We purchased our door with David who came out to our home on 2/20/16, measured the door opening and frame, and suggested to us that we go with the option that was half the cost of their more expensive doors. Maybe this was the beginning of the downfall. We paid for the door in full upfront.
Door was installed 3/24/16 and upon inspecting the door (after 3 hours of installation), found there was a gash in the 3" metal frame so you could actually see into the frame, several chunks of metal taken out of the frame all over the place, and gaps in the welds that daylight could be seen through. I promptly pointed this out to the installer who called his installation manager to determine what they should do. The installer sent the pictures to his manager. The manager received them and told the installer to relay to me that the manager would be calling me within the next hour, but that the installer needed to go to the next job site.
We allowed 4 hours to go by before we called the office number. I spoke to a gentleman that I explained this whole situation too. He put me on hold for 5 minutes then came back and told me that he had forward my complaint to the quality manager and that he would get back to me shortly. Shortly to me would be in a couple of hours. After not hearing from them by 5:00pm, we immediately called our credit card company and disputed the charge. We explained to our credit card company the condition of the door and the lack of communication from the company after trying to contact them and after being told twice that we would be contacted. We have our card with Bank of America and thankfully have been with them for 14+ years and so disputed charges are handled very quickly and easily with them. We were instructed by them that should a satisfactory resolution be reached to simply call them and they would release funds back to First Impression.
We did not receive any contact from them until after 7:00pm from a woman named Natalie. She left a voicemail on our phone and her voicemail stated she just got our information, that she was looking into, was heading out of town on vacation, but that she would have a resolution for us in the afternoon of 3/25/16 (the following day) and would call us to let me know what they were going to do. We did not hear from Natalie until 7:45pm of 3/25/16 via email, so no phone call and well into the night that we would not even consider it late afternoon.
We emailed Natalie back Saturday morning as we had several questions in regards to her email where she explained they would be taking the whole door off, taking it back to the shop to fix it, and that it should be ready within 5 business days to re-install. In an effort to make sure that upper management was included on this email correspondence, we researched and found the owners of the company. Tim and his wife, along with his son. We cc'd them on the email response we sent copying the format of Natalie's email address. All three cc's bounced back.
Via email, we scheduled an appointment with Natalie to have the door removed as early as possible on Tuesday 3/29/16. The gentleman who arrived was very nice and asked that we point out all the issues so that he could mark them and let the warehouse know what exactly was wrong when he took the security screen door back. Door was gone about an hour and half later and now it was a matter of waiting to see what they were going to do in order to fix all the issues. At about 2:00pm 3/29/16, Natalie calls us and informs us that she is calling me to schedule an appointment to have the security screen door removed. We are so confused as she was the one who scheduled the appointment with us via email to have it removed 3/29/16, however we are also not surprised as their communication has been way beyond sub-par to this point. We tell her that this is exactly what our email to her on Saturday was talking about because she had asked us to work with them and be a part of the solution, which we had no problem with, but we told her that we expect professionalism from them in terms of responding to calls and adhering to the timelines they set for themselves, i.e. returning phone calls like they say they will at the times they say they will.
Natalie proceeded to defend her company, issuing nothing but excuses; basically telling us our door was a one off issue out of the thousands of doors they produce, and in a way threatening us as to whether or not we wanted our door fixed. We told her that we of course wanted the door fixed, but that they also need to understand that this is a lot of money to spend and that to let a door even go out of the warehouse looking like this is beyond belief and that how could the installer have let this even go up? We also told her that we agreed to work together and that her having no idea of what is going on does not lead me to believe she is involved in the process. We even went so far as to point out to her that none of the owners emails work. She proceeded to tell me that she works hand in hand with the owner and that he is aware of our issue. I asked why he had not reached out to us as that is what I would do when I owned my previous two businesses and had customer issues. She said that this is what the owner had employees in place for was to handle these issues, not him. Sounds like an owner eager to make his money, but not so eager to handle the really tough issues of being a business owner.
