J M CARTER ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKS

Our experience with J M Carter Ornamental Iron Works was a disaster. We gave an initial deposit in August 2008 for the work described and were given a three to four week time frame for installation. The work was not completed even by December 2008, and during that time John didn't show up for several appointments, he failed to return phone calls, and there were repeated delays and excuses about completing this job. We took Mr. Carter to small claims court in June 2009 since he failed to refund our deposit in full, and we won a judgment against him.

Our experience with J M Carter Ornamental Iron Works has been a disaster. We initially contacted John Carter in August 2008 after a disappointing experience with another wrought iron firm. Our first consultation with John was the only time that he was prompt and professional. We gave an initial deposit at that meeting for the work described and were given a three to four week time frame for installation. Suffice it to say that it is now December and the work has never been completed. During this time, there have been several appointments where John has simply not shown, calls that he has not returned, and repeated delays and excuses about completing this job. We have recently requested a full refund of our deposit, and will proceed to small claims court if our refund is not forthcoming.

John was able to schedule an inspection appointment promptly (within the week I called to schedule). John was on-time for the appointment and by the time he rang my doorbell, he had already finished the inspection. I was relieved that my fire escape passed inspection. I had worried that a less trustworthy inspector would quickly find something "wrong" and offer their additional "services" to fix it...thus charging me more money than I had wanted to spend. But John was honest, friendly and extremely helpful. Not only was he honest in his inspection, but he spent over 45 minutes answering my questions and offering advice about another construction project on my home. He went above and beyond. John's inspection charge was also lower than his competitors.

I called and told him that I had a broken step on my fire escape that needed repair. He was very prompt to set up an appointment. He was over 1 hour or more delayed on the appointed day and time "because of traffic." He asked if I wanted a certification for the town or insurance company. I assumed that if I was doing the work that a certification made sense. He immediately wrote me up a proposal that itemized what he would do EXCEPT the wording "replace as needed" was used. He immediately wanted a check for 50% of the proposed charges. I was quite shocked that he was looking for me to commit immediately. I told him that I wanted to discuss this with my husband. How do I know what kind of job that I am getting with this "as needed" language and how to compare to someone else that wanted to totally rebuild the fire escape for $1300 more than Carter's estimate? Perhaps Carter was giving a good estimate. I have no way of knowing. In the end I decided to just repair two steps that were needed immediately. Carter called to followup two times. I told him that I decided to just do the needed repair of the 2 steps and he then wanted to charge me $250 for an inspection. I told him that I refused to pay this amount since he never mentioned this charge at any time except to say that other companies charge just to come to the property.

It went well. High quality work at a great price. The schedule was a little bit of a challenge, b/c of curve-balls that were sent Johnny's way (illness among his fabricator, his child's illness, poor weather, etc.). John is a very nice, diligent guy. Phone calls always returned in about an hour. I don't need to tell you how rare that is among contractors.

CONTACTED THEM FOR AN ESTIMATE ON REPLACING PART OF A WROUGHT IRON FENCE AND SOME MINOR REPAIR WORK. WHILE I APPRECIATE SOMEONE RETURNING CALLS PROMPTLY, I DON'T APPRECIATE SOMEONE CALLING MY HOUSE SEVERAL TIMES A DAY TO TRY AND REACH ME, ESPECIALLY AT INAPPROPRIATE TIMES OF DAY, LIKE EARLY MORNING. THE REPRESENTATIVE FOR THIS COMPANY IS OUTWARDLY 'COURTEOUS'', BUT IN A WAY THAT SEEMS QUITE CONDESCENDING. EVEN IF HIS QUOTE WAS REASONABLE, WHICH IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T APPEAR TO BE (WE'RE EXPECTING THIS TO COST BETWEEN 1,000-1,500), WE WOULDN'T USE THIS COMPANY.