I’ve signed a contract with GEM for 3 parts: replace the original wooden porch railing by an all-aluminum one, replace two garage doors and replace the main front door. I’ve signed the contract on July 20, 2015 and was promised to have everything completed within 8 – 12 weeks. In October 2015, nothing was done despite several inquiries (phone and Email) to understand the status of the order. The salesman promised me lots of things before and after signing the contract (they all are documented) and finally admitted that: 1) he could no longer match the color of the railing and the garage doors that we agreed (although at the time of signing the contract, it was supposed to be “no problem!”); he was unable to find the glass panel of the main door that we wanted (although at the time of signing the contract, it was supposed to be “no problem!”). The railing is made of three main columns/posts and three sections of pickets; it was installed late October. Two columns/posts were not installed in the right position because two out the three sections were precut short. In addition, the contractor who did the job left the place as a mess (supported by pictures) leaving thousands of tiny aluminum shards from drilling, unused screws, parts of the old wooden railing, etc. Here again, the salesman promised me to have the contractor to come back to fix the issues. Of course, nobody showed up. All my subsequent phones messages and Emails to this salesman have been since ignored for 6 months. When I finally talked to him earlier today, he explained that he was too busy and had no answers for me! The garage doors have been installed in January by another subcontractor (the two service men were awesome!). As far as the main door, GEM was planning to get it installed in February when the temperature was well below zero! When I understood that the house would be open for several hours, I naturally refused to have the new door installed in February but rather in the spring. Mid-April, the railing contractor came back and acknowledged that their original work was not satisfactory. So they replace the two short sections after repositioning the columns where they should have been the first time but did a poor job securing the columns with concrete and forgot to install plugs hiding the screws. The main door was finally installed earlier today by excellent service men.
I never received either a phone call or an Email from anybody at GEM to either apologize for all their mistakes and issues they’ve created nor even offer a symbolic discount as a gesture that GEM cares about their customers. No, the only think they asked me after more than 9 months waiting was: “How do you want to pay the balance, cheque or credit card?”
I’m happy that this order is finally completed. I encourage all readers to shop somewhere else: you will probably get a better price and surely a better service.
