Prestige Fence & Landscaping

Our backyard project was to replace the old fence the house had with a brand new 8' foot cedar fence and add a pergola with new flooring. Prior to hiring Prestige Fence & Landscaping, I had collected several quotes from three companies I knew about from work done in the neighborhood and reading their reviews on Angie's List. All 3 were highly rated and their quality of work was excellent. Prestige Fence & Landscaping was recommended to us by our landlord's father and the price they offered for the job was in line with the 3 other estimates and they were willing to give us a few more upgrades on the job for no additional cost. I met with Felipe Villegas, the owner of Prestige Fence and we met to discuss the project and at the time, I felt comfortable with his quote and the information we reviewed. The landlords father sent me some pictures of work done at his home and others in his neighborhood and the work appeared to be of good quality. So we decided to move forward with them in mid April. Felipe told me it would take about 2 weeks to get the materials ordered and have the wood prestained prior to starting the job. I said that was fine sine I did not want to rush the project. I received a call from Felipe on a Saturday that they could start work on Monday, May 6th and work would be completed by that Friday and that was also confirmed by our landlord via email. Finally, we were going to have a brand new fence with new pergola and really get to enjoy our back yard!! On Monday, May 6th, Felipe and his crew came out, tore down the old fence and installed the metal posts in the first phase of our new fence project. He told me that they would be out on Wednesday to continue the project as the metal posts would need a day to settle. I was fine with that since I knew the time frame of installation from the other contractors. On Wednesday morning, Felipe sent me a text that his wife had gotten ill the night before and if he could come out the next day if she was better. I texted him back that I was fine with that. On Thursday morning, I texted him to let me know what the plan for the day was and he replied that he really needed to be with his wife as she was still it. This went on again on Friday and I finally reached a point that I could no longer tolerate this or remain patient with this company. On Friday afternoon I called Felipe and informed him that I was going to cancel his contract for failure to complete the project in a timely manner. He pleaded with me to let him complete the job and come out the following Monday to finish the job. He even offered to do all the work for only $9,000. The original work order was for $9,700. I told him that I was going to call another contractor to complete the project and again he asked for one last chance to finish the fence. To get him off the phone, I said I would let him know over the weekend on what would be my final decision. I was able to reach out to one of the contractors I had received a quote from previously and they said they could come out as soon as they could to review what needed to be done. I asked about the metal posts that were installed by Prestige Fence to see if they could be utilized since they were already in the ground. They said they could but did not recommend it since they could not warranty their fence if the fence was damaged in any way due to the posts and that the posts they use were not the same grade as the ones they use for their fences. I said I understood. On Sunday, Felipe called and left me a message asking if I had made a decision on letting him complete the project and if not, he was going to charge me $2,000 for the work that had already been done. There was NO WAY I was going to pay him any money for the work done since I could not use his materials. I called him back and let him know that I was not going to use his materials and that I needed him to come and remove the posts. I asked when he could come by and do this and he said maybe Monday. I told him I needed to have them removed by Monday so I could get started with another contractor. He said he would try and that it should only take his crew about an hour to remove the posts. I stayed home on Monday waiting for his crew to show up but nobody ever did. I texted him in the afternoon asking what the deal was in getting the posts removed and he claimed that no one was responding to his calls that maybe in the morning for sure. I told him via text that we had been going back and forth on the posts to have them removed or use them with the other contractor instead of removing them and paying for just the posts and now that you needed another day and that I basically had given him more breaks on this project than was needed. I told him to do whatever he needed to do to get these posts removed. He asked if I could pay him $600 so he could pay his crew since they charge him $200 per person for the day regardless of the work that needs to be done and the time it takes to complete. I told him that to be fair, I would pay him what he asked for provided they remove the posts, haul the old fence away and clean up the mess they left behind and that I would pay once I verified the work was done and I was satisfied with the work done. The work they did was HORRIBLE and the mess they left was sad to see. They uprooted the posts, broke of the concrete and left it behind and in some cases left the holes worse than they were before. This has been the WORST experience I have ever had with a contractor and I am glad that this nightmare is over and that I have hired a reputable contractor to come and finish our fence and arbor project.