Hired “My Handyman†to install a modular shower enclosure (already bought) at a vacant cottage. Owner Tina Gleisner told me 3 hours at $84/hr unless they had problems & I authorized more. No mention of “trip fees†or other add-ons (which brings cost to $89/hr plus supplies they didn't charged for but didn't use). For this double-market rate hourly fee, they were to provide 2 skilled craftsmen with a minimum of 15 years experience each (on franchise website). Only one inexperienced, unskilled young man showed up. When I met the guy to pay, I walked into a disaster. The job was not finished (no trim or showerhead), done wrong (the drain leaks into the subfloor; permanent drip from the old leaky water control valve that was patched with solder instead of replaced, as we had specified), the floor destroyed and in pieces in front of the shower, and the shelving all removed and damaged, laying on the floor of the cabinets next to the shower. The old insulation above the shower had been ripped down and was nailed back up, hanging in tatters along the walls. The handyman presented me with a bill for over $1,400. I thought the problem was just a bad employee who spent Wed. And Friday at the Beach instead of working at my cottage. I thought the franchise guarantees (“satisfaction guaranteed—before you pay†and “1-year guarantee on workmanshipâ€) meant something. Long story short, Tina Gleisner billed over $1,400 to my credit card without my approval, after receiving my complaints, and in direct violation of her franchise guarantee not to bill until you are satisfied. I called her franchise owner, “Mr. Handyman International†to see if they would mediate. Their reply: they talked to Ms. Gleisner, got nowhere, and I was on my own. I started research and found Ms. Gleisner had a previous NH handyman company, which closed after complaints to the NH Dept of Justice, which were referred to litigation. Her web site claims “My Handyman†has been in business since but actually “My Handyman†was just established 3/28/08—just a few months before I hired them! So how could swear the kid she sent, who proved incapable of ANY carpentry and did only the most basic, simplistic parts of the job (that I could have done), with NO finish work or trim done whatsoever, had “at least 15 years experienceâ€â€”and he certainly was no “skilled craftsman†by any definition! I tried putting reviews on local web sites; she contacted the web administrators and either simply deleted my reviews, or threatened them and had my reviews were removed—NO WONDER I FOUND NOTHING WHEN I WEBSEARCHED—it was a brand-new company whose owner DELETES all bad reviews! Ms. Gleisner writes long letters defending her handyman’s work even though she refused to send anyone to look at the damages, and she describes what my job was like even though she has no construction experience and never visited the site (and the kid she sent had NO IDEA what he was doing).
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