Daily Home Renovation Tips

If you recall, what was needed was the following:

• Replace the white plugs which were painted black by hand by the sub-contractor and inserted into the holes in the black cladding on the out side of the door with plugs which were actually black

• Apply black caulking to the areas which were missed on the outside

• Fix the issue with the fascia that was fine before the old door frame was replaced which now, ever since the new door frame was installed, was bulking up, leaving a gap on top of the newly installed door frame.

No, this would not really ‘finish’ the installation. Why? Well, because Paul indicated he knew nothing about replacing the class in the middle of the door which the service manager had indicated the prior week would need to have the door manufacturer inspect first to determine if it did indeed, according to the manufacturer, need replacing.

So, March 12th came and went and no sub-contractor installer and no service manager; no phone call to say they would be late or not able to come. Nothing.

This was the second time we have had a no-show we were told someone would be coming over to our house relating to the door and they never came and they never called to say they were not coming. The first time was by a different sub-contractor on the original day we were to have the door installed and never showed up and never called to say he would not be installing the door.

Wow. Your renovation tip is not that this can happen to you if it happened to us but that you have to expect, based on our expereinces, that there will be times you take time off of work and an appointment with some home renovation contractor or a materials delivery does not occur. Yes, you do not want to be dealing with these ‘professionals’ (yes the term ‘professional’ is used lightly as I don’t think a ‘professional’ would act in such a manner). However, if you have already signed the contracts and are in a situation where you cannot get out of the contract what choice do you have. They have got ya! Remember, do your homework first before signing any contract. We wish we would have done more work on the front end decision of ours.

March 13th, the next day, comes and goes and no one bothered to call us to let us know what was going on.

On March 14th, I believe, I was able to get a hold of Dennis, customer service representative #3. The long and the short of it was that Dennis advised me he was turning over the entire file to someone else, some one in a position of more authority to get action as he had not been able to get our ’situation’ resolved. Dennis is very nice on the phone and sympathetic, but could not get results. Neither could Crystal, his predecessor customer service representative of the big box building supply retailer.

Return in 5 days to see how well this 4th customer service representative of the big box building supply retainer performed. I wonder if it will take that long to for us to get satisfaction, because right now I can’t get no satisfaction….. no no no. To continue with this series of articles on our replacement front door renovation, simply select this link to Part 17 - Enter Amy.