Customers: Cabinet company closes doors, leaves jobs unfinished

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A number of Oklahoma residents are out tens of thousands of dollars, accusing a cabinet boutique of stealing their money without completing the job.

Now, the business has seemingly closed its doors.

Yukon couple Brandon Banks and Allison Richards said they paid Wilshire Cabinet about $26,000 back in January to design and install new cabinets in their home.

They were supposed to arrive in May, but the couple is now concerned since the Oklahoma City business, located at 320 W. Wilshire Blvd, shut down last week without ever doing the job.

"These guys are nowhere to be found," Banks said. "They took down all their internet presence. All their cell phones are canceled, turned off. They changed the locks on the door."

"It's a little disheartening, sad, when you have all these dreams and you think all the pieces are in place and then all of a sudden it's, 'okay, let's start from square one,'" Richards added.

And they're not alone. Customer Mark Whaley said he paid $17,000.

“I had confidence in this company," he shared. "I thought it was going to work out and then Friday got the bad news that their owners are in the wind.”

One couple we spoke to, who chose to stay anonymous, showed KFOR a cleared check for $100,000 paid out to Wilshire Cabinet. The job was never done.

As for Dinah Joyner-Gantz, she said she paid Wilshire Cabinet almost $30,000 in October. She was told to expect a March installation, and had already thrown out her old cabinets before the closure happened.

"This is it. This was all our money, basically," she said emotionally. "I don't know what we're going to do."

KFOR took a visit to Wilshire Cabinet on Monday, where a sign on the front door says, "temporarily closed." 

We also shot them a call with the voicemail saying, "You have reached Wilshire Cabinet and company. We are temporarily closed."

Employees have shared a message they got from one of Wilshire's owners last Thursday saying they tried avoiding a closure. 

The message said, "To my Wilshire family, It is with a heavy heart that I have had to come to the decision tonight to close the doors to our company effective immediately. I have tried to avoid this in every possible way and I really thought we were going to make it, however I am told I currently have no other option. I cannot issue any payroll checks tomorrow. There is no need to return to work as the doors have been closed. I will notify you when arrangements can be made for you to obtain any personal articles from the office early next week. Company cell phones, including mine and Jason's, will be disconnected tonight. I'm so sorry. - Travis." 

Ed Blau, attorney with Blau Law Firm, recommends that customers in these types of situations reach out to the Oklahoma Attorney General, contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and/or file a lawsuit against Wilshire Cabinet. 

"The attorney general's office is generally pretty aggressive with consumer fraud," he said. "They have investigators. They have prosecutors to go after these individuals and many times, criminal restitution is the only sure way that somebody can be made whole."

Leslie Berger, press secretary for the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General, sent KFOR the following statement when asked about the situation, "We encourage anyone who feels they have been scammed to file a complaint with the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Unit as soon as possible. It is also helpful to gather all materials related to the order or project. Anyone who paid by check or credit card should attempt to stop payment if it's still possible. To file a complaint, visit www.oag.ok.gov/consumer-protection-unit or call 1-833-681-1895."