Salter Spiral Stair

Ms. [redacted]Salter Spiral Stairs has address ever issue [redacted] and [redacted] have encountered since their purchase of their stairs on 8/28/2014. 1) The client ordered a breakup platform to get the maximum headroom. They did not like the way the platform look so we sent them a flange on 10/7/2015 . The client claimed he never received the flange so we manufactured another flange and mailed it to the client on 12/30/15. 2) The client ordered a continuous sleeve stair which they received. The hubs were not improperly welded. There is a small variants in size from hub to hub. The hubs are powered coated and should not be sharp. Our Customer Service department has responded and fix everything issue we could possible correct. Again, the stair were built and manufacture per the contract signed by the client on 8/27/2014.Thank you for your time Lynn P[redacted]

[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 Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I cant understand Spiral Stairs response. They clearly did not communicate during the project process and have no basis to make that claim. I can document only one email (dated 8/28/14) that originated from them.
The other three were all in response to my inquiry. The only time they
spoke to me by phone is when I called them which was on a weekly basis. I have no less then 20 calls into Spiral Stairs to ask for help and updates however most calls were a disappointment due to lack of resolution and broken promises.On Sept 4th I finally received the four piece of railings (that were ordered for the second time in May) however two of the pieces are cut wrong. I looked at the email sent to Spiral Stair from May with the diagram attached and it clearly shows the correct sized railings. I have lost the entire spring and summer use of my deck because I cant get a CO until I have the railings installed. This can easily be resolved. All I need are two straight railings 40 1/4". This should not take another four months.
Regards,
[redacted]

Our customer service manager has been in contact with the customer and they are working on sending out the corrected piece.. The customer has to approval drawings in order for the piece to be completed.

[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 Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: this is still a bold face lie.  Salter Spiral has not attempted to contact me in any way. They have never once provided me with an agreement that I am legally able to sign - and they know this.  This is just a game to them.  
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com of Metro Washington DC
Attachments11:49 AM (53 minutes ago)
to me 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kelly N[redacted] <[redacted]>
Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 11:45 AM
Subject: ID [redacted] - [redacted]
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Good Mornning,
 
I received a notice in the mail that the above customer submitted a complaint with the Revdex.com.  We have been in contact with the customer and she has received her stair as of 07/21/14, see attached bill of landing.  We also gave [redacted] a credit on her shipping cost due to the delay of her stair.  She attached credit card receipt showing the refunded amount of $138.50.
 
We have worked and communicated with Sue on the progress of her order and even issued her a refund for the inconvenience.
 
Any questions please let me know.  Thank you.
 
Kelly N[redacted]
Salter Spiral Stair

Good Morning, 
**. [redacted] did not commuincate the new pieces where incorrect.  I will forward the information to our customer service manager and have him reach out to ensure the correct pieces to **. [redacted]..  We stand behind out products and resolve the railing issue with **. [redacted].

I am very happy with the design of the Salter staircase I ordered, and it looks as good as I had hoped now it is (almost) installed. I have a very big problem with their customer support, my story is as follows: I ordered a steel staircase with oak treads, and a steel railing to go around the hole. Installation moved along well until I got to the railings. They were cut to size but had unfortunately being sized for a staircase without wood treads - they were too short. Sal in customer support proposed a bracket to remediate (rather than replacement railings) and I accepted for a quick solution. I am still waiting, and am planning on going to a welding shop to lengthen the railings so I can complete the job. Great looking staircase, *terrible* customer support. Suggest you look elsewhere.

