Mr Handyman

 

On February 13, 2015 at 2:29PM, I left a message on Darien Brown?s answering service asking whether or not the assembly of Walmart furniture which had arrived in boxes for my guest house was within his field of expertise. He responded promptly and assured me that this was exactly what he did. I asked also whether he could also hang pictures and decorative towel holders and cut on side of an area rug, He said that he could and that in fact, he did just about anything, but said he would not be able to properly seam the cut side of the carpet. I agreed that this was OK. When I asked what he would charge, he asked that I provide him with a verbal list of everything to be done in my guest house. As I read them to him, he indicated he was writing them down. He annotated individually each piece to be assembled (13 pieces) and itemized each picture to be hung as well as a wall clock and two small kitchen towel racks.

He agreed to assemble 13 pieces of furniture, hang eight wall pictures, plus one wall clock and two small decorative kitchen towel racks, and upon completion, remove all furniture boxes. We entered into a verbal contract for the above listed tasks to be completed for $400.00. He said he estimated the assembly would take between four to six hours and the rest would be done before day?s end. We scheduled an appointment for 8:30AM on March 17, 2015.

He arrived at 8:30AM on March 17, as agreed. At 10:00AM, I entered the guest house to see how things were going. In the first one and one half hour, he had just finished assembling the bed and started on a night stand. I noticed he was laboriously struggling, trying to hand-screw the multitude of screws with a standard Phillips screw driver and wondered how he would ever get through thirteen pieces of furniture at that rate. I asked how it was going and he replied that it was much harder than he had expected and it was going very slow. I asked if it would not go better if he used an electric screw driver and he replied that he had sent his helper to the truck to look for one but he continued throughout the day using a standard screwdriver.  It appeared that he had not come prepared for the task at hand.

At approximately 5:30PM he knocked on my door and informed me that he had completed all of the furniture assembly and said he would return to complete the remaining work. I gave him a $400.00 check, reasonably assuming that would include the return visit to finish up, as that was the total agreed upon.  After receiving his money, he then said he expected an additional $200.00 to complete the work (as if I should be penalized for his miscalculations of the time required for the furniture assembly) and now said he would not be able to return until March 31. In addition, he now refused to remove the boxes that he had propped up on my exterior wall, saying he had no room in his truck because of his tools.  When I reminded him that he had agreed on $400.00 for all work and that the box removal was a part of it, he said? 1) I quoted you for an 8 hour day-not by the piece 2) I said I might be able to remove the boxes.

Both of these statements were false and if he were quoting for an 8 hour day, what would have been the purpose of asking for a complete list of the work to be done? He simply miscalculated how long it would take and wants me to absorb the cost of his mistake. And what merchant, when entering into a contract, would say, I MIGHT take away your boxes.  Surely, they would say yes or no. I was in tears over the boxes but he said it was no big deal. He suggested that  my husband and I just get out there and cut them all up little at a time and put them in the dumpster until they were gone.  I told him that in addition to the fact that he had agreed to haul them away, we were physically incapable of doing that, explaining that I am 76 years old and crippled. My husband had just had hernia surgery and is not permitted to lift for six months. I have received steroid injections in my back every three months since 2012, am diabetic and anemic and am unable to perform these tasks myself. He said, Oh, well adding I will be back on Sept 31 to complete the work-take it or leave it.

I had little choice but to accept the appointment but said I could not and should not have to pay him any additional money. The following day we paid a Jacuzzi delivery worker $60.00 to haul away the boxes.

The following day we paid a Jacuzzi delivery worker $60.00 to haul away the boxes. When I was finally able to go back to the guest house to see what was left to be done, I was dumbfounded and nauseated to find the amount of unfinished work and the damage done to my new furniture as well as my deceased mother?s Duncan Phyfe table.

The first thing I saw upon entering was the soda can tab on my deceased mother?s Duncan Phyfe table with a long semi-circular scratch at the end of it where he or his helper placed the tab and then somehow drug it across the table, marring the finish on my table. I cannot really imagine workers in a private home failing to put something down to protect the furniture. Even a piece of paper or a box lid would have protected my table.

