HI-TECH SIGNS

The aforementioned business, "HIGH TECH SIGNS" of East Meadow NY, was referred and retained by a general contractor hired to build a 9/11 Lighthouse Memorial in the Village of Freeport, New York. The "subject " from Hi-Tech responsible for this disaster is named Scott. I'll report the facts; you decide. Let's go right down the line. *Price. approx. $6,000 for a 14"x18" engraved bronze plaque, 16 aluminum 8"x11" "framed" panels, 16 small pieces of "etched" arcrylic plastic, and a few strips of LED lights and installation. I am not in this business, however, the materials appeared to be pretty simple, so, if we were expected to pay big bucks for some sort of expertise or skilled installation, we are still waiting. *Quality. The materials showed up scratched and last minute touch up paint needed to be applied. The only quality product was the bronze plaque which was fabricated for Hi-Tech elsewhere. Less than half of the panels actually lit up at the initial installation, and that was only made possible from the assistance of a local electrician, not Scott or anyone on the payroll from Hi-Tech. *Responsiveness. From day one, (just a "sign" of things to follow) I could not reach the business phone number listed for the shop; apparently other people experienced the same problem. Scott blamed the problem on his Optimum phone service. Scott rarely or never returned phone calls. I was informed several times by the general contractor that you might have to "stay on top of this guy". That was an understatement! When he finally showed up to do the job, he came undermanned, unprepared and was not able to complete the job on time. *Punctuality. I personally think that word does not exist in Scott's vocabulary. From our first meeting to the installation of the job, Scott was late or a complete no show. On multiple occasions between July and September 2011, more specifically, within two weeks prior to September 11, 2011 when the job needed to be completed, he failed to do what a good business person should. On one occasion, when I called the shop and asked to speak to Scott, after identifying myself, I was placed on hold for 2-3 minutes. When Scott finally answered, his response was an arrogant, "YEAH", not, "Hello", not , "What's up?", not, "How can I help you?", but, "YEAH". On another occasion Scott told us he would meet us at the job site at 11:00 am. A committee of people waited until 2:30 pm, with several calls out to Hi-Tech as to the whereabouts of Scott. He finally called back at 2:31pm. When I answered my phone, Scott , with annoyance in his voice, stated, "YEAH, who is this? Who do I have? Tom, Dick, Harry? (not actual names he rattled off) Who did I call? I'll be there in 20 minutes". After making several people wait over 3 hours, that's how he responded. On another occasion Scott showed up late, once again, unprepared, with the wrong color materials, took a few more "patronizing" measurements and was out of there in about 10 minutes. *Professionalism. Scott from Hi-Tech signs by far has got to be one of the most unprofessional, discourteous and disrespectful business people I have ever encountered. The words rude and arrogant are also synonymous with Scott from Hi-Tech. It was also the opinion of others present, including a master electrician, that Scott and his crew "had no clue what they were doing". To conclude, you would expect that based on the sensitive nature of a 9/11 Memorial project that was scheduled to be unveiled on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, (which Scott from Hi-Tech Signs was fully aware of) Hi-Tech would have come through. Scott's primary job was to install illuminated glass with the names of the victims of 9/11 from the Village of Freeport. The family members of these victims were invited to attend the ceremony. As I mentioned above, Scott did not complete the job on time. The night of the event when the glass was ceremoniously lit up, only 9 of the 26 names were illuminated. The family members of those present whose loved ones names were not illuminated, were, as you can image, in tears. To make matters even worse, the following day, you would think a phone call from Scott would be in order. NOTHING! I called the shop around 11:30 am and Scott actually answered the phone, and when I asked him if there was any reason I was calling him and not the other way around, he responded, "no" and went into this defensive explanation about what had happened. You would think he would have been on the phone the very next morning to at least offer an apology and reassure everyone that the problems would be corrected ASAP. On this tragic anniversary of our nation's history yet another tragedy occurred... Hi-Tech signs.