Sun Mountain, Inc.

Mr. Schoeman ordered a double interior door leading from the inside of his home to an enclosed patio room (i.e., enclosed and weather-protected patio-type room with windows, walls, and ceiling) of his home. Our understanding is that this is a second home for Mr. Schoeman, not his primary residence. This is an interior door, not an exterior door exiting to the outside of the home. Unfortunately and despite our heavy crating to protect the door, one leaf of the double door was damaged during shipping by our carrier FedEx Freight--with a large gouge in the wood and finish at the bottom corner of the door slab. Mr. Schoeman's installer reported this to us at the time of installation.

We sincerely apologize for the freight damage that occurred, and we have a product warranty to address such issues. Under the warranty, we can offer a variety of resolutions including 1) having our own service technician repair the door onsite, 2) returning the damaged door to our factory for repair and refinishing, all at our cost, 3) replacing the damaged door with a new door, or 4) issuing a financial credit which can be used by the customer for field repair by a third party. We attempted to contact with Mr. Schoeman to have our local service technician visit the home and assess the damaged door, and then repair onsite (option1 under our warranty). Mr. Schoeman was not at the home for several months after the door was delivered and installed, and despite multiple attempts via phone and e-mail, we were unable to visit the home to assess the damage and attempt the repair. This has clearly led to the delay and frustration in resolving this issue, and we apologize for this.

After finally reaching Mr. Schoeman, he did not want us to attempt a field repair by our service technician. We then offered option 2) to Mr. Schoeman, to return the damaged door to our factory and repair and refinish the door to like-new condition, at our cost. Since this is an interior door, we did not feel that Mr. Schoeman's home would be exposed to outside elements during this repair. We offered to expedite this and complete the repair/re-finishing of the damaged door in just two business days, plus the transit time required to transport the door from and then back to his home. Mr. Schoeman did not want this solution and demanded a 50% financial refund on his order. We did not feel that this was a fair resolution to address the gouge and finish on the bottom corner of one door.

We then offered Mr. Schoeman a $700 financial refund, along with a supply of the required finish coating materials at no cost, so that he could find a local painter to complete the repairs of his door onsite. This is approximately 20% of the cost of his order, and knowing the costs required to repair the damage to the door to like-new condition, we felt that this was a reasonable offer. Mr. Schoeman rejected this offer, and continued to demand a 50% refund of his order.

At this time, and despite Mr. Schoeman’s unreasonable demands for 50% refund of the entire price of his double doors, we have issued the $700 financial credit, and provided the touch-up coatings to him at no cost—to address the unfortunate shipping damage that occurred. We consider this issue closed. We understand that Mr. Schoeman has chosen to discredit our company on various forms of social media, and we are saddened at this effort to damage our business and reputation. We have been in business for over 25 years, with thousands of doors sold and satisfied customers nationwide. We stand behind our product, offer an industry leading warranty, and have an excellent reputation with thousands of repeat customers.

Sun Mountain made a mistake and our shipping department delivered the wrong door on the first delivery. This was simply a human error in our part, and we apologize for this mistake. We did not build the wrong door for the customer. The customer's correct door was complete on-time and was delivered to the customer as soon as possible after this initial mistake.

Regarding the defective glass, we agree that the initial glass was defective. The glass is covered with a protective film, and we cannot see any imperfections in the glass during manufacturing. Once the protective film was uncovered after installation by the contractor, the defective glass was discovered, and we promptly took action to replace the glass. On the delivery of the replacement glass, our service technician noted a defect the replacement glass (again, not identified until after the protective film was removed as he was installing). So, this replacement glass was not installed. We promptly ordered new glass again and our technician came to the home again and replaced the glass. We assessed the final glass and could not see/find any defects or imperfections in the final glass. Our sales representative Dave also visited the home three times through this process, and participated in the review of the final glass. He could not see any imperfections in this.

We apologize for the issues and mistakes which occurred on delivery, and the defects in the two initial glass panes (which were covered with protective film and unknown to us until the film was removed). We feel that we have made every attempt to satisfy this customer. We paid for all of the service and replacement at our cost, and did not charge the customer for this. We do not believe the final glass has defects (we cannot see what the customer is referencing).

Our records show that this order was placed and firmed via customer sign-off on custom drawings on 1/14/2019. We do not accept and release orders to production until the required 50% deposit is received, and our records indicate that the deposit was received the same day, 1/14/2019--after some delay in payment by the customer. We confirmed a promised ship date of 3/26/19. On 1/29/2019, the customer requested a change order. This is two weeks after the order was released to production, and created disruption and delay in promised fulfillment. We shipped the order complete today, 4/2/19, with the exception of a final threshold moulding which will be delivered this Thursday 4/4/19. Per our records, this is order has not taken 5 months to fulfill. Any delays in fulfillment are a result of delayed deposit payment and change order/remake of materials in-process. We are trying our best to satisfy this customer, despite the challenges documented here.

I am sincerely sorry and apologize for the very poor experience Alpine Style Builders had with our company. I spoke with our sales representative on this project, Pete, and he expressed his sorrow and apologies. He made a number of mistakes including submitting the wrong bore specifications for the customer's hardware, and then when the doors were corrected (unfortunately after several months), the hinge specifications were submitted incorrectly leading to more delays and challenges. This is not normally how we do business, and I sincerely apologize for this poor experience. I have spoken to this customer personally and expressed my apologies. I am sad that we did not perform well for him, and we have lost any opportunity for future business. This is not our normal practice, and we hope to learn from this difficult experience and become better.

Ed Wright
General Manager
(970) 532-2105, x30
ewright@sunmountaindoor.com