Need advice on botched high lift install

[Rubber_Duc]

This is a spin off thread of my liftmaster noise thread. I didn't want to totally change the original thread so I thought this was more appropriate to ask in a new post.

Here is the problem I'm facing and maybe I can get some advice from you guys. I had a high-lift system installed and I had several companies quote doing this job and it ranged from 850 to over 2000. I decided to go with a large national brand so I wouldn't have any issues HA!

First issue is the guys showed up on Friday late afternoon on a holiday weekend so they already wanted to end the work week badly. When the guy first showed up I greeted him nicely and said "so how long do you think it will take you guys?" to which he replied, "well hopefully an hour or two but can't say for sure b/c we have never done a job like this before"....Ummmm, what?! Obviously this was completely the opposite of what the owner had told me when quoting the job, but whatever.

They were rushing to get done as fast as possible, which is just fine if they can do it correctly without screwing something up. They yanked all the old stuff out so fast that they threw screws and bolts, staples, etc. everywhere which isn't that big a deal as long as they clean it up, which they didn't.

As soon as they were about a 1/2 hour into the job I could tell by where they were mocking up the drums that they needed to go 3" higher. Now I only have a 10' ceiling so every inch counts otherwise I wouldn't have cared, but this was made known to the owner who quoted the job as of utmost importance to which he said it would be fine. Their response to me was "we can't go any higher b/c your garage door will hit the ceiling". This was completely untrue and could be tested by anyone by putting a tape measure on the door. I explained to them as nicely as I could that I believed they were incorrect and they needed to go 3" higher, but they insisted I would see when they were finished and it was 1/2" off the ceiling. So I said "Ok, your call I'm just telling you if it is not your going to have to fix it".

They continued work and at times just not being careful would bang into my tool chests, etc. which is annoying but I didn't say anything. Then when they had the highlift track mocked up I could see it was like 15" down off the ceiling and I just couldn't let the level of ignorance go without trying one more time to say something. So I went out and said, "that just isn't right guys, it can go up a lot higher than that, I just don't want you to have to redo it..." to which again they told me that is as high as it will go, I will see they said. Ok fine, so they continued.

Once they were able to test the door operation it was apparent that I had been correct (duh) and they both let out big sighs like "Q@$%^% I can't believe we are doing this on a Friday afternoon on Memorial Day Weekend" which both complained about incessantly about from that point forward. The conceded I was right and then they found the marking on the back of the high-lift track that said 21" high-lift not the 24" they were suppose to have, bingo there was the issue. So instead of saying "no problem we'll come back an fix it" they say, "maybe you can live with that, because we are going to have to redo this whole thing if you have to have those 3 inches...", wow are you kidding me? Not to mention that I noticed my old shaft was being reused instead of the new one they had on the ground. My old shaft is rusted and bent and I questioned them why that was being used to which they said, "the shaft we have is the wrong size", nice.

So I'm kind of at my wits end at this point and just say, "look guys, I know it is a holiday weekend and you want to leave, I get it, but this whole thing is wrong, you have installed the wrong size lift track, reused my old, rusted and bent shaft b/c you have the wrong new shaft, and I would like everything the way it was quoted and am paying for..." They grumbled about how much work it was going to be, but ok and they would have to come back and they didn't want to hook up the opener so they had less work to do when they came back to which I laughed and told them I didn't think so and to put it up. When they got it all working temporarily the door has a much bigger gap on the left then the right side which at this point I expected and just laughed.

When I asked them about the light fixture with the liftmaster they just handed it to me and said "customers install these themselves", which I highly doubt but I just wanted them gone honestly so I said fine. They told me I didn't have to pay them anything (which I probably shouldn't) but I gave them 50% (written on the invoice) b/c I did have the liftmaster operator (before I knew it had a humming transformer which I can hear inside my kitchen LOL). And lastly as they were getting ready to leave I said "what about my keypad", to which they said they didn't have one and would have to get me one.

So.....anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm just not sure exactly how to start the conversation with the owner on Tuesday. I think this is truly a case of they just wanted to make the wrong stuff work and hope I'd live with it kind of thing but who knows. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Yeah. Call the owner, tell him to either have it re-installed right or remove it and refund the money you spent. Serious beans - absolutely unprofessional.

