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  Pittsburgh Fence Company Inc

  551 E Main St Carnegie, PA 15106

• 

  Pittsburgh Fence Company Inc

  PO Box 522 Carnegie, PA 15106-0522

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/26/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Back yard privacy fence, I explained to Jeff, the owner, that I needed the install to be completed promptly due to having a swimming pool in back yard. He was very confident the gate for the driveway would be constructed in two days, all lies. The installation started the first week of Aug and it is still not completed in the third week of October. I paid upfront and he sent his worse crew to do the job. He sent a replacement crew this time and they confirmed the team that originally started the job is always needing their work redone. I asked for a straight fence along the back yard, Jeff, the owner, wanted to install a gate, I took his advice and it has been a nightmare. He keeps promising to get it right but his team widened the space and used the same gate leaving a 3”gap between the gate and the fence. This just touches the surface, he originally installed the fence so low they had to dig out my yard to open the gate, it rained and I had to step in a puddle to open the gate. His team left cigarettes butts, garbage and fence shavings in my yard and driveway. I had cleared out all of the greenery and they dug holes for the post and dumped the dirt in the area I just spent weeks cleaning out, I now have weeds. How does it take a FENCE company 3 months to install the most common fence there is? 6 foot vinyl privacy fence. He got paid and now I am not a priority. It has been a terrible experience and I just want my fence done right and compensated for the length of time it has taken, the garbage I have had clean up and the frustration this has caused.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/16/2023

  We are writing this letter in response to your complaint #******** regarding the issues with the installation of the privacy fence at *** ******* **** *****. We first met with the homeowner on May 2nd, 2023. During the site inspection we discussed the fence layout as well as the installation of a driveway gate and a gate at the rear of the property to hide the garbage cans. Initially, the homeowner wanted to simply stop the fence at backside of the shed but after looking at the area behind the shed we felt that there could be a problem with the earth shifting in the future, so we asked about the possibility of stopping the fence at the front of the shed. The homeowner said that would be fine, but she needed somewhere to put her garbage cans, but really wasn't interested in looking at them, we suggested installing a gate in front, to hide them. The homeowner seemed to really like the idea, so we included it in our proposal. Two days after our meeting we provided the homeowner with our proposal. 
   
  In our original proposal our payment terms were approximately one third deposit and delivery was shown as 6-8 weeks after receipt of order. On May 11th, 2023, the homeowner called our office to ask if we could help her out with the price on our proposal. We agreed and reduced the price on our proposal by roughly ten percent and reduced our delivery time to 4 - 6 weeks after receipt of order. On June 5th, 2023, we received the deposit for the project. Then five weeks later, July 14th, 2023, at the homeowner's request we made an additional site visit to review additional work. During the site visit the customer asked for a proposal to provide fifty percent more fence to the project. 
  On July 18th, 2023, we talked with the homeowner regarding the additional cost, based on the additional fence. At that time the homeowner agreed with pricing changes but informed us that the site was still not ready for us to begin work. Then on July 21st the homeowner called our office to ask if she could pay for the balance of the project in advance so she could take advantage of a credit card offer before it expired. Although we did not request it or require it, we agreed. During the same conversation, the homeowner said that the site was ready for us and asked when we could be on site to start work. We let the homeowner know we were hoping to start work the following week on her project. Unfortunately, as we moved closer to starting the project, we were forced to push our start date back by a few days due to scheduling and weather issues. When we notified the homeowner, she expressed concern because she had paid us in full and that her pool was full of water, and now, we were delaying getting started. We told the homeowner we were sorry for the delay, and we would be there the following week. We also offered to homeowner that we do quite a bit of work for pool contractors and if she would feel better, we would be happy to install a temporary fence for her at no charge. The homeowner declined the offer. 
  

