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June 28, 2005
Cape Cod Home Improvement Network?
[mood| 
slightly perturbed]
I know you may have read a similar rant here recently, but what gives with home improvement contractors? We have not been in our new home long, but already we have witnessed the dearth of poor customer service, broken promises, outright lies and sales bandits that plague the home improvement workforce here. We have been jarred awake by unannounced Sunday morning laborers (early... twice!). We waited a week for someone to return to install the last of our windows. Nobody shows on time, nobody calls, but everyone takes your money. So far, Carpet Barn and the Just Doors guy have been the only exceptions. Door guy didn't take any of our money until he finished the work, and Carpet Barn showed up promptly at the time and day scheduled and provided everything as advertised.
Yesterday, I had to call Bathfitters to ask what was going on with our order. Apparently the RUSH the salesperson wrote on the work order meant something different to us. After taking a substantial deposit several weeks ago, we hadn't heard a thing from them. This was the conversation after they searched for and located our work order:
Me: “I was wondering about the status of our order. It has been several weeks and we haven't heard from anyone.”Bathfitter: “Some of the parts for your job are on backorder and we are still waiting to hear from Canada as to when they will be in. The tray for your shower is not in yet, but we have the rest of the materials for your other bathroom.”
Me: “Well, we don't want to disable both bathrooms at the same time anyway.”
Bathfitter: “We could do your other bathroom anytime.”
Me: “ Well, I'm glad I called then! When can we do it?”
When were these people planning on calling us? It is not as though this is one job and they were trying to do them both on the same day. The shower install is performed by one installer and another who does tubs. Now that I called, we will be getting the upstairs bathroom finished by next Friday. YAY!
This whole experience has been very eye opening for me. Who wants to join me in starting a clearing house for home improvement jobs? If you can't show up on time, as scheduled... you lose the contract and we start handing the jobs to companies who can. Cape Cod needs some kind of reliable contractor network like this.
So far, I have had triple pane windows demonstrated and sold to me and had double pane windows delivered and installed. The same company did the siding and the windows. Each and every concern we expressed about both jobs were met with: “No problem, we will take care of that” by the salesperson. Each and every one of these concerns was either never passed on to the contractors doing the work, or was ignored by them. We had to monitor their every move, just to ensure that half of our concerns were addressed. The rest of the issues we just settled for so we could get the job done because we were sick of waiting. How frustrating. The bait and switch tactics and “no problem, we will take care of that” comments used by the salesperson will be addressed later. We just wanted new windows first... address the underhanded salesperson later.
Lesson Number One: Investigating a company online is a great means of research, but try to find other people who have used the same company. The Better Business Bureau will now have their second complaint on the books regarding these people.
Lesson Two: Get it in writing! The salesperson may say “No problem” to everything, but if it isn't written into the contract, it probably isn't going to happen.
Lesson Three: This is an old one. If it sounds too good to be true... it is!
Lesson Four: Check the work performed before you sign off and pay for the work. Don't let them pressure you here. Part of the work the electrical workers were supposed to be doing as part of the fuse to circuit breaker upgrade was to check the polarity of all the outlets in the house and fix any that were incorrectly wired. I tested a few this week, and several had the hot and neutral wires reversed. Yes, easy fix, but I intentionally asked that it be done as part of the project and it was written into the contract. I didn't have the means to check this right away, but I should have done more to make sure it was done properly at the time. My siding and windows contract included gutters. This was supposed to include gutters along the entire backside of my house and the partially refinished garage. The front of the house had brand new gutters (two months old) and these weren't to be replaced. Instead, I got gutters along the back of the house, none on the back of the garage and the new front gutters were taken down and replaced with new ones! I didn't notice this until the day after I paid for the work ( I was a little overwhelmed).
Lesson Five: Don't let them bully you. You paid for the work. You have the contract. Make them do the work as promised.
I will be happy when this is over and we only have to deal with the occasional oil burner cleaning.
Posted by capecodcyclist at June 28, 2005 06:39 PM
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