United Services Outdoor Home Improvements

I am an electrical contractor. I was hired by United Services to install four lights on a customer's house after the siding was completed. The siding crew did a terrible job at the lighting boxes. I had to cut the siding that covered the electrical boxes so I could install the lights. I also had to purchase matching siding parts to support the light fixtures correctly. And I purchased new mounting hardware for the used fixtures that Mark gave me to install on the house. My bill, with parts was about $350.00. I have never been paid a dime. I should have put a lien on the house, but I could not believe that I would get ripped off by these people for such a small job. I also could not bring myself to make this the homeowners problem. Hire someone who pays their bills.

During mid-March 2018 I met with Mark Passer, owner of United Services about replacing all the windows in the bedrooms on the 2nd story of our home. While I wanted vinyl replacements for no-maintence I had made it crystal clear to him that I wanted full replacement windows. Everything old removed and entirely new windows put in. Mark agreed. My husband even called Mark that evening to confirm that these were full replacement windows, not just pulling out the glass with the sash and popping a new window in the opening. Mark agreed. I had also agreed with Mark and the company that work would only be done from the hours of 8am-1pm spread out over several days so my baby could nap normally. On installation day, Friday of Easter weekend, I was busy taking care of my 2 young children and running errands and when I came home the installers wanted to continue working but I told them no, my baby needed to nap. The job was about 1/2 finished. Later, when my husband & I looked at the windows we were both horrified to discover that in fact pocket windows have been installed. Since it was Easter weekend my husband and I chose to wait until Monday to call Mark to let him know we would not be continuing with the project and wanted these pocket windows removed! Mark said that he was out of town in Colorado but when he got back we would get together to discuss a plan that would leave both of us happy. The next morning the install crew showed up at my front door to finish installing the windows! Mark did not communicate with them that we were not going to continue installing more windows. Fast forward to another week or so when Mark called and told me that the windows were not returnable and we would have to pay for the pocket windows regardless. He said "he did not remember" any of our conversations and it must have all been a "miscommunication". He also said on the phone that he had no intention of billing us for the windows that were not installed and that he would sell them on Ebay. He told me he was going to send a letter with my bill. Moments later I received an email with a letter showing what we owed, which included the windows that were not installed! Of course, I was furious and called/emailed calling him out on this. He again claims, "I never said that / I don't remember our conversation that way". Finally, we came to the agreement that we would not be paying for the windows that were not installed and we would pay full price for the windows that were already installed. Additionally we would pay for the outside of those new windows to be wrapped and the inside to be painted. We set dates for those activities. On Saturday, April 29th his crew was supposed to come paint the inside of the windows (trim) and no one came nor was I called. On Monday, April 30th his crew was supposed to come wrap the outside of our new windows. Again, a no show and no call. My husband called Mark and Mark gave him all the excuses in the world. At some point my husband must have said to call me in the morning. I was very busy with my kiddos. That night I filed a complaint on BBB. The next day Mark had someone at my home to complete the job again. As you can imagine, my blood was boiling at that point. I decided to hand the situation over to the BBB and am still working to resolve this. In sum choosing United Services will NOT be in your best interest. Dishonesty and failure in communication seem to be their motto. I'm sure Mark will vehemently deny everything in this review, and please know it is honest. He also refers to his contract which by the way is extremely vague, it does state the type/brand/serial number of window but the way in which it was used to be installed could have been used as a full replacement or pocket depending on what you want. It's not the brand of window that's at fault here. Mark also loves to talk about his "triple pane" window - the reason I got replacement windows (like most people) was because the water damage and rot around the window, not the glass. There are so many better companies to choose from. For example Exteriors By West Phalen (they did our siding and gutters and it was fantastic) or Millard Lumbar or pretty much anyone else.

Fast forward to 2017. Missing caulk and sloping window sill has caused leaking windows to the interior causing potential mold problems. They came to check on the exterior and caulked the exposed wet foam insulation. They refuse to fix the sloping sill, nor the problems on the interior wall.

So-so, depended on various workers.

In short, systematic failures in communication. I could write out a novella of what happened on what date and the amount of time that elapsed before I finally had enough and initiated contact to see what the story was with our storm damage repairs. Sometimes it was months. After my insurance company could not get a hold of them I promised an honest review based on my experience going forward. Even after that episode, they could not manage their communications with me. United Services failed and I will not be using them again. My advice to United Services: When a customer has to initiate contact multiple times and over multiple months to get information it is easy to imagine your company as not being as honest and hardworking as advertised. You need to correct that.

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They started as soon as possible, it took a little longer than expected, two weeks, but did a great job even o the diagonal areas. Over the winter we had some damage to the deck while shoveling snow and they came out and repaired it last week.

The quote service was free. We were essentially just price-shopping. Our experience with them was kind of limited. They did show up when they said they would.

Excellent job. Very professional

Everything went very well. They were careful of our landscaping (and we have a pond which was right were they needed to put their ladder). The finished product was better than we expected. The only down side that I can think of was there were a couple of days when the painters got called to repair an old job so our job got pushed back, but that wasn't a big deal. All of the workers were very nice.

Leo showed up on time for our meeting but that is about all that went well. Leo asked if I had looked at any other window suppliers, I said I had not and selected United based on the proactivness and follow-up of their designer. Leo pushed a few Alside Window brochures across the table and said to call him back after i shopped the competition. I then asked about siding vs stucco and Leo spent the next 1/2 hour talking triple pain window after telling me he wasn't talking windows until i checked the competition. the meeting ended with Leo spending about 5 minutes looking at the exterior of my house and stating he would have a bid to me within the week. 2 weeks later i called and asked Leo if he would be submitting a bid, he apologized for not having done so and said he would immediatley get it to me. several calls and one week later, Leo still had not provided the bid. When I asked why he had not provided a bid Leo said "we should just forget this because its gone on so long". I did finally get a bid from United but it did not include both stucco and siding, as Leo stated it would, only siding. When i asked for the Stucco Leo stated "the stucco guy doesnt' want to do stucco repair" Leo never could explain why the Stucco person didn't want to do Stucco - odd. At any rate, my experience with United's bid process left me frustrated and having wasted my time. i'm glad i was able to understand United's lack of service prior to committing to any work or having spent any mone.

Initially appeared professional. Didn't start on date they said they would. The job took much longer than promised (hired in July - didn't finish until November). Quality of workmanship on exterior painting was bad (several areas not painted and doors and windows were painted shut). I had to constantly call to inquire if their workmen were going to show after numerous days of no work. I was told they are "busy" with many other jobs. An interior door they painted had to be redone as the workmanship was poor (they did repaint at no charge). Another interior window frame was painted, and again poor workmanship. We finally just repainted it ourselves out of exasperation. They also forgot to return patio screen door that had been repaired and had to be reminded twice. I would never hire or recommend them to anyone. It should be noted in fairness that this was almost 2 years ago.

very well. replaced original windows in 1953 house with high efficiency windows.

United Services of America came right on time to do the installation. They were very professional, courteous, and did a very good job for me. I was especially happy with the sliding door because it took some modification of the wall to get it to fit properly. I had no cleanup when they left other than some minor dust. I got two bids for the job and theirs was the lowest bid.