On this past Memorial Day, I was the victim of an attempted break-in. In the process, a window [which I had gotten installed through Long Fence less that 2 yrs ago] was broken. Even though I have a “lifetime” warranty certificate that says it covers broken glass for any reason, I was told that I am not covered because the window was broken due to vandalism, which they don’t cover. The certificate does not say anything about that but the customer service representative said that it is written somewhere on my contract. So, I was informed that if I wanted the company to go ahead and order the glass, it would take anywhere from 1-2 weeks for them to get the glass in. After about a week and a half, I called back because I hadn’t heard anything. I was told that because I didn’t call back to confirm that I wanted the glass ordered no one had placed the order. I very upset at this point, but I went ahead and told them to order it anyway. After a couple of days I received another call saying I had to pay up front before the order was placed since I was not being covered by an insurance company. I gave my credit card information and my card was charged for the approx. $150.00. I got a call a little over a week later letting me know that the glass had arrived and for me to call and schedule an appt., which I did. The appt was supposed to be for July 11 between 9 and 3 and I was told that someone would call me on that day to let me know about what time they would come. On that Saturday, I stayed home and waited and waited, checked the phone, checked the door several times and no one had contacted me. I waited until after 5:00 to leave the house just to make sure no one was coming. So, I left a message for someone to call me as soon as possible. Since the office was closed on the weekend, that didn’t happen until Monday. I spoke with several customer service reps and told them the situation and was informed that in the system it was a note saying that a technician came to my home and I was not there and a note was left, which is a lie. I had a baby shower to go to and even got to that late because I waited until after 5:00 to leave my home. It is not possible that someone came by or even called me at all unless it was after that time. I have put over $7, 000 into this company and it has been more that a month since my window was broken and I have not gotten anything close to the service that I deserve. When I ask for a manager, I keep getting transferred to the same person who keeps telling me that only thing that I can do is reschedule … and what? Wait for another week or two to get this taken care of. This is just ridiculous.

Installers cut the irrigation system pipe and refuse to pay repair costs.

I hired Long Fence (Ijamsville, MD 301.428.9040) to repair an existing Long fence. We have stockade (privacy) fence on three sides and split rail on the back, facing woods.

1. Sales experience was professional and I gave them a 1/3 deposit. Installers were supposed to contact me to agree on the location of new gate in rear split rail fence, replace 6 rotten rails, replace 10 broken pickets, and replace stockade gate (which was warped). Note that there was an existing split rail gate that was chained closed because it opens into a swimming pool area.

2. Installers did not contact us and came while we were on vacation. They replaced the old split rail gate instead of installing a new one, replaced six adjacent rails but not the rotten ones, and installed pickets that were a half inch more narrow than the existing ones (so much for a privacy fence). They did install the new stockade gate, but did not reinstall the existing self-closing spring. The stockade gate does not close properly.

3. I met a supervisor before work and pointed out the issues. Nothing happened for a couple of weeks.

4. After repeated unreturned calls to the installation supervisor, Rob Phillips, I complained to the sales guy, Scott Osvald, that I wanted my deposit back. Magically, the installation manager called the same day.

5. A crew came out and installed the rails and the self-closing spring while I was there. They did not have the correct stockade pickets or the post necessary to install the new split rail gate, and seemed totally unaware of the issues. After they left, I spray painted the location for the new gate on the existing rails.

6. A crew came out and installed the correct pickets and new split rail gate. Unfortunately, the new gate only opens 90 degrees, rather than 180 degrees like the existing one (in the pool area before they mistakenly replaced it) and like our neighbors' does.

7. Two more messages to the installation manager were not returned. Apparently Long Fence was not interested in resolving the problem or even in collecting the extension cord the installers had left behind.

8. Around this time I received two calls from Wendy, asking for payment. I explained that I would be glad to pay once the job was completed correctly. She was argumentative and unpleasant, but arranged for the supervisor to come back.

9. I met the supervisor again and showed him the problem with the split rail gate. He looked at it but could not offer any suggestions and said that the new gates were designed differently and that's how they work. I told him I was not happy but paid the balance on the account because I was so fed up with the situation.

10. I have contacted my neighbors' company to supply a split rail gate like theirs, that opens all the way. I left a message for Wendy asking Long Fence to buy back the unsatisfactory split rail gate and to set up a service appointment to realign the stockade gate. I do not expect to hear from them now that they have my money, but there's always a chance that someone cares enough about Long Fence's reputation to try to make me happy. Ha.

Throughout this two month ordeal, 7/28/07 - 9/26/07, I have had to take time off from work several times. I'm an hourly consultant, so this was not insignificant. My phone calls were routinely ignored. I would not recommend using this company for anything, even a repair.