Service requested: installing 3 ceiling fans.
Mr. Putnam charged a lot for this installation, which was actually done by someone else who worked for/under him. He charged $425, over $100 more than the cost of the 3 new ceiling fans. I was told later by some local friends that it was rather outrageous.
Unfortunately, his helper had an accident in which the glass cover of the last fan being installed got broken, and he was injured. He was not able to complete the job at that point. The new glass cover was ordered quickly, and the fan and the lights were operational as well, so I was fine with the little bit of holdup, due to waiting on the new glass light cover. However, when I turned on the fan in the kitchen, ALL of the 3 fans turned on. At that point I figured there was an issue with the product and so I called home depot. Customer service advised me that the problem was due to the fans and remotes not be coded to operate separately. So I did call Mr. Putnam at that point to ask him to come do the coding so all the fans wouldn't come on all together. His response first to tell me that I could finish the job, which I declined to do, since it involved climbing a ladder, removing a plate, and whatever else was required for the fix. Also, Mr. Putnam had been paid in full and couldn't be bothered to come do a simple fix that was required only because his helper had had an accident. Happily, his helper actually showed up later that day and did the coding, which would eliminate the issue. I really appreciated that.
However, not too long after he left,the ceiling fan in the living room came on by itself, as well as the light. The ceiling fan in the back bedroom also came on, including the light. I turned them off but they came back on, twice, around 130 am and 3 am.
I assumed that this glitchy behavior was a defect in the product, so next day I went to Home Depot for help. Home Depot's bottom line was, it wasn't their responsibility...yes, they sold the product, but the issue could have been caused by the installer. HD did offer a full refund, but that would require someone to remove them, as well as someone to install new units. Not in the budget, in any sense.
However, since one of the potential issues was the coding, my hope was that Mr. Putnam could help, either personally or his assistant, could do that fix, so I called him. Unfortunately, he did not choose to return my call.
So I am not pleased with this outcome, I do think this contractor could have been more responsive, especially due to both his employee's injury as well as the situation with the fans. I figured there would be a charge, but I also figured it would be more efficient to work with the original installer - otherwise, I would have faced the cost of both removal of the broken fans as well as the additional install cost of 2 new fans....not to mention finding a whole new person to work on the issue. read more