Actually, as soon as the installer said "well hopefully an hour or two but can't say for sure b/c we have never done a job like this before" I would have sent them packing.

I've dealt with contractors who have pulled this (and worse) stunts - you think you're hiring a professional and end up with Larry, Curley, and Moe. Then the contractor tried to balme *you* for *their* incompetence.

I've had jobs pulled out for **** workmanship before. If its as bad as you say it is, then yeah, they need to get someone who knows what they're doing out there to make it right, or get it off your property.

Call the owner - I'd be on the phone this morning. (Hell, I would have been on the phone YESTERDAY morning!) He needs to know he's going to be held to making this right come Tuesday. And tell him if the same band of fools show up to fix it they can remove it. Ummm... if it were me, I'd also stop payment on the check. No, I wouldn't have written the check. I would have had the owner come by and pick it up himself. And showed him the **** work his guys did.

 

[Morrison]

Fire them! Since they installed the wrong unit anyway remove everything and go with someone else. Hopefully you haven't paid then anything.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

Yeah. Call the owner, tell him to either have it re-installed right or remove it and refund the money you spent. Serious beans - absolutely unprofessional.

Actually, as soon as the installer said "well hopefully an hour or two but can't say for sure b/c we have never done a job like this before" I would have sent them packing.

I've dealt with contractors who have pulled this (and worse) stunts - you think you're hiring a professional and end up with Larry, Curley, and Moe. Then the contractor tried to balme *you* for *their* incompetence.

I've had jobs pulled out for **** workmanship before. If its as bad as you say it is, then yeah, they need to get someone who knows what they're doing out there to make it right, or get it off your property.

Call the owner - I'd be on the phone this morning. (Hell, I would have been on the phone YESTERDAY morning!) He needs to know he's going to be held to making this right come Tuesday. And tell him if the same band of fools show up to fix it they can remove it. Ummm... if it were me, I'd also stop payment on the check. No, I wouldn't have written the check. I would have had the owner come by and pick it up himself. And showed him the **** work his guys did.

Thanks for the reply, yeah the only reason I paid anything was to show I was not a "****" trying to get something for nothing. I only paid b/c I had the liftmaster installed but again that was before I knew the transformer was buzzing waaaaaaayyyyyy too loud to keep it, ugh.

I could call the owner I guess, he has a cell phone but is on vacation until Monday, I hate to call him since it technically isn't an emergency or anything, I can use the door the way it is. I guess I'm worried that when I start listing the things that are wrong he is going to think i'm "that" type of guy that can't be made happy, but honestly everything is wrong that they did b/c they didn't have the right stuff. I'm just hoping when I mention I would like the liftmaster swapped out as well he doesn't give me any problems. And I paid the deposit cash just because I had it laying around so no stopping payment or anything but honestly as long as they fix it I don't care, I'll happily pay in full. It was extremely frustrating watching these guys put up stuff that I repeatedly said would not work for me but they did it anyway I just thought that going with the larger more well known company you wouldn't get this.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

Fire them! Since they installed the wrong unit anyway remove everything and go with someone else. Hopefully you haven't paid then anything.

I have paid 50%.

 

[upndown]

The owner of the company needs to be made aware of this situation, call him Tuesday morning, nothing he can do till then. Sounds to me like his " Right Hand Man " dropped the ball! You just don't send two Green Horns out on a Friday afternoon, before a Holiday to attempt to learn an install like that! He did more harm than good.

***** you had to go thru that, and hopefully it will get resolved professionally.

 

[mrpizza]

You paid for a 24", and got 21", right? No reason to worry about nit picking.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

The owner of the company needs to be made aware of this situation, call him Tuesday morning, nothing he can do till then. Sounds to me like his " Right Hand Man " dropped the ball! You just don't send two Green Horns out on a Friday afternoon, before a Holiday to attempt to learn an install like that! He did more harm than good.

***** you had to go thru that, and hopefully it will get resolved professionally.

This is exactly what I think happened, with the added problem of ordering the wrong track size.

You paid for a 24", and got 21", right? No reason to worry about nit picking.

Yes, but 24" when never specifically mentioned by him, but every other company said it would be a 24" so I assumed the same. The only thing we spoke about was it would be as close to the ceiling as you could get it, and it can go 3 more inches with the proper track.

