SALEM FENCE CO. INC.

The job consisted of removing 16 wrought iron ballisters (2 screws on top and bottom) from a wood frame, stain the wood frame, replace handrail with aluminum handrail, and install cable railing. After sending in pictures and confirming that they did this type of work, Frank the salesman arrived on time for the appointment. It was clear that he had no desire to be there. He kept challenging what we wanted done with more expensive options, and then shared how important his company was, citing that Salem Fence does business all up and down the east coast. Uh, OK... I received a cost estimate for this job two days later for $5,685. The email had no information in it, only his name in giant, red, 90-point font. Confused at the veiled hostility of the email and the ridiculous, laughable quote (which we interpreted as "I don't want to do your job"), I called the company and spoke with Amanda to share my experience. She very politely and professionally thanked me for letting her know, and wished me a good day. Overall a very negative experience.

We had a terrible experience with Salem Fence Co, INC. of Mahopac, NY that extended over a 26-month long period. We accepted their top dollar estimate of $60K plus for a pair of very large metal framed, wood clad garden gates, as we wanted to assure professionalism/experience due to the engineering component attached to their large size. The engineering proved sound, but they missed numerous deadlines for design submissions, and gate completion. When the completed gates finally arrived for installation, it became clear that the agreed upon design was not correctly realized. After numerous further delays on the delivery of corrected design, the gates were installed. However, all the wood soon radically shrunk and cracked leaving huge gaps revealing the metal armature below the planks that was supposed to be invisible. Because they hurried to get revised gates fabricated, the seasoned wood we were promised and paid for was instead green. They acknowledged the problem, which was impossible to deny (they look terrible!) and agreed to replace the wood, but then they strung us along from month to month with every manner of excuse from June through January and into the following fall, winter and another spring!  We made every effort to work with them to realize a proper finished product, and even made in person visits to the work shop to review progress and assure ourselves that our agreed upon design was being completed as promised. We had been assured by the owner, Vinny Bellissimo, that he would 'make good' on everything, and that we had his word that the issues would be resolved to our satisfaction. In good faith, we paid 95 percent of the total bill at the time he offered these assurances, so that he would not have to wait unduly for his pay given the fact that we still believed he intended to fulfill his obligations honorably. We were clearly WRONG to trust them at their word, and that is a shame since they are a small family owned business. Disappointingly, the conversation disintegrated once the payment was made: no one at Salem Fence would return emails, calls, or texts. We had to make in-person visits to the office to find out what was happening and when repairs would be done. Vinny never did ‘make good’ on his word. We then received a bid from another vendor to make the needed repairs, which came in at of $29,000.00. We are now being forced to take legal action to recover the cost or get Salem Fence to simply honor their word and fulfill their initial agreement.

He gave a verbal quote, then sent an email with details.  Never responded to any followup calls or emails asking about the fence, though he did tell me they "are soo busy 24/7" work so perhaps my small fence job is not important to them.

Sort of a strange experience.  Sales rep showed up promptly for
appointment.  We advised that we definitely wanted a fence on the one
side of the property for privacy but was unsure of what our needs were
for the balance of the property and asked for his opinion.  The sale rep
was trying to talk us out of putting up any fencing at all.  Asked for a
quote for the one project we know we wanted to complete and never
received quote.

Called and scheduled an estimate for a new fence around my yard.  Woman was pleasant on the phone.  The day of the estimate no one showed up, they didn't call.  I called the office and left a message because no one answered.  Monday I called the office and the woman on the phone was very rude!  Saying the guy was running late and had tried to call but I had no missed calls or voicemail so then he decided to just not show up.  She hung up on me after telling me it was probably my phone why I didn't get the calls.  Will never go them again for anything.  Such an awful experience dealing with them that much.