Of course, I found all of the pictures, the clock and the towel holders lying around the house on the bed, sofa and chairs. I then noticed that the mirror that was supposed to be attached to the dresser had not even been removed from the box and the bathroom vanity was still in the box, unassembled, even though he had told me all of the furniture was assembled.  The carpet had also not been cut. As I looked further, I saw:

·        That the TV Stand in the bedroom was put together shabbily. The front long slat that makes up a part of the top of the Stand is over ¼ inch longer than the rest of the top and that entire board stands up 1/8 of an inch above the rest of the top.

·        The bed corner was chipped

·        The dresser corner and one drawer are terribly chipped and although he told me later that this damage was present when he opened the box, (I have no way of knowing to be true) and if so, he went ahead and assembled it before mentioning it to me, thereby making it impossible for me to return it.

·        The coffee table was split underneath when a screw was put in wrong, which has certainly weakened the structure (I found this while removing the multiple instruction labels plastered all over the assembled furniture)

·        There was a bag full of left over nuts, bolts, screws, dowels and other things that were clearly needed to construct the furniture properly.

·        There were two 2.5?x19.5? boards that belonged on some piece of furniture that did not get used

·        There was a left over 11?x24? board that belong on something that was left off

·        There was filth from the construction all over the house for me to have to clean up

The leftover boards and the bag of nuts, bolts and screws lead me to believe that shortcuts were taken. If everything that should be screwed in was screwed in, if every board that was part of some assembly was used, there would be no left over parts.

I contracted for all of the furniture to be assembled, all of the pictures to be hung and the boxes to be hauled away for the agreed upon price of $400.00. He accepted payment by saying all of the furniture had been assembled and promising to return promptly to complete the w

Very punctual, courteous and generally a good guy. Unfortunately the job was too much for him and I spent 5 hours helping him finish. After the 5 hours - he didn't even give us a discount for the work I did. This was clearly a job too big for him and we doubt we will call him again.

I told him I would not pay extra and he never came back. Left the place incomplete and a mess! Tried to work with him but had to spend elsewhere to complete. Still no response. Even months later he still does not call or respond to my requests to simply figure out what was complete and what was not. I can't find things in the house and he left a huge mess.

He showed up on time, just a few minutes early. Cleaned up after himself, was informative as to what he was doing. I will use this company again as I have odd jobs around the house I can't do myself. Original appointment for the estimate was done next day after I'd called, too. Final price was only $5 more than estimate.

The person who did the work for me was excellent and provided very good quality of service. He was very professional, responsive and efficient. He changed many things that I suggested him during the work and the result was beautiful. I would highly recommend him to anyone.

Good. Arrived on time. Resolved all issues to our satisfaction. Caulked pocket door. Cleaned up after himself. My only real complaint is that they charged for the hour that it took him to go to a home improvement store to pick up the parts. I knew they would in advance, but the time was a little excessive (who knows, maybe traffic or hard to find part) and in reality he could probably could have guessed at the parts needed and brought with him.

Excellent as always.

He did a very good job for me. The repairs have done a good job of keeping out any and all pests.

The week before the work was done, Darien came and gave me an estimate. They called and requested an earlier appointment than originally scheduled which I was able to agree to. Dave was on time, worked without stopping until the work was finished. He was here 7 hours and everything was done as requested and I feel the work was very satisfactory. The estimate was what I paid.

We were told to expect someone between 8-8:30 a.m. At 7:45, our gatehouse informed us that Mr. Handyman had arrived. After walking through all the jobs with me, Dave got to work immediately and attacked each group of tasks in a very organized manner. He worked very neatly and tidied up after each job. He was most pleasant and checked with me if he had a question. We have used a Mr. Handyman franchise when we lived in New York State and have always found them to be reliable. They seem to hire real professionals whose work is always top-notch. Since Dave was here almost four hours, we felt the charge was very reasonable. We will be using them again.

Excellent work. Friendly, outgoing and willing to suggest alternate ideas. Not really a complaint but they were about 5 hours early and if I had been 10 minutes later coming back from a doctor appointment I would have missed them. As it worked out it was great and they were done within three hours total.