day to write a letter, post blog entries, and make such a stink about this if I had my $1400-plus in my pocket. Instead, the retailer who sold me the cabinets worked their asses off to try to get Dura Supreme to address this issue, with no success. The woman I worked with at this small family retailer deserves sainthood. Going above and beyond, the retailer issued me a credit for the amount I spent on the Dura Supreme cabinets but, of course, couldn't refund my money. I can't use the credit--and I would gladly forfeit it if Dura Supreme would refund my money--because the other formaldehyde-free offerings are out of our price range. We'd like our money back so we can pay the cabinetmaker who said he would build our cabinets to our specifications for the same amount of money we paid for Dura Supreme's particleboard cabinets. Regardless, as I mentioned in my counter comment to the poster, it says much about Dura Supreme that they consider a small retailer taking a financial hit for their inferior product a "complete refund", allowing this business to absorb the cost of terrible customer service.
In any case, in regards to the comment that Dura Supreme never presented itself as a green company, I am in the process of compiling the information I found regarding this issue. To start with:
Choosing materials that have lower emissions like plywood and particle board containing reduced levels of formaldehyde is also important to Dura Supreme’s environmental certification, as well as tracking air emissions.
Formaldehyde is used in many building products from carpets to roof sheathing, Michel explained, and limiting the formaldehyde content in cabinets give the consumer and the environment a health benefit.
The retailer with whom I worked was never told by anyone at Dura Supreme about this so called lower-emission particleboard or plywood or whether my cabinets were made with this material. Information or specs on the cabinets containing this material is nowhere to be found, leading the consumer to believe that all Dura Supreme cabinets contain "low-emmission formaldehyde" particleboard. This is not the case, from what I understand. In addition, "low-emission" means next to nothing. What is the PPM? If it "meets" EPA standards, then it is most certainly not low-emission. The EPA is currently being petitioned by more than twenty-five organizations to adjust its emission levels guidelines for this type of product. Typically, particleboard is either made with formaldehyde resin or it is not. There really is no in between, so the term low-emission is seriously misleading. Here is the article from which I am quoting. More information to come once my son goes down for a nap.
21 comments:
So frustrating!
Great letter, though. I like the 'notoriously slow to act FDA' part.
I really hope this letter helps resolve your issues with them, and you can recoup your loss.
Again...so frustrating!
soapchix Tiff
Sorry for this frustrating experience. I know how much time and effort you put into finding truly safe options. I'd feel duped.
Makes me sad to think of all the people who don't do their research and buy products from this company on the belief that they are getting what they think they are paying for.
Shame on them! I hope lots of people read your blog. By the way, I found it from your father's newscast. I love him - he is my favorite newscaster. I am not sure if he has covered this particular issue you are having but it would be nice for him to do something in regards to the company not doing what they claim to be doing. :)
GO GREEN!
I was considering buying kitchen cabinets from Dura Supreme but your blog was a real eye-opener. I'm also a small business person and am dumbstruck that the company will not stand behind their products. I will continue to look until I find a similar style from another manufacturer.
Good luck!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, Sam. I haven't heard from Dura Supreme, not even a form letter to acknowledge my correspondence. And I have been hearing from people who live up near Howard Lake, MN, which is where Dura Supreme manufactures its cabinets, that the town is so polluted, the smell of stain so overwhelming, that it's like driving through China! I plan to post some alternative cabinetmakers here in the next week or so, companies who truly make safe, "green" cabinets. Good luck!
Found this while researching cabinets. I was considering Dura Supreme. Not now. Green claims or not, if they said the cabinets were solid hardwood, then they should be just that.
My question: If a local cabinetmaker matched DS's price using solid wood, why didn't you choose him/her?
Wow, I was about to plunk down close to $40,000 on Durasupreme kitchen cabinets this week. Thanks for the info, I will be looking at other lines.
