Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/19/2024

  Type:Billing 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.

  I have over paid this company for a Fence built in my backyard. The overpayment was due to the fact that my insurance check was more than the amount owed as we previously paid the company out of pocket and subsequently paid them w an insurance check. My original bill was $10,864.45, we originally paid out of pocket $4,637.50 then overpaid w an insurance check in the amount of $7,477.08. That leaves me with an overpayment of $1,250.13. They are unresponsive to me about returning the overpayment of this money.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/19/2024

  Unfortunately, this person is not a customer of ours. He has called in to our office and we explained to him that the person on the contract who also paid the down payment was mailed the refund check of the overpayment. Due to this person not being our customer I cannot disclose any further information for legal purposes.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/05/2024

  Type:Product 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.

  April 2023 western fence installed a new driveway gate and liftmaster gate operator for me. The gate operator has not worked consistanty since installed. Western Fence will not resolve the issue, and still to this date i do not have a working driveway gate. They have not been proactive in anyway to provide a solution, I have been told the operator would be replaced by at least 3x different representatives of the company, yet every time i follow up the story changes. I have sent over 100 emails over the last year, followed up with phone calls and even went visit the office in person - yet still do not get any action from Western Fence. They claim to be in dispute with liftmaster over a warranty claim for the gate operator, yet my position is i didnt hire liftmaster, I hired western fence for the service. They select liftmaster as the vendor. I need a working driveway gate and after 16 months of not having a working gate I dont know what else to do than ask for BBB help

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/05/2024

  The customer did have his operator installed in April of 2023. He had a few service calls that Western Fence Company had responded to and went through with the LiftMaster tech support, however LiftMaster did not deem it a faulty operator in the beginning. The customer asked for it to be replaced the first time a technician came out, however, following LiftMaster (manufacturer) policy it had to go through all possible avenues of remediation before it can be deemed faulty and be replaced. This was communicated with the customer, who was not happy with this response. Our tecnichians would come out for the service calls, run through with tech support from the manufacturer and the issue would be fixed, however only temporarily. Western Fence Company filed a dispute with LiftMaster over this and have been disputing the swap for some time. However, the supplier for the manufacturer, has informed us that the request to swap the operators has been approved. Western Fence Company has been waiting for the replacement operator to be delivered before we can replace the operator. Once this is in, the customer will be contacted about the timeframe for our technicians to come out and install it. We are expecting the replacement operator within the next 5 business days from updates received today, 7/5/2024. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/08/2024

   
  Complaint: 21944841
  
  I am rejecting this response because, the only alternative option was to "accept the response and the case would be closed". While i appreciate the update (via BBB) and am happy to hear that the gate operator will now be replaced and that the operator will arrive prior to 10-July, I also have been told the operator would be replaced previously, and yet I still don't have a working driveway gate. Therefore, on those grounds, I would appreciate if the case stays open until such time as western fence actually replace the operator or resolve whatever the issue is which ultimately leads to me having a working driveway gate. I believe this is only logical as I paid $10,000 for a service and it is 15 months later and i still don't have a working gate. Furthermore, the technicians have tried to fix the issue as much as possible over the last 15 months, yet could not resolve the problem, so it wasnt as though i demanded replacement under my own desire for a new unit. The technicians indicated that they had done everything they can, so the only logical next step was to replace the unit. Again, at the end of the day, all i want is what i paid for, a working gate. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/10/2024

  Our technicians are out of town today, 7/10/2024, and we will be able to check if the new operator is ready and plan for the installation of the new operator, once they are back in town. 5 business days from 7/5/2024 would be that we are expecting the operator by 7/12/2024 (business days are M-F), in saying our supplier should have the operator in for us to pick up by Friday, 7/12/2024. All future communication, including scheduling, will need to be communicated with the sales person and/or technician as this is a warranty claim and it is being processed. At this point, I do not see the need to keep the case open, if there are issues moving forward, the customer may file with the ******************** if they feel the need to. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/11/2024

   
  Complaint: 21944841
  
  I am rejecting this response because, as previously stated, my position is this case remains open until the I have a working gate. Please commit to be "done before date", communicate it to you team and deliver on your commitments. Then case is closed. Simple.

  If you had a security gate for your property which does not work and has not worked for 15 months since installation, and your property, business or home was not protected, you would most likely take the same stance.

  
  Regards,
  
  *********************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/17/2024

  I have spoken with the gate technicians and they have scheduled the swap to be done on Monday, 7/22/2024. The operator has been picked up from our supplier. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/05/2022

  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.

  We paid for and ordered a gate with an operating system in March 2022. After they received our money, we never heard from them unless we made contact. They gave empty promise dates of installation. We contacted the manager, he did the same thing. We finally were able to get a hold of the President, and thought she would help but it was more of the same lies. Finally in early June they did come and install our gate. It started rusting the first week, then it started sagging so we couldn't open it, along with many other problems. The gate was only up for 2 weeks in June. They said they were going to take our gate back to the shop fix it and return it. That was the last time we ever saw our gate. We had an attorney file a letter of demand to get our gate properly installed by Sept. 16th 2022 or we would be requesting a refund. Western Fence responded and said they don't give refunds and the gate will not be ready by the 16th. 2 weeks ago they sent our attorney an email saying it would be installed last week. That never happened and we still have not heard from them. This is a $12,000.00 gate that we paid for and do not have. I have no idea how they stay in business. We have never had any sort of issues like this with any other company. I can't believe they're in business. They have never even tried to apologies or try to make it right. This company is extremely unethical.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/05/2022

