Houston Fence Co Inc

Verbal Contract Between Houston Fence Co. and David Gorham for new 6x13 Drive Gate @ 129 N. Tamie Cir. Kathleen, GA. East Side of Property parallel with Southwind Dr. Aug 13, 2014- Scheduled 1100 a.m. Appt with representative from Houston Fence Co. for an estimate on a replacement drive gate. Mr. Chris Taggart showed up 15 minutes late for the appointment as I was just about to leave. We walked over to where the new gate would be installed and discussed replacement of existing drive gate due to sagging. Mr. Taggart suggested installing one additional 6x6x8 ft post and decrease the width from 16 ft to 13 ft with a metal support frame. He gave me a written estimate for parts and labor of $692. I received a copy of the unsigned estimate. I asked him if I decided on his using his business, when could he begin work on the gate and he said as early as Monday 18 Aug. We said our thank you?s and parted ways. I had made another estimate appointment the following week and on or about the 15th of August I called Houston Fence Co. and asked for Mr. Taggart. He was unavailable and the receptionist said that she would have him call me. He called shortly thereafter and I informed that I wanted to hire him to replace my gate. He said ok and that he would put me on the scheduled. I did not hear from him until I called Houston Fence Co. on Sept. 3, 2014 Sept 3, 2014- Contacted Houston Fence office and requested to be contacted by Mr. Chris Taggart. Mr. Taggart called me and I asked him when he was going to start on the new drive gate at my rental property located at 129 N. Tamie Cir. Kathleen, GA. He said he was going to call me but because of all the rain he had to reschedule a few of his appointments. But he said that he would have his crew out to my property on Friday September 5, to set the 6x6 post. And get started on it first thing Monday morning. I said that was fine and I would contact my tenants and have them keep their dogs in the house on that day. Sept 5, 2014- I received a call from my tenants saying that the fence people were here planting the new fence post. Sept. 8, 2014- At about 9:00 a.m. I received a call from my tenant saying that the fence people were there removing the old gate. I asked her to please call me when they get done. I received the call telling me they were done and the gate was not even and it had a big gap on the bottom. I asked her if her dogs could get out and she said no. I told her that I would be by after work to look it over. I arrived at my rental property and was surprised at the workmanship of the new gate. There was approximately a five inch gap on one side of the gate and a three inch on the other side. Neither side was trimmed evenly and looked like someone just used a sawsall to cut the bottom nothing was straight. There was a two inch gap in the center and the top was not even with the rest of the fence. I was shocked to think that I was expected to pay $692 for a gate that looked like this. I did not contact Houston Fence until I received a bill notice in the mail on Sept I went back to my rental property on Sept 12 and called Houston Fence and requested Mr. Taggart meet me at the house so we could discuss the gate. I talked to Mrs. Taggart and requested that Mr. Taggart meet me at my property. She informed me that he was out on estimates appointments but she would give him a call and have him contact me. She asked me what was wrong with the gate and I told exactly what was wrong and she would tell Mr. Taggart. I waited for 45 minutes and never received a call. So I called Houston Fence back and talked to Mrs. Taggart once again and she had informed me that she had in fact contacted Mr. Taggart and relayed my message. I asked her if they had someone go by their works sites and inspect the progress of progressing work and the finished product and she informed me that they did not normally inspect the job sites. I said maybe they should start. We said our good byes and I hung up. September 17, 2014- I heard nothing from Houston Fence until September 17, 2014 at about 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Mr. Taggart had apologized and told me that he got my message from his wife and that he was so busy that he had not had a chance to contact me back that day. I asked him if he had had a chance to drive by and look at the gate and the state it was in and he said no. He also told me that the gate stiffeners (pieces of metal that is connected from the upper corner to the lower corner for stabilization) sometimes break. He told me that the problem he was having was that he had no welder to repair the metal frame which I thought odd because Houston Fence promotes that they have been in business since 1971 they do these types of gates all the time they should have welders I thought. Mr. Taggart told me that his crew will be getting a welder this coming Friday, September 19, 2014 and he will his crew repair the fence and replace the slats. I told him that if he just install new slats to the ground that I would dig out the ground so the gate could open and he said ok. September 19, 2014- I left work at 1100a.m. because my Mother-n-Law was near death and we had no idea how much longer she would hold on. I needed to run some errands with my three boys before going home. So I quickly drove by my rental house to see if any progress had been done on the drive gate. As I drove by I noticed that there had in fact NOT been any work done on the gate. I walked up to the house and asked my tenant if she had seen any workers around the fence and she said no. So I left. My Mother-n-Law passed away at 2:15p.m. that very same afternoon in her home. September 24, 2014- Still have not heard from Houston Fence Co. and the drive gate is still Unfinished. September 26. 2014- 1125 Received a call from my renters saying that a person was outside working on the fence gate. Stated that he repaired the broken weld of the gate frame and then left shortly after. I received a call about 30 minutes later from my renter saying that the worker was back and that his boss told him to completely redo the fence. He replaced all the fence slats to the ground. and left. I ended up going out the following day and raising the gate up 2 inched from the ground in order to be able to open the gate. October 3, 2014- I received a call from Chris Taggart Houston Fence telling me that the gate was complete and we could meet and settle up. I was unable to meet with him due to me being out of town that day. October 6, 2014- Went by Houston Fence office to settle up and request some kind of compensation for all the run around and inconvenience that I was given caused by their lack of customer service. I was told that Mr. Taggart was unavailable and that they do not give compensation. They also told me that Mr. Taggart had my invoice with him. I asked them to have Mr. Taggart call as soon as possible and I left. October 9 2014- . I received a call @ 3:00 p.m. from Mr. Taggart saying that he was given a note to call me. I informed him that I would be by his office once I got off work to settle up. I was ready to be rid of Houston Fence. By now I am flat out infuriated at the complete and utter disregard for Houston Fence's customer service. I arrived at their office and paid cash for the services and not once did any employee apologize or offer to make a bad situation better. Mr. Taggart did not see me at the counter as I requested. So I received my invoice as paid in full and left. I'm sure at sometime during Houston Fence Co.'s 44 years of service to Houston County, and Warner Robins Georgia, they were friendly, courteous and professional to their customers, but not now. Some where they lost their way and customer satisfaction became a distant last to the mighty dollar. I own 3 other rental properties in this county and I will not use Houston Fence Co. nor will I recommend them to any of my friends.

What stood out was their quality of work.

Just had a small gate attached to a brick wall that had come down, everything was ready for them to just attach a gate to two pieces of brick wall that was left. I also had a small gate attached to some more brick that accesses my patio. The small gate never would latch correctly, and still doesn't. I finally called them and them came and did some minor adjustments on the small gate to make it fit better. It is still difficult to bring the latch down without having to lift the gate slightly. In addition, I had to buy more screws to put in the cement for the small gate. .They were just too expensive. The whole job was approximately 15 feet in length. The big gate is not straight either. Not a very professional job for a professional.