Yutka Fence, Inc.

Review: I contacted Yutka for a residential fence in late February early March of 2016. I had a guy come out who did the estimate for a fence and 2 days later received the estimate for a dog eared fence. For several weeks I went back and forth with him through email about the exact fence that I wanted and sent him pictures of the fence and gate, that came from the Yutka website. He said that he could do that no problem and quoted me just over $6700.00. I was told I would receive a call to set up an appointment that he would come out do all the markings. I waited 3 days with no call, I then called myself and got the appointment. When he came out we went over the pictures as well as where the fence would be located on the property. After, he went to his truck to do the final estimate he came back and the price had gone over $9300.00, so I than cut back on the gate and downsized from a double to a single and changing from a Yutka Classic Deluxe to just a plain Yutka Classic 5 foot gate. (take note my entire fence IS NOT Yutka Classic, it is a flat top with Yutka Classic tops only) This brought the price to $8800.00. So, based on the picture I gave him I was under the impression I was signing for that fence and assumed he would know exact dimensions of posts and other details since it came from there website. Fast forward to the install date, which was pushed back several weeks due to inclement weather, they finally got started and at the time of the estimate we were told we did not need to be home for the install. When I arrived home I noticed the fence WAS NOT the same fence I had sent pictures of and was under the impression I was getting. The crew working on it was AMAZING, I showed them the picture and they immediately said they were suppose to be larger posts than what I have. Unfortunately, I do not know the difference between a 4x4 and a 4x6. All I wanted was the fence I showed pictures of at the time of my estimate and was told the cost went up so much because of what I was wanting. The crew stopped and finished for the night so I could resolve the next day. I called and spoke with [redacted] who said they would be doing some adjustments to see if they could make it to my liking since it was not what I was suppose to get. She said if I was ok with it they would compensate me instead of a complete tear down. At this point I just wanted the fence up and said I could live with the changes they had to make due to their mistake. They finished the fence and I called to speak with [redacted] again and explained it was not the fence I thought I was signing for and was paying they extra money for. She told me what I got was what I signed for and there was nothing they could do. I explained I do not know the difference on post measurements and was under a different impression. I would have never paid this amount of money for the fence I received. So, after she stated the day before that they would compensate me for the mix up I am no longer receiving the compensation and was told to pay that amount.Desired Settlement: I feel that the remaining balance should be adjusted to reflect the $6700.00 I was originally quoted since that seems to be the fence I received.

Business

Response:

At Yutka Fence, it is our goal to ensure that every customer is satisfied, and well informed when making their decision to purchase a fence. We pride ourselves on placing the customer first, and strive to achieve the highest level of service. We have instilled an additional process in order to further foster this concept. Unlike many of our competitors, we conduct two meetings in person with each customer. The first to get an idea of what they are looking for, and a second to finalize the details. Customers are provided brochures and information that clearly explain the styles of fence that we offer as well as the post options that are available. Once the first meeting occurs, and the customer decides to move forward we are required to contact the public utility companies and give them three business days to mark any utilities that may lie within the confines of the property. It is then that we can schedule the second meeting. The three day wait that is addressed within this complaint was within the waiting period with which we must comply. We make it a point to ensure that all customers are called to schedule the second meeting once their utility time frame is up. During the second meeting, customers finalize their layout and sign the contract. It is at this time that they are taken through several pages of paperwork that clearly explain the options that they have chosen, and they are asked to initial each page. We do this so that we can be sure that the customer is aware of what they have chosen. In this case, the fence was installed per the contract that was approved by the customer. In addition, the posts for this project were installed a day prior to any additional work on the property due to a weather delay. The customer never called the office to express that the posts were not what they had anticipated at that time. Once the customer called to say that she had anticipated that the fence would look differently, we removed all of the panels and replaced them to accommodate their needs. We want customer be satisfied, and we moved the schedule around in order to accommodate another day with this customer so that we could ensure that their fence met our high quality standards, and their needs. When speaking with the customer, Yutka Fence never agreed to provide a discount on the fence project, and the compensation was discussed to keep the fence as it stood. Instead, in an effort to ensure customer satisfaction, we removed and reinstalled each of the fence panels to better serve the customer. After speaking with the customer, they did not have a clear understanding of what the fence would look like when it was finished. We installed exactly what we had agreed to on the contract, but our goal is to make our customers happy. My understanding is they think it would be fair if we provide some compensation back because they feel that we should have made it more clear to them what the fence would have looked like. I left a message for them on 4/16 offering them a $900 credit towards the project, which is what we spoke about on our phone call. I have not yet heard back from them to confirm that that will satisfy them.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. However, the company failed to mention the original guy who did my estimate was terminated BEFORE my fence started going up. Therefore they would have no idea what was discussed during the final meeting. Also, the utility company and diggers hotline did not come out to do markings until AFTER the meeting, which I then emailed Dan, the estimate guy, back and said I had flags up and he never came back out to check them. I had to have posts hand dug to avoid these spots which resulted in extra charges for the contracted company. The owner, [redacted], was extremely rude and degrading when trying to resolve this issue, they were contacted the next day saying there offer of $900.00 off would satisfy me.

