The link between patience and virtue has long been considered an admirable trait. After my morning phone call to Coast to Coast Carports in Arkansas yesterday, well, lets just say that I'm no longer a candidate for the virtuous man of the year award!
This seemingly never ending process to build a simple metal shade cover for the motor home, has become an experience in frustration, on many different levels. It all started on October 2nd, when I had finished my research for a metal building contractor, I selected Coast to Coast, and made a deposit for an 18'x45', half sided, RV shade cover. Their sales literature states that delivery and installation typically takes 4-6 weeks after the deposit is made. That would have put construction around the middle of November. When I ran into the problem with the county, it took an additional month and a half to get the building permit, which was obtained on December 3rd. It was at that point, Coast to Coast told me for the first time, their timeline for delivery was 6-8 weeks after they got a copy of the clients building permit. That disclosure pretty much shot down any possibility of delivery by the end of the year. Since we were going to be gone most of January, I had worked out a tentative delivery date of Sunday, Jan 26th.
When we got home on the 25th, after cutting our stay in Quartzsite short, I listened to a phone message that said the delivery had been postponed until Tuesday, the 28th. When I called yesterday, I was told that today's delivery had again been put off until this Saturday, February 1st. Something to do with the construction crews vehicle becoming disabled, and a new crew was being dispatched out of Gallup, N.M. to try and catch up with the backlog of orders.
Not being in a very patient state of mind, I tried to politely tell the Coast to Coast representative that this was their "last shot" at keeping my business, and if it didn't happen this weekend, I was canceling the order, and they would be stuck with the already cut steel. Even though I was assured several times that my 10% deposit was refundable, I'm pretty sure that a cancellation would effectively be a forfeiture of that deposit. I guess that's where the patience aspect once again comes into play. When is enough - enough? I think we've just about reached the end of the road, and I guess I'll just have to be patient, at least until this weekend.
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I feel you pain on the poor customer service. I have worked in the construction industry my entire career 30+ years and since the economic downturn good quality help and workmanship seems to have disappeared. We battle this every day with our subcontractors as we build people their "dream" retirement homes. It is VERY sad what has happened in this great country of ours. I would withhold some from final payment for your inconvenience and time that you have put into get the message across to them. If nothing else publish a review of the poor service they provided even if the quality of the product is satisfactory.
ReplyDeleteenjoying your blog. I have a feeling there is going to be a moral to this r.v. shelter your trying to get done...
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