In early July we ordered two exterior doors from Gem. We were told 6-8 weeks. When that time frame had passed we called. After many unreturned phone calls and emails we were given an install date in mid November. All good.
Installation team showed up on time. In terms of the job these guys did, make no mistake, they know what they are doing. They were precise and the doors are sealed and finished beautifully. And are airtight. We can really feel the difference in the house. So maybe they are not so good at customer service? I'll get over it. Not their job. And the younger gentleman did take the time to talk to us in a clam personable way.
Our back door is perfect. It was installed without an issue. It is steel with a full glass window with an internal blind. Everything we ordered and expected. Happiness.
Now where is the screen door we also ordered?
Probably last thing to go in.
Then we come to the front door.
During the install I tried to stay out of the way in the basement as they tore apart the old door surrounds (front and back) and cut through the brick. (by the way guys - there was a white sofa two feet from the door that was left with a layer of grey dust and debris. Probably my bad but you must have seen it. I could have covered it in a few seconds.) They did put down floor covering front to back.
As I came upstairs I could see the front door was not the one I had been picturing for almost five months. They sent and installed the wrong door.
The salesman then arrived and I first mentioned the colour being so dark. He assured me it was the position of the sun.
My partner then arrived home and was also shocked at seeing the wrong door. He then pulled out the catalogue page we had from the showroom to compare. It was a different door. The salesman then said he had never seen that picture before. We then reminded him it was the picture he had photocopied in the showroom and made us sign so there could be no mistake what door we ordered. It says the wood grain is Fir and the panels are flat. He said it was the same door and anyway this is much better. Here we go.
We ordered light wood
We got dark wood
We orderer shaker/mission style panels
We got raised detailed panels
We ordered a flush-mount window
We got a window with trim around the edges holding it in place
I should mention all we had around the front door trim as the installers finished was exposed brick, dust and sealing foam. They wouldn't be installing the trim today as the wrong colour was sent.
And where is our back screen door?
Forgot to order it. Did anyone measure for that?
We thought so.
He left saying final charges would be put through on the VISA card they had on file. He was still insisting it was the correct door and that it was what we ordered. It was the sun.
My partner picked up the phone called his bank and cancelled his VISA card. Suddenly GEM was calling us. Sales wanted to assure us that they were calling to hear our concerns and to assure us they would never try to put through the final payment until were happy. Okay.
Finally we were told told the door we had first ordered was not available in our size. Then why take our order in the first place?
No answer.
If there needs to be an order change tell us. That's seems reasonable.
This maybe just be the case of an overzealous salesman trying to make a sale and figuring "close enough". Well it's not. These thing aren't cheap. Imagine buying a car and getting a different style and colour. You guys deal with hundreds of doors but we only have one and it would have been nice to choose our own
What followed was numerous attempts from us by email to resolve this matter. No response. At all from anyone. All this time the owner Jim was being cc'd. Nothing. That seemed strange.
Then after a few more unreturned emails we had an unexpected late evening visit from the salesman who was sitting in his car in front of our house. As my partner was on the porch taking out garbage in his PJ's he came up the steps and said he was going to come in and we had to come to a deal. He was asked to go, He raised his voice. Then they both did and he was asked again to leave and please respond to our emails and the door was closed. He then knocked of the front door on and off for the next 20 minutes. It was not peasant.
The next day we outlined this incident in an email to GEM and also made an offer to resolve this ASAP and at least to start the conversation. It worked and we heard from Melissa on behalf of Jim.
We settled matters with GEM and sent off a check just before Christmas. Thanks to Melissa in the office who was some voice of sense and clarity in this matter.
We did in fact hear from the owner-only once. He was cc'd all our correspondence but never lent his voice directly or even acknowledged what was going on. Then we did hear from him over Christmas (a voice message we didn't get for a week as we were away). A message to tell us they had received our check and this did it not settle the account at that we owed a balance of exactly the same amount as we had before. Here we go again?
An email from Melissa clarified that he hadn't received the memo with our agreement when he left the message. But no follow call to clarify that it was a mistake. Or an email? Something.
I have honestly had better customer care at my local greasy spoon (love ya Anna and Jackie).
I have tried to be fair in my review here. As I said before installation was great and the truth is as we don't want our old house torn apart anymore. We will live with the door we didn't order. There are bigger problems in life. But when you are a door company it's a big deal
