Fence Works

I was quoted a price and then they nickel and dimed me to death about removing rocks. Instead of totally removing the previous stumps, they cut them off at the ground and then left a mess in our backyard. This is a Fence that was installed less that three months ago by Fence Works. According to their website and invoice they have a one year warranty for workman ship defects. Apparently a fence that can't withstand a 65lb dog is not a workmanship defect. This cost $4500 and the owner is unwilling to make the repair without charging us another $150 for the repair and replacement of 3 boards. NEVER USE THIS COMPANY!!! My husband is now having to repair our fence that is less than 3 months old.

I am not even sure where to start this review, because I am so incredibly frustrated by my whole experience with Fence Works. I was expecting a reliable, professional company but instead I got poor work and excuses. Todd, the owner of Fence Works, was running behind schedule and wasn't able to start the job until the weekend I was going out of town. The re-fencing of the side of our yard seemed to be going well, but when he got to the back of our yard, Todd called me and said our old fence was crooked and he would need to move it a little to straighten it out and make it look good. By "a little," I thought he meant a few inches, but it turned out to be at least 14 inches in some parts. We have a pretty small yard to begin with, so 14 inches is significant to take out of our yard, especially in the alley behind the garage, which is now extremely narrow, thanks to the new fence. He also told me that he found some rocks he hadn't seen before and that it was going to be an extra $1000 for him to remove them and take them to the dump. So I had to pay an extra, unanticipated $1000. When Todd moved the fence line he put the new fence directly on top of the azaleas in our back flower bed. As in, half of each plant is in our yard and half is in the neighbor's yard. I have never seen a fence built directly on top of a row of azaleas before and I was pretty surprised a "fence professional" would build a fence like that. We have plans to re-landscape our backyard, and may have to rearrange the azaleas a little, but there is currently no way we can move them without chopping them in half and killing them. But the azaleas are a minor problem compared with the sewer clean out. We *had* a white fiberglass sewer clean out pipe on our side of the fence. It sticks up at least 14 inches out of the ground and is 7 inches in diameter. We have to have our sewer line snaked out at least once every six months due to tree roots growing in it. Guess where that sewer clean out pipe is now? Yep, inaccessible to us, on the other side of the fence. When the sewer backed up into our basement and the plumbers needed to access the clean out pipe, they had to both climb over the fence and actually tear part of it down to get to the pipe. I'm not sure future plumbers will be so understanding or agile. So as the fence line currently stands, we will have to TEAR DOWN part of the fence EVERY SIX MONTHS so the plumbers can clean out our sewer line. That is not a livable situation for us. And here's how Todd has responded to the situation: -- I called him at least 4 times so he could come look at how the fence needed to be moved back into its original place. He told me he was coming over at least 2 times and never came. He finally came over on the 4th time. (over a year later) --He told me that I had given him permission to move fence so he not at fault. -- He said that we never told him there was a sewer clean out that we needed to keep on our side of the fence, so he is not at fault. --He said we can pay him $1,800 more to move the fence back to where it was so that we can once again access our sewer clean out pipe. I asked him if we could at least get a discount since he had put the fence in the wrong place and was told no. I had a really hard time talking to him on the phone because he tended to constantly interrupt me and talk over me. I think it took at least 2 or 3 phone calls for him to understand the situation because he kept interrupting me when I tried to explain the situation. So, there it is. I did say it was ok for Todd to move the fence a little bit to straighten it out. I didn't think "a little bit" meant at least 14 inches and putting our sewer clean out pipe on the other side of the fence. I assumed it meant maybe 5 to 6 inches at most. And as for not mentioning the sewer clean out pipe, I assumed that since it is a big, white pipe sticking up 14 inches above ground, it was pretty visible. I especially had no idea that Todd would move the fence so far that the sewer clean out would end up on the other side. I also assumed that a fence professional would be especially aware of things near the fence to make sure people's property remained on their property. Of course I would not have said moving the fence line was ok if I had known Todd was going to move it 14 inches and cut off our access to the sewer clean out. Todd's other excuse regarding the sewer clean out pipe is that it must be a "custom" thing. I don't see what difference that makes--the pipe is clearly visible, bright white and sticking up 14 inches and being 7 inches in diameter. Whether it's "custom" or not, it sticks up pretty obviously. Basically I am out of the money I paid to put up the fence in the back because Todd won't offer either a refund or discount. I'm going to have to hire another company to come out and fix it, as soon as I can save up enough. I had saved up quite a while for the original fence so I am pretty frustrated to have part of it flushed down the drain (hopefully that money won't stop up our sewer line because that will mean tearing down the fence again so the plumbers can snake it out). In sum, DO NOT USE FENCE WORKS. Todd did not do a good job and was unresponsive and unwilling to take any responsibility for his mistakes. I will be spreading the word to everyone I know.