We've had countless happy customers in our 30 years of business. We were surprised and dismayed to read this review. I loose sleep if I think a customer wasn’t satisfied with the quality of our work or service. This customer seemed pleased with our work and paid us in full. The homeowner did want a free lock from us, which we could not provide and it's a shame that this seems to have tainted their experience with our company.
I know it is a long response but it is very hard to read such an angry review directed at my company and me personally. There is a lot to be learned about how relationships between a contracting firm and a consumer can go off track. We are sorry this particular customer didn't feel her needs were met when insisting that we give her a free lock.
When we sold this homeowner a front door the sales rep was asked if we could reuse the existing lock set that was installed on the old door. The sales rep said we probably could, based on the lockset appearing to be in good condition and fairly new. There was no guarantee made verbally or written.
Locksets are sold separately from the doors themselves because it is up to the customer to decide if they want to reuse old ones-when possible, or purchase new ones. This is stipulated in the typical door contract. We will always try to reinstall the old lockset if homeowner desires. If that fails, the homeowner has to provide a new one that they could purchase from any hardware store or buy one from us.
When the installer took the lockset out of the old door he realized its backset was not correct for a modern door and not adjustable like a normal modern lock would be. After spending a lot of time trying to fix it, the installer called our office and explained the problem to me. Within a half hour I went to the site, after gathering every possible part from old locks we had collected in the last 30 years, to try to help the homeowner and spare them from having to purchase a new lock.
Unfortunately, we could not make the old lockset work, but managed to install an old part to make it work. The homeowner's parents, who were in the house for this visit kept insisting that we were responsible to provide a new lock at our expense, because the sales rep "guaranteed" the old lock, would fit. They were not present during the sale and no guarantees were made. The unfortunate misunderstanding of the homeowner that “probably we can reuse it” is not a guarantee.
A few days later the homeowner called me again to ask me if I could remove the casing we had installed around the new door so an alarm company could install an alarm. I went to the house and removed the casing at no charge. Again the parents were there and insisted we pay for a new lock several times and that we should have known the lockset would not work on this door.
Again I explained to the homeowner that all good locksets have an adjustable backset and the fact that their old one didn’t was unusual and could have only be determined when it was removed. I removed the casing for her. I also told her to feel free to call me back when the alarm installation was done to reinstall the casing at that time if they needed to. I helped this customer with extra service at no cost to her. It was unfortunate that the lock did not work but I immediately serviced her when she needed help, so you can imagine how being called rude and arrogant personally upsets me now.
Asking for a free lockset is an unreasonable request.
Strangely enough, we received full payment on completion of a beautiful job. Would you pay in full if the job was a disaster as claimed or the contract had not been completely fulfilled?
It is so easy to smear somebody nowadays. To me, as someone who takes pride in my integrity and the work we accomplish for people every day, it is depressing to receive such an unjustified attack. But, to even this customer I want to say, don't worry, if you ever need future service on the door we will not hesitate to be there. We have serviced our customers since 1982, even after the warranty expires. You can ask any of our other customers!
Sincerely,
Emilio Lavignasse - Owner
