C & J Welding, Inc.

Failure to facilitate return of incorrect balusters to manufacturer for refund; failure to timely respond to attempts to communicate
We recently purchased a new house. In early August, we asked our realtor for a referral to someone who could replace the balusters on the home's staircases. She recommended C&J Welding. They were initially contacted in early August. They initially said they would need to look at the staircases to quote the job. We arranged for them to do so on August 18, 2011, the day before we closed on the house. During the inspection, [redacted] of C&J did not take any measurements or do any close inspection, but instead said that we should pick out the balusters we wanted and they would order them off [redacted] website for us. He waited until then to tell us that he would not install the product, but would only order it; we would have to find someeone else to provide installation. [redacted] provided no other information or instructions. We visited [redacted] website, selected balusters that looked the way we wanted them to look, and sent an e-mail on August 21 informing C&J Welding the balusters we wanted. After several follow-up calls were not answered, C&J Welding responded late on Friday, August 26 and indicated they could order the balusters. They did not, however, quote a price at that time. The following week, we learned that, due to C&J's delay in communicating with us and ordering, the balusters would have to be ordered as a "rush" shipment in order to be installed before we moved into the house, and we would incur additional charges. We agreed to the rush shipping. We also agreed to the $2,500 price for the materials (without installation), feeling that the time crunch left us no other options by that point. [redacted] of C&J justified the price by telling us that he charged a small mark-up on the product (the factory cost was actually around $1500) and passed along rush and shipping charges, plus 6% sales tax. We received the balusters and hired another welder to do the installation. The other welder - who has been easy to contact and conducted an onsite inspection, took measurements etc. - informed us that: (1) C&J should have taken measurements and looked at the existing balusters when they visited the house; had they done so, they would have realized (2) the balusters ordered could not be fitted into the openings on our staircase, and (3) [redacted] does not charge sales tax, and the imposition of it in our situation was suspect. We have since contacted [redacted] and gotten authorization to return the balusters we purchased for a return of approximately $1200 (the cost of materials minus a restocking fee). However, because [redacted] shipped to C&J and not to us directly, they are requiring that C&J facilitate the return. In addition, the cost of return shipping is approximately $600. Numerous messages left for C&J regarding this have gone unreturned. In the meantime, we have had to spend another $1,300 to order the correct materials, and will have to pay another $1700 shortly to have the correct materials installed. If C&J Welding had either done the job right when they were hired (or had simply bowed out and referred a reputable welder), we would not be in this position.