We had a very poor experience with Salter Spiral Stair. Our sales person, while thorough with the design process, made errors on the order form we received. Thankfully we caught the errors before signing. After the order was placed, we received our shipment as scheduled, however there were significant dents and discolorations in the powder coating on 7 of our 9 treads as well as the platform. The customer service rep encouraged us to handle it with touch up paint (which would have taken hours if not days) and offered us a $50 gift card for our trouble (just 1% of the purchase price). Needless to say, that was not acceptable. We then worked with our contractor to push out our timeline and insisted on a new set of treads from Salter. After several weeks, those new treads were sent to us with blemishes AGAIN. After all of that back and forth and an inability to push out our timeline further, we elected to pick and choose between the two sets of treads to choose our 9. Then, the build process started. Our contractor quickly realized the platform was built incorrectly causing a misalignment where it met the deck. Yet again, we exchanged several calls and emails with Salter and they agreed it was incorrect. They sent a new platform (albeit after another two weeks) and that platform not only had blemishes AGAIN, but it still was not right structurally. Several months, emails, calls, and poor customer service later, Salter offered to reimburse us 6% of the purchase price in exchange for signing an agreement which would preclude us from posting reviews. We declined that offer. I hope this review prevents someone else from having a similar experience. I understand that things happen when ordering products, but Salter's response was quite poor. They had several opportunities to do right by us - managing expectations better up front if we were to expect to have to hand paint each part, responding more quickly to our questions and concerns, expediting remedies and new parts, offering a more realistic form of reimbursement, etc. Unfortunately none of those things happened.

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
[redacted]

We have reached an agreement with the customer that resolves this complaint.

Review: Salter Spiral Stair provided inferior and unacceptably poor service in three areas:

1) Sales errors: Received product from Salter Spiral Stair that was inconsistent with what was discussed, reviewed and agreed to in writing with Salter’s sales function, specifically, **. [redacted]. We have documentation to substantiate this claim. Examples include:

• We had requested and agreed on the ‘Designer Rail”. We received the “Classic Rail” causing production delays and incremental cost.

• We had requested and agreed ton the “Slim Line” riser. We received the “Long curved” riser. As of this writing, this issue has not been resolved.

• Were not advised that the use of House of Forging balusters would compromise the integrity of the staircase, as later revealed by Salter recommended installer. This resulted in a restocking fee.

2) Product quality errors: Receiving product from Salter Spiral Stair that was incorrect or inferior, resulting in incremental cost incurred by us to make their product usable. **. [redacted], head of Salter Spiral Stair production and “[redacted]” on **. [redacted]’ staff were involved with these errors. Examples include:

• Two different thicknesses of two pieces of wood that had to align on the floor made it necessary for us to pay a different service provider to shave down the thickness of one of the pieces of wood. This happened again when the Designer rail finally arrived.

• All stair treads except one arrived with a bull nose on the front of the tread. We had to pay a different service provider to create for us the bull nose on the tread that was missing this feature.

• Some of the nuts and bolts were not coated with the stair color and still are not as they have yet to ship the touch up paint.

3) Service quality errors: Incomplete shipment of product causing delays that resulted in incremental labor costs and lack of responsiveness to our efforts to speak with management at Salter Spiral Stair regarding these issues. Specifically, multiple calls and emails to **. [redacted] ([redacted]) [redacted], President, Salter Spiral Stair and others have gone unacknowledged and unanswered. Errors in this category include:

• Neglected to ship ‘trim’ pieces to finish off the spiral stair opening. Salter refused to expedite shipment. When the shipment finally arrived it was both broken and the wrong product. We had to wait for a second shipment to arrive to complete this portion of the project. This caused incremental cost to us for the delay and additional labor.

• Neglected to ship the cap for the ‘pony wall’; Salter refused to expedite miss shipped parts causing production delay and again incremental costs.

• Missing ‘touch-up’ paint, as is standard with their shipments. We still do not have the touch-up pain.Desired Settlement: We respectfully request Salter Spiral Stair provide us with the remaining missing product, fix the errors and reimburse us our out-of-pocket expenses.

Business

Response:

April 12, 2013

Salter Spiral Stair provided well over six (6) hours of online consulting with [redacted], not including conversations over the telephone (the average duration of our online meetings are about half an hour). Customer received exactly what she agreed on and signed for. The customer insists that she was not informed that the use of House of Forging balusters would compromise the integrity of her stair build by Salter Spiral Stair. This is not true. From the beginning, [redacted]. [redacted] was advised that this may compromise the stair. It was highly recommended that she use our balusters, because we do not design our stair around the balusters she requested. Customer did not want to follow our recommendation and insisted on using balusters from someone else. Customer insisted on using non-standard balusters when she was strongly advised against it. Any out of pocket expenses that the customer incurred, should not be our responsibility, due to the fact that she chose to go with non-standard balusters and stair components against our advice.