 

[rsanter]

First you should not have paid them a thing as it was wrong
You are not being a **** unless you were planning to scam them...which you weren't.
That's said and done....
Get a hold of the owner.
Have him come and look,at the work and talk about how,it is not what you wanted.
Ask if he has another crew. And have him bring the other crew out to complete the work correctly.
Ask that he be there for the install with either crew

Bob

 

[Rubber_Duc]

First you should not have paid them a thing as it was wrong
You are not being a **** unless you were planning to scam them...which you weren't.
That's said and done....
Get a hold of the owner.
Have him come and look,at the work and talk about how,it is not what you wanted.
Ask if he has another crew. And have him bring the other crew out to complete the work correctly.
Ask that he be there for the install with either crew

Bob

Yeah I probably shouldn't, but I felt ok with giving them what I did b/c of the operator although again that needs to be changed out as well so I agree I wish I hadn't.

 

[Danver]

I guess I'm worried that when I start listing the things that are wrong he is going to think i'm "that" type of guy that can't be made happy, but honestly everything is wrong that they did b/c they didn't have the right stuff. I'm just hoping when I mention I would like the liftmaster swapped out as well he doesn't give me any problems.

Instead of sounding like you are just whining by telling him everything wrong over the phone try just telling him there are serious issues with the work done and you want him to come by so you can show him everything in person. Then he can also hear the humming transformer himself so there is no doubt.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

Instead of sounding like you are just whining by telling him everything wrong over the phone try just telling him there are serious issues with the work done and you want him to come by so you can show him everything in person. Then he can also hear the humming transformer himself so there is no doubt.

That is a very good idea, hopefully I can get him to come out personally and not send someone in his place. I just hate getting in these types of situations that is why I opted for the more experienced brand name company instead of a small fry, worked out good lol.

On another note what if they play the "I can't hear it, or that's normal" routine with the operator, what do you say to that?

 

[upndown]

I'd say ********! How many threads have we read here about the 8500, I don't recall that hum being an issue. Hopefully the owner is a stand up guy! Good luck..

 

[Worsedog]

On another note what if they play the "I can't hear it, or that's normal" routine with the operator, what do you say to that?

YOU can hear it. And by the way both of mine are silent. The only noise you hear is the door moving.

 

[LB-1911]

On another note what if they play the "I can't hear it, or that's normal" routine with the operator, what do you say to that?

Why not listen to a few 8500's in operation on youtube?

Lift Master 8500 Side Mount,Wall Mount Opener

https://www.google.com/#q=liftmaster+8500&tbm=vid

 

[Rubber_Duc]

Why not listen to a few 8500's in operation on youtube?

Lift Master 8500 Side Mount,Wall Mount Opener

https://www.google.com/#q=liftmaster+8500&tbm=vid

I have, and mine sounds identical in operation, but I don't think this low frequency hum would show up on audio on youtube. It is strange, the frequency is such that no matter where you are in the garage it is there, but if you get right next to the unit it is not louder, or softer farther away, it is strange. Who knows, maybe one of the geniuses dropped it before putting it in their truck The only thing I can equate it to is like a bad ballast in a fluorescent light, not horrible but definitely annoying as hell.

BTW, I called the tech support line for the Liftmaster and the lady was very nice and confirmed it was a transformer making the hum and it was NOT normal to hear anything while the unit is not in operation. She said if the company did not swap it out they would send me a new transformer and that it was easy to swap out, so that is some good news lol.

 

[pattenp]

I'll add to the statements about no noticeable hum. I have 2 LM3800's and I don't hear a hum until I get my head within a couple of feet of the unit and it has to be dead quiet to hear it.

 

[Lassen Forge]

In my humble opinion as a businessperson, bottom line is this.

You paid money you worked hard to get. That's how one makes money. They took your money and gave you NOT your moneys wotrth - from the noisy transformer to the absolute failure during installation.

You have to stop worrying about "what they think or feel" - you didn't pay them to be your friend, you paid them to do a job for you, and they failed. Miserably.

Here's a what-if. Say this crummy botch-job of an install by a pair of rookies falls down on you when a neighbor's kid is standing outside wanting to sell you girl scout cookies. The door falls on her, paralyzing her from the waist down. Will her parent's (a) sue the pants off of you because you destroyed their kids life and just cost them hundreds of thousands in future maintenance of their now parapalegic kid, or (b) say "Oh, you;re such a nice guy, we'll let it slide"...

