I really hate giving out one star, but I think Brett at FTC (sole owner/employee) really deserves it. Maybe he is a good carpenter, maybe not... but I'll never know. He seems very professional in person, but his customer service is nill. He tells me has has too many customers to 'chase' me down (and by 'chasing' me down he means not returning my messages for a month). He also says he doesn't want to do business with someone who has an 'attitude' when I question why it took him a month to tell me that he was waiting for me to mail him a signed copy of the bid. He wasted my time to the point where it is now to late to get my windows replaced and still get a tax credit. This is partly my fault... I should have cut and run when when he started to get hard to contact and kept sending me incomplete info. But... you just get lazy I guess.
I received FTC's number with good reviews back in July 2010. I needed a few things done that I just didn't want to do myself (windows, demolish a porch, rebuild the sidewalk/curb, etc) so with this in mind I called to set up an appointment. He was willing to come out on Saturday, listened to all the things I wanted, gave me his thoughts/advice etc. He even took measurements of all the windows which is an improvement over the other guys I have talked to (they assumed, like me, that they were all the same size... they weren't). He was supposed to price out a high end window and a low end window... well, when he finally sent me the bid, it only included the high end because 'these are the only ones that will qualify for the tax credit so I assumed that what you wanted to know'. He also quoted me the sidewalk not the curb because 'thats the cities responsibility (it's not)... I'm not going to do that'
I finally convince him to price the low end windows but it is getting close to the deadline for sidewalk permits, so I tell him to move ahead with that while we work out the windows. More nonsense... I have some trouble with city hall trying to get the city inspector to approve the application. I finally do, and Brett tells me 2 days before the deadline that he is not bonded to work on sidewalks. Yay! On to the windows. Its now November and we have worked out that the high end windows are best because of the many funny sizes in my old house. He sends me a bid by email with the labor, materials, etc and a signature block at the bottom. I message him back saying the price looks good, lets move on this. Nothing. I message him again a week later. Nothing. Its finally December and I send him a final message asking what is going on and he tells me he has been waiting for me to send him a signed copy of the bid in the mail. Fantastic. I tell him 'Fine. I will get it right in the mail. Why did it take you a month to tell me this?' His response:
"I'm far to busy to chase up every bid I put out there. If I did, I wouldn't get any thing done. I think it's pretty clear on the bottom of all my proposals. I don't have patients with people with an attitude and I certainly don't need your business." FYI, the bottom of his proposal is essentially two lines... one with his signature and presumably one for mine.
I'm glad to see he is doing so well that he doesn't have time for my business or my concerns. I wish he had been upfront about it and kept his nasty-grams to himself. My advice, don't get in the way of his customers... take your business elsewhere. read more