Sam's Custom Sets

After several cancellations due to so-called emergencies, Sam finally came to build our playset. When he was finished, he wanted us to pay him without a bill, and before providing us with the swing we had paid for. He promised to bring or send the swing, and provide me with an itemized receipt after I paid. I went ahead and paid him (though wish I hadn't!), expecting him to follow through. It has been over 3 months since I paid him, and we still have not received the swing or receipt. I have contacted him several times, and am now in the process of going through a lawyer. The sad thing is that my three children have not had a swing to play on all summer long!

Apparently we should have read the BBB reports, Angie's List, and Yelp reviews before hiring Sam! Looks like he has a long record of doing to others what he did to us- failing to show up as scheduled, being unresponsive for long periods of time, claiming various illnesses as an excuse, and failing to complete our set after taking our money and not coming back to finish the job. Sam is a dishonorable, unreliable person who is out to take advantage of you. Don't be a sucker like we were!

After much back and forth, we agreed to a date for Sam to construct our playhouse. He arrived an hour late and after realizing we were not able to stay home during the work, he picked up his gear and left. He did not tell us that one of us needed to be home for him to be comfortable doing the work, so we unfortunately had to go to work. He clearly did not care about our business, because he left with no connect back to clear the air or reschedule when we could be home during the work. I would definitely NOT recommend Sam.

I called him, he came out and provided us with an estimate. Within a week he was out to the house to build the swing set. It took him about six hours to install the swing set in our yard. Everything was done quickly, we discussed all the elements of the project and he was flexible to changes. He did a nice job and we are very pleased with his service.

My parents wanted to purchase our two year old son a play set for Christmas since we were due to have another child by January 1. All the sets online were too large so my Mother found "Sam's Custom Sets" online out of Lacey, WA. I called and Sam was very nice and said he could come out the following morning to discuss our options. He arrived on time and looked at our yard to follow with his suggestions. I explained to him specifically what I wanted and that my parents would be purchasing it. I then called my Mother so he could speak to her about pricing. Everything was discussed in detail and the next step was for him to call with his schedule to set up our install. Sam called and had Monday, November 21 or Wednesday, November 23 available. Since he requested that we were present at the time of install I chose Monday for I needed to make an airport run on Wednesday. Monday morning he called me and said he would not be able to make it since it had snowed the weekend before so he was behind. He still had Wednesday available and said he would arrive once I returned from the airport. As he said, he was pulling in as I was that morning. It was raining but he said he was able to do the work. When he was done he knocked on the door and I went through everything from the back door. He said he would call me when I returned to his shop for the credit card number. He did and I expressed a couple concerns: the climbing wall was straight up and down and had wood pegs rather than slanted with plastic. The animals were not cut in and the set was not sanded (understandable since it was raining). Also the infant swing was not left. He said he would be there Wednesday December 7 at 12pm to do all of that for me since the weather was due to cooperate. Wednesday came and went and I called on Thursday and Friday and left messages. He called back Friday and apologized that he had been in an accident the previous Monday but would be there that following Monday December 12. Monday came and went and I called his shop and cell phone leaving messages every day for 1 week. One of the last messages I left explained I would be disputing the payment. December 20th one of his employees showed up to do some work. No one had called to let us know they were coming. He cut in the animals, dropped off the infant swing and attempted to fix the climbing wall but did not do it correctly. Sam clearly did not communicate with him on what needed to be done. I continued to call Sam and finally a call back on Friday December 23rd. I explained the situation and he argued with me for 20 minutes and then said he would call the following week to set up a time to fix everything. Wednesday December 28th I delivered my second son and today, January 3rd I have yet to hear from Sam. I would never recommend him to anyone. It has been nothing but a hassle. My son can not play on the set until it is sanded due to the jagged wood everywhere. So we will need to finish it ourselves after paying over $1,000.00 to have it completed.

Sam was very nice and came by to discuss various options for a playset in our yard. After deciding on one, he set a date to build it. He was a bit late (about an hour), and I thought it would have been nice to call and let me know, but I finally called him and it wasn't a big deal. In the beginning everything went fine and he was very nice with my kids. However, he had made a mistake and had forgotten to bring our rope ladder (instead he brought a wall climber, which was another option for the set). He also didn't have a rope swing which we had talked about getting. So, he said he would come by the following week and finish (he had to remove part of a wall in the fort and install the rope ladder and swing). He never came by, and I contacted him numerous times. At first he responded by saying he would come by, but then he stopped responding to me.