Here are some emails I have received since starting this site!

"Hi Denton,
I read your website about Brooklyn Kitchen.  I have a client who is going through some of the hell that you wrote about. I wonder if we might talk or correspond here.  I'm wanting to expose Brian Ackerman on TV for the lies he's told and for his deceptions.  I'm an attorney and am outraged by his behavior, quite honestly.  Please contact me at your earliest convenience.  I look forward to hearing from you."

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"Same Issue with Brooklyn Kitchens"
Hi Denton--
I actually just got off the phone with Brian. I told him about your website and told him again....if you pay me, I go away. I have also done research on him and see he is partied to several similar suits. This guy has a track-record.

I've been getting the run-around for 2 years.....told everything from "I have no money for food", "I have 14K in my account", and multiple times told his daughter has cancer and his worker's baby died (told that on several occasions actually). Through the entire process I have never lost my cool, never cursed, never screamed...but I do not go away.

I am going to the post office now to mail him my final demand for payment (strangely he doesn't get phased at all by these letters). On Jan 4th I am going to file a lawsuit. I have documentation like mad, voicemails, receipts, etc. Given his track record, there is zero chance I will lose. I may never see the money, but just knowing I won and getting a lien on his business and person is enough for me.

I even tried to work through his suppliers...they won't talk to me. Even the cabinet supply company won't return my calls.

Thankfully I am only demanding ~$1400. But I am not going to walk away from it. I made the mistake of a lifetime going to this mom-and-pop. The first few times I went there and it was an all out screaming match between him and his staff I should have known it was bad news. I was stupid and trusted my architect's referral (he bought counter from him years earlier).

Thank god i wasn't stupid enough to order anything behind cabinets and a few bathroom fixtures (still around 100K) (I don't know what prompted it but I decided to go to a place in Manhattan and dealt with installers directly regarding the glass shower doors -- both places I would highly recommend.) I think the first indication is that he doesn't use a computer, got part #s wrong, and kept trying to push me to cheap Chinese crap. Plus his prices weren't always competitive. During the first phases of my renovation I was less savvy and let my architect refer me. He told me Brian's price was good, etc. Thankfully i didn't order everything through him...would have been a lot worse.

Of course cabinets were delayed..blah blah....but really he measured a few things wrong and I finally broke down and had my own cabinetmaker (I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN HIM A FEW MONTHS EARLIER! Would have had him make everything! Again, I would highly recommend him to ANYONE. Great local guy.) manufacturer the missing/broken/wrong sized pieces and replace it. In two cases the veneers aren't perfect, but the doors all close now. So, right now I am just trying to collect what it cost me to have the cabinetmaker make the repairs. I am not even going after interest. Just whatever is on the receipts.

I am absolutely 100% willing to help you with your case. This man does not deserve to be in business. He has terrible reviews, has lots of law suits. I am really starting to believe him when he says his business is slow--it should be!

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Please do not put my name on your website. I really need to first get my money from Brian. Right now its under 1K, but the point is he knows most normal people will walk away from it. That's why he continues to jerk me around until I give up. I spent over 75K with him. Thank god I stopped and ordered the rest from others. I didn't order countertops, showers, etc. really just cabinets and a few bathroom fixtures.

Lessons learned: ALWAYS use a credit card. ALWAYS. No 2% discount crap.
Never ever ever pay the entire thing upfront. And again, ALWAYS use a credit card.

He tried to talk me out of what I wanted to cheap chinese shit. I think that coupled with his lack of computers (and getting part #s wrong!) really made us move on. In fact, our entire problem is because he didn't use a computer. He wouldn't have ordered the part #s this wrong if he had done it like 99% of businesses do.

I wish I would have known the first time I went there and there were on-going screaming matches between him and his staff.

Feel free to keep my contact info, if someone specifically contacts you, feel free to give them my email.

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Re:  Brooklyn Kitchen website -- please add my name

Hi,

Man, I wish I had seen the website back in April when I bought some thing from this jerk.  I filed a lawsuit against him yesterday and hope I can make his life as miserable as he has just about everyone else who does business with him. 