Regards,

Review: On July 9th, 2013 Yutka Fence began my installation which was already delayed several weeks by inclement weather. When the began the project it was warm and sunny, however midway through the day we received a heavy storm that interrupted their work. The storm was so intense that it filled the post holes with water several feet deep and completely saturated the ground. The installers waited for the rain to pass and then resumed working on the fence. While moving the materials required to pour the concrete the installers tore up the grass easement on the southern end of our property. The heavy loads tore ruts into the ground and the foot traffic ripped away grass. I contacted Yutka fence and told them this was unacceptable and it would need to be repaired and my complaint was dismissed as I was told the workers would rake it out. You cannot rake out deep ruts and raking isn't going to replace the grass that was growing there and is now a bare patch of dirt. The lady at the Yutka office told me their goal is to install the fence without it looking like they had even been there. Unfortunately for us they left their mark. I understand the weather is beyond their control but if the conditions didn't warrant an install then it should have been pushed back (like it already was many times) not pushed through like it was. After they noticed they were tearing up the ground I don't understand why they didn't stop what they were doing right there. I went with this company, which cost me more money than other quotes, because I thought they were professional and I wouldn't be spending time on a matter like this.Desired Settlement: I want the easement repaired the proper way, which is to fill in the ruts with dirt, cover the damaged bare areas with dirt and reseed the easement. I'd also like a credit on my fence for having to deal with all this.

Business

Response:

On the day of installation it did rain and while we had wet concrete mixed. We kept working to prevent unnecessary delays in clean up. The customer let us know of the ruts in the adjacent property and our [redacted] went oout the same day to inspect. He met with the customer and explained what we would do to remedy the situation. We had to return anyway to finish the project after the rain had dried out. We finished our project and the customer was still not happy with the clean up of the ruts and blamed us for the dirt left over from his sump pump line repair. We returned again and filled in more ruts and seeded the area with grass seed. We also cleaned up the mess left behind from the sump pump repair as a courtesy.

Consumer

Response:

Review: I recently decided to go with a fence from Yutka fence because I was recommended by my neighbor. It is possibly one of the worst experiences I ever had. I had specifically told the estimator in atleast 5 different ways how I wanted the fence. I even had an email that outlined what I wanted. When I came home that night, I was so excited to see the fence only to see that they had no listened to my instructions and done it wrong. Later they claimed that it was not written in the contract that way. Now they are charging me $200 to correct their mistake. I will never recommend them to anyone again, and I will tell my neighbor and everyone I know of the experience I had. I am a first time home-buyer and I would have likely used Yutka in the future had everything gone smoothly. I guess I will have to find a new fence company to trust.Desired Settlement: My desired outcome would be not to pay the $200 simply for the fact that it was discussed and written what I wanted, but not followed up on. I would take anything would alleviate the situation and not break my budget.

Business

Response:

My name is [redacted] and I am [redacted] of Yutka

Fence. I was disappointed to receive

this complaint today. We have a signed

contract from Ms. [redacted] that shows 6' high fence. There is no mention of 4' high on the

contract. After she signed the contract

we went out and did a layout meeting, which involves us going through a 3 page

checklist with her. That checklist also

shows the height of the fence and has all the same details on it. That also only shows a 6' high fence.

We always try to accommodate our customers when there is a

mix up, but in this situation we don't feel we could have done anything else to

ensure we were providing exactly what the customer wants. I have included a

copy of the signed contract in this response.

We sign contracts for this reason and we expect the customers to review

the contract and the layout to make sure the details are accurate.

We offered to come out and replace the 3 sections of 6'

fence with 4' fence for only the cost of the labor to make the switch and did not the cost of the new materials or any overhead. Involved in this we have to build

the new sections, remove the existing sections, and completely rebuild a

gate. The work took over 6 hours to complete. We finished it promptly the next day.

Ms. [redacted] called the next day to apologize and acknowledged that she understood our process and appreciated that we completed the work.

Consumer

Response:

I called Yutka Fence to get an estimate to replace a fence along my back yard that had been damaged due to high winds. On March 28, 2016 an estimator from Yutka stopped by to do just that. He told me he would email me the estimate the next morning. Today is April 5th, and I have not yet heard anything. If the estimator did not have my email address, he could have called or sent me an estimate in the mail. I had 4 other businesses come over and all of them gave me the estimate that same day, before they left my house. I have since hired someone to do the job.
I have never heard of a business not giving a potential customer an estimate. Very poor customer service.