Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/23/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  There remains a mark on the front curb to show where the front property pin is.  The guy parked his truck directly in front of where I showed him the mark is located.  The screenshots show every communication between us.  ***** did the dimension measurements at the end of August.  I purchased the property on Aug 16 & there very well may have been a post up as ******** ************ was completing the home next door.  There was never discussion to leave it in place.  I wouldn't be comfortable saying that was the rear property line.  I have the property survey, but was told they didn't need it.  They continued digging and placing poles after dark.  At no time was I asked about post placement.  They were asked to place the east line outside the sprinkler heads and in line with the front property pin marker at the front curb.  There is not doubt the east line is straight; again, it's not straight to the property pins.  ***** stated his son found the rear marker.  He stated this is the reason it was removed from the ground, which I certainly did not authorize.  That sprinkler head was checked, resulting in turning back on the sprinkler system & re-winterizing.  The charge to replace it in the ground was $150.  I found a post on the east side, closest to the house, that was not cemented in.  As far as them moving the east line posts-they agreed to do so, but then stated they had to return to Derby because they left something there.  Please see attached quote to remedy/repair damage left by Gill Fencing.  I asked for a job well done.  If I was rude to anyone, it's doubtful I would've heard stories about them having to buy a new trailer and the guy's wife getting in a car wreck that week.  The completion date was left up in the air as one of the guys was taking his daughter to an event.  As for reaching out to 'extend an olive branch', that did not happen.  He chose to keep paid property as payment, as shown via text.  ***** **** measured my property at the end of Aug 2024 and did not turn until Dec 15.  He is not welcome at or on my property.  I feel there was a lot of intimidation by him and he continued with his lack of professionalism and continued mocking behavior after I filed this complaint with BBB. 
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ***** ********

  But, the sprinkler head in that corner was removed from the ground by one of the 4 crew. Initially, I stated I was ok with this. There are more signs of poor workmanship, including uneven posts on the west side & posts that aren't straight. ***** never came to my property to see any of this. I started thinking about how much money I was paying & about my future neighbors. I simply wanted the job done correctly. So, on 11/23, I asked for the east side to be done correctly, which resulted in a verbal attack calling me delusional & being told he wouldn't subject his crew to me. I have all of this in writing, if necessary. He told me the remaining materials that I had purchased (2 5 ft gates) would be delivered to my property & an invoice would be sent for the 2 hours of labor. He refused to send the receipt for the materials I received, nor provide the warranty info. Later, he stated he was keeping the gates for payment for labor ($600). No invoice/no receipts.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/18/2024

  I appreciate the opportunity to respond to this complaint. ***** is a deceitful person who continues to try and misconstrue the facts in this case. 

  When I originally met with her to measure the yard and talk about what she wanted, I noted stakes marking her property pins on the east side of the property. I told her it was important for those to stay in place so my crew could use them to set the fence as close to the property line as possible. I briefed my crew about the job, and I told them to expect there to be property stakes. 

  When they arrived at the job the stakes were not there. ***** had flags up indicating where she wanted the gates, but nothing to mark the east property line. My crew called me to tell me this, and I instructed my crew chief to get ***** out there to agree on exactly where the fence would go. They did this. A string line was established, and ***** agreed to where the posts would be set. I have language in my email contract that says if a customer does not have a recent property survey, then we will rely on them to tell us exactly where they want the fence to run. We don't accept any future liability in situations like this because we are literally doing what the customer told us to do. My crew set the posts and were not scheduled to be back for two days. 

  The next day ***** sent me demeaning and derogatory texts early in the morning telling me my crew had set her posts crooked. She sent me a picture of a sprinkler which had been pulled out of the ground, and another one of a post that was taller than the one next to it. She also sent me one that she said showed the entire east fence line had been set off of her property line, and she alleged it was at an angle that was unacceptable to her. I told her I would talk to my crew and get back to her, but I knew a few of these issues were just things we would need to explain to her. 

  Sprinklers are routinely found to be off of the property line on new builds such as this. We will remove them and set them aside (still hooked up) so we can reinstall it when the fence is done. That was easy to explain. When I talked to my crew about the post that was taller than the other, they explained they had found a sprinkler line underneath that post. Instead of breaking the line, they didn't set the post as deep. Again, this is a common practice that is easy to explain. We routinely do this, and the post is cut down to size once the concrete has time to set up. 