If you want to add my name to your website you have my permission.   It is Gerard A. Feil. 

I am going to post some of the reviews on his door on Saturday nights so everyone can see on Sunday while he is closed.   Not that he really cares but maybe one day it will drive him out of business.

Anyway -- thanks for the website.

Jerry

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I am looking into contacting the consumer fraud division of the AG's office.  Not sure if they see this as big enough but will take what I can to move this guy out.  Right now even though it is not a small sum I would be glad to see him go out of business since getting my money back is unlikely.   I also wrote to the BID and am writing to the Merchant's association -- just letting them know that when I went to buy the rest of my materials I went out of the neighborhood.  This guy is so bad I think the merchants in the area need to know they are being hurt my him. 

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On your comments on "Brownstoner Forum" you indicated that you were contacted by an attorney who was preparing to sue Brian on behalf of Xxxx Xxxx for non-delivery.
I wish I had done my research before I stepped into that store. After three months of waiting for counters and appliances and having removed my kitchen, I'm currently trying to get my money back but Brian's excuses (too many to list) don't give me a choice but to sue him.

Is there a way you could direct me to that attorney or to xxxx? (I've e-mailed her but it seems she not around).
If you could help, I would appreciate.
Thanks.

J. Julio Ricardo, R.A. jjricardo@verizon.net

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My boss has just informed me that Brooklyn Kitchens and Baths Inc. took an order for a new sink unit back in November and has not delivered the unit or returned any calls. They paid a $1,400 deposit and would like the money back.

 You mentioned that there is a lawsuit pending against this guy – can you forward me any information you have about the suit and how one may joint it?

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Hi, I read these emails with great dismay. I work for a supplier of his. The man is a compulsive liar!! He NEVER pays his bills!  It is one  BS story, after another. Such lies, He even  lies about the health of his family members. How low can you go !!?? What a pig!  The “man” needs to be locked up for a long time. It is a sin that he hurt so many good, trusting people. My company will no longer deal with him.  They say “paybacks a bitch”. He will get his one day. I only hope I hear about it !!!

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Hi Denton,
 
I just read your Feb 4 posting about Brian Ackerman and Brooklyn Kitchen & Baths. I was about to start drafting a lawsuit against him tonight relating to my kitchen and decided to just check for any other reviews/online comments posted lately when I found your notice... So I guess I am rather late to the party!
 
I am an attorney (now working as a real estate broker) and my husband is also an attorney and we purchased a kitchen from Brian in April 2008. It was delivered in July/August 2008 but many cabinets were damaged and the drawer heads were the wrong design. I suspect it is not actually the Hanssem kitchen we ordered but a "knock-off".  I got to the end of my tether with Brian and his stories but calls to the manufacturer last year got me nowhere.  It was left with me threatening to sue him and joining the manufacturer to the suit.  He then told me he'd spoken to Hanssem who'd agreed to "make the kitchen especially for me" because allegedly the photos and design we were shown when we ordered were inaccurate and either that design had been discontinued or had been changed by Hanseem somewhere along the line. I realize now this is all nonsense - it was just another story from Brian to cover his tracks. I was 8 months pregnant at the time and just wanted to focus on getting ready for the baby and live in a "Brian free world" without having to constantly call him and hear more of his stories.    I saw that someone on the Brownstoner called him a sociopath and I think that could be true as his lies and stories get more and more outrageous - in fact so outlandish that you believe it - because you think no-one would make that up!  After his heart bypass stories stopped winning sympathy with me (because he never seemed to actually have the surgery that he was always saying he was having) - and then he realized I was pregnant, he told me that the truck containing my replacement items was with his handyman who had disappeared because he had suffered a terrible family tragedy - his baby had died.  I also believed this for a short while.  Do you know if anyone else got the dead baby story or did he save that one for pregnant women only?
 
