carolina carports = FIRED

[Ryf]

so I handled this all wrong, it happens, but it has a happy ending. I ordered from Carport.com via telephone. they sub-contracted Carolina carports. there were small issues in the beginning that wore me a little but I kept telling myself it was gonna work. I told them I needed the 4 weeks (was told that was the soonest it would be scheduled up front) to do site prep. Carolina called me 3 days after ordering to setup install the following week, because I wasn't ready they understood (seems like a no biggy right?).... well fast forward 3 weeks, I call them to setup, they put me in the mix about 3 weeks later, no biggy, I dragged my feet, my bad, I thought I'd take the hit on that one, so they do show up, wrong size building, offer me $200 off to take smaller (ordered 22 x 21, they brought 20x21) I said I'd rather have the right size than $200, so they tell me, and I quote, "If you'd have taken the smaller building it would be done already" to be honest this put me in a sour mood, they rescheduled me that day for this coming monday, that was 2 weeks ago, and today they called and said they "are behind" "because of weather" and wont make it monday.. I said well you wouldn't boot someone for your fuckup but you will boot me because of rain? I've had enough, I called carport.com for the second time since I ordered and said enoughs enough, I want my money back... they didn't argue since the verbage from carolina carports was documented both times and has never been polite or in any way acting like someone trying to make some of my money.. I will applaud the "general contracting" company for handling their business well, and allowing me to walk away with my deposit to make things right.

there is so much more to this, as far as things said and timelines that have pushed me to get enraged a few times over this dealing, but I dont want to put it all out there. I will leave it at Carolina carports are not going to be my goto for anything ever, unless I hate someone. the only good thing is I paid my money to someone else, and they were stand up about making it right.

so I am now considering building a pole barn or putting down a stickbuilt frame and getting this show on the road.

sorry if this is scatter brained, I'm still pretty pissed, Vent session over.

 

[Big-Foot]

Doing concrete work in the rain ***** and it generally leads to problems later.
Building anything out in the weather ***** and it generally leads to problems later.

I suppose they could have built the right building in your timing, but what do you suppose you would have in terms of a quality job?

Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow... I wouldn't give them **** on a public forum when ultimately you got your money back and they let you off without taking your deposit..

 

[porschedude996TT]

That really ****, but good you are not out any money. There should be a penalty for dumb *** contractors where they pay you for lost time and aggravation.

 

[Ryf]

Doing concrete work in the rain ***** and it generally leads to problems later.
Building anything out in the weather ***** and it generally leads to problems later.

I suppose they could have built the right building in your timing, but what do you suppose you would have in terms of a quality job?

Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow... I wouldn't give them **** on a public forum when ultimately you got your money back and they let you off without taking your deposit..

I'm not complaining about the company who returned my money, that should be fairly clear... carolina carports is not that company, the concrete has been poured and setup for a year and not through them, I had some landscaping issues to finish to make it more accessible for construction..

I hear you about working in the rain, but the statement was we are behind because of rain, which means someone else got priority over me and this was already a bad deal IMO. and yeah I did go with the flow, but at some point theres no flow its lip service. after taking off 3 days of work for them to spin me, at what point should I just not bother being home to pay them? cuz the flow is theres a 66% chance they wont show, and there 100% chance I'd like to stop wasting vacation days for nothing. and 100% of the times they showed up they brought the wrong building which is only 33% of the times they said they would...so how much flow do you go with? They were told this was last chance, it was, and if you want to spend money with them go for it. your opinion is I should keep it to myself that you might want to not spend money with Carolina Carports because they are NOT standup and are NOT serving their customers because I got my money back from the party that hired them is your opinion, mine is, they **** in this area and I dont mind telling people, getting a refund doesn't replace vacation time or having to deal with rude people your trying to do business with. sorry, just cause it was made right out of someone elses pocket, doesn't mean they get a free pass. I'm not asking for more, but its not like it "evens the score"

I don't know if I would recommend carport.com, but they were standup about resolving their sub contractors failure to provide service on multiple levels. I would recommend them with the caveat you refuse to work with Carolina carports because they do seem to care.

