Antique Beams & Boards

Jim placed his order in the middle of November and paid his 50% deposit, we informed him the order was complete before Christmas but at that point, he wanted to wait until after the holidays for delivery. We personally delivered the order to Jim and his son, who helped to unload it into the house on January 6th. This order was naturally light-colored wood that was stained dark. Any kind of break would have been evident both in our inspections as well as when Jim helped move all of the individual pieces into the house. At this point Jim was happy and we had still yet to be paid the balance on the order. We do not often deliver material without payment in full at time of delivery, but Jim seemed happy with everything and we are confident in our quality of work. We delivered the material anyhow out of good faith. Part of his order was 3 pieces of handrail made of different material, one piece at 8'6", one at 5'6", and one at 4'. These lengths were correctly stated on his invoice build sheet and all three were triple-checked with the length of each marked on the end. On January 8th, Jim asked if we would stain the handrails to match the box beams, this was not part of the original order but we agreed to at no extra charge. He brought them out along with the final payment on the order out to us on January 13th. Jim picked up the stained handrails over a week later. It was not until the 26th that he texted us about a piece broken off of one of the box beams, almost 3 weeks after delivery to his house under construction. We informed Jim that this had to have happened at the job site, as it was a very noticeable fresh break that could not have been missed here or by him when we delivered. He insisted it happened at our shop and wanted a replacement. We informed him he would have to pay for a replacement or that we would fix the piece he had at no charge. His contractor ended up fixing the piece. He did not inform us of the "short" chunk of handrail until February 8th. At this point, Jim had been belligerent both on the phone with the female office manager and to employees at the yard. Again we attempted to appease him and agreed to replace the 8'6" handrail that he claimed was cut short. He now however wanted it to be 9' long. We agreed again at no extra charge and asked him to bring back the piece he claimed was cut short. What he brought back to us was the 5'6" piece, clearly marked by us on the end, not the piece he claimed was short. We gave him the replacement anyhow in the hopes of being done with him. We are a company that prides itself on customer service and quality. We have been in business for 16 years and have many repeat customers that have been around since the beginning. It is very unfortunate when a customer takes advantage of that.
Matt Gleckler
Owner, Antique Beams & Boards