You hired them because they are supposed to be pros. They took advantage of you - charging you a pro price and sending Larry and Curley who did such a **** job the thing will never be right... and I bet they drove away, check in hand, laughing their butts off on getting over on you. (And yes, I do know people who are just like that, and fired a good share of them!).

You've been worrying about this all weekend, while the owner is spending his unearned money and perhaps (hopefully not, but you just never know) even laughig alog with his drunking buddies he sent to do your install. It's obvious he's not concerned about you or your job (most will call right after the install, if not show up on the job) - AND he got the money. You're worried about messing up *his* weekend when he's messed up yours pretty bad already?

I can't tell you what to do, but if it were me, the check would be cancelled, I'd have left 10 messages on his phone, and told him to have a crew there monday to remove this obviously **** job his "boys" did. And be on the phone to the competition, and even if they're a local yokel company, get the job you wanted, and have it done right! (and do it now, before this guy fires these idjits and they go to work for the competition).

Mad... wouldn't even come close to how I feel about this, and it's not even my job. (If it were my company, I'd want to know - RIGHT NOW - and I''d be there RIGHT NOW to make it right.) When I spend money, I expect my moneys worth. They apparently didn't even come close.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

In my humble opinion as a businessperson, bottom line is this.

You paid money you worked hard to get. That's how one makes money. They took your money and gave you NOT your moneys wotrth - from the noisy transformer to the absolute failure during installation.

You have to stop worrying about "what they think or feel" - you didn't pay them to be your friend, you paid them to do a job for you, and they failed. Miserably.

Here's a what-if. Say this crummy botch-job of an install by a pair of rookies falls down on you when a neighbor's kid is standing outside wanting to sell you girl scout cookies. The door falls on her, paralyzing her from the waist down. Will her parent's (a) sue the pants off of you because you destroyed their kids life and just cost them hundreds of thousands in future maintenance of their now parapalegic kid, or (b) say "Oh, you;re such a nice guy, we'll let it slide"...

You hired them because they are supposed to be pros. They took advantage of you - charging you a pro price and sending Larry and Curley who did such a **** job the thing will never be right... and I bet they drove away, check in hand, laughing their butts off on getting over on you. (And yes, I do know people who are just like that, and fired a good share of them!).

You've been worrying about this all weekend, while the owner is spending his unearned money and perhaps (hopefully not, but you just never know) even laughig alog with his drunking buddies he sent to do your install. It's obvious he's not concerned about you or your job (most will call right after the install, if not show up on the job) - AND he got the money. You're worried about messing up *his* weekend when he's messed up yours pretty bad already?

I can't tell you what to do, but if it were me, the check would be cancelled, I'd have left 10 messages on his phone, and told him to have a crew there monday to remove this obviously **** job his "boys" did. And be on the phone to the competition, and even if they're a local yokel company, get the job you wanted, and have it done right! (and do it now, before this guy fires these idjits and they go to work for the competition).

Mad... wouldn't even come close to how I feel about this, and it's not even my job. (If it were my company, I'd want to know - RIGHT NOW - and I''d be there RIGHT NOW to make it right.) When I spend money, I expect my moneys worth. They apparently didn't even come close.

I guess I'm hopeful that if given the chance they will make it right. The purpose of this thread was to get advice on how to handle it when speaking to the boss on Tuesday to get the best result which you all have helped a lot with and I thank you for that. I guess I'm trying to give the company the benefit of the doubt at this point and that is why I have not mentioned who it is. And while I don't feel the service I got was the most professional, the follow-up may be....hopefully.

Really I guess it comes down to they will either do it or not, but I am not going to fight with them over it. IMO, if you have to scream or whatever to get something done it is just not worth that kind of relationship on something that should be fun. So as far as I'm concerned it will either go easy, and they will be happy to rectify the situation or it will be unpleasant which I won't be willing to engage in.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, it has been very helpful.

 

[zkling]

This is why I try to do all my own work. I hope it works out for the best and they make it right.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

This is why I try to do all my own work. I hope it works out for the best and they make it right.