Unfortunately my wife and I have had a different, but similarly dissapointing experience due to lack of communication and follow through by DuraSupreme. We ordered cabinets to remodel two bathrooms over a year ago now - and unfortunately we still do not have a completed installation. DuraSupreme first had issues with damage in shipping - and this is no fault of their own. However, then the product quality issues began to arise. There was glue that had spilled over to other areas of the cabinet, edge banding (the veneer on the corners/sides of the cabinet) that was not fully adhered or cut appropriately, drawer fronts that did not match the rest of the cabinets and more. To make a very long story short, we are now waiting for our fifth shipment of materials to complete our installation. Worse yet, the communication from DuraSupreme has been completely lacking. I have placed calls to both the the manufacturer's representative (Pinnacle Marketing) as well as the VP of Sales, Larry Stokes. Other than a message stating they will send parts out again, we have had little support. This is quite dissapointing when I thought we were purchasing a quality product.
Not to discredit any of your concerns, but as a Kitchen Designer that works with many different large cabinet manufacturers, and also having researched many more as a form of mystery shopping, it is nearly impossible to get "hardwood" cabinet boxes. Most large nationaly branded cabinet manufacturers only offer particle board boxes with an option to upgrade to plywood, and whether that is low or no emissions is hard to research as many companies are not forthcoming with that information. After 6 years in the industry I have never come across any cabinet maker or manufacturer who actual construct the cabinet boxes from hardwood. Their loose use of the term "hardwood" most likely referred to the actual doors and drawer fronts or maybe the interior drawer boxes. It is unfortunate that your dealer would not be aware of the construction from previous orders, or that an actual Dura Supreme Cabinet Specification Book wouldn't spell that out for them, most manufacturer issued Spec Books are very detailed in that regard. To get something truly green your best bet is to go with a local custom cabinet maker, but expect to spend 2-4 times as much as on cabinets from a large production factory.
Sorry for your headache!
I accidentally ran across your blog and this is probably all over with now but...I can tell you as a 25 plus year employee of Dura Supreme that we do not advertise as an all green product. It is the dealer's responsibility to show you the product you are purchasing and answer your questions before hand. All of the cabinet specifications are in the dealer's Dura catalogs. What you should have purchased is metal cabinets or maybe glass ones. If you are a writer and researcher, I am surprised that you didn't order cabinets made from corn stalks or the like. But, I can only guess other dealers steered clear and for good reason. You can bet that if the dealer has refunded your money that #1 Dura has refunded their money or #2 the dealer knows they made a mistake and are trying to make you happy.
In closing...Dura Supreme is a great family owned company and the largest employer in Wright county. We take pride in the products we produce and if there is a quality issue, you can be assured we will stand behind what we sell. As far as not communicating directly with you..we are a dealer based company and our method of communicating back to you would be through them.
I am sorry that you are unhappy with the purchase, but life's too short to dwell on it forever. No, I'm not an anonymous person. I was the Customer Service Manager for the past 11 years and I changed positions within the company in July '08, of which your dealer can verify. I'd like to say to anyone considering purchasing cabinets from Dura Supreme that we are the right choice company for many new and remodel jobs and you should never purchase cabinets or anything without seeing the product in person before you buy.
And for the record..there are no stain smells in the town of Howard Lake...that's a crock! Check with the EPA to see what we have done to protect the environment over the past several years. Thanks for reading my response.
God bless and have a great day!
Sara M.(11/6/08)
Sounds like a very frustrating experience. I work in Kitchen Design and also sell cabinetry, so I have a bit of an insider's track on this kind of stuff. It is true that the cabinetry industry on the whole is lagging far behind in the green movement. There are virtually no mainstream manufacturers who can or do offer Formaldehyde Free cabinetry lines. In reality it is a salesperson's job to stay current on these details and as such educate the end consumer. Not that I am defending the company in this instance, obviously they chose to handle this whole situation very poorly.
As to your comment of "full hardwood construction," I would just like to point out a few difficulties in such an item. The first would be the cost. The doors on a cabinet are by far the most expensive component, simply because they are a finished hardwood. This material does not come cheap. Secondly, a full hardwood box seems to me to be rather wasteful, by using construction methods that require much higher quantities of hardwoods to be cut down, as opposed to a particle or plywood box that can use recycled materials. But yes, then you run into the Formaldehyde issue.
