I first found Timber Creek Carriage Doors Inc. On eBay and looked over their website http://www.timbercreekdoors.com/index.html.
After speaking to Tom? Head door designer? Both on the phone and thru numerous emails we got the design, pricing & all the options finalized. Before sending in the 50% deposit I checked http://search. BBB.org / as well as calling a reference or two. No red flags so I ordered the doors. They told me 4? 5 weeks to produce and ship the doors. This turned into 10 or 12 but it wasn't really an issue. The problem came when the doors arrived. First thing I noticed was no openers.included in the $9700 price was 4 openers @ $250 each.
Also none of the decorative hardware showed up. We crack open the crate and take the first panel out and look it over, the first thing you notice is that poor finish job. The edges are raw wood and that looks like fir (they are supposed to be cypress) the front has finish on it but it's over a ton of dust and dirt. It seems they make these doors all as one big door and then rip it into panels with a circular saw.
Whole rows of screws were sawn thru and ripped out on several of the panels, others have metal pieces sticking thru routered areas by the windows. I ordered insulated doors as we live in northern Wisconsin.
When we pulled the first panel with a window I it I was shocked. The windows are a thin piece of plexi-glass. It looks like they also put these in after the door is made, they apparently draw the pattern on the door and free hand it with a jigsaw and then router the openings (the opening on one of the doors is over 1?? Off from side to side and easily visible with out any measuring.
When you look at the windows from the front you can see the trim (made from construction grade 2x4's sticking into the windows opening up to? In many areas. This 2x4? Trim? Is ripped down to 1/8? And just nailed on.
At this point I run to the bank and put a stop payment on the $4700 check I just cut the truck driver. This is the first stop payment in my 44 years. I also let the door company a voice mail an emailed them telling them I did stop payment and wanted to talk to them about the quality of these doors and the missing openers etc.
We finished unpacking and I won't bore you with more details other than some panels were warped by 1?? In 10' & one door panel was? Shorter than the rest. Here is a link to some pictures of these doors if you are interested. Http://s64. Photobucket.com/albums/h190/BostonWhaler/
That evening I went home and Googled timber creek carriage doors and found this http://www.asheville. BBB.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Complaint/SignificantComplaintsPage. Aspx? CompanyID=4002587&sm= from the local NC BBB, it does not show up on the national BBB site.
I also found these at usacomplaints.com:
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/ripoff180820.htm
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/ripoff181171.htm
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/ripoff177222.htm
After several calls he finally answered my email 8 days later with this:
I just received your e-mail. And the quality of your doors is that same that we ship to every one else. You are the first person ever to complain about the quality. What I suspect has happened is that Overnite has also damaged your doors. And since you are familiar with the shipping industry, you know that if you sign for the freight, you own it. Now we have gone out of our way to help other clients whose doors have been damaged by overnite but I will need pictures of the damage. I am not willing to refund your money simply because they have been damaged by the carrier. We will however repair or perhaps rebuild (at Overnites expense). If you have actually stopped payment on the cod check we will have to take measures to recover our losses. As far as your claims that I don't return calls, that cant be farther from the truth in fact you are the one that never returns calls or e-mail promptly. Now I'm sure that if you send me pictures of the doors with damage we can go from their.
Rich, you and I both sell products on line and I'm sure that you now as well as I that just because a person posts information on the web, that does not make the information true. All it does is scare people. Don't buy into that foolishness and lets get to the bottom of this.
Tom
I replied on May 25th and left another voice mail but have not heard back from him. He did however call the local Police department and after explaining the situation he said he would call Timber Creek back and tell them there was nothing they could do for him.
I have since packed the doors back up in the crate and ordered 4 new doors from a reputable company.
Rich
Ashland, Wisconsin
U.S.A.
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