Last March my partner, Corey, and I were living in Rockport, MA, but bought a house in Nashua, NH, and planned to move during May. The new house had no fence, and we have dogs. So we needed to have a fence installed before we moved in.
Our friend referred us to Mariusz at Jan's Fence. We knew that Mariusz had done a great job with our friend's fence which has been beautiful and sturdy for a few years.
It took forever for Mariusz to even return our call, but he finally did. We drove from Rockport to Nashua and met Mariusz so that he could measure the area. He was very nice, took the measurements, and told us that he'd contact us with an exact date for the installation. Corey and I did notice that Mariusz took no notes during our conversation except when he jotted down the measurements. He claimed to be super-busy so it made no sense to me that he wouldn't have taken notes about the dates, etc.
Via e-mail, we agreed upon the second week of May, but then as that date drew very near, Mariusz contacted us and said that he was behind with his workload and asked whether he could install our fence during the third week of May. We were okay with that and reminded him that we really needed him to stick to his commitment of the third week of May because we were ready to move, starting new jobs in the Nashua area, and only were waiting for the fence installation in order to move.
We made plans to move on the weekend after the third week of May but then received an e-mail from Mariusz indicating that he needed to meet us at the new house "to look at the area again." It was a great inconvenience (a 134-mile round-trip) for us, but Corey went to meet him again, and Mariusz pretty much just took the measurements again. Weird and stupid--a waste of his time and ours!
During the third week of May, we couldn't reach Mariusz and blew up his phone(s). He finally called us back the day before we were supposed to move and said that he couldn't install the fence until the next week. I was furious but said very little about it to him. Who does business this way? At this point, I just wanted the fence installed and wanted to move into the new house. During the fourth week of May, Corey started his new job and drove two times from Rockport to the Nashua area. Corey obviously wouldn't have had to drive the extra 268 miles if we were able to move during the third week of May.
Mariusz and his crew installed our fence during the fourth week of May, and we moved in that same weekend. The fence was and is great. His work quality isn't the issue. When we received the invoice for the fence, I simply used the IRS mileage rate and reduced his payment by the value of the two trips Corey had to make from Rockport to the Nashua area and heard nothing more from Mariusz. In my opinion, he should have offered us a discount since he was late with his promise of work completion. He did not offer a discount and never even apologized that he didn't live up to his commitment. So I took the discount myself.
Last week the friend, who referred Mariusz to us, told me that he has had no contact with Mariusz since our fence was stalled but reached out to Mariusz to inquire about some new fence work. Mariusz simply replied with a text indicating, "I can't help you anymore." My friend replied, "Why? Are you out of business?" and has received no reply.
I can only assume that Mariusz is treating my friend (who only tried to refer business to him) poorly because of Mariusz's experience working with us. If that's the case, then I question his integrity all around. read more