Someone from Salter Spiral Stair spoke with either **.[redacted] or [redacted] (contractor) on nearly a daily basis regarding any questions and/or issues **. [redacted] had. We responded to every phone call. Delays of **. [redacted]'s stair shipment were directly related to her constant changes to the design; which continued up to and including the week of the expected shipment. We had ordered and received very expensive custom parts for the customer's stair order. **. [redacted] then called and changed the design. These changes did push back the timeline of her stair delivery.

Following delivery of the stair there were minor damages to a couple of pieces, which was caused during shipment by Fed Ex. We replaced the damage parts and also gave **. [redacted] additional parts at no cost to her. We are still working on getting the customer a can of touch-up paint. **.[redacted] found and chose custom powder color for her stair from a supplier of her choosing ([redacted], Inc.) This was from a company that we have never done business within the past or since then. They indicated that the custom color that [redacted] is looking for has never been in a liquid form. [redacted] is trying to see if they can match the color in order to to supply the customer with a can of touch-up paint , This information has been relayed to **. [redacted] and **. [redacted].

Very truly yours,

Consumer

Response:

[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 Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

Review: On June 6 I ordered and paid for a set of stairs from [redacted] and was told scheduling the rest of the work in 4 weeks would be more than sufficient time. In turn, I scheduled an entire remodel to begin on July 7. On June 26 I called to check the status of my order. I was told the stairs would not ship until July 9. When I asked if the shipment could be moved up by even one or two days so that it would arrive during the week of my remodel, I was told they would look into it and get back to me. I never received a call back. I was told the same thing on June 27, June 30 and July 2, with no call backs. When I finally reached an officer of the company on July 3, Kelly N[redacted], her final response was the stairs had originally been scheduled for production and shipment for July 27, and so had already been expedited. WHAT???? That is 7 weeks after the order was placed and what happened to extensive inventory as advertised?After numerous phone calls and e-mails, no shipment, again, on July 9 as promised by both management and the shipping department. Again numerous calls and emails and I was then promised a July 11 shipment. After asking that they just be honest with me before the hole was cut in my floor and while I still had an opportunity to delay my carpenters for a few days, I was told shipment would take place on Friday, July 11 and I would have a tracking number by the end of that day. Guess what, my follow-up calls, mid-day got me another delay and another promise of it will ship on Monday. Now, aside for the additional costs I will encounter with my construction crew, I have a safety hazard because of the hole in the middle of my living room for myself, my 5 pets and my grandchildren.Desired Settlement: I would like delivery and possibly some compensation for the additional costs incurred for construction delays.

Consumer

Response:

Review: We purchased a spiral staircase in October. We had a quote and agreed a price, we were assured the price was in Canadien dollars and it would not exceed the quote. We were told there would be two payments put through the visa. The first payment went through in American dollars. To keep it short and this is where it gets frustrating. We tried to get in touch with Salter and got the runaround. Soon the next and final payment went through, again in American dollars. We tried to get in touch with Salter again without any luck. Numerous phone calls during November and December sometimes on hold for 30 mins and then transferred to the wrong extension or voice mail, never ever receiving a return call. I find the reception desk very rude and uncaring about customer requests for help.It seems they are directed to make things as difficult as possible so customers with a problem will give up.

It is also quite obvious the owner / president dose not care about the way his / her company is run. In a nutshell this is the worst customer service and caring company I have had the misfortune to deal withDesired Settlement: All we need is to get a billing adjustment and a credit of $ 310.00. For overpayment. We have made many more calls to this company than the three times that were given in the complaint form. In all it was about twelve times!!!

Business

Response:

Hi,

Review: We ordered a spiral staircase and railings ($10,000) at the beginning of April. On April 29th the shipment arrived from Salter however several of the pieces were the wrong size. We contacted Salter and they agreed to replace the four pieces in question. It is now Aug 19th and we still do not have the replacement railings. I am unable to use my deck because I cant get my final inspection pass and have lost the entire summer to entertain on our deck space. I've spoken to five different people at Salter and every single one has promised to call me back but I have yet to receive a call from anyone. I've been told that the order shipped, then told the machine broke down then told the order was lost and then told the order will ship "next week" but nothing ever comes. A new person was hired at Salter to help with all these issues however that person has been unable to make a difference. We are in month FOUR and I still have no answers from Salter. When I call Salter, the operator just sends me to voice mail.Desired Settlement: I need the railings ASAP so I can get my final inspection.

