Joel Verdon Woodcraft

This is one bad guy. He hasn't changed his ways from taking deposits from people and running like from past years as reviewed below. Besides woodworking he does work as an exterior house painter and has taken $1200 from me without doing any work. I see he has not claimed this as his business. No wonder. Be warned any one who comes across Joel Verdon to do ANY kind of work. He will take your money and run.

While I would normally refrain from writing such a negative review of a small business, the fact that there's a small collection of individuals who report the same utterly bizarre experience suggests a pattern, not an aberration....

We found Joel Verdon online, fell in love with the photos of his work, drove down to Portland to visit with him at his workshop, and were incredibly excited to put down a $350 deposit on a farmhouse table and two benches. We met with him in late July, with table/bench delivery promised toward the end of August/beginning of September. That date came and went, and like others, our many phone calls and emails were unanswered. We went so far as to send a certified letter notifying him of our intention to take steps to get our deposit returned; that letter was never picked up at the post office and was returned to us. And like another reviewer, we went so far as to email the same colleague, who also sent us a similar email in reply (that Joel was a stand-up guy).

A tip to other reviewers here: we paid our deposit through PayPal with a credit card and so were able to dispute the charges with the credit card company. That dispute proved successful, and we recovered our deposit that way.

It's unfortunate that all of this happened; judging by the photographs on Joel's website (which now seems to have disappeared), he was a craftsman with excellent work. And as others have said, he was perfectly nice in person and really doesn't seem like someone who would intentionally engage in a scam. Whatever the explanation for all of this might be, I'll add my voice here mostly to support those others who haven't been able to get their deposits back and might need evidence that multiple customers were left in similarly sad straits.

I paid a sizeable downpayment (more than $500) for a table with a reclaimed wood top and metal base, but I never got the table, but the business owner seems to have dropped off the face of the earth and is no longer responding to attempts to contact him by email or phone. Pretty traumatic experience, overall.

Wow! reading about all this stories sucks. I came across these reviews as I was looking up Joel to get some more furniture. We bought two custom tables from him a couple years ago. He always communicated well with us and we were very happy with his work. Joel, if your out there reading these let me try to help you. We can get these people there money back and get you started again. You have an awesome talent I am here to help.

Like Jon S. I'm shocked to hear these reviews! I was just looking him up today to refer him to a friend and found this yelp link. I felt compelled to write this as I had a very good experience with Joel. My wife and I purchased a custom made table from Joel about 2 years ago. From start to finish, Joel was a pleasure to work with. Very professional and communicated with us throughout the entire design and build process. Joel personally delivered (from Oregon to CA) and installed the table in our home. Beautifully crafted and unique. We still get compliments from everyone who sees it.

If you look at the dates of the negative reviews, they fall around Oct-Dec of 2011. To speculate, I think Joel may have gotten into something a little over his head during that time...hopefully not something worse since no one has heard from him. Just my guess, but I don't think he intended to "scam" anyone. He just didn't come off as that type of person. In fact, Joel discounted me shipping charges and didn't charge me for the bench I ordered with my table because he was a few days late of his original promise date. Not the sort of thing a scammer would do.

Anyways, I feel bad for those of you who lost your money/deposits. Hopefully, you can get your $ back if you paid with paypal or through your CC company like one reviewer did.

S.P.

I paid money through paypal for a table that was never delivered. Don't do business with this guy and please report him to paypal so he can't steal money from other people.

I too was scammed by Joel for $1000 in table and cabinetry work. We recently opened a business in Seattle and commissioned several thousand dollars worth of work from him. He called us 3 weeks before our opening date and told us he wasn't finishing the work. I begged him to let us at least come and pick up the project where he left off and he refused, presumably because he never started. We currently have a lawyer pursuing the matter.

I also bought a table from Joel back in July. He was supposed to deliver it in August and he definitely seems to have disappeared off the planet. He seemed an upstanding guy (as opposed to a scam artist), so I can only believe he came into dire financial straights and decided to take everyone's deposits and run. I filed a complaint with Pay Pal and urge others to do the same. I am also going to file a complaint with the better business bureau. At this point I have given up hope of getting my beautiful table, and probably of getting my money back, too. If anyone else has any information that could help us all, please post it here. Thanks.

I also have a similar story. I ordered a table from Joel in July and even visited his shop to ensure he was legit. He missed the initial deadline and kept saying it would be ready the following week. After weeks of pestering he called me and stated that he could not finish my table due to personal problems and he would be refunding my money (400). He delivered a check to me personally, but a few weeks after depositing it my bank contacted me stating their was NSF and the check had bounced. I wish this info was up earlier as I did search for info regarding his business. I currently have a case pending against him in small claims court.

We bought a table from Joel in May 2011, it took a few months of talking to him to actually get it. Over the summer, the table warped and now we don't have a flat table. We've been trying to reach him since Oct 2011 and haven't heard from him. Someone still deletes messages because sometimes his voicemail is full. We ran into him at St. John's Cafe where he gets coffee while working, although his shop is locked and his stuff is sitting outside the door now. After reading other reviews, I plan on reporting him to BBB. I'm disappointed, he seemed very nice while dealing with him.