Fine Contracting Company

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• By Anonymous

  October 5, 2017

  The quality of their workmanship and materials is mediocre and the owner of the company, Mike Schaefer, doesn't stand behind the work and doesn't want to be bothered afterwards with fixing any problems. The combination latch and lock mechanism they installed on the gate to our privacy fence never worked properly from day one and I notified Mike that same day, September 11. The lock is a bar that's supposed to slide back and forth between the locked and unlocked positions. Our bar doesn't budge. The latch is supposed to close automatically. Initially, it did so only about half the time and now it never does. We have to close the latch manually, which can't be done from the outside, meaning, when either I or my husband leaves the house, the other one has to follow as far as the gate to close the latch manually from inside the backyard. Over 3500.00 spent and we don't have a gate that latches properly!

  When I first complained to Mike on September 11, he told me they've been using this particular latch/lock mechanism for eons, all fence companies use it, no other customers have ever complained about it ... not I'm sorry to hear this and I'll send someone out within the next few days to fix this for you. It was like pulling teeth to get Mike to send his crew back - which he finally did 10 days after my initial complaint - to install a second, separate lock on another part of the gate (this new lock, a different design altogether from the original lock, works like a charm). While they were here, they adjusted the hinges on the gate, which, they said, would cause the latch to close automatically ... no, it didn't. Again, I complained to Mike that same day, September 21, and this time I was told his crew had reported back to him the latch was "banged up a bit" (his precise words), implying, to me, we banged it up by abusing it and that's why it doesn't work properly. Either his crew lied to him or they never told him any such thing and he's lying to me and using it as an excuse to weasel out of making good on the latch. There isn't so much as a scratch on that latch; it looks as pristine as the day it was installed. At that point, because his crew had already had two cracks at making the latch work properly (on installation day and on the return trip) and they couldn't and because dealing with Mike had become such an aggravating hassle, I told him I didn't want him to send anyone around anymore. Also, now that I've caught either his crew or him in a lie, I don't trust them and I don't want to do business with them anymore. I told Mike the guy who built our new deck would take care of fixing or replacing the latch for us; this way, I know it will be done perfectly the first time and it will last. Mike never responded to me. He has full payment and that's all he cares about.

  A few days ago, I came across a customer review of this fence company on Yelp from someone named Julie, posted in March of this year. I wish I had seen her review when I was getting estimates from fence companies because it would have prompted me to scratch Fine Fence Contracting off my list. According to Julie, with the first snowstorm and high winds after they had installed her new fence, half of it collapsed. She said she found out the reason was they didn't cement all the posts. She said she contacted Mike and he never responded. Now I'm wondering - and worrying - they pulled the same stunt here and our fence will collapse with the first strong winds, too.

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