Mod Timber

Do not work with Mod Timber, Fran Design Lab, or Franc. They are all one is the same, and will rip you off.
Franc is a crook. We paid over $ 3000.00 for a table with a matching console. He missed the delivery appointment numerous times, and was unresponsive to the messages that were left.
The table was finally delivered, but we never received the console table.
After table was finally delivered, we noticed the table was damaged, scratched and had a sticky foul smelling substance on it. The bottom was raw & unfinished, and the legs were not installed properly.
I have tried for over two months to get him to come out to remedy the situation. He makes an appointment but never shows up.
It is my understanding that his assistant who worked with me on the table is no longer with him. Apparently she could not deal with his dishonest business practices.
Beware you will get ripped off by Franc the rip off artist.

SUMMARY: STAY AWAY FROM MOD TIMBER /​FRANC ZAMUDIO
If you are thinking about buying/​working with Franc Zamudio (aka Mod Timber or Fran Design Lab), I would strongly urge that you reconsider.
I bought a large table and bench from him that he was selling on Craigslist. I asked him to split the table into a large dining table and a smaller desk and gave him measurements and instructions on how I wanted the various pieces to look.
Unlike some other reviewers, I actually got my furniture (I fortunately didn’t pay him until he delivered). However, he made many mistakes. The bench wasn’t tall enough, the desk was too tall, the legs were put on wrong so that the desk was actually deeper than it was wide, etc. He also didn’t appear to have properly sanded/​finished the bottom of any of these pieces.
He promised that he would fix everything. More than a year later, and after what was probably an email every week or so, Franc still hasn’t fixed anything. He would respond maybe once every 10 – 15 emails or so, but there would never be any follow-​up.
Reading his other reviews, this general flakiness seems to be his modus operandi. Don’t fall for it like the rest of us have. There are a lot of other reclaimed wood/​custom furniture places in the Bay Area. Opt for another one instead.

DO NOT WORK WITH MOD TIMBER, FRAN DESIGN LAB or Franc!!! I’ve been waiting for a SIMPLE dining table for 6 months. He doesn’t answer emails and when he does he clearly tells lies. Here’s just a sampling of some of his responses.
May 4^th,“Your order should be ready in 2 – 4 weeks“
May 26^th «We can deliver on June 6^th (or before)»
June 19^th, «the top is ready, just legs are still being worked on.»
August 8^th, «We can deliver next week. Let me know what day/​s and time/​s work, and we will deliver».
September 9^th, missed delivery date
September 19^th, missed delivery date
November 2^nd, «Realistically, we could deliver your beautiful table by next week. 13^th at the latest.»
and so on, and so on!
I’m contacting the Better Business Bureau and filing a claim in small claims court.
BUYER BEWARE!

My company paid over $ 1200 for chairs in September 2014 and was given 23 unique excuses explaining why they cannot be delivered over 4 months.
Eventually, realizing the chairs are never going to arrive I bought more elsewhere and requested my money back. I agreed to pick up the money, I sent Fedex envelopes, I did everything to get my money back but he had hundreds more excuses.
I then needed a desk and asked if he had any in stock which I would accept as payment, he sent me a picture of one which I said would be fine — again months of reasons why he could not deliver. I have hired trucks and arranged to meet him, waited in the office for hours on the agreed date of delivery and still nothing a whole year later!
Franc Zamudio has now ignored me for two months — a year after he took my companies money and wasted hours of my time. I would be more than happy to share the emails and text messages received from him — they are hilarious and insulting to think that I would believe the numerous lies.
Do not make any down payments to this company — pay on arrival and even then, do not hold your breath! I wish I read these reviews before working with him.

DO NOT WORK WITH MOD TIMBER /​FRANC! If I can give a negative 5 stars I would! This guy is basically a thief! I ordered a custom walnut dining table from him in july last year and paid him a 50% deposit which was $ 1256. He promised me that the table would be ready in 1 or 2 weeks. Weeks and weeks and months went by and no table. I had attempted to schedule delivery many many times, and he would come up with lame excuses like the delivery company did not show up, or he could not get his guys to help, he was stuck working in the city, or simply he would keep saying the delivery would be next week and then disappeared! He even told me to keep the communication with him to emails only because he was having cell phone issues. REALLY??? He was simply avoiding my calls. He kept promising delivery «next week» for over 6 months and finally I got fed up with him and I asked him for a refund. And then he would keep saying he would send me a check shortly. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and Department of Consumer Affairs but this guy is just ignoring the complaints. HE BASICALLY ROBBED MY MONEY. I am now approaching one year from the date I placed my order and I got no table and no refund of my $ 1256 deposit. THIS GUY SHOULD GO TO JAIL!!!

Please do not work with Franc!
We asked and paid for a bed frame about a year ago and are still waiting for it.
After many broken promises and lies, we are going to small claim court to try to recover our deposit.
Franc was at first very nice and promised us to deliver everything in 4 weeks. He told us we would be part of the process and would be sent pictures as the frame was being made.
After several months of delays we decided to ask for our deposit back and got a check (after multiple email/​phone threats) that bounced.
We went to court and won but are still waiting for our deposit back: Franc told us several times he sent the money by mail but we never received anything.
I wish we had been more careful reviewing his Unilocal reviews and I hope that no one else has to go through the same ordeal.

