Awnings by Bigley & Hogshire

"Thank you for your kind words. I recall the event of the measurement mistake, as the estimator measured the seemingly "identical" awnings on the first floor, instead of climbing a ladder to the ghastly third floor heights. While the windows are the same size, and the awnings look to be, the awnings on the higher floors were made larger to prevent the water drips from the higher floors from impacting the lower floor awnings. Thus preventing the hastened demise of the lower floor awnings. Please note, that if any of your first floor neighbors need their awnings re-covered we have a beautiful set of awnings that are made and ready to be installed that will fit their units, for a reduced price! When we do fall short, we strive to quickly make amends to minimize the impact to our customer. We are pleased to read of your excellent experience, and look forward to your referrals."

"We are acutely interested when reviews from work performed a year ago comes in with late, and even more importantly a negative review. We are sorry to hear that any experience with our former office staff was less than perfect. Since the date of our customer's work a year ago, we have trained a new office manager who has an even greater emphasis on customer service. Without reviews or hearing from customers, ownership will not know what improvements or changes need to be made. We would of course prefer to be told directly by the customers of their dissatisfaction (we also appreciate getting the praise calls for our staff as well). We are happy with the changes we have made, and service our customers better than ever before. We find today's office staff to always be pleasant and professional in our telephone monitor reviews. We originally estimated new fabric on the subject awnings in Summer of 2011. The retractable awnings were not our brand, but the customers reasons for switching to us will not be disclosed here. Nearly a full year later in late Spring 2012 we honored our pricing, and installed the fabric for the customers awnings. The original company used a product from Germany, so sourcing some of the needed components to improve the customers awnings proved both time consuming and costly for all involved. After determining that some of the original motors (likely a decade old) were failing, we (under a separate contract) installed some new motors in the customers awnings. The motors in the awning are made in France. Newly installed fabric has a tendency to stretch, so it is frequently required for us to return to a home to adjust fabric tension on retractable awnings. Resetting the motor stops, and potentially laterally re-stretching the fabric to maintain a good tight fit. It is not customary for us to charge for this service. If we are called months later to do more adjustments we do quote our customers our service rates, as we cannot from the other end of the telephone determine if changes to the awning were caused by neglect (leaving the awning out in high winds --especially on oceanfront homes), or by the simple stretching referred to before. On one of our return trips our installation crew found that the customer had forgotten that they had set the appointment and were away on vacation, so our crew had to return (again for no charge) five days later when the customer was back in town and available to provide us access to the awning controls. It is speculation to assume at this point (a year after the fact) whether the reference to service fees came from the office notifying the customer of our fees in case of neglect, or to prevent the crew from being "stood up" on another appointment. We never collected any additional money from the customer beyond our contractual agreements, nor to my knowledge did we invoice them for additional services provided beyond our contract amounts. Again, we are delighted with our office staff, and trust that though misunderstandings can occur, we return to service our awnings as needed. While there is no guarantee of long term free service, we are responsive and willing to listen to our customers opinions. We never want surprise charges to our customers so we do prefer to advise them of our rates, in the event we determine neglect is the cause of damage. We hope our customer will reconsider whether a D is appropriate for a company that is responsive, and returns (even in adverse conditions) until satisfaction is achieved. Rather saving such harsh criticism for the unfortunately many companies that refuse to service even their own products. Thank you for taking your time to review our response."

"I am newly familiar with Angies List, and was not familiar with the member's old unanswered concern. The member did purchase an awning from our company, and it was installed as requested. The installation safety and strength was not the customer’s primary issue. The member had a problem primarily with the power cord and the way it was attached to the house. We are not electricians, and we clearly state that we do not wire awnings to houses ourselves. We provided the member with temporary power to his awning unit using temporary cords which are installed under the eave until he can get an electrician to wire a plug near the awning unit. We always recommend for the neatest installation that a customer get an electrician. Otherwise there will be a power cord hanging down the wall or to the nearest outlet provided, which in his case is more than 20 feet away from the awning. He has no disagreement with us that this does not look as good as we would like it. The member paid exactly what the other customers in the condominium paid for the same size awning. The other customers in the condominium had plugs installed in closer proximity to the awning location, and have not raised concerns with the cordage installation. The best way to fix his power concern is for an electrician to be hired to wire the cord in a manner that only they are licensed to perform. This added service would cost more, but it would provide him with the best looking installation possible, as we recommend on our consultations. As he stated, we did return to repair a free hanging fabric valance that whips like a flag in the wind. This valance is a decorative item, and in the high winds on his waterfront location, it is impossible to make the valance hold up to such conditions. While this is not a warranted portion of the awning, we did go out to his home, remove the valance, have chaffe patches sewn into the valance and returned it to his home for no charge. We will be in his condominium development to install more awnings for his neighbors in the coming weeks, and will be contacting the member to discuss the matter further if he is in the country. We are certainly willing to return to his home to address any other potential concerns. We look forward to the opportunity to correct any since forgotten about repairs that need to be performed. While we are disappointed that this negative review exists, we are happy to have now found it to allow us to address the remaining concerns of the member. Sincerely, Taylor S. Bigley President"