I purchased a $26,000 vinyl fence in November. Since that time I had 2 sections of my fence blow down due to wind on 5 separate occassions. It took several phone calls to Abbey-Fritz before someone came out to repair.
In November of this year the gate to our fence blew apart again due to wind. I asked for Abbey-Fritz to come out to look at and repair. Once again it took 2 phone calls and over a week for someone to come out. After coming out they said that this damage was not caused by wind and would not be covered under the warranty. The supervisor said that this was caused by a blunt force. His examples were a kid kicking a ball or riding a bike into it. He went on to demean the neighborhood I lived in by saying "I don't know what goes on in your neighborhood."
After going back and forth a couple of times, I called the Better Business Bureau where I filed a complaint. Once again, Abbey-Fritz said that it was not wind damage. They said that they construct hundreds of fences a year and they have never had one fall apart due to wind. They also said that if I felt it was wind damage than I should file a claim with my insurance company. Brian Kish of Abbey Fritz stated that if it was a Gale force wind that caused this, then there would be more damage to my property.
I rebutted that comment and asked them to stand behind their product and workmanship and that it was obviously not constructed properly because there was no other damage to my property. Everything else on my property was constructed to sustain wind. They finally said that if wind did cause this it is not covered under their warranty anyway and we would need to file a claim with our insurance company. I asked if wind wasn't covered why did they come out and replace panels that were blown out on 5 separate occassions and their response to me was they were providing excellent customer service.
I rebutted that comment as well stating that the only reason they won't replace my gate is that the gate will cost them more money than just sending out one guy to replace a couple of panels. It had nothing to do with them providing customer service.
I finally told the BBB that Abbey-Fritz was obviously not going to help me, so I contacted another company to come replace my gate. I refuse to Abbey-Fritz another penny of my hard earned money especially when it should be replaced for free. My goal now is to make others aware of their poor customer service and product. The warranty they issue is worthless and the product is not constructed to sustain any substantial wind. I would hate to see someone else spend $26,000 on a fence from them. Please let everyone know what kind of company they are.
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