Barn Pros Inc

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: The response indicates that Barn Pro's considered the matter seriously enough to make a preliminary budget. That is encouraging even if they did not carry it out. I also proposed an alternate solution that would be quicker and easier. That is, to provide a can of the material of the color that was actually put on the building (not to be confused with the color that I ordered) Why not do that? The response does not address the other three points of the dispute. The first to consider is the replacement of the loft doors. During one of the conference calls, I heard the Barn Pro's staff state among themselves, that they had never seen a case where the stain on the doors mismatched the siding as they were seeing on my building. That was the basis of replacing the doors. In discussing this with Barn Pro's, I excluded the Tack Room door as I could hide the color mismatch. There was no discussion of excluding the Loft Doors. They should be replaced by Barn Pro's. The remaining two points regarding just what material was delivered were not addressed in the response
Sincerely,
*** ***

The following is a formal response to the complaint filed against Barn Pros Incby Mr*** *** regarding his experience with our organization Mr*** (***), initially contacted us in June of regarding a garage he had seen on the Home Depot Website. The terms
of sale through Home Depot was payment in full for an “as is” product. He engaged with a Project Specialist with Barn Pros, Joel G***, stating that he didn’t want to pay in full and was also unwilling to place a deposit for starting the transaction. Without any exchange of money, he demanded drawings to submit for permit that would include a custom foundation plan (not offered) for is property due to the specific soil type he has. The other General Manager, the Project Specialist, and I contacted *** via conference call to explain the program and it’s limitations, going as far as saying that this isn’t the product for him and that we have limitations on what we offer through that program. Reluctantly, we decided to abandon the Home Depot fulfillment, bring it in house due to the customizations the client demanded A month later, we believed the project didn’t materialize, when *** said he had obtained his building permit, and wanted his prints He reluctantly gave us a deposit, and we went to work, provided his prints within weeks, and attempted at that time to solidify a shipping and delivery schedule for late September. That timeframe didn’t work for him, because he had to line up a contractor and said that the 4th of October would work. We require full payment weeks before the ship date, however, *** went overseas and didn’t receive wire confirmation information from Joel so couldn’t pay. On the 4th, he insisted that we deliver his structure on the 12th or 13th. He said that Joel committed to that date (in reviewing the email, Joel copied our production manager in on the email and stated “the 12th or 13th could work?). But when I explained that I cannot commit to that due in part to the number of vendors contributing to the fulfillment and that it’s more typical to see 2-weeks and that I would be setting myself up for failure if I committed to only a week delivery schedule. He was verbally abusive to my rep and me, calling my rep rded, swearing/profanity, calling me lazy that I would just let this date pass, and that I’ll probably fulfill the order with subpar materials if I even attempted to hit that date. I asked him what he wanted then. I said I couldn’t commit to the date, he said he didn’t want me to press for the date because I would fulfill with subpar materials, but that he wanted there on the 12th. It was making no sense and rationalizing with him on the phone was futile. He was demeaning, swore, and was irrational and at that time I offered to GIVE him his prints and material take off for the deposit amount he had already provided us, and allow him to go to a local supplier that he did trust to better coordinate material quality and timing that would meet his expectations. He wasn’t interested and said I was trying to just dump him so I didn’t have to deal with him. Admittedly, yes, I was no longer interested in him verbally abusing me or my staff, and knew at that point fulfillment and finalizing this transaction would never go well. My concerns were confirmed when the communication shifted to Kim, our representative coordinating delivery from Home Depot. I was copied on her communication in which his abusive and demeaning communication style persisted. Aligning materials for delivery in Texas, in the aftermath of massive flooding and material shortages, presented some issues. Delivery was slower than expected. I offered a $reimbursement to appease *** for his pain and suffering through this fulfillment process. Once items did start to delivery, Home Depot coordinates with a 3rd party delivery company and items are delivered from the store closest to the build site. Continuing the trend, *** would call the local store and verbally abuse staff who would leave the phone off the hook while he proceeded to yell at retail clerks. The store manager got involved and had to tell *** that he was going to cease all communication and had to instruct *** to shut up. Delivery drivers were threatened with screwdrivers as they entered the property, visibly shaking them. They would refuse to go back out to the site, requiring a second driver to be dispatched and adding time for the fulfillment. Even going as far as requesting final materials not be delivered, I can only suspect, because he had sent a letter dated November 13th to both myself and the CEO of Home Depot requesting $4,in damaged and missing materials. We did have an issue with a garage door opener not fitting, and Justin H*** who oversees our HD relationship and product development, is working to find a solution to the issue. From my initial rep, others who answered the phone at Barn Pros, myself, our fulfillment contact at Home depot, store clerks, store managers, and delivery drivers, Mr***’s abusive and demeaning communication and unrealistic expectations for timing and due process left a trail of destruction that has led us to the complaint he’s filed. Several times, we’ve tried to express that the service and product that he really desires is more custom in nature and that the product he is attempting to purchase/construct doesn’t align with his expectations. He persisted, and in the interest of service, we altered the process and product to meet an unrealistic expectation. His filing with the Revdex.com is not surprising, and I can honestly say that *** is the most challenging client I’ve had to work with in my decade at Barn Pros, and probably in my professional career. This is a simple product compared to the facilities we are known for. I’ve been involved with multimillion dollar projects that involved groups of individuals from clients to architects, engineers, and horse trainers. Strong personalities, with high expectations that we’ve met time and time again. Thus the reputation we’ve garnered in our years of business. If you have any further questions or require additional information (email or written correspondence, personal testimonials from Home Depot staff, etc), please don’t hesitate to ask