  On August 3rd, 2023, we began work on the project and the with exception of August 7th & 8th 2023 we stayed on the project. On August 16th, 2023, the project was nearly complete, apart from the driveway gate and the walk gate in the rear of the property. When we called the fab shop for the status of the steel gate post and aluminum gate frame, we were told that our product was not ready because there was an accident and one of their main employees had broken his leg. Because of the accident the fab shop would be delayed with the delivery of our order. When we called the homeowner to explain the situation, we were told that it was just an excuse and that we were lying to her. The homeowner also said that she couldn't even install her pool slide because the fence wasn't finished. Again, we offered to install some temporary fence to help the situation and again she said no. She said, she just wanted the fence finished. At this point all we could have done was to finish the back gate and wait for the fab shop to finish the post and gate frame. the following Monday August 21st, 2023, our crew chief expressed some concerns about the size of the gate opening and the size of homeowner's garbage cans. As a result, we sent someone out to try and come up with a solution. Based on the location of fence line and the oversized wooden foundation under the existing shed, there wasn't enough room to set the gate posts far enough apart to accommodate the homeowner's garbage cans. Due to this issue we volunteered at no charge to rebuild the wooden shed foundation. The homeowner agreed, so on August 23rd & 24th 2023 we removed the shed, rebuilt the foundation, and reset the shed at no charge. We then set our latch post for the rear gate. The following Monday our crew chief mentioned the gate for the rear of the property was functional but damaged. Because of the homeowner's concern to secure the pool we thought it would be better to order a new gate but also to install the existing gate on a temporary basis. When our crew explained the situation and that the gate would only be temporary, the homeowner instructed our crew to leave her property. Later that day the customer called to express her displeasure and when we tried to talk to her about it, she said she was not going to be yelled at and hung up the phone. We tried several times to call her back and she refused to answer our calls. Since the homeowner would not take our call, we decided to send her an E-mail with our apologies and our desire to find a short-term solution to keep things moving in a positive direction. On August 29th, 2023, we received an e-mail saying that she had been instructed to ask us for the exact date and time her gates would be installed. We contacted the fab shop and received a commitment on delivery that would allow us to be on site June 1st, 2023, to install the steel gate post and that we would return to hang the driveway gate the following Friday June 8th, 2023. We arrived on site and installed the gate post on Friday June 1st, 2023, and returned to work the following week to work on hanging the gate at the rear of the property. After the gate at the rear of the property had been installed, we realized that our crew chief had set his benchmark elevation too low and as a result we needed to remove some of the fence and reinstall it at the rear of the property. We discussed this with the homeowner on Friday June 8th, 2023,. After discussing the situation, the homeowner agreed that since her driveway gate was installed and her pool was secure, she agreed that we could order the new posts and return to make the adjustments when the posts came in. We finished installing the driveway gate and latch on September 13th, 2023, and ordered the new posts for our return. In addition to the changes to the fence elevation at the rear of the property we also agreed to clean up the dirt from the hillside, spray weed killer on the stoned area and add some additional stone to help clean up the area. 
  

  We talked with the homeowner on Friday October 13th, 2023, and we agreed that we would return on Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week and that we would let her know on Monday which day for sure. As agreed on Monday afternoon we sent an email confirming we would be on site Wednesday to start making the necessary adjustments. On Wednesday morning we began removing the back fence line and installing new posts at adjusted elevation. The following Tuesday October 24, 2023, while our crew was still on site the homeowner asked us to look at the driveway gate because she felt as if it needed a wheel on the end. The gate did not appear to be sagging but the homeowner said she would feel better if we added a wheel. We said it wouldn't be a problem. During the meeting, the homeowner expressed her relief that we were fixing the issues and that she was happy that the back fence would be complete soon. The homeowner mentioned that all she had left was to have dirt brought in to level everything off, but that she was having a hard time getting her other contractor to return her call. We told her we were sorry to hear that but that we would get our part wrapped up and get a wheel ordered for her. 
  

  Before we left the site that day we asked where we could purchase additional stone that would match what had already been installed. The homeowner said not to worry about the stone but please clean up the dirt and spray the weeds as agreed. We agreed and thanked her for her patience and understanding. 
  

  We finished the balance of the work over the next two days and on October 27th, 2023, our crew finished hanging the rear gate, cleaned up the last of the dirt and sprayed weed killer as requested. As far as we knew at this point, we were complete except for the installation of a wheel for the end of the driveway gate. 
  