 

[SiGmA_X]

I fully agree with you posting about that company for other people's benefit. It's good info for anyone in the area.

 

[58Yeoman]

Post it on Angies List so other people can see it. We're two years behind in major landscaping because two different companies pulled a lot of BS and didn't even bother to show up.

 

[danski0224]

so I handled this all wrong, it happens, but it has a happy ending. I ordered from Carport.com via telephone. they sub-contracted Carolina carports. there were small issues in the beginning that wore me a little but I kept telling myself it was gonna work. I told them I needed the 4 weeks (was told that was the soonest it would be scheduled up front) to do site prep. Carolina called me 3 days after ordering to setup install the following week, because I wasn't ready they understood (seems like a no biggy right?).... well fast forward 3 weeks, I call them to setup, they put me in the mix about 3 weeks later, no biggy, I dragged my feet, my bad, I thought I'd take the hit on that one, so they do show up, wrong size building, offer me $200 off to take smaller (ordered 22 x 21, they brought 20x21) I said I'd rather have the right size than $200, so they tell me, and I quote, "If you'd have taken the smaller building it would be done already" to be honest this put me in a sour mood, they rescheduled me that day for this coming monday, that was 2 weeks ago, and today they called and said they "are behind" "because of weather" and wont make it monday.. I said well you wouldn't boot someone for your fuckup but you will boot me because of rain? I've had enough, I called carport.com for the second time since I ordered and said enoughs enough, I want my money back... they didn't argue since the verbage from carolina carports was documented both times and has never been polite or in any way acting like someone trying to make some of my money.. I will applaud the "general contracting" company for handling their business well, and allowing me to walk away with my deposit to make things right.

there is so much more to this, as far as things said and timelines that have pushed me to get enraged a few times over this dealing, but I dont want to put it all out there. I will leave it at Carolina carports are not going to be my goto for anything ever, unless I hate someone. the only good thing is I paid my money to someone else, and they were stand up about making it right.

so I am now considering building a pole barn or putting down a stickbuilt frame and getting this show on the road.

sorry if this is scatter brained, I'm still pretty pissed, Vent session over.

Ok, wrong size building is a problem.

However, a good part of the rest of it is your problem.

Weather can really mess up scheduling and eventually, someone is gonna get bumped. I bet the subcontractor had at least one project that was started and not completed due to weather.

Depending on the size of the company, there are only so many people that can be shuffled around to put out fires.

Yeah, carport.com dropped the ball on initial scheduling, but they probably tried to schedule site erection at the next available opening following an order. Yup, they didn't follow instructions, but advance scheduling for outdoor work can be tricky, especially when a contractor needs to continue scheduling work to keep cash flow up.

Another issue is not dealing with someone local.

Carport.com is probably a manufacturer wholesaler with subs for their "free" installation (nothing is free). Maybe the crew sent out for your install had some issues with being paid from prior jobs and this was the real reason for the delay. Carolina won't tell you (the customer) that carport.com isn't paying us, so we aren't doing any more work until we gat paid for the last job. But, odds are that Carolina doesn't know that carport.com is feverishly looking for another sub while this battle is happening.

"Scheduling difficulties" is a little white lie that can cover a lot.

Some of these business models hold payment from the subs for any teeny tiny complaint from the customer yet the service that the customer deals with continues to schedule work for the subs that needs to be completed. Now the sub has to deal with new work and dealing with what can be unreasonable customer issues. Yes, some complaints are legit.

If carport.com was willing to refund your money so easily, there are plenty of background issues. They may be a "standup company" from the customer (end user) perspective, but they may be brutal on their subs which creates some of the problems you had.

It is possible that the smaller building was from a prior order cancellation that Carolina didn't get paid for, and I wouldn't be surprised if that cost was passed from carports.com to Carolina, which is why they tried to get you to take that building instead. Now, they probably have two buildings to sell or eat.

I would suspect that many of your problems originated with the provider, not the subcontractor.

