I normally don't write a lot of negative reviews but Stan has given me no option and really gotten me to question the validity of reviews/ratings on Angie's List. On 6/13/2020, I put in a general request for quote for vinyl siding repair on Angie's List because we have a loose piece of siding on my house that is resulting in water intrusion at all levels. This was an acute problem that I needed to get addressed fairly quickly.
Stan called me within minutes of my request for quotes. He was a sweet talker and espoused his old fashioned business sensibilities and told me to read all of his stellar reviews on Angie's List as they spoke to the quality of his work and the experience I'd have with him. He offered to come by that very afternoon and give me a quote on the spot (very savvy of him of him as it gave the advantage of being a first mover and got me to commit before others even had a chance to respond). He came by within two hours and I found him to be a very pleasing gentleman. He looked at my siding, and gave me what appeared to be a sound diagnosis.
While he was out here, I asked him if he could quote on some other jobs including some tuckpointing work and a few other small things elsewhere on my home. He was more than happy to oblige. I asked him if he could email me a quote later. He responded by saying he was an old fashioned guy and didn't know how to do that stuff and it was his policy to provide a quote on the spot. So, he went to his car and gave me old fashioned hand written write up and quote for the work. The combined quote for all the jobs was $1800 and it was my fault for agreeing right away without waiting to get other quotes or offers. He asked me for 50% down right away which I wrote him a check for. Very dumb of me as I fell for the combination of the great reviews online (which he kept mentioning over and over), the fact that he seemed to be a pleasing guy with a lot of experience and his savviness of hitting me up right away before I had time to think through possibly going in another direction.
He gave me a copy of my order and THEN told me he was backed up and that he'd have a crew out to do the tuckpointing in about 2 weeks and another crew out to do the siding in about 3 weeks. That was disappointing for me to hear given the acute problem I had with the siding and at that point I should have broken the deal off and looked elsewhere, but as rain wasn't in the forecast for the next 10 days or so, I figured it should be okay.
A little over two weeks later on 6/28, I got a call on a Sunday night from a person saying they were coming the very next morning to do the tuckpointing work. While I had to rearrange my schedule, I was able to and a crew of 3 showed up the next morning to do the work. The crew showed up the next morning and had very little idea of what they were suppose to do. Stan hadn't really communicated to them the scope of work. Luckily the crew chief could speak English and we were able to communicate to her all of the work that needed to be done. The work they did overall was fine and I can't really complain very much as they took a half day to complete.
On 7/16 (a little over a month after Stan came by), I realized that I hadn't heard from Stan or Royal at all and we had a few days of rain coming up so I decided to call. I called and left a detailed voicemail at Royal with my name, address and referenced the agreement I had made. Within about 5-10 minute Stan called me from another number. Even though I had left a detailed message, it seemed like he didn't know who I was or what I was calling about. This was quite alarming to me.
I calmed down and explained it to Stan and gave him my address and recounted the work we had agreed to. He said he remember (!) and would send out a crew in the next few days and "get me on the calendar."
A crew never came by. The work wasn't done.
Almost a month later on 8/10 after an extraordinary Derecho storm in the Midwest - where I witnessed my siding flapping in the wind and we had water come into my home, I called Stan at Royal again and left an angry message. An exact replay of the exchange on 7/16 happened! Stan called me back and asked who I was and what I was calling about (despite the detailed message I had left minutes earlier). This time I had a short fuse and I demanded the work be taken care of or I be issued a refund. Stan assured me the work would be done within the week.
It is now over a week later and no word from Stan and zero sign of any crew. I'm amazed at how irresponsible and unprofessional this is. For the life of me, I cannot understand how he has such great ratings from Angie's List and really calls into question if I should use Angie's List in the future to identify contractors.
I now need to find a new contractor to do this work and look into any recourse I have to get a refund for the work not done by Stan and Royal Contractors. Stay away! read more