Usually I'm the same way

 

[High5]

The Liftmaster should be under warranty. The contractor should not be out any overhead for a replace.

As for handling the install issues, the idea of having the owner out is the right approach. He needs to see firsthand what his crew did. I would also point out that in more than one instance you brought up the concern about track height and they didn't want to hear it. If this company holds a positive reputation in the community they will do what's necessary to make it right. If the guy folds his arms in front of his body and says "It works doesn't it?", then I would be inclined to mention that the word will get out about their shotty craftsmanship. The internet is a powerful tool. Lots of people research there before choosing a contractor. Too many negative feedback's and a company will struggle to survive. Most companies can ill-afford to have bad press out on the street.

As for when you have him visit, that's your call. You've left a message. If his company means anything to him, he'll put a high priority on it.

Best of luck.

 

[600SL]

Sounds like you got the same crew that did my concrete.

 

[fitz11]

Why would you ever pay cash? Especially when you know they did a **** job. That's crazy

 

[Rubber_Duc]

The Liftmaster should be under warranty. The contractor should not be out any overhead for a replace.

As for handling the install issues, the idea of having the owner out is the right approach. He needs to see firsthand what his crew did. I would also point out that in more than one instance you brought up the concern about track height and they didn't want to hear it. If this company holds a positive reputation in the community they will do what's necessary to make it right. If the guy folds his arms in front of his body and says "It works doesn't it?", then I would be inclined to mention that the word will get out about their shotty craftsmanship. The internet is a powerful tool. Lots of people research there before choosing a contractor. Too many negative feedback's and a company will struggle to survive. Most companies can ill-afford to have bad press out on the street.

As for when you have him visit, that's your call. You've left a message. If his company means anything to him, he'll put a high priority on it.

Best of luck.

I agree thanks for the advice.

Sounds like you got the same crew that did my concrete.

LOL that made me laugh actually.

Why would you ever pay cash? Especially when you know they did a **** job. That's crazy

I've mentioned several times that being that I had the liftmaster installed I felt comfortable paying half the job, and as for cash I had it. Again, everything may be just fine when I talk to the owner, we'll see, if it is there isn't an issue really, I just wanted some ideas on how to approach it is all b/c I wanted to do it tactfully.

 

[Tarheelgarage]

This is a spin off thread of my liftmaster noise thread. I didn't want to totally change the original thread so I thought this was more appropriate to ask in a new post.

Here is the problem I'm facing and maybe I can get some advice from you guys. I had a high-lift system installed and I had several companies quote doing this job and it ranged from 850 to over 2000. I decided to go with a large national brand so I wouldn't have any issues HA!

First issue is the guys showed up on Friday late afternoon on a holiday weekend so they already wanted to end the work week badly. When the guy first showed up I greeted him nicely and said "so how long do you think it will take you guys?" to which he replied, "well hopefully an hour or two but can't say for sure b/c we have never done a job like this before"....Ummmm, what?! Obviously this was completely the opposite of what the owner had told me when quoting the job, but whatever.


They were rushing to get done as fast as possible, which is just fine if they can do it correctly without screwing something up. They yanked all the old stuff out so fast that they threw screws and bolts, staples, etc. everywhere which isn't that big a deal as long as they clean it up, which they didn't.

As soon as they were about a 1/2 hour into the job I could tell by where they were mocking up the drums that they needed to go 3" higher. Now I only have a 10' ceiling so every inch counts otherwise I wouldn't have cared, but this was made known to the owner who quoted the job as of utmost importance to which he said it would be fine. Their response to me was "we can't go any higher b/c your garage door will hit the ceiling". This was completely untrue and could be tested by anyone by putting a tape measure on the door. I explained to them as nicely as I could that I believed they were incorrect and they needed to go 3" higher, but they insisted I would see when they were finished and it was 1/2" off the ceiling. So I said "Ok, your call I'm just telling you if it is not your going to have to fix it".

They continued work and at times just not being careful would bang into my tool chests, etc. which is annoying but I didn't say anything. Then when they had the highlift track mocked up I could see it was like 15" down off the ceiling and I just couldn't let the level of ignorance go without trying one more time to say something. So I went out and said, "that just isn't right guys, it can go up a lot higher than that, I just don't want you to have to redo it..." to which again they told me that is as high as it will go, I will see they said. Ok fine, so they continued.