  The gate that the customer was sold was a prefabricated gate. We had to wait for updates from suppliers to give information to the customer in regards to updates on time frames. Customer called daily for updates, multiple times a day until they were able to talk to someone and then would get upset when we would have no new information from the day before or the same day. We assured them that they were in queue and that we would give them updates as we received them as well. There was also additional work/change orders that were completed during this process which can lengthen the process of completion. After installation, there was a windstorm that occurred in the area that resulted in the gates binding up causing damage to the gates. When Mr. and ********************* reached out we had our technician come out to go out onsite to evaluate what was going on and he came to the conclusion that we needed to replace the hinges that that gate was originally hung with to prevent this issue from happening again. We informed the customer that we would need to unmount the gates, take it back to our fabrication shop so that we could remove the hinges and that we were waiting on the more robust hinges from our supplier. When they had retained an attorney, we informed the attorney that due to the part being shipped in from our supplier we could not guarantee to have this resolved by September 16th, as they had demanded. We received the hinges the following week (week after the 16th of September) and had to weld the new hinges on the gate as well as make some other modifications to the gate due to the damage from the gates binding from the windstorm, then repowder-coat the gate as well. We replied to their attorney that we were aiming for installation the week of September 25th, but would let them know when we would be able to schedule them due to the multiple steps that had to be done prior to getting them scheduled to rehang their gates. Their attorney, as well as the customer, has been informed that their installation is scheduled for Friday, October 7th. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/06/2022

   
  **mplaint: 18173290
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Western Fence ** said we called every day, that is untrue. They have continually told us "Tomorrow the gate will be installed", "next week the gate will be installed" They are all empty promises, and they don't even have the courtesy to let us know, so with that said we have wasted hours trying to get a hold of them to find out a real date. They simply don't communicate unless we have reach out. Last week they were supposed to have a gate installed but there was no response from them, and the gate was once again not installed. They didn't even respond to our attorney's email from September 28th until yesterday saying they were out of town. ******** (the President of Western Fence company) was also CC in the email, and she didn't even respond. They simply don't care about their customers and make that very clear. They have now given us another promise for date of install but given their past of empty promises we won't believe what they say. If they do actually show up with our gate, I hope the gate will be in working condition with no sagging, no rusting, sensor working properly, wiring fixed correctly etc. We will wait and see what actually happens tomorrow. We have text messages, emails, and pictures to back up everything and the number of hours we have wasted from work to deal with Western Fence ** is ridiculous. If you read their ****** reviews, clearly, we are not the first clients of theirs to have the same problems. 
  
  
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/06/2022

  As the customer has stated that we did not reply to an email from an attorney, because the people he emailed were out of town and the email was returned when the personnel returned back to work. The gate that is being installed tomorrow is a warranty item, that we have communicated the process of which it would take to get the warranty addressed and informed them about approximate time frames. As it was also stated before the gate was working properly where we have videos and pictures of the finished gate and operator.

  Because of the nature of construction as well as having to wait on suppliers to get us items it is hard to give a firm date far out in advance of when a project or item will be complete due to issues that *** arise. As this customer has been informed, they are still scheduled for their warranty item to be addressed tomorrow. Western Fence Company has been in business for 74 years and we honor our contracts, including warranties. Time frames will vary depending on lead times of suppliers, construction on previous projects, and any unforeseen circumstances. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/12/2022

   
  **mplaint: 18173290
  
  The gate was installed on Friday 10/7/22. The bars that were welded on were still not ********** bar was welded on about 2" shorter that the other bar. The sensor for the automatic gate still didn't work. We called and spoke to **** who said he would be back out on Monday to get the gate and fix the problem. They did come back on Monday morning 10/10/22 picked up part of the gate and said they would return the gate to us on Wednesday morning. It is now Wednesday, I once again took the day off of work to be home for the gate to be installed. By 10am we had not heard from a single person at Western Fence ** about our gate. We once again had to follow up and were now told it won't happen today because it was being powder coated and they still don't have a new working sensor for us and they said maybe tomorrow now. 

  When Western Fence ** first came out to our house in March to give us a bid, our salesman told us that if we wanted to order a custom gate it would take a few months so we chose to order the prefabricated gate to get this done sooner. Its been 7 months and the simple prefabricated gate is not done or installed. For a company that advertises that they sell and install gates with operating systems sure doesn't seem to know what they are doing. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** & *********************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/12/2022

  **** is an installer, not a project manager. He has informed us that he did not tell them that we would have the gate back to them Wednesday. Our shop has to remodify the one side of the gate and then it has to be re-powdercoated. It is not a quick process unfortunately and does take time to go through these steps. If they would like an update time frame they need to call the office, not ****, who does not manage projects or scheduling and speak to either the project manager or the construction manager. 

   

  For the sensor the customer is stating that still does not work. The exit sensor was adjusted so that when the car is near the gate the gate will open and it does function properly. However, the customer informed us that the gate will open if they walk by the sensor as well. The only way to correct this would be to cut a loop into the concrete and lay down an exit loop, instead of an exit sensor. 

   

  We will have the project manager reach out to them to go over the schedule of the gate being reinstalled and the option to cut an exit loop in for the automation. From our records, it does not look like we have had a call in from the customer today, nor did any of our office staff, nor construction manager inform the customer that we would be out to reinstall the gate today.