Custom Design Fence & Deck Inc

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:Our Reply:There were no changes made on the 19, the 19th was just confirming the general deck design (Again, that we designed, CDF&D did not design the deck).? There were no design changes on the 24th, the “changes” being referred to are CDF&D again confirming our requested design.In the mean time, as CDF&D were taking too long, and were usually slow to respond to emails, we were getting nervous about how long it might take them to complete the deck, so we obtained additional bids.? The other bids we received (All only took a little over a week to get as opposed to weeks for CDF&D, and were based on our own supplied designs) were for labor, and said that they didn’t care where we bought the lumber.For their original quote, CDF&D just picked some decking and railing, we hadn’t decided on exactly what we were going to get yet.? On 5/we gave them the brand and style of decking and railing we wanted, CDF&D replied “Thanks for the details.? I will get to work on it.”? On 5/I also specified the square footage and linear feet I was using for my estimates so that I could compare costs and CDF&D did not say a peep that it would be any more expensive than the original quote (which they picked the materials for)? CDF&D then hemmed and hawed, finally did ? provide their per sqft and linear foot pricing for the deck and railing, but they then refused to provide an official estimate unless we gave them a deposit.? So we had no idea what they were going to charge for sure unless we gave them a depost.? As their quoted sqft and linear foot price was in line with my estimates, which they knew fell and well what my estimates were, and again, they refused to do the deck unless we bought the decking and railing from them ??" and we would have needed their pricing to make accurate comparisons, we decided to go ahead with the deposit, which at that point we were just excited to get the process moving along, since it had been delayed so much by then, as well as hoping that maybe they might actually be a little more forthcoming with pricing information and help ??" that turned out to be a bad assumption.? ? Overall I was a bit nervous about the deposit as they had not provided their “official” materials estimate.? Once the estimate came back, it ended up being $higher than I was estimating, based on the sq ft and linear foot pricing CDF&D quoted.? ? ? I found it very deceitful that they would quote a square foot and linear foot price, then demand a deposit before giving their actual price, and that actual price then being $higher with no explanation whatsoever.? I even asked multiple times for a price breakdown and told them I was trying to figure out where I was off in the estimate, as noted before, I provided a spreadsheet showing exactly how I was estimating what the cost would be, and despite giving them the deposit, ? they never provided a price breakdown whatsoever for the materials, and when asked, refused to provide any guidance or assistance in choosing additional materials.? All I got was “That is the price”? nothing further.? Yes, CDF&D did state that the deposit was non-refundable, but it was never specified prior or up to giving CDF&D the deposit that it was only for design work and I never signed anything stating as such .? That is why once we decided to not have them build the deck, we requested credit toward some materials that we would purchase from them.? Also, CDF&D states clearly on their website that they offer free estimates.? If they need someone to do some CAD drawings to do that, that is on them.? I am not paying for a company’s inefficiencies.? In sum:*We needed pricing information to make an informed decision to move forward with the process*They refused to provide the actual pricing unless we gave them a deposit ??" only a quoted sqft (Decking) and linear foot (railing) price quote were provided*we gave them a deposit, for which it was it was never stated nor agreed that it was only for design work and drawings (NOTE ??" WE had to design the deck, CDF&D did not design it, they merely provided drawings ??" drawings that I will not that we did not request, they needed the drawings to provide their “FREE ESTIMATE”)*Their actual price was nearly $higher than my estimate ??" which they were aware of*They refused to help us determine where we were off on our estimate, would not help in the selection of different materials, and never provided a price breakdown.*We believe that requesting $of our deposit back is more than fair, especially since we tried to apply the deposit toward purchase of a limited amount of materials from CDF&D
Sincerely,
*** ***

It was weeks and days from the time of the initial meeting before he received the bid.? There were changes made to the initial lay out of the deck confirmed by the ***’s on April 19th and additional changes confirmed on April 24thSo it was two and a half weeks from the last changes to
the bid being sent to the ***’s.? During this time? we explained it was taking some additional time to complete the bid, we usually do not break down a deck into material lists until we are ready to order the materials and that we were creating Auto CAD drawings to do this.? After multiple changes by the Mr*** the bid was sent on May 11th, he acknowledge receipt on May 15th.May 12th through May 21st there were more questions from Mr***, he requested a phone call which was made and on the 21st he asked for another bid with different materials.? At this time we considered the process beyond the bidding process and informed him that it was now a design process.May 23rd I asked Mr*** for a materials list that he wanted me to bid because he had? gotten unit pricing from another supplier and wanted to compare.? I sent him via email what our sq ft pricing and linear foot pricing was for the decking and railing and if he wanted to continue forward with additional drawings and design pricing? that a non-refundable deposit would be necessary and if he chose to accept the bid and design, this deposit would be applied to his bill.? Mr*** replied, “Perfect, that is what I needed.? That pricing works for me, I will bring a check with me.” In the complaint Mr*** states that we gave him a verbal bid, it was no verbal it was? in writing in an email.? He also stated that he was reluctant to put down the deposit, but that is not what he stated in his email quoted above.Mr*** continued to ask questions, met with me on May 30th, put down the required deposit and again changed the dimensions of the deck.? His questions continued about railing and concrete.? On June 5th he received another bid and thought it was overpriced.? So on June 7th? I informed Mr*** that we would send him the drawings he was promised as a condition of the deposit and if he wanted another bid he would have to provide us a material list.? On June 10th he acknowledged receipt of the drawings.? These drawings were detailed to the point that they could be used for material break down as well as permitting.? The same detail we use for all of our decks for these purposes.CDFD feels that we have gone above and beyond in trying to? accommodate Mr*** through out this process.? CDFD has given Mr*** all of the drawings that have been completed with the multiple changes that were made and these drawings are permit ready.? ? Prior to Mr*** submitting the deposit it was very clearly explained to Mr*** that the deposit was NON REFUNDABLE and was for the DESIGN WORK AND DRAWINGS ONLY and if he chose to move forward with our company as a courtesy to? him we would credit that deposit towards the project.? Mr*** chose not to move forward with CDFD therefore the deposit will not be refunded.? It is CDFD's? opinion that Mr*** has received a set of drawings that can be used by himself or any one of our competitors and that he has received much more in services from CDFD than the value of his non refundable deposit to date.? CDFD wishes Mr*** the best in his future building endeavors.? us why here

