In looking over my receipt I noticed that I now have no legal recourse, but I wish nonetheless to express my EXTREME displeasure at the cost vs. quality ratio as well as cost vs. service.
I will not attempt to sum up the situation; instead I will give you the full details of the debacle.
I found myself in a bit of a bind with a very small job that none of the local craftsmen were willing to take. I decided to use Handyman Connection to do the simple job of installing a wooden threshold in my bathroom doorway. I expected to pay a premium, as I was using a contracting service that would inflate the fee to be able to take a percentage, but little did I know.
I had been told that 2:00 was the time he was to arrive, but then got a call that he was “… a little longer on the current job and won’t be able to make it until 2:30”. No problem, I thought, still enough time for him to finish before 6:00pm when a broker was to arrive with her client. Also more than enough time for him to be gone when we put our 7 month old to sleep at 6:30pm. I should have paid attention to the fact that he was “a little longer on the current job”. Little did I know.
Mr. Charles Lowry arrived and called me at work (my mother was home taking care of our baby girl). I must say I was taken aback with the estimate of $250-$300! A 2" wooden dowel can cost no more than $10, and the nails no more than $1 a piece. I had estimated an hourly rate of around $60 ($30 for the Handyman and $30 for the Handyman Connection) At that rate it would have to take over 4 hours to cut that wood. Little did I know.
I am between a rock and a hard place as my house is now being shown for sale, and I really want to get this thing taken care of, so against my better judgment I decided to grin and bear it. Little did I know.
I was then told that he would custom cut a piece of wood to make a more gradual transition with a more pleasing visual appeal as well. OK, I thought a 2’x4’ can’t cost more than $10 either, but fine, there’s more work involved, and I don’t really have much choice, at least it will be done professionally. Little did I know
I informed him that the floor of the bathroom was set to level whereas the floor of the hallway was not so there would be a difference in height from one side to the other, he said that he would take that into account when ‘crafting’ the threshold. He then hemmed and hawed about not being able to paint it and having to come back. Not wanting to incur additional expense above the already painful $250-$300 estimate I told him we would do the painting if he would just prime it.
I got home at 5:45pm expecting to sign off the job, instead I found him camped out in our driveway working away. I though, wow, this did take a while, what is he doing? Little did I know.
The broker arrived at 6:10 to a cloud of sawdust and left rather quickly with her client.
6:30pm came and went and the noise continued. I was told by Mr. Lawry that he might have to come back the following day as he was running out of daylight. I was amazed. Little did I know.
At about 6:50 Mr. Lowry called me to the bathroom doorway and showed me the threshold as he held it in place. I mentioned there was still a 1/8" drop from the bathroom floor to the threshold on the right side; he told me that he would be able to line it up just fine. “Wonderful, whatever it takes to finally get you out of my house” I thought to myself. My wife had dinner ready and we sat down to eat, as it was getting cold. In the background Mr. Lawry seemed to finish and was working on the final paperwork, he called me into the kitchen to sign and get a check from me. Here is where I showed how little I really know, I didn’t read it, but signed and hurried him out the door so I could get on with dinner. Take note that I was not brought to the door by Mr. Lawry for a final inspection. Nevertheless, I do take full responsibility for not dragging his ass over to be sure that I was getting my full $275 U.S. worth (the final price on invoice 47109). Stupid Me.
Well, as you can see from the somewhat blurry pictures I finally did get over to take a look, and lo and behold the damn 1/8" drop is there, just as if Mr. Lawry didn’t fix it like he said he would. He also chewed the doorjamb up something fierce. The caulking job is sub rate and with that 1/8" drop off I’m guessing about 275 coats of paint (one for each buck I’ve wasted so far on this mess) will get that level.
I went into this fiasco expecting to overpay for the job, I then was ambushed with an unexpectedly outrageous price, and ended up with crappy workmanship that took my evening and left a big turd in my doorway.
Thank you for the lesson. I will be sure to let everyone here at Kaiser, everyone on my block, everyone I went to High school with, and everyone I meet in the future know what a Chump I am and about the Champs at Handyman Connection.