 

[Ryf]

ahhh nope... if you all want to play "I imagine" scenarios thats fine, but the facts are carolina carports tried to bait and switch(either on purpose or by incompetence) and generally made my experience ****, those are FACTS. There is no FACTS to base your scenario on. the FACTS are you pay 10% down, then the remainder is paid directly to Carolina Carports, so they lost my money directly to them, no one else did.

I will go along with the "not dealing with someone local" being my fault.. that said, not easy to find people locally willing to work either, so I went out to something bigger for a solution.

and it wasn't refunded "Easily" it was well documented and some of it was even admitted to. the fact I got my money back at all is a pretty clear indicator that this deal went sideways and became a problem. if you want to tell me all the "back office" reasons it went to ****, thats fine, but as a end user the bottom line is the same, and IF carolina carports mishandles their people, then you shouldn't send money their way, and make this problem continue to exist, which goes back to why I posted this.

 

[Chaznsc]

Ok, wrong size building is a problem.

However, a good part of the rest of it is your problem.

Weather can really mess up scheduling and eventually, someone is gonna get bumped. I bet the subcontractor had at least one project that was started and not completed due to weather.

Depending on the size of the company, there are only so many people that can be shuffled around to put out fires.

I have to agree with this after reading. Sometimes you've got to be more than a little patient. I do hope you get that garage built tho.

 

[danski0224]

ahhh nope... if you all want to play "I imagine" scenarios thats fine, but the facts are carolina carports tried to bait and switch(either on purpose or by incompetence) and generally made my experience ****, those are FACTS. There is no FACTS to base your scenario on. the FACTS are you pay 10% down, then the remainder is paid directly to Carolina Carports, so they lost my money directly to them, no one else did.

I will go along with the "not dealing with someone local" being my fault.. that said, not easy to find people locally willing to work either, so I went out to something bigger for a solution.

and it wasn't refunded "Easily" it was well documented and some of it was even admitted to. the fact I got my money back at all is a pretty clear indicator that this deal went sideways and became a problem. if you want to tell me all the "back office" reasons it went to ****, thats fine, but as a end user the bottom line is the same, and IF carolina carports mishandles their people, then you shouldn't send money their way, and make this problem continue to exist, which goes back to why I posted this.

The only thing I know is there are 3 sides to every story.

In some areas, the amount of the deposit is legally restricted. In this case, carports.com gets theirs upfront (that 10% is their profit as a lead generator) and the sub is left holding the bag. Someone is paying for that steel to be fabricated and delivered to the jobsite.

I doubt that carports.com is fronting materials to their subs.

I'm not saying that what they did was right, but I'm willing to bet that a prior customer cancelled their order and the sub (Carolina) was trying to unload a building that they had to pay carports for.

So, you were pissed off that someone tried a "bait and switch" and they were pissed off that they had this building that had to be paid for, so they weren't making any money on your job or the next one

 

[NUTTSGT]

. . . so they do show up, wrong size building, offer me $200 off to take smaller (ordered 22 x 21, they brought 20x21) I said I'd rather have the right size than $200, so they tell me, and I quote, "If you'd have taken the smaller building it would be done already" to be honest this put me in a sour mood. . . . .

If they knowingly showed up with the wrong size building, strike 1.

Try to get me to take the smaller size and offer a measly $200. nah, that's strike 2.

Tell me that if I would have taken the smaller building it would be done already. Whoa, what ? Strike 3, refund my money, get off "F" my property and do NOT come back.

 

[Ryf]

Not saying it might not be so. But I am saying tell me that and offer it as a discount so we both win. I would have probably done the smaller building if it was around $500 off. That would have been a small hit for them but they would have been rid of both me an the building and not driven 5 hours for nothing. Maybe if they had better customer service people wouldn't be walking away from orders. 80% of my frustration was the person assigned to my project. Sucky attitude and bad people skills on the phone ruined the deal. I would deal with the waiting if it didn't come off like I was worth something

 

[CNGsaves]

So fill in some of the blanks. Was this going to be a "carport" with a slab, or an actual stick-built garage on slab??