Complaint: ***
iI am rejecting this response because It does not fully address all of the issues of the dispute. There is some movement on the loft door issue. While there is some movement regarding matching the color, this is not what I requested in the previous post, which is a can of the original color. A match is an approximation of the original color. How will this material perform in fading, weathering and protecting the building? The issue of what exactly was the material delivered has not been addressed, which leads to the question of the durability of the finish on the building. Just what was the material that was delivered?
Sincerely,
*** ***

After filing our initial response, it was brought to our attention that our vendor made a second site visit from Idaho to Mr. [redacted]'s residence to bring this issue to a resolution.  In Mr. [redacted]'s response, he states that an acceptable resolution to the issue would be "to provide a can of the material of the color that was actually put on the building (not to be confused with the color that I ordered).  This is precisely what has been worked on for the last 2 months including the 2 site visits and numerous stain samples that were matched to the lumber and stain that was used.  To date, no provided solution has been acceptable by the client.  They still continue to work directly with [redacted] on a stain solution.Barn Pros is able and willing to replace the hayloft doors in question to satisfy this claim.  However, we'd like to point out that providing the replacement doors was not an admission that the doors provided were faulty.  This was merely above-and-beyond service to a client who purchased an entire structure, and applied stain that was not to his liking to the entire surface of the structure and not to a sample section.  This would have alerted him that the color was incorrect and provided for numerous options to rectify the issue that would have included using the 3 out of 4 cans of stain that were correct.  We then could have replaced the faulty can with another at a cost of less than $400.Mr. [redacted] has been a gracious customer, and we want nothing more than to bring this to a resolution that is acceptable to the client, but  that reflects the scale of the mistake we've made.  Which was that one of our vendors provided 1 out of 4 cans of stain that was incorrect.  We will immediately send the replacement hayloft doors that were omitted from the first replacement set of doors.  We ask that Mr. [redacted] accept one of the many colors of replacement stain that have been provided, or work with a local paint specialist or with his painter who applied the stain in the first place without a sample spray-out to find a stain that is acceptable.

Barn Pros is a [redacted] Vendor, and the client in question purchased a Barn Pros barn from [redacted].com.  We fulfilled the [redacted] order, shipped to Mr. [redacted] in June of 2017.  In August of 2017, Mr. [redacted] purchased (4) 5-gallon buckets of stain, with a Natural color tint directly from Barn...

Pros.  The order was fulfilled by our vendor [redacted] (MTP). The client hired a local painting contractor for the application of the stain.  When opening one of the cans, the client noticed that there was a noticeable green color to the tint.  He said that they had started to apply the stain, stopped and then called his rep here at Barn Pros (10/6/17).  He was told that stain may look very different in the can and different wet on the wood than it does once it dries.  To give it a little time to ensure it lightens.  By 10/10/17, we were alerted to the fact that the client and painter proceeded to spray-out the entire exterior of the barn (with the exception of a small area), including doors. We did not inform the client to complete staining and then wait 24 hours, which the painter later informed us he was instructed to do by the client. From the dates of 10/6 to 10/24 we spoke with the client’s painter, the client himself and the supplier to help the client rectify the issue.  Barn Pros and MTP acknowledge that one of the 4 cans of stain was incorrectly labeled.  The true issue, as our two companies see it, is that the stain was applied to nearly the entire exterior of the building, contradicting what common practice is in doing a test area to ensure the stain color in combination with the raw wood siding meets their expectations.  The client has consistently requested complete siding replacement and install by Barn Pros.  Our position is that responsibility ends with the replacement of the incorrect stain to the correct tint/color that was ordered.  However, in the interest of customer service, we have replaced his Breezeway doors ($1340 value plus shipping) and have worked diligently with our vendor to find a solution that included a trip from Boise Idaho to the clients build site in Port Ludlow, WA, multiple stain samples sent that were matched up to a sample of stained siding taken directly from the build site, and countless suggestions that included pressure washing and sanding the affected siding.  All were met with pessimism that it “probably wouldn’t work”, prior to even trying.  MTP’s core business is selling prefinished siding and I have a lot of confidence that they have the capabilities to match stain.  They have professed that this is the most drawn-out issue they’ve ever dealt with. Our spotless Revdex.com record is an indicator of our dedication to customer service. Our efforts over the last 3 months have not concluded in the result the client would like, but it has not fallen on deaf ears.  We’ve exhausted our resources and ideas, and at this point would recommend the client work with a local painting contractor or retailer that can help in matching the stain more efficiently and effectively.  There is a Seal-Once dealer in Port Hadlock, WA less than 10 miles from the client.  We do not feel liable for the replacement of nearly $4,000 in siding costs plus the tear-off, install and staining that would surely bring the clients claim to more than $10,000.  This could have been avoided with a test of the stain prior to full application. Sincerely, Jake T[redacted] – General Manager Barn Pros