AMERICAN FENCE CO

Worst company ever!!! If you want a headache and no resolution then you need to hire this company. No communication, no call backs, no customer service, and poor quality. I truly regret using this company for my fencing needs. I definitely learned my lesson and will hire a higher bidder to get work performed per industry standards and not sub-par work.

Worst customer service. I needed repair of a chain link fence they had previously installed. It took 2 weeks to get an estimator to come out to measure for a quote. That was in August and I still have not gotten a quote. Saw estimator a couple weeks after he took measurements and asked when I would get the estimate and his response was “When I get it done.” This company obviously does not care about customer service.

Nobody from this company ever replied back to my message sent on 4/13/17 so clearly my project was not of interest to even arran a time for someone to reach out to me and schedule a time with me to come out to my house and give me a bid. Utterly ridiculous and extremely unprofessional/disappointing.

The fence posts are not plumb and the chain link is coated in filth. When we contacted American Fence about these issues, they essentially said that my husband was blind and the fence posts were plumb. We later found out that the installers thought that plumb and level are the same thing. The customer service manager, Mike, came to check the 5' tall fence posts with a 6 inch level. When my husband, using a 4 foot long level proved that the posts were out of plumb nearly an inch, Mike finally admitted that we were not blind. Mike also admitted that the chain link was not new but material that had been in their South Dakota location. Mike said they would power wash and scrub the chain link, which is likely to shorten the life of the chain link. Today, 3/14/17, they were supposedly coming back to plumb the fence posts and after their visit, the posts are still not plumb. When Mike was contacted about the lack of quality again, he told us we were wrong and the posts were now plumb, even though he did not come out to verify. Mike and his staff have been rude at best and offensive at worst. We had used American Fence about 16 years ago for the same type of fence at our prior home and were very satisfied which is why we chose American Fence for this installation. Big mistake. It appears that in the years since we last used them, they have gone from a quality company to one that is only interested in providing shoddy workmanship and used materials while charging the going rate. When they are confronted with their failure to meet their contractual obligations, they choose to be insulting to the client instead of working to resolve the issues.

Still ongoing...it's been over 3 months since I signed my contract. They still have to remove posts to complete the job.

I spoke with them about the service and got an estimate. When I went to pay the deposit, I asked them to have the installer call me to let me know when they were coming because I wanted to discuss the specifics with them. They came to plot it first without calling and they even showed up on the installation day at 7:30 am without calling first and installed the fence and left without even coming to talk to me. I assumed that they would take the balance off of my credit card since that is what I had used to pay the deposit. However, I never heard anything from them and then got a statement with a $15 late charge! Their customer service is really lacking.

unknown

It was excellent.  They were on time, did everything quickly and good.

I am amazed about the horrible product I received from this company.  Whatever type of wood and nails they are using are completely inadequate because boards and now two complete panels just fall off with no contact.  After numerous revisits by the company (after approx 2 months each time) to replace boards I noticed two complete panels down on the ground on Monday January 19th.  I called the company to come out and was told someone would come out "in a couple of days".  Five days later and no visit or phone call I replaced the panels myself.  Very poor quality product and customer service.  I regret the $2500 I spent with them.

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Three days later, May 23rd,  I received a request for final payment. I sent an email to the company explaining that the job was unfinished and why, along with photos of some of the less attractive pickets, and was assured that the billing department would be notified so that they would not consider my payment to be in arrears. On June 19th, I received a phone call from the American Fence billing staff asking when I intended to make final payment. I gave them the name of my contact person whom I later called to confirm that I would not be held in breach of contract. After a month of inactivity from American Fence,  I filed a complaint with the BBB on June 24th; American Fence had until July 8th to respond to that complaint.   American Fence  came on June 25th, replaced probably 50 of the 60 damaged pickets, and left.  Roughly 20 of the newly installed boards were broken or split.   I sent a text message to my contact person at American Fence, told him that they had replaced damaged pickets with more damaged pickets and in the process had also damaged the rails where the old wood had been pried off.   He replied that the installers had run out of pickets and that they would be back the following week to finish the job.  They did not come.  On July 9th, American Fence  responded to my BBB complaint saying that the pickets would be replaced on July 10th, and that they had machinery problems.  They did not arrive and I rejected their solution in the BBB website.  It has now been nearly 4 months since signing the contract and the fence is incomplete.
I would not recommend this company to anyone.

unknown

Not a good experience w/ this company. Had a lot of excuses and took an exceptionally long time to put in a fence. Got excuse after excuse about why our fence was not being completed. Filed a complaint w/ the BBB and the next day they were out to finish the fence, imagine that! I would not use this company again! Pay the few extra hundred dollars and go w/ another company that uses real cedar fencing. My fence has several boards that are already warping, splitting and cracking. Good Luck!

