TornadoSafe Shelters

This business is permanently closed. They installed defective plastic flooring in their underground storm shelters. They profited off selling their shelters, but when they found out many customers had leaking shelters, they closed their company so they would not have to spend money upholding their warranty. This company was owned by crooks out to screw their customers.

It was wonderful. On time delivery and rugged installation. It was the right size and shape. I now have a F5 tornado shelter that doubles as a closet!

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From the first contact to the last,?Tornadosafe has been the best of any company we have had do work for us.? The receptionist is knowledgeable and friendly. She helped coordinate the install all the way. She was pleasant to speak with and could answer any questions we may have had.? The workers were prompt, professional, and willing to explain what and why they were doing what they were doing.? If we had a question, they would stop and explain the procedure and why it was being done the way it was. They NEVER were anything but polite and patient (we had lots of questions).? They did a great job. They installed the 5x8x6 unit in our single car garage. They were extremely proficient and the finished install looks great!! All who have come by to look at it are very impressed with the unit, and what a neat job they did.? We very highly recommend this company! Check them out. It's well worth your time.

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They were an hour early and did a good job. They called the day before installation to let us know that we would be getting a large for the price of a medium because they didn't have any mediums in stock. We were fine with that. But the guy that came to install it seemed irritated that we were getting the larger one for the same price. He even used that as a reason that he shouldn't be responsible for gouging our garage door by accident. I actually agreed with him on that point and didn't pursue it, but I just felt that like I was put on the defensive about it. The installation was scheduled a month in advance and we were not prepared to pay $1000-1100 more due to them not using that time to prepare (the price difference was pointed out to me when the guy gouged my garage, which I thought was tacky).



So basically the product and work were top notch, but due to the attitude of the installer, I was more than ready to see them leave by the time they were finished.

After seeing my review, the owner of the business contacted me for further details. He was clearly unaware of the fact that his employee had gouged my garage, or that he was rude to customers. It was obvious that customer satisfaction was important to him, so I thought it would be fair to update my review to reflect this.

1. Told us the exact date and time.
2. Showed up on that day and time.
3. Completed entire job in less than 6 hours.
4. We now have a tornado shelter in the floor of a garage.
5. We are happy.

They were prompt and courteous. They ran into shelf rock and the supervisor came and told me there would be an additional hourly charge to use the jackhammer to get it removed. I appreciated that he talked to me first about it. They proceeded and it took an additional 45 minutes for the install. They were in and out of there within 3 1/2 hours. The insall went very smoothly.

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I used Angie's List when selecting this company and could not be more pleased. From the initial call to ask about pricing, installation and timeline, this company was extremely helpful. About a week before the install I received an email with the detailed architectural drawings with specific instructions regarding where to get required permit, inspection, registering the shelter and a website to apply for possible government rebates. The morning of the install, I received a call letting me know they were on their way. Upon arriving, the two young men, immediately began prepping the area and moved things in the garage for me. They were extremely polite, professional and just did a wonderful job! I had a couple of trees removed from my yard and when I asked if they could dump some of the soil in the general area for me. Not only did the dirt get dumped, but it was spread out evenly for me! I was very pleased with this crew and highly recommend them.

The experience with them went fine.

They did an excellent job on everything in both places.

It went great.  The sales girl was very helpful and knowledgeable. They got us scheduled quickly, about two weeks.  The young man that installed it (might have been 2, but I only saw 1) was courteous and on time. It took them about 5 hours to install it.  We're very pleased and glad to have the peace of mind that the shelter provides. Hope we don't have to us it, but this is Oklahoma.. I'm sure we will.

It went very well.  They showed up at the agreed time.  They worked very hard, and were extremely professional.  They answered all of my questions from beginning to end.  They really knew what they were doing.  I got exactly what I wanted.  They cleaned everything up meticulously when they were done.  They gave excellent suggestions on what to keep in the shelter, and how to register it with the City and County.  I chose the company especially because of the size of their medium shelter, which is 5' wide, 7' long and 5-1/2' high.  This is quite a bit larger than many I researched.  I'm somewhat claustrophobic, and felt very comfortable sitting in it.  The price was quite reasonable too.  I now have piece of mind.

They are professional all the time.  It's still in process but they're hardworking and very focus.  They were more experience, more transparent, work processes and they're more willing to perform the work without requiring a major down payment like other companies do.

I used the Tornado Safe company at 7800 S. Western in Oklahoma City (their shelters are made by Hit Steel). It is difficult to find their webpage online because it doesn't show up when you Google Tornado Safe shelters.  I scheduled the installation because of their pricing and open availability at the end of January 2014.  After we did some pricing checks with other companies this was the best size for the price in my opinion. We have a family of 6 and 2 medium sized dogs we wanted to be able to fit inside. We chose the Medium size from here which is more like a large from other companies.

We wanted it done on a Saturday so we wouldn't have to take off of work. When we went in to schedule the installation and left a $100 deposit to hold our schedule date (this is important), they explained they don't do installs on weekends to save on costs. Therefore we had to move it out quite a bit for me to have time to get a vacation day approved at my job. This is not always accepted at my work so I didn't know if it be approved, but it did and I got the day of March 7th off.

