CARTER LEE LUMBER CO

unknown

Carter Lee lumber has very poor customer service. As a homeowner, I tried to get a front entry door of solid oak construction as well as interior oak doors with 2 1/4 and 3 1/4 colonial oak trim. I am re-trimming and remodeling the entire first floor of my home. I called and spoke to someone on three separate occasions and they would not get back to me with a quote. I provided detailed quantities and dimensions. So, I stopped in one day, sat down and spoke with someone. He provided a quote online. I called back to ask questions, and again, no call backs. When I did get a hold of him, he said he needed to look it up. Again, no call backs. So, I hired a contractor to do the job, who is going through Carter Lee for the same material. This contractor called me today to say Carter Lee quit carrying 3 1/4 inch colonial trim in oak as well as dentil crown trim in oak, and that the Carter Lee person casually suggested we change it to poplar. Are we supposed to mix oak and poplar? Maybe we should just switch to poplar? I don't think so. The contractor was relying on a quote Carter Lee had provided several weeks ago, expecting to start the installation work next week. The Carter Lee rep mentioned they had known they were discontinuing this size in oak for over 2 months now, yet never mentioned it when he provided the quote. What's worse, the price of the substitute poplar trim was raised to nearly that of oak. Can a business be any clearer in stating they don't want my money? And, it's not like I'm spending a trivial amount of money there either.

We took out time, and got many, many estimates for replacing our windows. We went back and forth about full new windows versus vinyl replacements. We seriously had about five groups give us their estimates and sales pitches. Because of cost, we thought we would go with final, but in my gut, I didn't feel comfortable, and didn't know why. I saw an ad in the Star about a sale with Pro-Build and they explained in the ad about a tax credit. Not one of the others told us about this. From the start, when Steve Fonfara came to measure and tell us the difference, to the final installation, it has been a pleasure working with this company. I don't know the relationship, but his business card says Pro-Build and Carter-Lee Preferred Installer. The woman that handles communication and appointments, Amy Morin, was incredibly efficient, and professional, keeping me updated and explained the timeline through emails. Yesterday, as planned, the windows were installed. the crew of Steve, Steve and Don were wonderful. they were friendly, knowledgable, and neat. At one point they asked for matching paint for one room because the drywall had torn as the window came out. I told them not to worry, because we had decided to save $600 by painting the interior moldings ourselves, so we would take care of that. Oh, and I should say, our first estimate was a bit of a shock. We asked Amy to break down the costs so we could see where we could save money. she complied, and we could that we would eliminate our original plan to replace our basement widows (saving about $1400) and painting the moldings ourselves (saving $600). The windows are in, the house already is warmer, not so much glare from untinted windows, quieter, and beautiful. My very picky husband was not thrilled with the installation of the interim nor molding because they didn't fill in nail holes and used minimal nails. I agree there could be more nails, but I think the nail hole patches may be part of the painting that we chose to do. I can't wait to get these paid off so we can finish the rest of the windows in the house. I will definitely call them again!

Their price was better than other company. They totally fit what we needed. We didn't have them to do the repair work and we were not going. All we wanted the parts and they got us the parts. The parts were affordable. They communicated clearly. We were able to go get them and we got all what we needed. All we asked them to do, they did it great. We were impressed as their price was low. They only provided us the parts and did not install it.

Great - they have a very knowledgeable sales force that is dedicated to finding what you need.

Ann at Carter Lee was great. However I worked on the windows myself and salvaged what I had. At this point I am not going to replace any windows, but rather live with what I have (restored, of course).

Too much of the lumber was not high enough quality for the money they were charging. I think they need to check their incoming lumber shipments and where they are getting them.

The wind caught our front storm door and whipped it open damaging and breaking a door jamb. I was refered to carter lee by a 'big box' store. I went in looking for a split jamb (two-piece unit) and the attendant I spoke with gladly took me back into their warehouse to let me go through their selection to see if anything matched what I was looking for. As we spoke, I learned split jambs have rarely been used since the mid-60's - when our house was built. We discussed options and he left me with a few good ideas since they didn't have what I needed. Not likely that anyone else would. I'd gladly recommend them to others looking for service.

An extremely disappointing sales experience. Two weeks ago, I purchased and paid for by charge card the fence lumber described previously. I was told that it wouldn't be available until the following week and was offered two other alternatives, which were not acceptable for the job. I said I'd wait for the lumber I ordered. It was to have been delivered Wed. 5/10. Last week I received a call saying that the shipment had been delayed due to a train derailment and it would be delivered the following Wednesday. I said, OK, knowing that uncontrollable events sometimes happen. I rescheduled my contractor. On 5/17, I was out of town, but my contractor again came and no lumber. I called Carter Lee on 5/12 to see what happened. When I didn't buy their story that it took more than a week to ship lumber from Chicago, they finally admitted that they had sold the lumber I ordered to another customer after they had taken my order. It gets worse from here, but there is not space to describe here.

WONDERFUL!!! DID A GREAT JOB. GREAT PEOPLE TO WORK WITH. DID WHAT THEY SAID THEY WOULD.

THE LUMBER WAS ALL HIGH QUALITY. THEY HELPED DETERMINE HOW MUCH LUMBER I WOULD NEED. WHEN THEY DELIVERED THE LUMBER, THEY DROPPED IT EXACTLY WHERE I HAD ASKED, EVEN THOUGH I WASN'T HOME. AWESOME COMPANY!

THE WORKERS WERE VERY NICE AND HELPFUL.

PROMISED AN ESTIMATE TO REPLACE MARVIN WINDOWS, MEMBER CALLED WHEN HE DIDN'T RECEIVE AND THEY SAID THEY WERE WORKING IT UP, MUCH LATER MEMBER CALLED AGAIN AND THE SALEMAN WAS NO LONGER WITH THE CO AND THEY NO LONGER CARRIED MARVIN, FELT SHOULD HAVE CALLED