What kind of overall price are we talking that they offered you $200 discount for their major screw-up??

I totally agree that trying to dump 20 ft versus 22 ft that you ordered is crazy. Nobody wants a smaller shop.

 

[Ryf]

200 was the difference in the cost of the two buildings prices. So zero discount. I think a 10-15 percent discount for totally fubared is reasonable. The total package as ordered is about 4800 bucks. $500 would have been 300 off the building cost and half that would ave been saved in gas alone

 

[Ryf]

Forgot to answer. Carport style building on concrete with footers (idea was work in process so made it so I had options)

 

[PugetDude]

I ordered from Carport.com via telephone. they sub-contracted Carolina carports. QUOTE]

Your beef is with Carport.com. You have no contract with Carolina Carports;they were simply the manufacturer of the carport components. Carport.com is just an online broker who caught your interest with a splashy internet ad, took your money and then shopped the job around to several local manufacturers. Carolina probably ended up with the job because of proximity, lead time, or price. Carport.com placed the order with them, the size-screw-up was between your broker and their supplier, and should have been handled that way. Sounds like Carolina was trying to help you by offering an on-site discount so you could have it immediately instead of putting it back into their manufacturing and erection queue.

I know quite a bit about this business model, and Carolina is one of the best in the industry. They are a full-line integrated manufacturer (unlike others, they manufacture all the components used in the finished product, outside of screws, etc.-in the USA, BTW), have a good industry reputation, and have been very successful -a real rags-to-riches story- they didn't get there by accident. (Hell, they contacted you within a few days of you placing your order with the broker to schedule the job-probably the same day they received it from him... then showed up on time with all the tools, equipment and product to erect your carport...unfortunately with a job order from the broker for a 20x21... after waiting weeks for you to be ready they tried to slot you into a full schedule with what amounted to a new order...and they can't control the weather, you'll have to take your frustration with that higher up..)


Badmouthing someone you didn't contract with isn't the way to handle this. Telling everyone about your lousy experience buying from an Internet Carport Broker because of his failure to communicate and control his subcontractors is. The old adage about "folllow the money" certainly applies here- Who did you write your check to? That's where your issue lies.

Your rant is misplaced, IMO, and is akin to blaming the sawmill because the local lumberyard sent out 2x4's instead of 2x6's.

Good luck.

 

[Ryf]

Umm no... the paper work said 22x21 in the crews hands.. so wrong on job order. The guy likely loaded someone elses order. I have emailed confirmations of info on order and the copy I saw day of was right. Wrong metal end of story. You can love them all you want but they were not good with service or product to me. Maybe if I had called them directly they would have treated me better... who knows... I am not open to your wrong opinions or thoughts on MY experience. If yours was better share it. Imo the problem is where i am relative to where they sell most of their product... which means they don't want to offer service here but do anyway....your knowledge of this business is fine but you have no knowledge as it pertains to this experience... thanks for being the guy in the mix defending his industries bad habits and bs though.

 

[jd_1138]

Doing concrete work in the rain ***** and it generally leads to problems later.
Building anything out in the weather ***** and it generally leads to problems later.

I suppose they could have built the right building in your timing, but what do you suppose you would have in terms of a quality job?

Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow... I wouldn't give them **** on a public forum when ultimately you got your money back and they let you off without taking your deposit..

I get your point about the rain effecting concrete, but he had numerous other problems with this company besides that. It's pretty sad that we've come to expect so little from contractors that after they fail and thus have to give you your money back that that means they are OK and undeserving of a bad review. "At least you got your money back."

 

[PugetDude]

I am not open to your wrong opinions or thoughts on MY experience.

Then why would you post here ranting about it- did you expect everyone to just agree with you?

Maybe if I had called them directly they would have treated me better.

You weren't willing to call them directly but you are willing to crucify them directly? Seems odd.

thanks for being the guy in the mix defending his industries bad habits and bs though

Not defending bad habits and bs at all; in all industries **** happens and some companies respond better than others when it does. You obviously had a bad experience with buying a carport on the internet. You weren't happy, you complained and promptly received a full refund. Case closed.

