On October 12 we ordered an outdoor swing set / fort over the internet from willygoat.com.
Since then we have had nothing but trouble with the item. We have contacted the seller and the manufacturer on several occasions to request missing items or items that did not fit on the pre fab ready to assemble equipment. The assembly manual is incorrect and incomplete. On Oct 25,04 we called the manufacturer to report the slide had arrived broken, even though it states on the assembly manual not to contact the seller, the manufacturer rudely said not to call them to contact the seller.
We contacted the seller, they replaced it, it arrived 11/03. On the same date we had to call the seller because the floor boards did not fit. Jackie @ willygoat.com called Jeff Mullen at Gorilla Playsets who told her to have me cut the boards to fit.
On 11/05 we again called the seller for an extensive list of missing parts and hardware.
They arrived on 11/11. Due to Thanksgiving and the weather I was not able to get back to building the swing set until 12/28 at which time the weather gave in for a few days and we attempted to finish the set. When my 5 and 6 year old finally had a chance to use the set it swayed and twisted like it was ready to fall over. My 6 year old daughter loves tire swings. As she was swinging I noticed that her head was coming dangerously close to the top beam on the unit and that her feet were hitting the sides of the set.
Now this child is of average height. I called the seller and informed them that I did not want the swing set and would happily ship it back to them. At this time Jackie informed me that the 30 day return period had expired and that there was nothing she could do. I explained to her that this period she is talking about had expired long before they had completed my order, and that technically my order was not receive until all the materials were receive by me. She said she would look into it. I never heard back from her on 1/8 I called to speak with the owner of the company. The tire swing had ripped out of the swing brace and fell to the ground with my daughter on it. I spoke with Brian Christ, who according to records is the owner even though he insisted that I needed to speak with Jackie and that she was the boss he denied being the owner.
Jackie called the following day stating that she had spoke with Jeff Mullen at Gorilla Playsets and he said there was nothing he would do, he would not replace the equipment or take it back.
I called the manufacturer explained to them what was happening with the swing set. Jeff Mullen informed me that the set was missing braces to keep it from swaying and that the tire swing was fine the way it was. He would send out the materials to correct that problem and a replacement for the brace. He also stated that it sounded to him like this set had been sitting in Willygoats warehouse for a long time because there were many problems that they had corrected since them. He blamed everything on Willygoats negligence. This most of been one of their original prototypes made and that he could not explain all the problems. When the parts arrives I had no idea what they were or where they went. I again called Mr. Mullen he explained that the installation instructions where on page 41 of the manual. I informed him that page in my manual was something completely different he said he would fax the new page. It finally arrived on 1/20. We installed the parts and there was no difference.
Today is February 17 for the last week I have trying to get someone to help me. Nothing except the voice mail message from Bubba at Willygoat explaining that I need to stop calling everyone involved and the news that not one of them would honor the warrantee.
Now we have a swing set that will sit and rot in the yard.
Since them I have contacted everyone involved in the ownership, manufacturing, distribution and reselling of the swing set. I do not want it, it is defective take it back. My order was not completed until January 20. I believe that I am within my 30 day return. I have been told not to call anyone anymore that I have received all the warrantee I was going to receive from all the companies involved and that was that, even though the item carries a 10 year warrantee.
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