The long and the short of it is that there isn't a simple answer, atleast not yet. Hopefully the cabinetry manufacturers will get with the time.
I'm sorry for you horrible experience in all of this, and I wish you the best of luck in the future!
Cheers
Just Another Obscure Author, move on…. Obviously YOU DID NOT DO YOUR HOMEWORK, what kind of researcher are you. Do you own a car? If so YOU and YOUR vehicle(s) are putting more crap in the air, than a few bathroom cabinets. Face it, YOU screwed-up, and YOU are taking it out on Dura Supreme.
LOL, what a jackass! Hope you find formaldehyde-free cabinets soon. Have you ever googled formaldehyde-free cabinets? There are a lot of companies using formaldehyde-free MDF. These others guys will be out of business in the next ten years. Good luck.
After reading through all the comments on this board I feel obligated to respond. I work for a major cabinet manufacturer that directly competes with Dura Supreme and normally I would not be concerned by any of this. However, I must defend Dura Supreme in this situation because I believe you are irrationally attacking them and the cabinet industry as a whole. After reading everything (including the linked article), I have come to the conclusion that you are very good at writing and skewing people's words to work in your favor. Nowhere in the article does Dura Supreme claim to be "green". They do mention being a part of the KCMA Environmental Stewardship Program, but this in no way implies a company is "green" (which is a highly relative term anyways, which you should know). This program is designed to help cabinet manufacturers reduce waste, introduce sustainable wood species and strive for reduced emissions. As for finding a solid hardwood box, good luck. That product simply does not exist from major manufacturers and for good reason. Not only is a solid hardwood box more expensive, but considering all that goes into it (additional trees and glue mainly) it is no more "green" than any other cabinet. I find it humorous that you consider a solid hardwood box a "green" product. It must be one of those out of sight, out of mind things. As long as the pollution, fumes or environmental damage is somewhere else in the world, and it doesn't directly affect you, you're OK with it. I hope you actually stop and think about my comments instead of writing some vague response that circumvents the actual issue here: that you, as a self-proclaimed researcher, did not do your job.
As I've mentioned time and time again, this took place long before I had become a "self-proclaimed researcher" into formaldehyde use in wood products. I was an everyday consumer, like the vast majority of people who visit this site, who simply asked for a formaldehyde-free bathroom vanity. Perhaps you have not read the postings in their entirety. I did not care if the cabinets were made from formaldehyde-free MDF or plywood, which are offered by more and more companies every day, as I've learned since, nor if they were from sustainably-harvested hardwood. You'll notice that Dura Supreme says it harvests its hardwood from sustainably-harvested hardwood. So you are wrong when you "irrationally attack" me for caring little about the way wood is harvested.
This kind of response from industry is typical when a consumer complains. Again, my experience illustrates what it is like to be a consumer who is trying to do the right thing for his or her family but who is not armed with the VOC-count, the list of non-formaldehyde adhesives, and so on. This took place nearly a year ago when I was the mother of a new infant who I was trying to protect from formaldehyde, as well as a working mother. Since this has happened, yes, I have begun researching this matter and have found that there were, in fact, many alternatives to Dura Supreme that I should have considered.
So, in fact, I think my experience is actually a typical experience of a harried consumer who doesn't have the luxury of "doing all the research" and trusting instead claims of "green." Why would the kitchen cabinet industry attack a consumer for not having had the time to do voluminous amounts of research into issues like MDF, VOC count, the dangers of formaldehyde, etc? This is a typical industry attack, the kinds of which I have seen time and time again in my journalistic work. By your very response, you turn people off to wanting to do business with traditional kitchen cabinet companies. Several people have e-mailed me and have told me that while my story perhaps wouldn't have turned them away from traditional kitchen cabinetmakers, responses like yours have. They don't want to be denigrated for asking for something they want.