What's really ironic is that when you peel the onion on this story you're ranting about a carport that doesn't even exist from a company that didn't even install it for you.

Everyone involved in this transaction is probably better off with this outcome.

Do let us know how the replacement carport works out, though. Assume you're buying local?

 

[Ryf]

A rant isn't defined as a statement open to opinions. I shared an experience about a garage acquisition gone awry. Yes it could be worse. I haven't figured out plan b but it might not include a carport system at all.

I shared my real experience and some of you decided to insert not factual possibilities. At the end of the day I dealt with ****** customer service, missed appointments and down right rude people I stuck with it until I didn't have the patience to deal with the attitude from them. Buyer beware. Make up other possibilities all you want but they lost out and people have the right to know... if I'm wrong a mod can delete the thread

 

[Ryf]

You weren't willing to call them directly but you are willing to crucify them directly? Seems odd.

I missed this part reading on my phone, but the intention of my statement was intended as "Maybe if I had ordered from them directly" I have spoken to them about this order at great length and have stated so, sorry if it was not worded clearly

 

[fflintstone]

FWIW all the carports are basically the same no matter who you order from. Even if you order thru a dealer down the street it will still be a mexican crew from out of state installing it. and as the local dealer told me, you will be lucky if one of the crew speaks English.

Last year I bought two 18 X 35 carports thru carports.com. I bought one in the spring and one in the fall. The first one, the guy called me to see if they could come at 7:00 AM I told him 8:00 would be better, two guys showed up at 9:00 and they were done by 1:00. One spoke very good English. The only complaint I had was I didn’t get my free solar floodlight.

When I scheduled the second one they were supposed to come in the morning and they didn’t show up till 6:00 PM. 3 of them and only one spoke broken English, it was DARK when they left, I didn’t get either solar light, and the bastards stole my trashcan.

I don’t see myself getting another carport, but if I was it dam sure won’t be thru carports.com.

 

[graffix000]

Wow, seems like we have members of carolina carports on the forum now... I know there are three sides to every story, but the OP got the run around on this.

I think he is more then right to share this story. Seems to me that he is just telling the story and got **** service. Who in the right mind is going to take a smaller garage and only get $200 to deal with the issue. I would have said no as well. Then to get attitude on top of it would done it for me as well.

 

[Ryf]

I let this sit a few days because of work. Sorry. My bottom line as a consumer... this went sideways and I was treated sub par an dealt with some rude people at Carolina carports. I can sit here and read all the maybes you can make up. But at the end of the day my opinion and my money being spent are the only ones that matter to me. I would not recommend them to anyone. All the opinions of people defending ****** customer service and why its happening... let's be honest as a consumer we want what we order no hassles and if hassles arise should be handled respectfully. The backroom info of why its sideways doesn't change that I didn't get what I ordered or get treated respectfully. Everything else is part of the why... but its no excuse, nor does it change their crappy ways of dealing with people. I am glad I used a broker... it gave me someone to give my money back without doing a charge back on my credit card. Which is what was going to happen if they didn't.

To say I don't care why it when awry is the most honest way I can say it. I don't, it did and the fact I was able to work out a refund does not change the fact it wasted my time, two vacation days, and weeks of progress due to their incompetence. Anything said to the contrary is irrelevant. To ask me what I expected when posting (a rant) here is silly. A rant is defined as a "a tirade" or " to talk at length in a wild impassioned way" my question is what do you hope to gain arguing with someone ranting, seems like a foolish venture especially when you have no dog in or knowledge of the fight in question. I'm good with the push back.. it made me realize how right I am and have no regrets.. Thanks for that..

 

[PugetDude]

.. I am not open to your wrong opinions or thoughts on MY experience.

Anything said to the contrary is irrelevant.

.. it made me realize how right I am and have no regrets..

'nuff said.

 

[Ryf]

^^^^ see above for cliff notes ^^^^
Hehe

 

[tspivey]

I just purchased a 22'x30' from choice metal buildings. They sent a crew from Carolina Carports to install it. Those guys worked like crazy. Did an excellent job. Even left me enough extra metal to build an outside enclosure to put my air compressor in. I have nothing but praise for the Carolina Carport crew that installed my building. Sorry you had a bad experience!

