Daily Home Renovation Tips

If you recall we started back in early September to order a new front door; 9+ months later in mid-June we had the 2nd of two replacement front doors installed.

Over the course of this duration we had various delays, missed appointments , very poor installation of the first replacement door, defective initial door, hours spent on the phone with the retailer explaining (and some time complaining) about our dissatisfaction, messages left with the retailer’s personnel which went unanswered, and so on.

In total we spoke with or had involved over 21 people over the 9+ months with our exterior replacement door from the retailer’s store (6), the retailer’s customer support personnel (another 4), the contracting company who the retailer used to install the door (3), installers (5) who were sub-contracted by the contracting company working for the retailer,  as well as employees of the door manufacturer (3 that we met or know were involved in our situation). 

Does the retailer owe us any compensation for us enduring this situation? Or, is the standard for anyone purchasing a replacement door for their home?

Well, the retailer actually indicted part way through our ordeal that we would be offered compensation of some sort as, no, this is not the norm.

And, we did go with the big box building supply retailer because we wanted to satisfy ourselves that if things went wrong with our new front door we knew where they lived and how to get a hold of them and that they would want to protect their reputation.

So, first, the second replacement door was a higher quality than the first . We addressed this in one of our prior articles in this series. That was nice. We didn’t ask for it, they didn’t have to do it, but it was a nice touch all the same.

Next, the easiest financial aspect to agree upon was the timing of the payment for the door. If you recall we purchased the door during one of those 12 month no interest no payments promotion. This would mean that we would have to pay for the door in 3 months time, hardly fair in our opinion since the final installation had occurred 9+ months after the initial purchase. 

Once the first door was late being installed we were able to have the 12 month period commencement pushed out to January (the date of the initial installation). With the second replacement door installation, we asked and were quickly provided with pushing out the start date of the 12 month no interest no payments period to June. And, this time we didn’t have to take more of our own time to go down to the retail store; it was done for us by Amy, the final customer service representative who dealt with our situation.

Next, we felt that we should receive some monetary compensation for all of our time wasted throughout this experience, the additional heating costs with the threshold for the first door missing for 2 weeks in the middle of winter resulting in a 1/2 inch gap between the door frame threshold and the bottom of the door, time to prime and paint for the door frame and molding of the second door when I had already done this for the first door, and so on.

Amy would not tell me what was a typical amount in this case. So, I provided a figure which I thought was conservative but fair. We were never out to gouge anyone; we try to treat others fairly and with respect but, we expect nothing less in return.

It turns out that after a few days the retailer agreed with our amount. It would have been nice if they had come back with more, but what we agreed upon was in our opinion fair.

And, lastly, they did come back with more. While the store agreed to reduce the cost of the door, the customer support organization of the building supply retailer threw in a $200 gift card.

So…… a superior door …… delay of the 12 months no interest no payments period by 9 months …. credit on the cost of the door …. $200 gift card.

That concludes our long series of articles about our exterior front door replacement experience. We hope you can learn from our experiences and have gained insights into what to watch out for, what to ask, what to be prepared to do if you proceed with your own replacement front door.

WAIT: We wish that this article concluded our series of articles on our replacement front door. However, it does not. After we wrote this article a situation occurred which forces us to re-open this series. To select the link to the next article in this series, simply select this link to Part 33.