Our Fence Fiasco

For the couple of people who are regular readers of this blog, you'll remember we moved a couple of months ago.  Since the town home we bought doesn't have an association, our covenants allow us to have a privacy fence in the back yard.

Installing a fence is a job that can be done by a reasonably handy homeowner.  In this case, since we were so busy with the move, and because we were in a hurry to have it done before our fall trip to South Dakota, we decided to have it professionally installed.  This, I figured, would be the "stress-free" method of installation.  In this, sadly, I was wrong.

I didn't really know who to call for fencing estimates, so I did a quick internet search, and called several companies.  We though about vinyl fence, but ended up eliminating it based on cost and availability - no one could guarantee we'd have it done by mid-september. 

After talking with several company reps, I elected to go with Quality Fence.  Their sales rep - "Dan" - had been very responsive during the bid process, and assured me they'd have the job done quickly and professionally.  He also told me he'd be around to help me figure out any issues that may come up during the construction.  I told him the one non-negotiable need was that we needed to have the fence in by September 15th. 

I signed the contract, and wrote a check for the down payment (roughly half of the estimate).  Since we had used a surveying company at our old house, we elected to call that company to complete a survey of our property, so we could accurately locate the lot lines.

Our first issue was that the surveyor didn't show up as promised.  We waited a few weeks, then decided to let the fence company do the survey.  I called Dan, wrote another check, and was again assured we were all set up to have our fence done on time.

As the time went by, I started to wonder if we would get the work done.  I called a number of times, and was told "no problem" each time.  We were now about two weeks from our deadline.  As that week went by, I became more and more concerned about being late (due to our pet care arrangements, we had to have the fence complete to take our vacation).  Near the end of the week, I called Dan - no answer, but I left him a message.

I didn't hear back from Dan that week, despite several phone calls.  The red flags were up for me - he had always called back promptly in the past.  I tried a couple of times the following Monday (now less than one week from our "drop dead" date, and finally caught him.  When I asked when they'd start, he said he'd have to "try to get in touch with our contractorr" to find out when they'd be starting.  This raised another red flag for me.  When I asked if we'd be done on time, he said, "I hope so".

Dan didn't call back as promised, so I called the main office.  I also sent an email to their customer service department at that time, saying that I needed to talk to a manager.  The receptionist looked at my paperwork, and said, "the soonest they can even talk to the contractor is Thursday".  I said, "so, you're telling me there's no way we can hit my date".  She agreed.   I asked to talk to a manager, and she said they weren't available, but she would have them call me later that day.

When I didn't hear back from them, I decided to go visit their local office.  To my dismay, I discovered their Lincoln location was empty.  A call to their office confirmed that they had closed the Lincoln location months earlier.  I again asked for a manager, and got another promise of a call.  This time, I actually got a phone call from the owner.  He said he wasn't aware of our issue, but would check on it and call me back in an hour or so.  He said his plan was to get a crew out to set posts on Thursday, then finish the job Friday.  Of course, I didn't hear back from him that day.

We were now into the middle of the week, and I was no closer to getting an answer than I had been before.  I tried calling the office, but got nothing better than the promise of a call.  At about this time, I got a call in response to my email of several days earlier.  This was Kari - apparently responsible for customer service or at least response to complaints.  She hadn't heard any of the story, but assured me she'd try to get something going.  The good news was, she actually seemed to be concerned about my issues.  The bad news was, she filled me in on what had been going on, and it wasn't good.  It seems the company had a serious problem with their work crews - several had quit without notice, and the remaining ones were about ready to bail.  She told me she could get a crew from Omaha down to get the work done.

After many phone calls, Kari told me we'd have a crew down to set posts Friday, and another to finish the job on Saturday, the 15th.  If this actually happened, we'd have our fence on time (barely).  Unfortunately, Friday came and there was no sign of a crew.  After another phone call (at least Kari answered her phone), I found out another crew had quit!  No problem, though - the owner and his brother were coming out to set posts.

They did show up eventually, getting to the house at about 3:30 Friday afternoon.  Since Dan hadn't come over as promised to lay out the exact outline of the fence, we had to figure that out on the fly.  The own'er's brother, not too happy to be there, nevertheless helped me figure out a couple of things and we were ready to drill holes.  The posts got set before dark, with only a little bit of drama - and a lot of drilling through sprinkler lines.

As much trouble as we'd had to this point, I was pretty sure the crew to finish the job would no-show the next day.  Much to my surprise, they showed up bright and early, and got right on the job.  The crew - two guys plus a helper - were quite good.  The fence went together quickly, and they took great pride in their work.  They had a couple of questions about exactly what I wanted in a couple of places, then quickly and efficiently did what I wanted.  When they were done, they picked up all their trash, asked me to sign the completion slip, and left.  As bad as the rest of the company was, these guys were good.

Finally, we had our fence!  After all the hassles and aggravation, I wished I had just decided to do the work myself - I didn't save too much time, considering all the phone calls I'd made.  If I thought I was done with dealing with this company, I was wrong, however.

After coming back from vacation, I got a bill for the work.  Before paying it, I decided to check my original paperwork and cancelled checks.  It was no surprise to me when I found out they had failed to credit me for a $250 payment.  I called Kari - apparently the only person in the whole company who even tried to get things right - and got it figured out.  I wrote the check - resisting the urge to make them wait for it - and was done with them.  Looking back on the whole sorry mess, there were a number of things that ruined the experience for me:

• The salesman - Dan - assured me repeatedly that the work would be done on time.  One reason we abandoned our idea of having a vinyl fence was that we weren't sure it could be done on time.  It turns out, material availability had nothing to do with our delays - we could have had the vinyl, if we'd wanted.
• It's easy to believe the schedule was reasonable when we ordered the fence, so Dan may not have lied when we first talked.  At some point, however, he must have known it was a problem.  When was that?  I'll never know, but I suspect it was sometime just before he quit returning my calls.  The last time I talked to him - a week before the work was done - he was still telling me we'd be OK.  There's no excuse for that - I believe I was lied to.
• Dan also made plenty of misrepresentations about service he would provide - laying out the fence, and helping me decide which options made sense.  This didn't happen, and according to the bosses when they set the posts, doesn't normally happen.  Again, this is one reason I chose this company - because of this alleged high level of service.
• I intended to choose a local company - had I known the Lincoln office was closed, I wouldn't have called them.
• It wasn't my problem that the owner and his brother had to come out and work in my yard.  I didn't need an attitude when they showed up - if anyone should have been angry, it should have been the guy who was lied to through the entire process.
• I didn't expect to get the fence for free, even after all the screw ups.  I might have expected to get a discount for all my hassles, and for the broken promises.  What I got instead was a screwed up bill, being overcharged $250.  Considering all the other screw ups on this deal, this is inexcusable. 
• The crew that finished my fence was good.  If the management is as screwed up as they seemed to be in their dealings with me, it's no wonder they can't keep crews on the job.  I won't be surprised to see this company out of business in the near future.

Interestingly, I just sold an acreage.  The buyer is fencing the entire perimeter of the 3.5 acre lot, and asked me for recomendations for fencing.  Guess what I said!