They did a good job of replacing the fence. They were really dependable.

unknown

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Started to look for fence bids in November of 2013. Got several from different companies in the area but went with American Fence because they came in the cheapest. I put down the 60% deposit they requested to get started. The contract I signed was for work to start in 3 weeks from the drop off of the deposit and 7-10 days to finish the fence after the posts have set. Took them 4-5 weeks to set the posts after numerous calls w/ excuse after excuse as to why the posts weren't set yet. After they finally came out and put the posts in they told me they would come back the next week to finish the fence. Well, we are still waiting for them to finish the fence and its going on 9 weeks now. I call everyday and talk to a Becky. She seems nice but she continues to lie about why the fence isn't being finished. Everyday I call they push the finish day back 2-3 days and sometimes a week. I should have done more research before I decided to go with them. If you are looking for a fence stay far away from them! pay the extra $300-$400 and go w/ someone else, but ask around first. American Fence uses Fir wood instead of cedar which isn't a big deal to me but thats why they come in so much cheaper than other companies. Good luck!

The original estimate included the fence gate and a rail/post in the yard.  The quality on the rail/post was done well and I appreciate that work. 

The fence gate was where I had three quality issues.   First, the upper rail had a sheared off bolt.  Second, the original estimate included replacing the rails on the fence gate ‘if necessary’.  The hinges were installed with the hinge attached toward the bottom of the rails to avoid the rotting wood in the rails.  

Finally, they did not replace the fence gate post as was originally expected.  The original post toward the top hinge was rotting badly and the hinge had fallen off.  Rather than replacing the post they they installed the new hinge in the same location and  avoided the standard locations for the bolts (see pictures).  The first of the three bolts in the fence post hinge could be pulled out by my finger without twisting the bolt.  So this hinge was fixed to the post by the bottom quarter of the hinge.  I didn’t feel this would hold over time and sure enough - it didn't last two months (see pictures).

 I wanted to see these matters addressed before I paid the remaining balance of $186.  I called shortly after the work was completed and requested someone take a second look.  This was completed sometime the week of August 5th.  They sent an inspector and he stated he felt the work was done well.

I respectfully disagreed, so after receiving the first invoice dated 8/22/2012 I called and spoke to Tammy Schult on 8/24/2012 and explained the situation and requested that American Fence reconsider the quality matters.  Tammy told me that she would request a supervisor to come and take a look at the work.  I asked Tammy if it was OK to hold off paying the bill until this matter was resolved and she said yes and that she would follow up with Lou in billing to address this.

 Time passed and I received another bill from American Fence.  I don’t recall the date but it was mid-September now – I think the
week of September 9th.  I called Tammy again and asked about the reconsideration.  She mentioned that the she did request the supervisor to come take a look and that he was scheduled to come out that same week.  This did occur and that was when we found out that replacing the post was not part of the original estimate.  The supervisor had to follow up with the owner to determine next steps.

 Those next steps were to replace the post at an additional cost of $100.  The contract was sent to us and we signed it and sent it back in mid-October.

It is true that the replacement of the gate post was not part of the original estimate.  It was my fault that I didn’t notice the original estimate didn’t include replacement of the post; but honestly, it didn’t occur to me that someone would try to reattach a hinge to that post (again - see pictures).  The wood rot was extensive and the sole reason the original gate fell off the hinges and we needed this work to be done.  A second opportunity was missed for quality work when the installation was done.  I’ve detailed those matters above; however, I do think the installers could have stopped and addressed the post rather than trying to rig the hinge to the gate in a way that wasn’t going to last.  It seemed unfair to me that I had to pay another $100 to replace the post because it made their quote more expensive than the competing quotes we received.