Once they were able to test the door operation it was apparent that I had been correct (duh) and they both let out big sighs like "Q@$%^% I can't believe we are doing this on a Friday afternoon on Memorial Day Weekend" which both complained about incessantly about from that point forward. The conceded I was right and then they found the marking on the back of the high-lift track that said 21" high-lift not the 24" they were suppose to have, bingo there was the issue. So instead of saying "no problem we'll come back an fix it" they say, "maybe you can live with that, because we are going to have to redo this whole thing if you have to have those 3 inches...", wow are you kidding me? Not to mention that I noticed my old shaft was being reused instead of the new one they had on the ground. My old shaft is rusted and bent and I questioned them why that was being used to which they said, "the shaft we have is the wrong size", nice.

So I'm kind of at my wits end at this point and just say, "look guys, I know it is a holiday weekend and you want to leave, I get it, but this whole thing is wrong, you have installed the wrong size lift track, reused my old, rusted and bent shaft b/c you have the wrong new shaft, and I would like everything the way it was quoted and am paying for..." They grumbled about how much work it was going to be, but ok and they would have to come back and they didn't want to hook up the opener so they had less work to do when they came back to which I laughed and told them I didn't think so and to put it up. When they got it all working temporarily the door has a much bigger gap on the left then the right side which at this point I expected and just laughed.

When I asked them about the light fixture with the liftmaster they just handed it to me and said "customers install these themselves", which I highly doubt but I just wanted them gone honestly so I said fine. They told me I didn't have to pay them anything (which I probably shouldn't) but I gave them 50% (written on the invoice) b/c I did have the liftmaster operator (before I knew it had a humming transformer which I can hear inside my kitchen LOL). And lastly as they were getting ready to leave I said "what about my keypad", to which they said they didn't have one and would have to get me one.

So.....anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm just not sure exactly how to start the conversation with the owner on Tuesday. I think this is truly a case of they just wanted to make the wrong stuff work and hope I'd live with it kind of thing but who knows. Thanks for any advice.

A few things you need to take action own immediately:

1. Call the owner. I don't give a daym if he's own vacation, he's the one who sent those ****-birds to your place and they did a half-*** job. Tell him to be at your place Tuesday; no excuses.

2. Put a stop payment on that check. This will give you leverage to get the job done correctly. Owner might be a **** and tell you to go screw yourself even though he has only half of payment unless you cancell the check.

3. Does liftmaster have an "authorized" installation list that has these jackasses listed as being recommended for liftmaster installations. If so, contact liftmaster and give them and ear full and hopefully have them removed from such list (if one exists)

Unless you bring some heat on their ***, they will continue to do ****** work and **** on folks; it's their nature.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

Hopefully it won't require that and the owner is a stand up guy. I did pull my invoice out and saw where the installer had noted they needed to come back and fix it with the appropriate parts so that is good.

 

[LB-1911]

Hopefully it won't require that and the owner is a stand up guy.

I did pull my invoice out and saw where the installer had noted they needed to come back and fix it with the appropriate parts so that is good.

If I may, When did you review your invoice?

 

[AZ Pete]

The best advice you have received is it have the owner come inspect the job. If he is any kind of business man he wants to know when his representatives are not delivering what he is selling. Like most businesses the best advertisement is "word of mouth". word of mouth can also kill lots of sales.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Tarheelgarage]

Hopefully it won't require that and the owner is a stand up guy. I did pull my invoice out and saw where the installer had noted they needed to come back and fix it with the appropriate parts so that is good.

How do you know the owner is a stand up guy? Did he tell you that himself...

Plenty of slick talking business owners out there shitting folks but give you the impression that they are a " stand-up guy" The only person that is at risk of being "stood-up" is you if you don't grows some fangs and balls and tear into his *** over this ****-job.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

[/B]

If I may, When did you review your invoice?

Not sure I totally understand what you mean, I just reviewed it when I posted unless are you getting at something else?

The best advice you have received is it have the owner come inspect the job. If he is any kind of business man he wants to know when his representatives are not delivering what he is selling. Like most businesses the best advertisement is "word of mouth". word of mouth can also kill lots of sales.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I agree.