Great Design, though turnaround time did not meet expectations.
I definitely had to apply pressure to convey a sense of urgency. But Franc certainly delivered! He even took it upon himself to drop off the table on a Saturday. alone.
A few tips:
1. Hire someone else to schedule deliveries & manage client relations
2. Set expectations: Strive to under promise and over deliver
All in all, I’d probably go back to Franc for future custom projects. the design was gorgeous and on point. :)

I have to say, the end product by Franc was fantastic. It was the perfect look/​feel and weight for our main office conference table. I’m already trying to find more projects for Franc. Such great high quality work. I added picture, if you want to see.

I reached out to Franc the morning of 07/​01/​2014 for a customized desk piece that would fit a large 140″ window. Franc was nice and easy to speak to on the phone, he gave me options on production, metal, wood and cost. That same day Franc emailed me photos of the reclaimed wood he suggested for the piece. By the afternoon around 3:00pm Franc told me that piece was in the middle of being made and could be at my house as early as 6:30pm if I was available! While placing the order I mentioned we were in no rush for the piece, but it was clear Franc wanted us to have our furniture sooner rather than later.
I received my piece of customized furniture the same day as I ordered it. It really doesn’t get as good as this. Although Franc did mention the timing worked out really well for this piece, we are so grateful that it did work out. The massive window desk has brought our entire place together and we couldn’t be happier.
I recognize that perhaps Mod Timber has had some rough patches with production, delivery and garnering business recently. But its clear that this team is passionate about what they are making and are learning from their past mistakes. With the price, timing and eco friendliness of the group I would be more than happy to take another gamble on Franc, his team and Mod-​Timber.

Very similar to other customer’s experience:
— over promised and under delivered
— lack of communication
— no regard for schedules or time commitments
— I finally didn’t get a table from him coz what he built was not to spec at all.
I asked for my money back and had to go a few times to pick it up. After going to his place 2 times, he gave me a check that bounced! and the bank charged me $ 25 for that! I finally got my money back.

Do not go to this dude! Frandesignlab or Mod Timber is a joke! I should have written this review 18 months ago but I think I was in denial. We were so excited to have found a local designer that used ‘reclaimed’ materials for custom jobs. He is the worst communicator and most unprofessional person I’ve had to deal with to date.
Here are some details:
1. He avoided phone calls and emails like the plague.
2. Our quoted 2 week job took 7 weeks.
3. The final product was no where close to what we sketched out.
4. He only stained the parts of wood visible from a 5’7 perspective. As soon as you sit down its clear as day that he only stained half the wood. Who does that? And he never finished the wood as promised nor did he sand any rough edges (I’m all for rustic rough edges… this was sheer laziness)
5. The wood was unevenly cut and not in an artistic way.
6. The wood was not reclaimed, he lied.
7. One of the posts was on backwards (seriously dude?)
8. After living with this thing for 18 months, I’ve decided to take it apart and completely redo it how I originally wanted. I know for a fact that I could have done a much better job by doing this myself and I don’t even own a saw!
In short, I’m still very angry about this waste of a project and sad to report that I would never support this local ‘designer’ ever again. Do yourself a favor, move on and don’t use
or mod timber

Despite the shortcomings with my entire purchasing experience with Mod Timber, Franc eventually came through with my benches. They came out looking very nice, however one of them has legs that were coming loose. I contacted Franc, and he came out to correct the issue. I would like to give him a higher rating, but not until he gets the non-​commercial side of business together.

Here is the final email I sent to Franc of Mod Timber after five months of him dodging phone calls and emails… It also contains a link to his Better Business Bureau complaints.
Franc — My boss came in from Chicago for a meeting this week and asked «Where is the reception wall we paid Modtimber for?». I’d love to tell him its on the way but you’ve stiffed us and were talking next steps. Only we’re not talking next steps with you. We need to talk to our lawyer to see what our options are. If you’d like to check out your BBB complaints, here is a link for your convenience…
What would be less of a hassle for you?
1. get a van, drop off our materials that have been paid for in full.
2. dodge calls for 5 months. upset a decent reputation. illustrate complete disregard for your customer, get sued, drag customers into small claims court to get their stolen money back, get reported to the BBB (Better Business Bureau). lose potential business over any publicity.
Mostly this is a rhetorical conversation. Thanks for throwing us under the bus.
Cheers

We prepaid him for a dining table which he promised to deliver the following week and NEVER got the table. Franc, who is the owner, continuously promised to deliver soon, scheduled specific dates and then continuously failed to show up.
After months of this, we demanded our money back. Months later, we still don’t have the money. At that point we gave him a final warning, he mailed us a check, which then promptly bounced due to insufficient funds.
It’s a nightmare. We still don’t have the money returned and I’m now reporting him to Better Business Bureau, as well as taking him to small claims court. The amount of time our team has wasted on this table has been preposterous.

