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November 17, 2006
Aware of the horrible business Gandy conducts!
Re: Gandy Construction
I'm writing to you to express my extreme dissatisfaction with your company. My husband and I met with a sales rep of yours (Sterling) around August 21st. Sterling informed us that Gandy has a great reputation, with no BBB complaints, and mentioned many times the exceptional work done by Gandy, including the excellent clean up job that is done once the work is completed. After comparing the estimate with that of 3 other companies, my husband and I decided to contract with you to have our siding and gutters completed. We made this decision based on a competitive estimate, the fact that Sterling said it would be a two-day job, and the presentation made by Sterling. We contacted Sterling to complete the contract, make a down payment, and schedule the job for completion. The job was scheduled to begin on October 5th and Sterling was given a check for $1000 as a down payment.
About 1 and 1/2 weeks prior to the job's scheduled start date, I contacted Gandy to find out about permits and to confirm the begin date. I thought it was extremely strange that I hadn't been contacted by the company prior to my phone call. Recently, we had windows installed by Wallside and we received a post card in the mail and a phone call within two weeks of signing an agreement, confirming our appointment. I spoke with both Megan and John and was told that yes, Gandy would get the permit, and "if my paperwork said October 5th, then that's when the job would start."
After this phone call, I felt a bit worried, but assumed that maybe we slipped through the cracks for the confirmation call. I then called again early in the week of October 5th. Once again, confirming the start date, so I would know if I needed to be home to meet with the crew. I was told by John that the foreman would contact me (I gave him my cell phone number) on the 5th if he had any questions, but that I wouldn't necessarily need to meet with him. I was also told that the foreman would call me on Friday the 6th when the job was complete to do a walk through and accept payment.
On Thursday, October 5th, I had to run an errand during the middle of the work day and decided to stop home to see how the job was going. I came home about noon to find that no one was there working on my house. A permit had been stuck in the door and materials dropped off, but no work had begun. I called Gandy and was told by Sara that the crew was delayed from a previous job but would be out that afternoon to begin work. I explained to her that it would have been nice to receive a phone call explaining this to me. On the evening of the 5th (around 6:30 pm), I arrived home from work to find that STILL NO WORK HAD BEEN DONE. At this point, I was very upset. I called Gandy and was told by a very nice young lady (I can't recall her name), that she apologized and that she would make a phone call to a manager (since it was after hours) and that someone would call me back that night. Yet again, I was disappointed because I never received a phone call.
On Friday, October 6th, I called Gandy to explain my frustration. My first phone call was at about 8:30 am (I believe) and was answered by the answering service. I once again explained my frustration and was told that the message would be relayed and someone would call me once the office opened. I did not receive a call. Around 10:00 am, I called Gandy and asked to speak with a manager. I spoke with Steve and asked why the work had not begun on my house and explained my frustrations with not getting any of my phone calls returned or any communication regarding the delay. Steve apologized and said he would have Randy call me (I once again gave my cell phone number). An hour or two later, I still had not received a call back, so I called Gandy again. I spoke with Steve and while I was on the phone with him, he got Randy on the phone and was yelling at him while I was on the other line. He abruptly told me that Randy would be calling me within minutes. I found this behavior to be extremely unprofessional, but was somewhat satisfied because it felt like someone was doing something. By the afternoon of the 6th, I finally spoke with Randy and was told that work had begun and that it would be completed by the end of the weekend.
On the evening of Friday, October 6th, I arrived home from work and the siding was going up on our garage. I spoke with one of the two men working and answered a couple of his questions. I asked him what time they would be there Saturday morning and when they expected to finish the job on Sunday. He appeared to not have been aware that they were going to be working over the weekend. He told me that he would have to make a phone call and would let me know. The two men worked until just before dark. Before they left, my husband and I were told that only one would be returning on Saturday. At this point, I realized that the job would not be complete and decided to just be pleased that work was being done.
On Monday, October 9th, I called Gandy to find out when the job would be completed and to schedule the walk through. I spoke with Randy and we scheduled the walk through for that Saturday, because both my husband and I were going to be out of town. While I was out of town, we had a family emergency and I called Gandy on Thursday, October 12th, to reschedule our walk through. I spoke with Sara and explained to her what happened and told her I would contact them on Monday to complete the walk through.
While my husband and I were out of town, we asked a neighbor to drive by and see how things were going. As of Thursday evening, October 12th, the job was STILL NOT COMPLETE! I have yet to be told why, other than an excuse that there was a delay with some of the materials and (SURPRISE) no phone call on this either!
On Monday, October 16th, I arrived home around noon to find the same 2 men from the first day just finishing up. They were cleaning up their supplies and packing their van. I called Gandy to schedule the walk through for the following Saturday and express my anger at the job just being completed. I also wanted to know when the gutters would be complete. I believe I spoke with Sara first and was then transferred to Randy. I was told by Randy that the gutter team does "4 -5 jobs per day" and would be out that afternoon. I asked Randy to call me on my cell phone when the job was complete and we would schedule the walk through for Saturday morning when my husband returned. I arrived home from work that evening and surprise, surprise, NO GUTTERS! The gutters were not completed until Wednesday, October 18th. This was almost a full TWO WEEKS AFTER THE JOB WAS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN. Also, I never received a phone call from Randy . At this point, I was so irritated with the lack of communication and customer service that I decided Gandy could contact me to schedule the walk through and their payment. Not until Saturday morning did Randy call and say he would be out around 11:00 am. Unfortunately, I was working Saturday morning and my husband met with Randy.
The only thing that went well with this job was that the siding and gutters look very nice. We had one problem that my husband addressed with Randy, which was the horrible clean up job done by the crew. There were nails all over around the house along with small pieces of siding. Randy assured my husband that someone would be out on Monday to do a better clean up job. My husband was satisfied with this and wrote Randy a check for the $7550.00 that we owed for the rest of the job.
It is now the evening of Monday, October 23rd. I arrived home from work at 4:45 pm today to find that the mess had not been cleaned up. I called Gandy once again to complain and spoke with John. I was told that someone would be out this evening to do the clean up. At about 6:45 pm, very close to dark, the two men who did the siding returned to do more clean up. The told me that they were also going to caulk around some electrical and apologized for missing the nails. I must say, these two men were the only people that I felt handled anything professionally. They did a nice job on the siding and were very friendly and professional and asked specifically what we wanted done and did exactly what we asked.
I am completely amazed and appalled at the lack of customer service, communication, and follow through that I've experienced over the last few weeks. I will NEVER do business with Gandy again and will NEVER refer anyone to your company. I have yet to decide if I'm going to file a complaint with the BBB. I feel that if you use that in your sales pitch, you better back it up. I wouldn't want other consumers to put up with the hassle that I did. I would much rather have paid an extra $300 to go with another company than to deal with such a horrible company. I think that all consumers should be aware of the horrible business Gandy conducts! I myself work in the service industry and know that customers are everything. I feel that all of my phone calls and complaints were brushed off and never handled appropriately. I have never been so dissatisfied with a company.
I hope that someone in your office has the decency to contact me regarding my complaint. However, I also know the kind of response I've received over the last two weeks and have very low expectations. I would appreciate a call from someone regarding this and would like to know what will be done to rectify this situation.
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