How do you know the owner is a stand up guy? Did he tell you that himself...

Plenty of slick talking business owners out there shitting folks but give you the impression that they are a " stand-up guy" The only person that is at risk of being "stood-up" is you if you don't grows some fangs and balls and tear into his *** over this ****-job.

Well I spoke with him a long time and just had a genuine good feeling about it, which is why I'm surprised. I have no problem growing fangs, and my balls are a good enough size when they need to be, this is more about giving a guy a chance before saying anything you would regret. I also find that you get further trying to start off reasonable then angry. I own a small business and over the years I've only had 1 guy really fly off the handle for no reason, and I mean NO reason, and I simply told him to go elsewhere and pulled out of the project and accepted no payment from him. He practically begged me to reconsider while at the same time being a complete ***** and I don't ever want to be "that" guy. If however, when I speak to him Tuesday it goes any other way accept that they will certainly take care of the problem, then I feel like it would be justified to do as you and others have said, and probably to reveal who they are as well. But I believe it is only fair to give them a chance to do the right thing.

 

[48windsor]

In my humble opinion as a businessperson, bottom line is this.

You paid money you worked hard to get. That's how one makes money. They took your money and gave you NOT your moneys wotrth - from the noisy transformer to the absolute failure during installation.

You have to stop worrying about "what they think or feel" - you didn't pay them to be your friend, you paid them to do a job for you, and they failed. Miserably.

Here's a what-if. Say this crummy botch-job of an install by a pair of rookies falls down on you when a neighbor's kid is standing outside wanting to sell you girl scout cookies. The door falls on her, paralyzing her from the waist down. Will her parent's (a) sue the pants off of you because you destroyed their kids life and just cost them hundreds of thousands in future maintenance of their now parapalegic kid, or (b) say "Oh, you;re such a nice guy, we'll let it slide"...

You hired them because they are supposed to be pros. They took advantage of you - charging you a pro price and sending Larry and Curley who did such a **** job the thing will never be right... and I bet they drove away, check in hand, laughing their butts off on getting over on you. (And yes, I do know people who are just like that, and fired a good share of them!).

You've been worrying about this all weekend, while the owner is spending his unearned money and perhaps (hopefully not, but you just never know) even laughig alog with his drunking buddies he sent to do your install. It's obvious he's not concerned about you or your job (most will call right after the install, if not show up on the job) - AND he got the money. You're worried about messing up *his* weekend when he's messed up yours pretty bad already?

I can't tell you what to do, but if it were me, the check would be cancelled, I'd have left 10 messages on his phone, and told him to have a crew there monday to remove this obviously **** job his "boys" did. And be on the phone to the competition, and even if they're a local yokel company, get the job you wanted, and have it done right! (and do it now, before this guy fires these idjits and they go to work for the competition).

Mad... wouldn't even come close to how I feel about this, and it's not even my job. (If it were my company, I'd want to know - RIGHT NOW - and I''d be there RIGHT NOW to make it right.) When I spend money, I expect my moneys worth. They apparently didn't even come close.

Well said I feel the same way !

 

[Cobra5150]

Did Moe give you a receipt for the cash?

 

[Rubber_Duc]

Did Moe give you a receipt for the cash?

Yeah, I made him write "Paid 500.00" and the date right on the invoice.

 

[Cobra5150]

Yeah, I made him write "Paid 500.00" and the date right on the invoice.

Oh he could write? Got more brains than I thought from your description. I hope it all works out for you.

 

[Madrona]

This is why I try to do all my own work. I hope it works out for the best and they make it right.

Same here. I only hire people for work I absolutely cannot do myself, or have no time to do but have to have it. I cannot stand slapdash work. The minute they started arguing with me about the height, I would have shut the whole thing down and told them to leave. I don't let in progress train wrecks continue.

 

[bjcouche]

I'll try and be the optimist, here since everybody else seems to be the pessimist.. Have the owner take a look at the installation. It is possible that he is unaware of the crappy workmanship these two fellas are doing. Maybe they are new hires or inexperienced... Installing a standard door is quite easy and repetitious and the market is saturated with installers who install them.
You have a high lift install which requires an installer who can think outside the box, install a custom solution and possibly modify the design slightly to fit your particular garage. IF they've never installed a high lift before, they should have had a senior guy there who had, so that they could learn how to do it right the first time.
Tell us that they were going to replace the springs and the drums with new tapered drums right?
got any pictures of the install as it sits now?