 

[dynamike]

I just purchased a 22'x30' from choice metal buildings. They sent a crew from Carolina Carports to install it. Those guys worked like crazy. Did an excellent job. Even left me enough extra metal to build an outside enclosure to put my air compressor in. I have nothing but praise for the Carolina Carport crew that installed my building. Sorry you had a bad experience!

Same here with a 26x20. They were done in 1 day...by the time I got home from work at 5:30, they were packing up & done. So far, no complaints.

 

[John in OH]

Wow, seems like we have members of carolina carports on the forum now... I know there are three sides to every story, but the OP got the run around on this.

I think he is more then right to share this story. Seems to me that he is just telling the story and got **** service. Who in the right mind is going to take a smaller garage and only get $200 to deal with the issue. I would have said no as well. Then to get attitude on top of it would done it for me as well.

+1 !! I realize this is an old post, but the OP sure got a lot of **** from GJ members that are trying to be Monday morning quarterbacks and have no facts to support their theories. The OP clearly got a bum deal from a contractor and just tried to share his experience. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[firedog561]

tnt isn't much better!

 

[mike4mar]

Purchase a Carolina Carport last year, installation crew was outstanding, we are located in upstate new york and after the last snow fall of 6" we had structural issues with the roof braces as 8 of them became bent. We took photos and contact CC and were told we voided the warrant by adding insulation panels in the walls, which is below the roof line. It is very apparent that the roof load cause the issue. They did send me replacement braces for me to install but that is as far as they were willing to go. The conversation was that it is ok for CC to insulate the garage but not us. Being a mechanical engineer myself we have re-design the are installing heavy roof braces. We are not very happy along with the local building inspector. For the first few months I was very happy but now I wished we went with someone local so we could reach out a slap them.

 

[dave_dj1]

It's funny this thread came back to life. I am going to be putting up a 30x30x14 in the near future. I have a friend that just had a 30x40x14 put up, I went and looked at it and it looks great, he was pleased with the whole process and it came from Carolina Carports. I also two other friends that have had them installed recently and they are both happy. Maybe they have changed since the OP's issue?
Any other experiences out there?
mike4mar that ***** that the braces bent, that would be a big concern for me, especially since we had 30" of snow in one storm in Dec.
I hope it holds together now.
I plan on spray foaming my building.

 

[Gunfixr]

Mine is a Carolina carports, went up in early '17. I went for the larger sized and thicker wall tubing, and insulation for the roof. I plan to spray foam the walls. It's been fine so far. I got screwed by the concrete contractor, and it failed final inspection, but I managed to fix it.

 

[dcg9381]

^^^^ see above for cliff notes ^^^^
Hehe

wow.

 

[Dirtymax]

First time posting. I actually registered just so I could post on this topic.

I just got my Carolina carport finished about 15 minutes ago. This has been one of the most stressful and aggravating issues I’ve ever dealt with. It’s is currently Saturday May 29 2021. I ordered 2 carports at the same time on August 7, 2020. That’s correct......9 months Ago.

I ordered a 26x26x10 and a 26x20x8 on august 7th. I was told it would take 7 to 8 weeks. No problem...... well after 3 months, we called to get an update. No need in calling, can’t get anyone to answer phone. you must leave a message. After waiting 24 hours and no return call, we try calling again. However no customer service was to be found, no real time updates or help. After Christmas, we received a call from them wanting to setup delivery. We scheduled for the next week. Thursday I think. Well, on Wednesday they called and canceled. Now I had already put in for a vacation day and couldn’t back out. This left me assuming I would be on the very next truck as I was “on top of the list”. Nope, after calling and calling, and demanding supervisors to help me, I was told we had to go back to the bottom of the list and wait our turn again.

as you can imagine, this is seriously irritating. Another problem I had was my building permit was going to expire. So since i pulled a permit for the original dates quoted and had a 90 day window for this permit. Now we were going to exceed these dates. I had to go back to the county and pay to extend this permit.

