Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After reading previous reviews of this product I was super excited to get this for my big, playful cat. Well, the day it arrived, my neighbor helped me put it together. We didn't get far before running into problems. We could not get the screw in one of the 4 corners of the cubby hole because the holes in the 2 square panels clearly did not align. No matter what we did, it simply did not go in. So we tightened the remaining 3 screws down and hoped for the best. We continued and got to the stage where we were putting in the brackets that hold the shelves down. Well, they were defective too--the wood was not drilled through all the way --there was a "lip of wood" in the middle of the hole--so therefore the screw could not screw into the back of the panel. I called customer service and explained the issues. They sent me a replacement bracket (at that point I thought it was just one defective bracket). I had to wait 5 days for the bracket. Well, wouldn't you know, the replacement bracket was defective too--same issue! At this point I am extremely frustrated, considering I've paid $399 for this product! I had to enlist the help of my other neighbor who had a drill and he drilled the holes through on 4 brackets that were defective and put the rest of the tower together. He certainly was not impressed with the tower, stating the wood was poor quality. In fact, the top most brackets do not lay flat against the main panel; there is a clear gap between bracket and panel and it doesn't look good. I e-mailed customer service and explained all the problems and my frustration. I was very clear that I was unsatisfied with the product. The president of the company was quick to blame the new manufacturer they just started using and offered me a $50 refund for my troubles. Ok, the tower was $1.00 short of $400 and the best he could do was offer me $50?? I really thought the least they could do was refund me $100. Suffice to say, I will NEVER order any other products from this company. In summary: defective product and very weak response from company to compensate and secure repeat customer.