Caveat Emptor

I'll lose most of you with my long diatribe, but please read my rules for a hoodwink-free existence:

1) Check Better Business Bureau BEFORE you call.
2) If the repairman confuses you, call the company. Don't worry about offending the repairman. If he's honest, he won't mind. If he's not, he'll straighten up.
3) Ask questions. Think. Don't just have them do it to get it over with. It's not just the money - it's the principle.
4) Never pay in cash, even, or especially, if he offers to do it for less. Unless you want to be guilty of aiding and abetting.

Here goes:
I called an old Memphis company to get our iron storm/security door repaired. We bought all three of our doors from this company when we bought our house 18 years ago. I had figured out what was wrong - two screws attaching pneumatic arm to door had come loose. I tried tightening them to no avail. When I called, they said they'd send someone out within an hour, and they didn't mention a minimum fee for a service call (should have been my first warning sign, better yet, I should have asked).

The guy showed up, and told me there was a $75 service charge, to which I wondered aloud why I hadn't been told about it. He told me my weather stripping needed to be replaced, and he could do it for me, himself, not through the company. How about instead of saying it should have been a warning sign, I just put a symbol in parentheses, like (???). It comes up quite a bit.

I told him how I had tried to fix it and asked if there was a nut or bolt that had fallen off. He said yes. I asked how he would get to the inside of the door frame (all metal), through the top? - to which he said yes. I wonder if it was because I was sitting in the kitchen, just inside the back door, and would have seen him go through the top of the door (it would have been an acrobatic feat, or would have involved a special ladder to accomodate the back steps) that the turn of events happened as follows(???). Next, he needed to call the office. He said it would be $35. I felt like Detective Goran (Law & Order, Criminal Intent - my favorite tv detective, played by Vincent D'Onofrio) trying to pin him down to exactly what the $35 included, especially since it was so much less than the original $75 (???).

He said he could replace my weather stripping at the bottom for $40 (I thought he said $4, but was quickly corrected). I said, "No thanks, I think we can do it ourselves." Argument ensued about availability of special rubber strip that cannot be found at Hardware Store - only at this particular company(???). Regardless, no thanks.

While he was repairing the broken screws from the back of the door (no ladder or acrobatics required), I called another iron door company listed in the phone book. They said they'd sell me the whole weather strip, metal + rubber, for $10 per door. I don't think he heard this conversation, but strangely enough, after the repair, he offered to replace the weather stripping for just $20, paid to him personally, not the company(???). I should have said no thanks again, but gave in to the desire to have it done for the same price as buying it at the other store and spending the time to install it.

Ok, I won't tell you any more. I'm tired of the story. I could spend another 4 or 5 or 6 more paragraphs relaying the saga. I will only say that when I called Suzanne to tell her about the ordeal, she said she had had a bad experience with this company and that they had an unsatisfactory rating with BBB. Sure enough, I checked, and it was still unsatisfactory. I don't think they had a blip of bad service with a bad subcontractor. I think they are poorly managed and sadly, the company's long-held, hard-earned good reputation is not a reflection of the current state of affairs.

I got a refund for the excess charges ($30 refund, yielding a $25 net fee), but am left with a sad feeling about a family business losing value, and ultimately, failing.

Buyer Beware, and check Better Business Bureau.