I have I "talked around the issue"?
I also feel compelled to address your "green" comment, that we consumers should know it's a so-called subjective term. I know that now. But as a regular consumer, as I was a year ago, I assumed--as my contractor did--that "green" meant safe and sustainable. Seems a pretty low threshold, no? I think it's a testament to the widespread nature of "green confusion" that my own contractor assumed "green" meant formaldehyde-free. Many people have e-mailed me and asked me "what is green"? I think it's interesting that industry shifts the onus is on the consumer to determine if a product is safe for them, to investigate claims of green, instead of being responsible themselves and stop hiding behind a meaningless label, like the KCMA label (if it doesn't mean anything, why are you guys using it? To fool consumers?) I have long advocated a federal standard of green. It's not there yet. When it is, companies like yours will have to adjust. I look forward to that day.
In the meantime, perhaps you should spend your time looking into the components of your products instead of attacking consumers for speaking up about unsatisfactory experience. The tide is turning against products containing formaldehyde. Maybe you've already noticed.
After reading these responses, I feel I have to post this posting I found on a green kithcen blog:
CAUTION GREENWASHING ALERT
The kcma program is the biggest case of green-washing I've ever seen. It was set up by the heads of a bunch of cabinet companies, to sell more cabinets. There is no third-party regulation, or checks of any kind.
you can go to the kcma website and see for yourself. there's a link to environmental stewardship program, and then a link to the guide showing the requirements.
the program is "self-certifying". there is no proof required of anything.
the certification is "awarded" based on points. You get points for:
1. Utilizing a "training program" telling your material suppliers "we prefer certified lumber".
2. Recycling paper and glass from your lunchroom.
3. having any kind of documented "enegery conservation program" (sign saying turn off the lights when you leave is sufficient)
4. Having a written envirnomental policy. YOU DON'T HAVE TO ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
5. reviewing the environmental policies of your material suppliers. Just reviewing them, no action is required.
6. Being involved in the community in any charitable way (what does this have to do with being "green"?)
7. NOT HAVING RECEIVED NON-COMPLIANCE CITATIONS FROM THE EPA IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS. (NOT BREAKING THE LAW!)
8. Using materials with formaldehyde emission levels within 75% of industry standards. That means you can FAIL to meet the industry standards for offgassing by 25% (A LOT!), and this organization still gives you points toward their nonsense certification.
Any company that wants this "seal" can easily get it, without doing ANYTHING. It's total BS, set up to fool consumers who just want to feel good about what they're buying, and don't really care to do any research.
There is one certification that matters, FSC. It's the only one that is monitored by an outside organization.
If you actually care about this stuff, please do your homework and see what's behind the sticker. The KCMA program is as bogus as it gets, and it's fooling lots of consumers.
Sarah
Thanks for your time consuming work on this "dirty" kitchen cabinet issue. I've just eliminated the Dura Supreme bid for my new kitchen, but not primarily because of the formaldehyde issue in particle board (we're going all plywood). Rather, I cannot do business with a company who does not value customers enough to respond to their concerns, regardless of dealer relationships. Answering correspondence is simply a kind and mannerly way to behave. All my best...
i have worked at dura supreme for over 5years we receive so many letters from unsatisfied costomers its sad dura is unreliable unprofesional and very iresponsable your not the first or the last frustrated customer. p.s dura suckes
I've been looking at cabinets from Schrock, Decora, Mid-Continent, and lately have been nudged towards Dura Supreme by a dealer, no longer! Thanks for the blog, even if there are some inconsistencies, the fact Dura Supreme will not respond directly to the consumer, letter writer, but only to the dealer indicates that are not sufficiently consumer focused to earn my business.
Dorymomemts
Hi Linda,
Best of luck with your remodeling. I've looked through my original post and am unable to locate the inconsistencies you cite. I'm a writer and editor, so I'm somewhat anal about inconsistencies and would hate for anything like that to get into the post, especially one so impassioned! If you happen back on this, let me know so I can address them.
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