House siding job goes sideways

QI need advice dealing with Hansons for a siding job that they did on my house. I signed a contract with them in mid-2018 and they did not start the job until this February.

The entire experience has been a nightmare. The crew they originally sent was completely unqualified. A new crew was sent out months later and had to redo most of the work.

Meanwhile, my property was a disaster with debris everywhere, and I eventually had to clean up after them because they ignored my requests to have someone come out to do it. I also was injured after falling on ice that accumulated in front of my house since my gutters were down for three months. My experience has been extremely stressful, and it has consumed a large amount of my time.

I am currently negotiating the bottom line for the cost of the job with the vice president of customer relations. I have requested a reasonable discount of $4,000 off the $19,751 bill. So far, they are only willing to give me a $1,000 discount, which I feel is unacceptable. Can you help?

AI’m sorry to hear about your siding job going sideways. Hansons should have done the job promptly, as promised.

And what, exactly, does Hansons guarantee? According to its site, it delivers “exceptional siding options to happy homeowners” by offering “better prices” and “higher quality.” It adds, “Our installers are paid by the job, not by the hour — so they have incentive to work quickly AND with high quality.”

This did not happen, according to you.

But this problem was preventable. I reviewed your paper trail and noticed several red flags. It began when an “aggressive” salesman showed up at your front door, and you say you felt pressured into signing a contract for new siding, shutters and gutters. You probably know this now, but you should never allow someone to pressure you into making a $19,751 purchase — or, for that matter, any purchase.

The circus continued, with delays and work problems that really left you wondering what Hansons meant by “higher quality.”

A job that was supposed to be finished within 6 to 12 weeks took 8 months, according to your records. It looks as if Hansons also believed that a partial refund was in order, but you couldn’t agree on the amount.

You could have appealed this to an executive at Hansons. I publish the names, numbers and emails of Hansons customer service executives on my consumer advocacy site.

I contacted Hansons on your behalf and you appealed to a Hansons executive. A representative said the company was “truly sorry” that this process has caused you such distress. “Not that it is comforting at this point, but this is not at all a typical Hansons experience,” the representative told you. “It should never have taken this long to complete your job, and the poor communication and clean-up throughout the project are completely unacceptable.”

Hansons agreed to provide a credit of $50 for each week that your installation extended beyond the initially stated 6 to 12 weeks. That would put you at $1,000. The company added another $1,000 for “customer satisfaction.”