Business

Response:

Good Afternoon,

Review: Extremely slow response to correct mistakes to original order causing construction delays & inconvenience to consumer. The order was totally incorrect & included sub-quality parts – obviously not inspected (as implied) before shipping.

- a proposed 6 week delivery took over 17 weeks to receive complete

Little regard for customer service after initial sale

- virtually no status updates or progress made unless repeatedly initiated by consumer

- no response to multiple follow up calls, messages or emails

- although initiated, talk of compensation/reimbursement for the inconvenience / loss of use never materialized.

Below is a timeline of events:

9/24/12 – date of order.

11/7/12 – date of arrival.

11/12/12 - Salter notified of incorrect order received, also sent pictures of questionable baluster.s

11/13/12 - Salter concurs defective balusters from pictures, schedules Fed Ex return pick up of complete kit.

11/15/12 - incorrect order picked up by Fed Ex.

11/20/12 - incorrect order received back at Salter.

11/29/12 - no word from Salter; inquired to find out my original order, erroneously shipped to TN, was received back (11/29); planned to inspect & ship if ok.

12/4/12 – no word from Salter; inquired to find out my balusters will be sent out the next day (12/5) to a new galvanizer; up to 7 days to complete.

12/13/12 - no word from Salter; inquired to find out balusters will be picked up that 9th day, inspected & shipped if ok.

12/18/12 - no word from Salter; inquired to find out order shipped Friday 12/14.

12/19/12 - order received but was missing center pole & aluminum railing; notified Salter.

12/20/12 – no response but inquired at Salter to find out center pole & railing were never received back from my return order on 11/20; assumed I had kept original or lost by Fed Ex on return. Per [redacted], replacements being produced; due at Salter approximately 12/27.

1/07/13 – no word from Salter; inquired on status. [redacted] to research if replacement pole went to galvanizer; to call me back next day…

1/15/13 – no word from Salter; e-mail sent to [redacted], President as I assumed the parts were not reproduced in December as I was led to believe & the process actually commenced after my previous call on 1/7.

1/15/13 – email response from [redacted] saying he tried to call home # & will try again in AM. I tried to call back & left voicemail.

1/17/13 – no word from Salter but I contacted [redacted]. He agreed with issues, accepted responsibility & said we’d discuss price concession once order is complete; would send me trk # once it ships.

1/18/13 – e-mailed [redacted] a question regarding bubbling on a few balusters.

1/22/13 – no word from Salter but Fed Ex called to schedule delivery 1/24 (parts shipped 1/17)

1/23/13 – no response from [redacted] & 2nd inquiry sent regarding baluster question.

1/24/13 – missing parts delivered – 17 weeks from original order date.

1/30/13 – e-mailed [redacted] to confirm receipt of missing parts & inquired again about baluster question & initiating rebate back to me by Tues 2/12.

2/26/13 – no word or baluster delivery from Salter; left voicemail for [redacted].

As of yet – no response from Salter; giving up on communication; filing claim with Revdex.comDesired Settlement: All inquiries were directed to the operations manager, [redacted]. When I was able to reach him, he acknowledged the issues & agreed to speak to Accounting about a issuing a rebate as compenation for the mistakes. He also agreed a few of the new balusters were questionable based on a picture I sent & offered to replace. He has not responded.

Consumer

Response:

[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 Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

I reviewed the rebuttal letter from Salter but due to a number of inaccuracies, cannot accept their response. I feel the need to address them below:

did not ship complete spiral staircase had to go and buy hardware which should have came with the staircase called and spoke to customer service did not get no help and no calls back from managers I will never buy from them again and I hope you guys do the same

I am very happy with the design of the Salter staircase I ordered, and it looks as good as I had hoped now it is (almost) installed. I have a very big problem with their customer support, my story is as follows: I ordered a steel staircase with oak treads, and a steel railing to go around the hole. Installation moved along well until I got to the railings. They were cut to size but had unfortunately being sized for a staircase without wood treads - they were too short. Sal in customer support proposed a bracket to remediate (rather than replacement railings) and I accepted for a quick solution. I am still waiting, and am planning on going to a welding shop to lengthen the railings so I can complete the job. Great looking staircase, *terrible* customer support. Suggest you look elsewhere.