I asked many times while scheduling, "What time should I expect them?" and got 8:00 am for the answer every time, but the sales person also said sometimes they will be delayed a little bit so if they do not show by 10:00 am to give her a call so she can find out why they weren't there yet.  So I added that to my calendar and have been preparing everything from the garage, where the kids would be at that time, and where to park our boat, camper and vehicles that stay in our driveway. I was told they only schedule 1 shelter a day so they don't "rush" their employees and so they will do a good job on the install. And also because they don't want to schedule in the afternoon so they don't run out of daylight during the install. These both proved to be not true. I thought they would be done by around 2:00 pm and I had a few things scheduled that afternoon, like a dentist appointment (my husband was going to take me after he got off work) and our Cub Scout den coming over at 5:30.

I had called a few times in between to ask questions. Nothing was said about any changes to my scheduling. 

On the morning of the install, March 7th I had everything ready at 8:00 am was waiting on them to show up and start so I could take a shower. 10:00 rolls around and nobody shows up. I call the office and received no answer. I left a voice mail with my number and didn't receive a return call. At 10:40 I call back again and the sales person picks up and acts like she had not heard the voice mail. I ask if they were still coming because A.) they don't like to install in the afternoon and B.) I was the only one scheduled that day. So why was there a delay?  

She told me she would call the installer and find out.  I waited about 20 minutes then get a call back. It was then 11:00 am. I was told my time slot was rescheduled for that afternoon. She claims the installer had been trying to call my husband?s cell all morning long to let him know.  I tell her that he can answer his phone at work and he didn't mention to me anything about missed calls. She said she didn't have my number on file and only his, which we both remember leaving my cell phone number since I was the one taking the day off for it. She called his number before dialing mine and he didn't answer. So I asked my husband and her phone call was the only missed call on his phone that day. No voice mails. No other missed calls. Meanwhile she is now telling me that they hired an installer that can do 2 installs a day, and wasn't that just great?! But what I don't understand is why I had to pay a $100 deposit (which was not cashed or charged) to hold my time slot and then they reschedule me and do all the things they told me that they don't do without notifying me at all? I could have taken a half a day vacation if I was told it was moved to the afternoon.

After finding out that the installer would not be there until sometime between noon and 2:00 pm I knew he would be there until supper time. So I had to cancel everything I had going on that afternoon and evening. They showed up at 1:00 and finally completely done at 6:00 pm. 5 hours was a decent time.

I am not sure if this is just something that happens but I see the chip outs all around the perimeter where the concrete chipped out and they filled most of them back in. Then the corners were over-cut in each direction. This could be something standard that they have to do and there is no way around it.  All of these things are OK with me because now we have a safe place to be during tornadoes.  It is a decent size for us and we will store a few survival items in it. Overall I'm glad it is done and have peace of mind. 

Update: The owner had called to see what he could do to change my review. My biggest complaint was the change in our scheduled time without notification, but he didn't address that at all. That is not fixable after the fact anyway. But he did offer to have the installer come back and fix up the corners and was willing to completely redo the concrete. I did not see the need for it to be redone so the installer provided us with a concrete crack filler solution that we need to add to the cracks to fill them in.

After researching several tornado shelter companies, we went with TornadoSafe, formerly StormSafe.  We selected them because they gave the most bang for the buck while maintaining quality. The medium shelter is 5 feet wide, which we needed because we are tall and didn't want to be cramped in there like sardines. Other companies wanted a lot more money for a 5 foot wide shelter.  It was 7 feet long and 5 1/2 feet high, and the extra 6 inches of height was really needed for us.  I believe the price above is what they normally charge, and we got an even better deal because they advertised with my employer and we got a group discount.  I liked the fact they had a lot of experience within Oklahoma City, that they design and manufacturer their own shelters in Moore, OK and the shelters have been tested/certified.  My boss had one done and he was pleased as well.
They called the night before to say they would be there at 7:00 a.m.  The installer had some car trouble, but they didn't have to reschedule.  They have different teams that can be used flexibly and interchangeably. That was nice.  So they got out there at 9:00 a.m. and they were done by 2:00.  They cleaned up the mess and power-washed the driveway.  I liked the fact that they used a tamper to compress the back-filled dirt.  They used rebar into concrete on the top of the shelter.  They do not use concrete to back fill, but we preferred that after doing research on the subject. It would be a huge pain if we ever had to take that thing out.
The concrete work was very professional and the finished product looked great! I walked down the removable stairs of the shelter and everything seemed level.  My neighbors came to look at it and also thought it was a nice-sized shelter for the price.
I didn't mind the fact that they used the water from the water heater to work the concrete saw (or any of our water sources), nor did I mind that they used our trash bins for the concrete bags, but it would have been nice if they asked.  They did haul away the dirt that was remaining from what wasn't used during the back-fill.

They installed a storm shelter and did a good job.  It looks safe and professionally done.

They were great, they came out right when they said they would and we didn?t have to wait.? There are some people who had to wait for ages to for their shelters.? I would highly recommend them.