In response to the complaint filed against CDFD by Ms. [redacted] CDFD would like to issue the following statement and resolution:   Ms. [redacted] did in fact sign a contract with CDFD on 5/10/16 for a deck and at that time CDFD was running approximately 8 – 10 weeks out on completion of...

decking projects contracted during that week.  It was explained to Ms. [redacted] at that time that this was an approximate time frame and may be delayed longer depending upon the weather, permitting, and material availability.   Although to date CDFD has completed drawings for the deck, submitted them to St. Louis County for permitting and approval, and ordered materials for the project there have unfortunately been a myriad of circumstances which have culminated in an additional delay in the completion of this project.  Those circumstances include a delay in approval at St. Louis County due to building ordinances (since the completed project is projected to be greater than 12’ above ground) and weather delays due to excessive heat in June and July and an unusual amount of rain in August.    These circumstances have been explained to Ms. [redacted] on multiple occasions the latest of which was last week when our Sales Manager offered to  either continue working towards the execution and commencement of the project or to release her from the contract and refund her money.  Our Sales Manager further explained to Ms. [redacted] at that time that all that was holding up commencement of the project at this time was a structural engineer to sign off on the plans and St. Louis County to issue final approval for the permit.  At that time Ms. [redacted] stated that it did not matter what CDFD did because her intent was to write a complaint to the Revdex.com regardless.    Our company has been in business for many years now and we take great pride in our work and our customer service.  Our company has successfully completed multiple fencing and decking projects comparable to this project and also much larger than this project for the residential community, the commercial consumer, and government entities as well.   To date CDFD has incurred costs on Ms. [redacted]’s project for drawings, permitting, and materials which were special ordered specifically for this project that cannot be returned for refund.  Regardless of these costs; however, at this time CDFD would like to once again offer to Ms. [redacted] a full refund of her deposit in the amount of $11,000.00 and an unconditional release from the contract signed on 5/10/16.  Current interest rates on savings accounts at this time are averaging around 1% interest.  Although CDFD does not earn interest on deposits received from customers in the interest of good business and a good faith gesture CDFD will also extend an offer to refund an additional $100.00 to Ms. [redacted] for her time and trouble.    Assuming this is an acceptable resolve CDFD would like to extend to Ms. [redacted] our best wishes for her future project and are prepared to issue and mail a check in the amount of $11,100.00 to Ms. [redacted] no later than Monday, August 22, 2016.

In response to the complaint filed against CDFD by Ms. [redacted] CDFD would like to issue the following statement and resolution:   Ms. [redacted] did in fact sign a contract with CDFD on 5/10/16 for a deck and at that time CDFD was running approximately 8 – 10 weeks out on...

completion of decking projects contracted during that week.  It was explained to Ms. [redacted] at that time that this was an approximate time frame and may be delayed longer depending upon the weather, permitting, and material availability.   Although to date CDFD has completed drawings for the deck, submitted them to St. Louis County for permitting and approval, and ordered materials for the project there have unfortunately been a myriad of circumstances which have culminated in an additional delay in the completion of this project.  Those circumstances include a delay in approval at St. Louis County due to building ordinances (since the completed project is projected to be greater than 12’ above ground) and weather delays due to excessive heat in June and July and an unusual amount of rain in August.    These circumstances have been explained to Ms. [redacted] on multiple occasions the latest of which was last week when our Sales Manager offered to  either continue working towards the execution and commencement of the project or to release her from the contract and refund her money.  Our Sales Manager further explained to Ms. [redacted] at that time that all that was holding up commencement of the project at this time was a structural engineer to sign off on the plans and St. Louis County to issue final approval for the permit.  At that time Ms. [redacted] stated that it did not matter what CDFD did because her intent was to write a complaint to the Revdex.com regardless.    Our company has been in business for many years now and we take great pride in our work and our customer service.  Our company has successfully completed multiple fencing and decking projects comparable to this project and also much larger than this project for the residential community, the commercial consumer, and government entities as well.   To date CDFD has incurred costs on Ms. [redacted]’s project for drawings, permitting, and materials which were special ordered specifically for this project that cannot be returned for refund.  Regardless of these costs; however, at this time CDFD would like to once again offer to Ms. [redacted] a full refund of her deposit in the amount of $11,000.00 and an unconditional release from the contract signed on 5/10/16.  Current interest rates on savings accounts at this time are averaging around 1% interest.  Although CDFD does not earn interest on deposits received from customers in the interest of good business and a good faith gesture CDFD will also extend an offer to refund an additional $100.00 to Ms. [redacted] for her time and trouble.    Assuming this is an acceptable resolve CDFD would like to extend to Ms. [redacted] our best wishes for her future project and are prepared to issue and mail a check in the amount of $11,100.00 to Ms. [redacted] no later than Monday, August 22, 2016.