Do not do business with Mod Timber — Franc is not an honest person.
I spent $ 250 on a table that he never delivered. We exchanged over 50 emails and he promised to deliver the table on 5 different occasions.
I waited for each delivery and they never happened. Franc always made up different excuses about why he could not deliver the table.
He never refunded me and refuses to answer emails at this point.
Stay away from Mod Timber.

UPDATE:
Franc refunded us our money in two installments by ⁸⁄₂₉. I don’t know why he was more responsive to my husband (responded after only several emails versus 50+ emails from me) or it just happened to work out that way.
In any case, it was a terrible experience for us. I felt lied to and ignored over email. Over the phone was better, but towards the end it was feeling like lies and feeling ignored, again. Regardless, he came through, so I am SO GLAD it is resolved.
What it boils down to is: good price for a nice product (mostly) but poor business management. My suggestion is to buy an already made product so you don’t have to worry about your custom order going wrong and find your own delivery service because whoever he uses is completely unreliable.
I did find a place in the south bay that makes custom reclaimed wood furniture. I haven’t used them yet but their policy seems safer: they build your furniture and you don’t have to pay for it until they deliver it to your house. They do this because they are confident they can always sell their products. I won’t write the name here since I can’t endorse them, but it seems like a safer deal than dealing with all of the crap we went through during this transaction.

I really wish I had listened to the Unilocal reviews before buying from Mod Timber. My husband and I bought a desk and coffee table and it’s been a horrendous experience.
I won’t waste time going into the nitty gritty, but the bottom line is our delivery was constantly delayed, there was always some excuse that didn’t match the excuse we’d heard the time before, we were lied to and bullsh*tted to for way too long and in the end the coffee table we got was covered in globs of varnish we can’t figure out how to remove.
I contacted Franc numerous times only be to ignored and now I’m left with a table that looks terrible and my money wasted.
Don’t spend a single second of your time here unless you want to get sucked into a web of frustration, lies, delays and terrible service.
Before I ordered my table, I even recommended this place to my coworker and his order was delayed even more than mine and he had to deal with the same crap.
Stay away from here– there are plenty of other small businesses doing the same thing who know how to treat customers and deliver on their promises.

Who wants to have their money literally stolen by a total con artist who puts you through months of lies and excuses, delivers horribly-​constructed product (if at all) and forces you to open a case against him at the Better Business Bureau to get your money back?
Boy, do I wish I hadn’t. My insane horror story with Frank/​Franc/​Mod Timber/​Fran Design Lab will sound familiar if you’ve read through any of the other terrifying one-​star reviews here: months of lies, broken promises, absurd excuses, denials, lack of responsibility, unprofessional behavior, and left only with an astonishingly poor excuse for a table. He didn’t even attach a support frame to the «table,» it’s literally a big chunk of wood sagging between two shaky steel legs, leaking sawdust all over my floors. Thank god he doesn’t design skyscrapers.
I’m just exhausted from dealing with his arrogance and complete disregard for me as a customer for months on end. Last week we crossed the FIFTY email mark between us, dozens of excuses, conflicting stories, missed appointments, crossed signals and bold-​faced lies. Now I’m fighting it out with him via the BBB to get my money back (* update 5÷6÷13 — STILL fighting) because he insists that because he delivered the crappy table I didn’t order that his policy is not to give refunds. The whole thing is genuinely hard to believe.
Don’t let yourself become his next victim.

Quick Summary:
Do Not Buy from Mod Timber.
The stuff looks beautiful and I could even forgive the broken delivery date promises and the horrible communication.
However I cannot forgive:
Engineering of the dining room table was faulty. In two weeks the table bowed and the wood split apart. The base was badly designed and did not support the weight of the wood. The wood was not glued properly and had no tenons. Very poorly engineered and built.
Getting a refund has been impossible. It is going on 3 months now. First Franc said the problem was Square — his credit card processor. No credit was ever issued. Then he wrote a check. That check bounced.
Given these issues are not unique to my own experience, I would strongly discourage anyone from buying from Mod Timber. Find another woodworker that is both technically skilled and respects his customers.
Update: March 18. Franc finally issued a bank cashiers check for the refund. Also I want to be clear, Franc is a really nice guy and has a great eco-​friendly design aesthetic. He just seems to be a poor businessman with terrible follow through. I hope he improves his commitment to customer service and fulfillment because has the potential to be very good.

If I could give negative stars I would. I’m so furious with Franc and his complete inability to follow through with anything he promises to do. We ordered a coffee table from him and he said it’d be ready in two weeks. Three weeks later, after several unanswered phone calls and emails, Franc finally emails us back, letting us know that the table would be delivered in a few days. Then he fails to deliver the table not once, not twice but three times! He stood us up three times! When he did finally deliver the table, it wasn’t even what we had ordered! We were so soured by the whole experience we didn’t want to do business with him anymore and just demanded our money back. In fact, the table he delivered was so boring, so amateur looking that we didn’t even want it after he offered to give it to us for free!
STAY AWAY! You have been warned!