At one point, Brian offered us $1000 in two separate payments as compensation for the stress and inconvenience that the delay in the kitchen was causing us. I did not want him to use the money as an excuse not to finish our kichen so we got him to sign a statement acknowledging that the money was in no way to relieve Brooklyn Kitchens from its obligation to complete the kitchen.  We have the signed statement and we got the money, but of course the date by which Brian agreed to finish the kitchen that particular time (April 10, 2009) came and went. 
 
I took a 9 month break from calling Brian so that I could enjoy my baby.  I called him up again in mid January 2010 asking him where the rest of my kitchen was. Of course the answer was that he would have it all to me "next week"! I told him I had set aside President's Day to draft the lawsuit against him and if I didn't get the parts by then I would go ahead with filing the claim. I haven't heard from him since. I was going to drop by his shop last weekend because I was near there (we live in Prospect Heights) but I had my son with me and it was a nice day and I thought why spoil it? I didn't have time to draft the claim on President's Day so I sat down tonight to do it. Then, as I said, I saw your posting.
 
I would be happy to add our experiences to the pot and the case against Brian.  It does not sound like we are the worst affected. At least we actually have a kitchen! But I would like to find out if we have a Hanssem kitchen and whether we can join in any claim against him.  I do not have high expectations but it would be good to get some closure on this. I hate to see people get away with things like this.  It seems he has turned into the Bernie Madoff of the kitchen world.
 
Let me know how we can join the cause!
 
Kind regards
 
Sarah Rouse

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Hi,

Thank you so much for getting back to me.  Reading that article [Brooklyn Paper] gave me the biggest grin knowing that there are 8 other people that want take [to] down the biggest snake on the borough.  He swore on his daughter's life that he will reimburse us for $7000.00 of undelivered goods from 2 years ago!   He sent us 3 checks, which all had stop payments.   He delayed our regut project for over a year, which meant that we couldn't market the home.  As the market declined more we realized this man has cost us over $250,000.00.   He needs to be stopped and put into jail.   I will do everything in my power to support our cause in taking this fucker down.   I will be contacting xxxxx xxxx later in the day. 

Thank you for giving us hope,

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Dear Mr. Denton,

I was also victimized by Brian Ackerman.

In June 2006, I began an extensive renovation of my brownstone, involving installation of a new kitchen and new bathroom, among other things.

Every transaction with Brian was enormously frustrating. But the most serious problem (involving outright fraud, I would argue) related to the cabinets, for which he solicited a deposit to order the cabinets from the manufacturer; held on to the deposit, and did not place the order with the manufacturer for a three full months, and then only after I contacted the manufacturer. This delay held up completion of the rest of the job and cost me substantially, in additional payments to the contractor and in many other ways.

The basic details for which I have full documentation are the following:

I started by ordering the cabinets, paying Brian a $5000 deposit on 6/16/2006, as he required to order the cabinets from the manufacturer,DeWils in Portland,OR.

When I complained about the delay, Brian told me many stories that I found increasingly implausible. So I called the manufacturer and discovered that they knew nothing about my order and had had problems with Brian in the past. They would not undertake work without an advance deposit. The Dewils order sheet shows that the cabinets we not in fact ordered by Brian until 9/13/2006. They were not shipped until 11/10/2006 and not installed until after Thanksgiving, about 5.5 months after I paid the deposit to Brian.

I was clearly another one of the highly educated dopes, a Harvard Law School graduate no less. But when it came to delivery of the cabinets, I insisted that I would not pay without an inspection of the delivered cabinets by my contractor. Brian had demanded full payment when the truck unloaded the crates. We negotiated a $1000 inspection reserve, pending satisfactory inspection, which I never paid. I asked him to sue me for it. If he had, I would have brought the many counterclaims I had cataloged by then.

From my experience, I reached the conclusion that Brian operated a criminal enterprise,at least from a RICO point of view. If my experience was indicative of a pattern of conduct, he should be put out of business. The results of your work show that his conduct experience indeed repetitive and programmatic.  I commend your effort to stop his victimization of consumers in Park Slope.

Please let me know if I could be of further assistance in this matter.

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