To add insult to injury American Fence continued sending me overdue bills for the second half of the original estimate work.  At one point they threatened to put a lien on my home.  And they told me the payment could be deferred until the quality issues were fixed!

Finally I got them to come and replace the fence gate post.  Imagine my surprise when I saw the top third of the upper hinge bent over the top of the post rather than cleanly aligned on the side of the post (see pictures).  

 This company is NOT recommended!

First I'll cover the positive aspects.  The removal of the old fence was good.  The fence, once all was said and done is fine. 
But the problems encountered were
1. Unresponsive management.   
2.  My sprinkler system was damaged in several places.  I did not get the sprinkler system insurance from American Fence since there was already an old fence inplace and the insurance cost seemed high to me.  
3.  Many fence boards were damaged, cracked, split on the new fence.  It was evident that the installation crew was using a saw with a dull blade to complete the scalloping of the fence.  The real issue was asking to have the boards replaced.  The response was terse and unprofessional, made me feel like I was bothering them to get the job done right.
4. Several fence boards only have a single nail in them which caused them to come loose in breezy conditions.  I fixed these myself to keep from having to contact American Fence. 
Overall, satisfactory work, a comptetive price, but not customer friendly.

We never received and estimate or heard back from the appraiser.

I contacted American and 3 other fencing companies through Angie's List on the same day.  One company, it turned out, doesn't do wood fences.  Another is based in Lincoln and wasn't interested in a job in the Omaha metro.  American and one other company sent estimators out promptly, and I received American's quote via e-mail a couple days later.
However, the "estimate" didn't say how much the fence would cost.  The only money quoted was for tear down/haul away of the old fence.  Also, it was unclear from the diagram whether they were looking at the correct sides of the fence.  I e-mailed Jeff the day I got the "estimate" and asked for clarification of this, as well as an actual estimate.  This was on a Wednesday evening.  When I hadn't received a response by Sunday, I e-mailed again.  This time, I received a response the next day, saying he'd redo and send it back out.  Well, a week and a half later, not having heard anything from American, I hired another company.
American's timeline was also less favorable than the company I selected--2-3 weeks until American could start, as opposed to 1-1.5 with the other company.  Also, American uses Douglas fir pickets rather than cedar.  I'm not an expert, but most of what I read online indicates that red cedar is preferred for outdoor projects.  (And American Fence  uses cedar for the posts and gates....)  If you're considering using American, you should be aware of this, and do your own research.
American Fence looked very good from the reviews I read, and they were prompt with the "estimate."  Their contract is very detailed and clear.  However, their communication was nowhere near satisfactory, and they never did provide an actual estimate of what the job was going to cost.  Given these facts, I would not recommend even taking the time to contact them for an estimate.

Great job.

We got three bids, two were at about $3500, one was at $4200.  American Fence had the least friendly estimator of the three and we considered the other low-priced bid, but American Fence had a much better BBB rating than the other company, so we chose them.  He was more friendly the second time I talked to him.

It took a couple of weeks from the time we accepted the bid until the fence was built, as we expected.  They require 60% payment before they begin.  A crew came to dig the post holes and set posts in concrete.  I couldn't believe how fast they do that and how straight and well-aligned the posts were (something a DIY could never do, in case you're thinking about having your wastrel nephew build your fence).  After a few days another crew came and put up the fence.  It took them a day or two.

I had one problem with the work - the three rails of the gate were split from the large screws in the gate hinges.  When I received the invoice for the remaining 40% I called and told them I didn't like the split rails.  They were very calm and not confrontational at all.  They said they'd have somebody come and look at it.  I was away for a week and when I returned they had somehow fixed it (without electricity, because we have no exterior outlets!). 

So, overall there were no surprises, no mess or damage, no stress, and they built the fence.  Sometimes a company leaves you raving with the great job they did or an incredible price, exceeding all of your expectations.  This company didn't do that for me; they simply met my expectations with straightforward good-quality work with no issues.

I was very impressed with the responsiveness and professionalism of American Fence from the initial bid options they provided to their replacement of several pickets that were either cracked or had insect damage. The construction crew was very considerate of our neighbors' pets. I would recommend AF without any reservation.