Needless to say another appointment was scheduled for Tuesday April 5th to re-install the door after fixing it. On Saturday morning (4/02/16) Natalie calls and leaves a voicemail letting us know that she is calling to schedule an appointment to install the door. At this point I had lost it. I could no longer communicate with her due to my complete lack of confidence in this lady and knowing my ability to not be able to speak to her in a professional manner due to what appears to be her memory loss. I had my spouse call her instead, which I think shocked Natalie and scared her because I think she thought it was my attorney. Natalie quickly backtracked on what she said in her voicemail and told my spouse that she was calling to confirm 4/05/16 still worked or see if 4/07/16 would be better, which was a lie, we still have the voicemail saved. Natalie confirmed her calendar said 4/05/16 in the morning with my spouse and that was it.
Door arrived in the early part of the afternoon, so First Impression did not meet the early morning time they had promised and upon reviewing the 3" frame it still showed gouges in the metal. Only this time the frame was now bowed out where the handle/lock set would be installed. We immediately asked to see the door itself before they even took that off the truck. The door still had gaps in the metal where the welds were not complete. Only this time the installer confessed to how First Impressions handles their terrible workmanship. The installer told me "Well the first installer should have fixed that when he was out here the first time the door was installed by filling those gaps with caulking." So let's get this straight, they know that they do sub-par security screen doors, but they hope that people are too dumb to catch it and that they simply fix their issues by putting caulking in the doors to cover it up or them up. Nice job First Impressions, way to leave a lasting Negative Impression.
So we told the installer we are not accepting the frame or the door again and that they can take it back and fix it again. Natalie calls us a little later in the afternoon to offer her apologizes and explain to me that now the owner is involved. Let's back track to my conversation with her from that immediate Saturday when she told me the owner was aware of my issue. However, she is now telling me that the owner is now involved? We called her out on it to which we could tell she seemed flustered. Apparently the Vice President is involved is what she meant. We asked who is the Vice President, she said one of the owner's. We told her that she had told me the owner was already involved this past Saturday and she said he was. It seemed like a dog chasing its own tail. We just gave up. She apologized again, gave all these cliche statements to me about them being in it to win it, they are here to make sure customer service is #1, blah, blah, blah. We just told her to stop, that we don't need to hear what their company is about, that we just want the door fixed.
She wanted to set up an appointment for the following week which I said would not work due to me being out of state for work and my spouse working all week. I was not going to have my spouse take time off work for this, we had already spent so much time waiting at home to have this door installed. We scheduled to have the door installed after I returned home, 4/16/16 in the early morning (I requested we be the first stop). Having thought we resolved the problem, Natalie called back on 4/08/16 to inform us that she had just realized we had disputed the charge with our credit card company and that she needed half the balance paid back in order for them to work on the door. We told her that she needed to take this issue to the owner and that seeing as how we did pay upfront and received and Not So Great First Impression Door and that based upon the thousands of doors they do without issue (according to her), that the owner can be on the hook for this door until it is completed satisfactorily and that maybe it would light a fire under their butts to complete the door as it should have been on 3/24/16. We also said that as soon as we are satisfied with the door, we will promptly call our credit card company and remove the dispute. Natalie said she would need to talk to the owner and call us back. She called back five minutes later and said it wouldn't be an issue, they would work on the door.
So this brings us to 4/15/16. This company has been pretty good about calling the day before installing to confirm the appointment. Prior to leaving the airport to head home at 4:35pm, we had no phone call from them to confirm the installation. Upon landing and checking voicemail, again no phone call to confirm the appointment. 4/16/16 arrives and it is 8:50am and we have had no phone call 30 minutes prior to arriving at our home for a scheduled 9am appointment (first install of the day). We call Natalie and leave a voicemail. We email Natalie and she emails back within about 30 minutes and states that the time was changed to 2-3pm, the installers first appointment of his day and she had no idea it was changed. Here we go again, the Director of Customer Service having no clue about the company's customer service. A 9am-12pm window is not a 2pm-3pm window. Do these people have no respect for people's schedules and that these people are providing the money for them to have a job by buying their company's products?
