Current mood:	irate
Entry tags:	house, house work, rant, windows

Updating the house
I hate general contractors.

*seethe*

OK. Not all of them. But the one who is supposed to be replacing our windows and patio door? Not escaping my wrath.

The contractor in question is Patriot Construction. The job? Replacing our windows and patio doors.

The problems?

First, when the sales guy showed up to give his initial presentation, guess who didn't have any literature about the windows OR have a demo to show? He forgot he was demoing windows and came prepared for vinyl siding. When he came back the second time, guess who called ahead of time saying he forgot he was meeting, and would I mind if he showed up in sweatpants and a tank top?

Of the three people we were looking at to have our windows done, the second wouldn't return phone calls to set up appointments, and the other resecheduled and rescheduled and then showed up 1 1/2 hours LATE. So, we went with the least of 3 evils.

We should have kept looking. After we signed the contract, we heard nothing, and heard nothing, and heard nothing. Was I supposed to blindly send them a check? Would I be invoiced for the work? No clue. So I call and ask them when I'm going to be invoiced. The guy who did the sales demo? He's also the finance guy for the company. He didn't know. "Whiskey tango...?" I thought to myself. I send them a check in the mail. They apply it to my work and I get a receipt. (Hell...at least they did that. I'm somewhat shocked.)

Scheduling work was fun, too. I get a call on Sunday night, August 12. "Hey! Your stuff came in. Let's schedule the work for tomorrow!"
uh...yeah... You give me *hours* of notice? No. I need more time to schedule time off from work, if nothing else. I suggest Tuesday, the 14th, because we had our driveway resealed on the 15th. I work from home on Wednesdays, so any work that needs to be done, I like to schedule for that day.

So I go into work on Monday, and realize Tuesday isn't going to work. I give them a call first thing and say "Sorry, can't do it. Can we reschedule the work for next Wednesday?" "Sure! No problem! We'll see you then!"

Fast forward to today. Yes. This is the Wednesday they were supposed to do my windows. And guess...just guess...what isn't getting done today. It's not my landscaping.

I was expecting a call yesterday to confirm today's installation, if nothing else. Well...I didn't get one. Ok....whatever. We moved the furniture away from the windows to make the work easier for the guys. This morning, I removed the alarm system sensors from the windows so that they can put the new ones in and I can transfer the sensors to the new windows once they're installed. I call ADT to have them put the alarm system on "Test" so they don't get alerted to issues via the monitoring system. We remove all the curtains and shades from the windows. We are ready to go.

And nothing. I figure, ok...they should arrive at 8 or 9. Nothing. The house next door is getting a new roof put on. They're happily working away when I take puppy out to potty. Our guys? Still nothing. No voicemail. No trucks in our driveway. Nada. I give them a call at 9:30.


The following account is not exact word for exact word, but is damn close.

*ring ring*
First Patriot Guy (p1): Patriot.
skb1976 (s): Hi...I was supposed to have windows installed today, but haven't heard anything.
p1: Name?
s: skb1976
p1: Oh, hi! It's [the sales/finance guy].
s: Hi, [s/f guy].
p1: Let me check on that for you. Our scheduling guy's in a meeting.

*holds*

Second Patriot Guy (p2): This is [p2].
s: I was wondering what time your guys were supposed to show today.
p2: We didn't schedule anything for today. The guy's on vacation.
s: We scheduled this last Monday.
p2: I can't schedule things weeks in advance. I won't know if a job goes longer than expected.
s: It's one week. You couldn't tell me the guy wasn't going to be here this week?
p2: I said we'd *try*.
s: *resigned* I need at least a couple of days advance notice. Last time, you called me on a Sunday to schedule for a Monday.
p2: I don't call people on Sundays.

OK...to his credit, I was remembering incorrectly. The Caller ID history says he called at 9:02 AM on Saturday 8/11. Even so, how can I schedule that time off from work with no advance notice?

s: You didn't give me any notice.
p2: I can't schedule weeks in advance. I'm expecting the guy back from vacation this afternoon around 2. You're on the list of people to be scheduled.

*click*

OK...so let's recap. You have a displeased customer on the phone, and you hang up on them? The bloody hell, I say!

We have a lot of work we want to do on the house in the coming years. Kitchen remodel. Two bathroom remodels. An addition. Not small jobs. Guess who's NOT getting that work? Thaaaaaat's right, folks! Patriot.

I want them in the house, get the job done, take the rest of the money I owe them, and out. Gone. Not to be seen on my property again.