Well..... Guess what, still no phone call and still no permit. Now its late January time frame and they call again to reschedule my install date. Problem is, its now 2021. And in Florida where I live, the building codes change every 3 years. Like clock work. Guranteed, set your watch to it. SO, now the county tells me my engineered drawings from Carolina that I gave them to get the permits, are no longer valid. I think to myself, no biggie, ill just call and get the new stamped drawings sent down and we are good to go.......

Nope, Carolina Carports hasn’t paid an engineer to stamp the prints for the new code. They do tell me that the new code doesn’t affect anything with the building and it will still be in compliance since there were no changes required for these 2 carports. They assure me they would have an engineer do this asap. Well, 3 weeks later I call them and they still have no time frame to get this done.

At this point I demand a discount or my money back. They stated they don’t give discounts and that its not their problem. I ordered these 2 carports from a local dealer and paid him the 10% deposit which is his money. They said they could care less if I back out and it was a problem between me and the local dealer. I call my local dealer and he said he would happily give me my money. However he asked if he could call them on my behalf and talk to some management and try to get this resolved before I back out and start this process over. local dealer called back next day and said I was on the books the following week.. Magic!!!!

Following week comes and no one calls to firm up schedule. Then I call back and they are going to do it the next week. On Tuesday. OK great. I request Tuesday off and then I get a phone call Sunday night telling me it will actually be Friday. Again I now have to ask for an additional day off with short notice. Well..... no show on Friday.

I call and cuss at everyone I can and then magically they tell me they will install my carport the next morning. Sure Enough!!!!!!! On Saturday morning they show up and install both of my carports. With 1 problem. I ordered and paid for the 26x26x10 to have enclosed sides. However they only sent material for 1 side. So I refuse to pay the entire balance and withhold the money for the siding. We call Carolina while the installers are still on my property and they claim the missing side will be installed in less than a week.

It’s been numerous phone calls and hours of leaving messages and sitting on hold, and I’m proud to report, as of 7:00 tonight on May 29, 2021 I now finally have exactly what I ordered 9 months ago.

just to recap this long book I have now typed. Keep in mind, I dealt with them directly the entire process, except for the 1 time I involved my local dealer.

1: lied to multiple times of promised dates.
2: never offered anything for my time and headaches. Not 1 penny of discount was offered.
3: paid for permitting on 2 desperate occasions
4: lost 3 days of vacation time and never had anyone show up
5: they knew the building codes were changing. They waited until late January after the codes had taken affect to pay an engineer to stamp the new prints/drawings.

6: this is the most important....... NEVER DO ANY BUSINESS WITH CAROLINA CARPORTS IF YOU WANT TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT, AS A PAYING CUSTOMER, OR IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR OWN TIME.

Carolina carports is easily the worst company I have ever conducted business with in my life. They ****. If you care anything about your money or your own time, stay away from Carolina carports.

I have a Job which requires a lot of travel. So my wife did a lot of phone calls for me. She would hang up crying about 50% of the time we contacted them. Furthermore, this was part of a much bigger home makeover project we are doing. This was the first step. Now it has delayed the entire process and our cash flow And cost spend we projected for this remodel.

I guess I should just shut my mouth and smile because I now have what I ordered, But I’m going to vent it all off first and warn anyone I can about this terrible company. Ill be good and over it by next week I’m sure.

 

[speedracerfx]

I placed an order late August 2020 for a 28x31x12 enclosed carport. Still waiting. Carolina Carports customer service is non-existant. They won't even tell me if the building has been manufactured yet, let alone when I might get it. My dealer, Alan's Factory Direct, is just as bad. I would never do business with either one again.

 

[mike4mar]

It's funny this thread came back to life. I am going to be putting up a 30x30x14 in the near future. I have a friend that just had a 30x40x14 put up, I went and looked at it and it looks great, he was pleased with the whole process and it came from Carolina Carports. I also two other friends that have had them installed recently and they are both happy. Maybe they have changed since the OP's issue?
Any other experiences out there?
mike4mar that ***** that the braces bent, that would be a big concern for me, especially since we had 30" of snow in one storm in Dec.
I hope it holds together now.
I plan on spray foaming my building.