The installer calls us at 2:30pm and tells us that he is running behind and won't be here until sometime after 3:30pm, but probably closer to 4:30pm. Apparently they think that everyone's time revolves around their company and not the other way around. Adam, the installer calls again at 3:45pm and says he is on his way and will arrive at around 4:00pm. He arrives and my spouse and I ask to look at the frame. Everything appears acceptable. We then ask to see the door before he even pulls it out of his van. I help him pull it completely out of his van and my spouse and I inspect it. No gaps in the welds, no gouges in the metal, however I can see immediately what they did do to fix part of the problem. They welded a bracket on the back side (the side that faces into the house) to hide all the imperfections. So, in reality the really fixed nothing, just covered it up. However, the door does look better and on the inside part of the door will be a screen so you won't see much.
My spouse left, leaving me in charge due to a planned family gathering. So I was forced to miss out on this gathering due to First Impression not meeting their appointment time with us and then showing up even later than expected. However, the wheels start turning. Natalie mentioned earlier that she didn't know they changed out appointment time, the owner is now involved, etc. So now I am thinking that maybe they did this so it is finished being installed in the early evening and we won't be able to see if any imperfections occur with installation. But then I think "would they really do that?" Two and half hours later the door is done.
The installer Adam informs me that I have a balance due in full for the door. I inform him that we do not and that all I needed to do was to call our credit card company and drop the dispute. He informs me that I will need to speak with the owner Tim. I get on the phone with Tim, he asks me if I am happy with the door and I told him that I was except for the screen being rather loose at the top. He tells me that Adam will need to fix it now then. Tim asks if I will write on the form that we will drop the dispute with our credit card company and sign the form accepting the door. I said I had no problem with that and that we had explained to Natalie that we had no problem dropping the dispute once we were satisfied. Tim apologized a couple times and said this just seemed to be one of those doors that had issue compounded upon issue. I ended the call and went back outside to look at the door one last time and sign Adam's paperwork as per Tim's request. Upon looking the door one last time I noticed the paint had bubbled around the lock/key set. I pointed this out to Adam and said I am not accepting this door again. Adam said he would need to call Tim again, however Adam took a picture to send to Tim. Adam acted like he couldn't focus on the bubbled paint which is pretty easy to do since we have 3 5000K Daylight LED lights on the front porch, light is definitely not an issue. This was simply Adam trying to act like he couldn't "see the problem."
I am now back on the phone with Tim and he asks me what is wrong now, that I am refusing the door again. I step inside the house so as not to let the installer hear what I am going to tell Tim. I tell Tim that the installer tightened the lock/key set too tight, it bent the metal and this in turn caused the paint to buckle. Tim tells me the installer said it is not that bad and that it wouldn't be an issue in the future. I can't believe it. So they know they screwed up, but because they feel it's not that bad we should accept this expensive door as is? I explain to Tim that it is bad and that the paint is bubbled up, it is a powder coat which over time will flake off if it is bubbled. Tim explains to me that this is becoming an issue and that this will be four times now that they will have worked on this door. He asks me again if I am taking the door and I told him no, that they needed to take it back. Tim basically sat there on the phone trying to stiff arm me into taking this door. I told Tim that if he is saying he won't fix it then I guess just take the door back, I will keep the disputed charge and that is it. Tim tells me word for word "Ok, I will have the door removed and we will be done. Sorry it didn't work out. Bye."
Arizona residents, poor or rich, this company is not worth giving your hard earned money too. We highly recommend that you steer very clear of this company and look to others. My spouse and I are now left looking for a new company and a new security screen door while our front door has holes all over the frame now. First Impressions is a rip off and does not care about you, they only care about the money you are going to hand them and not question their garbage products. We cannot emphasize this enough, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT use this company for anything.
31 Comments