  My crew said they were very confused about the issue with the property line because they had put the fence line EXACTLY where ***** had told them to put it. They acknowledged that they may need to move the posts if they had done something wrong, and I told ***** I would send them out to work it out with her the next day. *****'s photos were intentionally taken from the side to make it appear that  the fence line was not straight. 

  The next day my crew went out and met with *****. My son had already found the property pin at the back on the east side. He took the time to find the pin in the front as well. ***** had repeatedly said the one in the front was marked by a yellow paint line. This was actually a gas line and was about 1 foot away from where the property pin was actually located. My son stretched a string line from the back property pin all the way to the front pin. They had intentionally set the post at the very back 3 inches off of the property line. This is very standard in our line of work. When they measured the distance for the front post to the string line it was 4 inches off of the line. So the entire fence run on the east side of the property only varied 1 inch from the front to the back. My crew was still more than willing to pull the posts and reset them, but when they showed ***** that there was only 1 inch of variance, she REPEATEDLY told them it would be ridiculous to move the posts. They were there, they made numerous offers to move the posts, and they had the time to do so. ***** told them the posts did not need to be moved at least 7-8 times. 

  The next morning I received more demeaning and derogatory texts from ***** where she demanded the posts be moved. I forwarded these texts to my crew and they called me. They explained exactly how the interaction had gone the day before, and they explained how they had proven to ***** that the fence was incredibly straight. They managed to set the fence straight on the original day they were there after they got *****'s approval to set the posts. 

  I've owned this business for over 20 years, and I've made a living on making my customers extremely happy. I have multiple customers who have hired me more than once to do work for them. Every once in awhile you run into a customer that you just can't make happy no matter what you do. ***** made demands and threatened to not pay me, so I had to make the difficult decision to fire her. Yes, a contractor can fire a customer just like a customer can fire a contractor. I told her that I could not score if she kept moving the goal posts, so we were not going to do any more work for her. 

  For as long as I have been in business, I have required customers to pay for their materials up front. ***** did this, so I explained to her that she was not out any money. In fact, my guys had spent multiple hours at her house that they would not be compensated for. She threatened to sue me, and she made a Facebook post in her neighborhood group about how I had breached a contract. The "contract" I use with every customer is an email where I lay out several legal issues. At the end I tell them they agree to these terms when they provide payment for the materials. When ***** threatened to take me to small claims court, I reminded her that I was actually the only one that was out anything. My crew was not going to be compensated for the work they had already done. 

  I informed my crew of my decision, and they all responded that they were more than fine not going back to *****'s house. She was extremely rude and demeaning to them in every interaction they had. I told them I would like them to go back buy to grab the pallet that the wrought iron fencing was delivered on, and at that point my son reminded me that *****'s gates were still at our welders waiting to be picked up. When they went back to try and retrieve the pallet, it was not there. I decided to eat the fee on that and not make an issue of it. 

  After this conversation I emailed ***** and told her that the work my crew had already done for her added up to right around $600, and this was how much it cost me to make two iron gates. I extended an olive branch and told her I was still willing to have my crew finish the job for the previously agreed upon labor fee. I had decided that if she accepted this offer, I was going to tell her that I did not want her interacting with my crew when they came back. She declined my offer, so I told her I was going to keep her gates as payment for what we had already done. 

  ***** asked for warranty information regarding the fence, and I referred her to the manufacturer's website. 

  As luck would have it, I was in the neighborhood last Saturday doing a different quote so I drove by to see if ***** had installed the panels yet. The posts are still there exactly as we set them. I was only ever shown photos by *****, and as previously stated, she always took them from the side to try and make it look like the posts were set at an extreme angle. I was very vindicated when I saw the posts in person and saw that they were set extremely straight. It isn't our fault that a few of her sprinklers were set outside of her property lines. Her sod was also laid past her property line by about one foot. Again, that is not my fault. We found the property pins and proved this to her. 

  Again, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to this complaint. ***** was very nasty to me and my crew, and I am more than proud of the way we handled our interactions with her. I have multiple screenshots of the conversations with her, but I will retain those in case there is litigation in the future.