Alaska Woodcrafters 1230 East 68th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99518

"I’m sorry to say my experience with Alaska Woodcrafters was beyond disappointing. One star because, as another reviewer wrote, I did get my cabinet back. After TWENTY MONTHS. I brought a 100-year-old pie cabinet up from the Midwest and chose this business to restore and refinish it. Owner came to my house to see it, gave an estimate, picked up the item and half the payment in December 2019. I finally picked it up today, in July 2021, and while I understand there was a lot of cleaning, stripping, and repair, I still need to touch up the paint and get new hardware put on part of it. In other words, it’s not completely done. Communication at the beginning, in 2019, was ok. Other big projects took priority; not being in a huge rush, in hindsight I was too forgiving about that. I certainly understood a delay in spring of 2020 when everything shut down. But in July 2020 I stopped in to see the cabinet and choose paint. At that time I was told it would be done in two weeks. No communication again until September, when I was told it would be done in two weeks. No communication again until November… this went on and on, every time being told it would be done in two weeks. I would never recommend this woodworker for an individual piece or project. If you’re crazy enough to go with them anyway, get a finish-date or delivery date in the contract and find a good lawyer."

"Update as of 9/24/21: TLDR: Well, 14 weeks after the agreed upon deadline and a promise of bringing Alaska Woodcrafters to Small Claims, my table and chairs are finally done. While the work is phenomenal, I still wouldn't recommend Alaska Woodcrafters based on how it operates and lack of communication, and I will not be using their services for the rest of my furniture. August 24, 2021, Bill called out of the blue saying he is ready for the table leaves. I brought them to him (against my best judgement) stating he could only work on them if there is a set deadline of 1 month to finish everything and half off the remainder (so $750 instead of $1300). If he were to not do this, he would be served by small claims and I would've picked everything up with a police escort. If he were to do this, I would update my review to 3 stars. I get a call yesterday (Sept. 23, 2021) stating it is ready for delivery. Bill and Eddie (assistant? partner? apprentice?) arrived today with everything safely in cloth wrappings and reassembled the table with no issues. ------- I contacted Bill regarding restoring some antique family furniture. I've paid $1,300, plus $80 for pickup, with zero contact or updates since he picked up my furniture. I have more furniture I wanted refinished, but I will not continue to work with Bill nor would I recommend Alaska Woodcrafters. I may update review to 2 stars depending on quality of work, but nothing higher. -------- Initially, I reached out in January, Bill responded he was available to meet within 2 weeks, and when I asked what day and time would work, I received no response. In May, I reached out again (Bill is unfortunately one of very few furniture repair and restoration workers in Alaska) and was able to have him evaluate and estimate the work needed the furniture. It came out to about $2,600 and estimated 3 weeks of work. June 2nd he picked up the furniture. Since then (now July 15th), I've heard absolutely nothing from him. Bill does not answer his phone, the address listed on google is either outdated or Bill does not answer the door, and he has no other employees (that I'm aware of) who can help with administrative tasks."

"I paid this gentleman $400 deposit to refinish table. It appears likely now that I will never see my table or my $400 again bc bill Poole does not respond to inquiries. Does not operate at address on paperwork. Beware. Well I finally got my table back and I am so happy. Apparently they have also hired new staff. V personable. I hope they do better job of communicating. The table looks good."

"Gave two stars not one because we actually got the drawers back! Used this business - Spoke with Bill. Dropped 3 cabinet drawers off needing to be remade using the faceplates, he said they would be able to "hammer a few drawers together no problem". No updates were given, and multiple attempts were made to call, and leave voicemails to the business for almost 2 weeks with no call backs or answers. We even stopped by the business and talked to the neighbors, where we were informed "It's just how he works." Finally we get a call out of no where and get the drawers back and pay him $160, and they looked to be of good quality. Unfortunately, upon getting home to put them in the cabinet, they do not fit as they are too wide and the tracks were also not wide or deep enough. Before original drop off, we asked if they needed dimensions of the needed drawers, to which we were told "No, just bring the original drawers and we will just make them the same size." So not only was there no communication at all, but the product received isn't even correct. We now have to sand them down and router them ourselves to make them fit. I'd bring them back to have them fixed, but I don't know if it would be weeks or more before we got them back, or got them back at all. Very unfortunate this was the first woodworking place we contacted. Their website is professional, but they are anything but."