Brian

 

[Dakota00]

BTW, I called the tech support line for the Liftmaster and the lady was very nice and confirmed it was a transformer making the hum and it was NOT normal to hear anything while the unit is not in operation. She said if the company did not swap it out they would send me a new transformer and that it was easy to swap out, so that is some good news lol.

This is good to hear... I need to get on the horn and contact LM for a replacement transformer.

 

[justsam]

Reasonable people come up with reasonable remedies.

From a legal perspective, you must give this business an opportunity to make it right. Hopefully the owner will see what has occurred and make you a satisfied customer, however it seems as if he did not instill this value in his employees, and it is often true that subordinates mimic their leaderships attitude.

Today it seems as if the PRO in "professional" is all about PRODUCTIVITY and not high level of customer satisfaction. I agree with others if you can do this yourself, and in this case you were the one person on site that knew what to do, then just do it yourself. At my age I have taken to just hiring the grunt labor, teaching them in some cases which end of a shovel to hold, and do the rest myself. If some component is not just right, does not match others, wrong size, etc. I just stop my project and do something else. A real business could never do this.

 

[Rubber_Duc]

Ok, just wanted to post the follow up. I was called Tuesday morning by the owner. After a bit of him trying to see if we could get what I had to work I simply said that it should have been 24" and that is what I would like to which he agreed and said he would send guys out the next day (today). So I was told I would get a call in the afternoon and around 3:30 I was a little nervous but the call finally came.

It was from his right hand man who asked if there was any way we could change the appointment to Friday. Now I'll have to admit this made me angry b/c I had to get all my vehicles out of the garage and take a show car to a friend's house who agreed to let it sit in his garage b/c of the violent storms coming through all day, it was just a BIG PITA and I didn't nor shouldn't have to do it again on Friday when today was the scheduled appointment. I expressed myself and started to get angry which I didn't want to do but I had been waiting all day and after what happened last week I would think I should be a top priority which I obviously wasn't. He said one of the crew called in and they were playing catch up, yada yada, which I can appreciate but I feel that my issue needed to be dealt with or scheduled appropriately for another day besides today when they made the appointment. It finally came down to me saying "you can fix it today or not just keep my money I've paid and I'll get someone else". I really hated it came to saying that but I was feeling put off and like my time wasn't valuable.

So the owner called me and gave me a story about how this and that, and taking longer etc. on other jobs but said they will be out just a little later so I said fine. A little after five the right hand man showed up, and wow, it is amazing how different it is when a guy does 2 things:

1) Knows what he is doing
2) Takes pride in his work

It was apparent this guy was a different caliber then dumb and dumber and worked his *** off from the minute he got there to the minute he left. Half way through one of the original guys came to "help" and it was funny how different his attitude was around the other guy. No smoking, laziness, complaining etc. but there was no comparison between these 2 guys at all in terms of work ethic and doing it right with pride. For example the head guy cut one side of the track to length to make it tidy after it was up and the other guy cut the other side. The head guys cut was dead on 90° and looked like it came from the factory, the other guys was crooked lol

So after getting everything fixed and lifted to the new 24" track they installed a new liftmaster which had the exact same hum He said that was weird and called a special tech support line for installers (not the girls that read scripts for homeowners). The technician asked if it was plugged into an extension cord and he said that was the problem (I have yet to run the plug). He said that the transformer will hum unless a special extension cord is used, I have know idea if that is correct but we'll see when I run it. The head guy made it a point to tell me that if it still hums after I have an outlet he will come back and find another solution, hopefully not all talk but he seemed like a good guy that cared for whatever that is worth.

When he packed up everything I paid him the balance and threw in an extra 20 bucks for him and told him I'd like to buy him dinner for fixing the situation, he was stunned and asked if I was sure lol, guess he thought after the talk on the phone I'd still be pissed, which maybe some people would be but I didn't want to stay angry even though it was a PITA to get them here today. Anyway all in all I'm very happy with the work after having the head guy on it. I believe it would have been done right the first time if he would have been out here. Now I just need to get the Challenger installed, hopefully that will go better LOL!