From reading reviews, I believe ARJ Remodeling likely does great work. However, I'll never get a…read morechance to experience their work because of the way they handled canceling their appointment with me to give an estimate on an entire basement renovation.
On Friday at 6:30 PM, I was able to line up an appointment for their estimator to arrive at our home the next day (Saturday) at 4 PM. I rearranged my day on Saturday to make sure I would be there when the estimator arrived.
At 3:21, the estimator called my cell phone and left a message. He called again at 3:25. At 3:30, I received a text asking if I was home and then another text that said my appointment was canceled due to no response.
During these 10-15 minutes, I was on a treadmill running, so I did not have my phone handy. Honestly, I could have been doing a lot of things and not had my cell phone handy... reading a book, working in the yard, playing games with my kids, etc. If I had been told by ARJ Remodeling that I would receive a phone call or text 30-45 minutes prior to the appointment and that if I did not respond, the appointment would be canceled, I would have made sure I had my cell phone handy. However, I was never told this important fact.
So, when I got off the treadmill at 3:35 to make the 5-minute ride home to be home 15-20 minutes before the appointment, I picked up my phone and saw the text that my appointment had been canceled. I texted back expressing my disappointment and received a text that stated: "That's not good you did not answer even text at 3:30." Read that text again... notice it is my fault the appointment had been canceled.
I was irritated, so I called and said: "Wow, that's a great way to lose business." I admit this was not the best way to start the conversation. At the same time, the young man who answered the phone immediately put the blame on me (as he did with the text). He explained, in a verbose manner, that it was my fault that I did not answer my phone and that his estimator didn't want to drive 30 minutes to an appointment if I wasn't going to be there. I mentioned we had just made the appointment a day earlier, that I keep my appointments, that I was never told I needed to answer a phone call before the appointment to confirm I was there, and that if I had been told this fact that I would have made sure I had my phone handy. The young man barely took a breath before he started explaining again that the problem was that I didn't answer my phone. This is when I decided to hang up.
Never once did the person answering the phone say, "We are sorry we canceled your appointment" and there was no apology for any misunderstanding, even though I stated that I had rearranged my entire day to be available for this appointment.
Here's the kicker... I'm getting 2-3 estimates, which is what most people likely do for a big project like this one, and ARJ was the company I was leaning towards hiring because their online reviews are strong. Obviously, after the way I was treated as a potential customer, I won't be doing business with them. With that said, my disappointment is not just with the way I was treated as a potential customer. I'm also disappointed that ARJ is out of the running for this project because, as stated in my first paragraph, it sounds like they do good work.
One final word. Please feel free to check out my other reviews. At the time of this review, I have left 14 other reviews -- 12 5-star reviews and two 1-star reviews (one which was updated to a 4-star reivew). I don't like leaving negative reviews and rarely do, so for me to leave one means something.