ComplaintsforTri-County Exteriors, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  07/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Less than 12 months ago I purchased windows, a new front door/screen door and all new shutters from this company, spending approx. $15K. I had a great experience. However, last week I discovered that the lock failed. When the key turned from the outside, it would not engage the lock. I called and no one called me back. the following day I received a VM offering to send someone to fix the lock on Monday. That would have left me unable to lock my home all weekend, and I was traveling for work for a week starting Monday. As such, had a locksmith fix the lock on Saturday. The cost to repair was $245. Tri-County asked me to send the receipt for the locksmith and a picture of the parts, which I did. On Tuesday, they called me to explain that they would only cover 50% of the locksmith cost OR they could have a new lock put in for no cost. They stated their supplier wasn't willing to pay for the costs, so they don't feel they should need to pay in full either. Having owned my own construction business, I am so disappointed that rather than maintain a good customer relationship and eat $245 (actually only $122 since they were willing to pay half anyway), they chose to stick me with it. I tried to explain that what their supplier would or would not cover should have no bearing on how they treat THEIR customer. He just kept repeating that they don't make the lock. Really, really disappointing. I would not recommend this company based on how they handled this situation. I had recommended them to a neighbor who was looking for a new front door and I've revoked the recommendation.

  Business response

  08/03/2023

  Our company is known for our service after-the-fact and our dedication to making certain that our customers are properly serviced within a timely manner. Tri-County Exteriors stands behind all of its work, and routinely goes above and beyond the call of duty servicing our customers-- even when they are not at fault or required to do so as a result of a manufacturing issue/defect with products. 
  *********************** originally reached out to our company on Wednesday, 7/19/23 and left a voicemail stating that she had an issue with her door lock and needed it serviced ASAP. Our office staff reached out that same day and left a voicemail. Our office staff reached out again on Thursday 7/20/23 to follow up and left another voicemail which stated that we would be moving forward with the service process and scheduling a service technician out to the property whether we heard back from the customer or not. ******, the owner of the company, called Friday 7-21-23 but was again unable to reach the customer and had to leave a voicemail which stated that we could have one of our technicians out to her property on Monday 7/24/23, as we did not have any representatives working over the weekend and had not yet heard back from her. Our attempts at contacting the customer, to no avail, totaled five phone calls between Thursday and Saturday. Had the customer returned one of our prior calls earlier in the week, we could have had representatives on site at her property either Thursday or Friday, putting temporary repairs in place until the new lockset was ordered and received for reinstallation. 
  We never heard back from *********************** until ****** made another follow-up call on Saturday 7/22/23 and was finally able to get her on the phone. During this call, we discovered that she had a locksmith at the house working on the lockset at that present moment. ******, while speaking with the customer, was made aware that the lock worked if locked from the inside. However, from the exterior of the door, it would not engage. Although this would not be ideal, the customer could have locked the door from the inside for one or two days until we could get there and used another door in the home to enter and exit. 
  There are typically processes and protocols to follow for service calls when it comes to parts that are defective from the manufacturer. Although our warranties do not cover the servicing of defective parts, which is typical, we were willing to not only engage with the manufacturer on behalf of the customer and work with them to obtain a new lockset free of charge and allocate our own time and resources to make an appearance on site to completely remove the old lockset and replace it with a complementary new lockset provided by the manufacturer. This would have left the customer spending no money out of pocket, the lockset that was defective would be returned to the manufacturer, and all warranties would stay intact. Instead, the customer jumped the gun and hired a third-party company to tamper with the door we installed, pulling the lockset apart, and replacing mechanisms within the lock. This voids not only the manufacturers warranty but would also technically void Tri-County Exteriors warranty for the entire door. 
  Obviously, we would never void our warranties to a client for the entire door because of something such as this, however, that is what our agreement states and it is not ideal having had a third-party tamper with the door. If something is to happen with original lockset, or something goes wrong as a result of the work conducted by the third party, it muddies the water and makes it difficult to determine who is actually at fault, which leaves us with no choice but to void the warranty on the door lock and handle set itself. 
  
  Instead of the customer returning our calls and working out arrangements for our company to service the door (although we are not obligated to) she secured the third-party company and then submitted their bill to our company, regardless of the cost, with the expectation that we would cover it. We do not typically pay for services rendered by third-party companies, however, after a discussion between both owners of Tri-County Exteriors, we agreed to pay 50% of the cost of the locksmith. Seeing as they would have allocated their own funds to send employees to replace the lock set even though it would have not amounted to the same cost. The alternative solution provided to the customer was to follow through with our original offer, which was to obtain a new complimentary lockset from the manufacturer and, as a courtesy, have Tri-County Exteriors representatives return to the property to replace the defective lockset with a new one and deliver the faulty lockset back to the manufacturer.
  As a final thought, Tri-County Exteriors has no legal obligation to warrantee parts and materials if theyre not malfunctioning due to installation. Tri-County Exteriors has offered two generous and viable solutions to the customer. As previously stated to her, if she would like the lockset replaced, we would still be happy to provide this solution as a courtesy although it is technically a chargeable service visit for us, just as is it is for the locksmith that was hired and paid. The faulty lockset that is still attached to the door should still be replaced; it is not ideal that it has been repaired as a permanent fix. It is also unfortunate that the door lock has been repaired because the manufacturer typically requires the returning of the faulty parts and materials if they are to provide her another lockset free of charge. 

  Customer response

  08/10/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  I do not agree with the response rate of Tri-County.  I have no record of any call back until Friday.  I have two voicemails from Friday but I was in meetings when the company called back and I was unable to reach them after 5p.  I did get in touch with ****** on Saturday and was already underway with a locksmith since I had been unable to lock my door since Wednesday evening and was leaving for work travel on Monday.

  Ultimately the decision to not reimburse me for the locksmith, or half the cost of the locksmith, which was offered, has cost them my recurring business and recommendation to neighbors.  It seems like a financial no brainer to me over $284 but clearly ****** would rather make small cost savings based on warranty protocol rather than big picture customer loyalty decisions.

  Regards,
  
  ***************************

  Customer response

  09/08/2023

  Hello,

  I have been in touch with Tri County and we worked through both disagreements and misunderstandings and we have both agreed to take a deep breath and start over.  They are going to replace the lock and reimburse me for the locksmith.

  Would It be possible to remove this compliant from their files?

  Thank you,

  ****

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