From our experiences, Gutter Doctor is a terribly unprofessional company that does not understand customer service, at all.
In fact, the company initially denied knowing us and told Homestars we weren't their customers. When I produced emails and the paid invoice from Gutter Doctor, they suddenly remembered us - in great detail, as you can read on their response.
We had Jenner come to our house in April 2012; as per another review, we should have obtained a written estimate. He said he was going to replace the fascia and re-attach the gutter. After he told us that he completed the work in less than two hours, and with no new material used, he left an invoice for $450 plus tax. When we questioned the cost and why the work had not been completed as per our conversation, he told us that "I am expensive".
As I was dissatisfied by his response, I called the office again and asked to speak with the manager. I was told he was "out of town" and would return my call.
On December 22/12 I received a message from the manager James that he would take off our gutter and fascia or send us to collections if we didn't pay. When my wife returned the call, he stated that a follow up invoice was sent (we did not receive it and they could not provide us with a copy) and that I had apparently called him in October to refuse payment - completely false, as my wife and I were in Europe on our honeymoon at the time - December 22/12 was the first contact we received since I left the request for James to call in April - completely unacceptable!
We then again asked for a resolution to the discrepancy between what we were told the work would include and what actually occurred; James refused to come to our home to review the work stating, "I don't have time, I have a life."
He agreed to reduce the original invoice from $450 + GST to $300 + GST, and after I paid it, realizing that we would not get anywhere with this lack of customer service or respect, the updated invoice I received stated that the discount they offered us on the job was due to "bad debt!"
This company is full of excuses, but does not take any responsibility nor are they willing to attempt a "win-win" situation.
We have worked with many companies and trades over the past 12 years, as we own two 100 year old homes. We pay our bills and have never experienced this before.
A sign of a good company is one that is willing to fix their mistakes when they make them, not one that ignores its customers and then 8 months later threatens them.
I would not recommend this company to anybody.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $315.00
- Company Response
This is an unfair complaint and star-rating since the customer was provided exactly what they asked for at the price they agreed to in a timely manner. The work was properly done and it was a reasonable price for the dangerous tricky work. We stand by the quality of our work and are very careful to explain what the customer will be getting when the quotes are given. The customer even told us that the problem has been fixed to their satisfaction, they just don't like the process of how it got fixed! Their main concern was that the work was completed more quickly than they expected and they wanted a cheaper price because of it.
What really happened was as follows:
1) April 11 Jenner gave them a price to fix the problem (without new fascia since it was still in good condition, just coming loose) for $450 which they accepted and Jenner completed the job.
2) April 12 After the job was done they arbitrarily decided that a new fascia board should have been installed for the price since it took only 2 hours to complete the work and called the office to complain.
3) April 13 and 14 James, the manager, left two messages on the customer's phone the following two days after the complaint came in but he was never called back.
4) August 31 customer was mailed a 'past due' copy of the invoice
5) October 17 customer called the office and refused to pay for the job since new parts were not installed.
6) December 22 customer was called and a message left saying that we will undo the work we did if no payment is made or no call back received to discuss the payment.
7) Jan 1 Customer was called and a message left that we need to be either paid or called back and a reasonable price negotiated by January 3 otherwise it will be sent to a collection agency or alternatively the work undone.
7) January 3 Customer called the office and threatened to charge us with trespassing if we come on their property.
8) January 4 customer sent to collection agency
9) January 8 Customer called us and talked to manager demanding that he come look at the work to negotiate a price. Manager refused because the work was done to their satisfaction as they had already told us.
10) January 10 customer was called by the office and offered a $150 discount in hopes of receiving at least some of the money. The deal was refused at first, but then the customer called back and accepted the discounted price since they knew that they would need to pay the collection agency the full $450 to have it removed from their credit rating.
11) January 13 customer writes complaint on Homestars.In the end the customer got the problem on their house fixed correctly at a price of less than they agreed to.