  Please note: 
  We removed and hauled away garbage from other contractors. 
  We removed and hauled away the old wooden shed support. 
  We furnished the lumber and built a new shed foundation & reset the shed. 
  We removed and hauled away shrubs. 
  The items listed above were all completed by our crews and materials paid for by Pittsburgh Fence. That said, none of the work was listed in our proposal nor do we have any intension of billing for it later. We completed this additional work at our own expense to try and help the situation. We are aware that there were delays and issues during this project, we have accepted the responsibility and done what we could to try and rectify the situation as best we could. Unfortunately, some situations are beyond our control and in those situations all we can do is the best we can based on what we have to work with. 
  
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/18/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  He clearly states in his rebuttal that it took his crew 12 weeks to install a simple 6x8 fence. He is  a fencing company and this timeline is unacceptable. He clearly states his crew made errors which caused him to have to do the fence over again. In our initial conversation I told him there was a sense of urgency for this fence. I feel that I gave him plenty of time to order the materials prior to the green light to start. first visit was in June, start date of the project was August. He was paid in full so there is no excuse that the gate was not ready when he got the green light to start. 

  List of things removed from my property: 

  Shrubbery: at the initial visit Jeff, owner, asked me if he could remove a small shrub in the back side of my house because this is where he wanted to fence to meet the house. I agreed. I cut most of it down before his crew arrived and it was a small root he removed from my property

  Materials from another contractor: The original side fence had posts, Jeff was supposed to take those out so he could put his new posts in. the cement contractor was a fried of Jeff's, actually referred Jeff to me, and said he would help Jeff by pulling the post out for him since he had equipment there but Jeff would have to remove them. It was a favor for Jeff, we removed the posts and he removed them, that took away a step for his crew to do.

  The clean up and weed spray- I had spent weeks on my side hill pulling out all of the shrubs and weeds before his team came. My other contractor poured stone there after I completed my work. Jeff's crew came in August and dug post for the new fence above my hill and dumped all the dirt and weeds on my clean area and did not clean it up. By September weeds from their dump began to grow and Jeff agreed it was caused by his crew and had the new weeds pulled and he sprayed weed killer in that area. 

  The Shed base- I had built the shed base myself and if Jeff had done what I had asked, a fence around the shed, none of this would have been needed. One day Jeff called me and asked me if his crew could rebuild and replace my shed base, I agreed if it was necessary it was not a problem. I spent a lot of time and money on my base and did not ask him to replace it. 

  The damaged gate he sent his crew to install- the crew showed up and told me Jeff sent them to install the gate but it was damaged, his crew felt embarrassed that they were told to install this. This was the small gate for the back of the yard. My worry with this temporary install was that it was taking Jeff so long to install the fence that if I allowed this damaged fence to be installed I would not get it replaced. I politely told his crew that I was not interested in having that done so if that was all they came for they could leave. I was standing there when they called Jeff and told him I did not want it installed, it was not a problem from what I heard and no one was rude to his crew or upset over having to leave for the day. 

  Temporary fence for the drive way- quite simply, how would I get out of my driveway if a temporary fence was placed across it. the temporary fence Jeff talks about is simply a wire fence on metal posts stuck in the ground, they are not movable and that would have left me unable to get out of my driveway

  Wheel on the gate- the gate is so heavy it is pulling and no longer flush. When I showed Jeff how it was not flush he told me my house was uneven not the gate. I still do not have a wheel under my gate. 

  The hang up- When I talked to Jeff in June and expressed the urgent timeline once the cement was complete due to the pool he said he understood and it would be no problem. He informed me that the materials could be ordered without issue and the drive way gate would be manufactured but that only takes two days, please help me understand how two days turns into 12 weeks. I did check in with him on numerous occasions about the estimated time for the gate to be completed and he continued to tell me there was a delay but it should just be another two day. by the time we got to that heated call he again was trying to tell me the gate would be completed in a couple of day and yes, I told him I do not want to be lied to anymore and hung up. 

  He has no customer service skills. I paid a lot of money for this fence and it should have been done timely and correctly the first time. He simply told me what I wanted to hear until it become obvious that he was not telling me the truth and I got frustrated. But, I would not have gotten frustrated if he would have done what he agreed to do, who wouldn't be upset that a fence company takes 12 weeks to put up the simplest fence there is, and for only three sides of my small back yard. How he justifies this in his response, or in any way puts the issues back on me, is even more frustrating. I am absolutely dissatisfied with his response. 
  Regards,
  
  ***** ******