Recently we purchased very nice wooden play set for our kids; due to lack of time we decided to hire a handyman to have it professionally set up. Daniel Ford replied to our ad on CraigsList.org he said he can do the job and the price was reasonable. We hired Daniel Ford for the job, few phone calls were made to 630-328-6279 to discuss time and date. It took Daniel 10hrs to assemble it, I offered my help few times yet he denied it, I asked him if he wants to come back next day to finish the job - he denied claiming he does not want to spend extra money on gas. His girlfriend (fianc or wife) Mariana Nieto called few times from 847-260-5736 to check if he's all right and asked me to give her a call when he leaves. Daniel Ford was done at 10pm when it was dark outside (to his advantage), we could not see the work he did with very little light on the back yard. We paid him almost twice as much as agreed to compensate him for the extra time and effort. I could not find the assemble manual so I gave him a call, Daniel Ford said he had it in his tool box and
promised to return it next day.
I went to check out the play set the next morning; I did find few lose parts and some problems. Some bolts were lose, excessive washers (5-10pcs) were used to keep bolts tighten, sharp screws were sticking out in several places, few wooden pieces were missing bolts or screws, roof wasn't secure. I called Daniel Ford a call he said he'll
come at 3:30pm to get few items fixed.in the mean time I got a copy of Owner's manual with assembly instructions via email. When I got home same afternoon I decided to take a closer look at the play set Daniel Ford assembled. To my
surprise I discovered more problems:
- main deck's support was missing, kids could have fallen through the platform
- slide's back support was missing, kids would have fallen to the ground when
using it
- slide was missing few screws, other screws were not connecting two parts
together
- 4ft latter was missing support
- handle bar came off (for 4ft latter)
- monkey bars were not secure, large gaps were found on connected parts
- latter support (base) was never installed, the latter was shaking a lot.
- glider bushing were missing
- glider and swings were improperly installed
- glider support was not screwed together, two male bolts were inserted from
both sides on support base
- tarp was never installed
- multiple sharp screws were sticking in inside the fort
- roof came apart
- roof was attached using 3 bolts instead of 4
- multiple bolts, screws, washers and other hardware was missing, screws and
tubes had damaged tread making impossible to reassemble the play set as it
should have been built in the first place.
- user manual was missing
- and many more small screw-ups.
The missing pieces were never installed, they were nowhere to be found on our backyard or trash Daniel must
have put them in to his minivan without knowledge.
Daniel Ford never showed up, when I called his cellphone Mariana Nieto answered and said he was arrested
for driving without a valid driver license and he is in police custody, she implied it was our fault that he did get arrested because he was coming back to us! He was going to be released in few days and he'll come back to fix the job.
We could not wait few days for Daniel to come back, Mariana Nieto was going to bring her father Saturday 11:30am to get it fixed, sure enough she never showed up.
I asked a friend of mine to give Daniel a call to see if he's at home and guess what? Daniel Ford was at home together with Mariana Nieto. She was lying to us to cover for him. Neither Daniel Ford or Mariana Nieto returned our calls, I
emailed Daniel at [email protected] several times.
When we called 847-260-5736 Daniel's mother answered the phone, she seemed to be responsible person and was
going to get in touch with Daniel. We still have a butchered play set; kids can't wait to play with it. What Daniel did is unthinkable; his job was to follow the instructions to build a safe play set for kids 3-10 years old. What
he build was a death trap, sharp screws everywhere, incorrect assembly, play set was missing several crucial components, some parts were never attached together.
We are going to take legal actions against Daniel Ford, he went too far. He is not a handyman by any
means, he took advantage of us, he put our kids in danger.
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