We are changing the design from a channel to a tube since I voided the warranty by adding anything to the frame, no insulation, lights a or dust system tube. My calculation tell me that we more than double the load capacity of the braces. what is strange is that the +30" of snow in December did not cause the damage but right after the 6" in February is when we show the damage.

 

[readhead]

As a metal building dealer I hear these horror stories pretty often. I started my tube steel experience with American Steel Carports. Fired them after eight weeks when I realized how bad these companies are. Went with another company for about a year because I could buy the material and have my own guys install. That worked well but the owner retired and closed the company. Moved on to VersaTube and have been very happy for the last three years.

The driving force behind these buildings is cost. They are an inexpensive way to build a shelter and usually work fine for most situations. The big problem and the most complaints stem from delivery and installation problems. With Versatube I get a delivery date when I order and I can schedule my own crew to install plus I order my sheet metal from a different supplier and have a lot more profile and color options.

To be fair I am aware of independent builders and suppliers of material that can provide a good product at a fair price and use their own installers. They are mostly located in the southeast, the epicenter of the tube steel business, and they would be the ones to seek out.

 

[Knight511]

Adding to this thread without reading much.

1. To anyone who wants to say that ANY of the blame belongs with the consumer, please go #### yourself. This may be true of a NORMAL company, but Carolina Carports is NOT a normal company. None... and I mean NONE of the blame for problems with this company should be placed on the consumer. This company will blame the customer for EVERYTHING even when there is no way it is the customer's fault (my case).

2. Ordered from them at the end of July 2020. Scheduled install for the beginning of September 2020. 2 rain delays (it was a soggy mess) later, they came to do the install. The company brought the wrong size of doors (too big) and the wrong color of doors. I was offered to use the doors anyway and they would "eat" half the cost. I declined and they said the correct doors would be at the dock since they made a mistake bringing the wrong doors. Lies.

3. A month goes by with dozens of emails sent to CC with no response. Finally, at the end of October, I am told they need to have the doors made (they never had the correct doors and had lied). I told them I would be expecting the 10% refund for the delay that had past the 90 days in the contract I signed. No response about the refund.

4. 6 more weeks of emails and no returned phone calls before I finally tell them I want the refund now. They responded by telling me the shop was installed back in September and that the missing doors was a REPAIR. I told them I knew they were lying because the contract also said I would have to pay the second half when installation was completed and that I had not paid for the shop yet. Magically, they want to talk to me anyway possible when they realized they had not been paid for the building. I was told they had not installed the doors because "no crew had been in [your] area since September."

5. 4 weeks later, the same crew from September shows up to install the doors. The crew lead told me they had passed my house dozens of times and he had wondered when they would be told to come back.

Ordered July 19, 2020
Incomplete installation September 14, 2020
Doors installed January 16, 2021
Final invoice sent February 11, 2021

I know I left some details out, but this company is ****. Search for them through the BBB. Read Google reviews. Read Facebook reviews (I got blocked by them for my posts). Ultimately, find a builder in your area that has NOTHING TO DO WITH Carolina Carports. They use MANY third party outlets to sell their products (Alan's Factory Outlet in my case). If you get a contract or anything that refers to Carolina Carports, DO NOT SIGN!

 

[Lastrohm]

I placed an order late August 2020 for a 28x31x12 enclosed carport. Still waiting. Carolina Carports customer service is non-existant. They won't even tell me if the building has been manufactured yet, let alone when I might get it. My dealer, Alan's Factory Direct, is just as bad. I would never do business with either one again.

We ordered through Alan's Factory too on Sept 6, 2020. I have to say I didn't have a problem with them. They gave us our 10% back when we still had no build date from Carolina Carports, Inc within time on contract. Now Carolina Carports communication was very limited and I swear they wanted us to cancel the order. We finally got our 21x35 garage one week shy of one year.