Complaint Review: osceola fence supply llc

Posted: Sept. 18, 2017

This is long so just be warned

Earlier this month I hired Osceola Fence Supply, LLC to install a six foot wooden fence around my back yard. I wish I had never EVER contacted this company.

From day one, dealing with this company was nothing but a headache and I should have seen this as a red flag. Time was of the essence though for me and I had to have a fence installed with no time to get several other estimates.

This company is local to me and it has some good reviews which now I am suspicious that were written by the company and not by customers. I can't imagine that anyone is satisfied with the shoddy work done by this company.

The owner is Anthony Paradiso and I didn't have any contact with him until problems happened with the install. I'll write about him later on.

First of all it took a long time to get the fence company to get back to me about installing the fence after I expressed to them several times that I needed the fence installed asap. I had sold a vacant lot that is adjacent to my backyard and the owner of the lot is going to have a house built on it. I have two dogs and need to contain them plus, I need privacy between me and the construction crew.

Osceola Fence company dragged their feet on this but finally had someone come out to my house to measure my yard. The person who came out is a young man who never introduced himself but measured my yard and left. As I was told by Bessie, this guy was my sales rep. LOL!!! Really? I doubt it. A sales rep wouldn't be doing the measuring.

This young man is the only person I met from the fence company. No sales person came to my house to walk my yard nor to discuss where I wanted the fence and how it needed to be placed. No one asked me what type of latch I wanted on the gate. No one asked me if my Azalea hedges could be damaged and cut down to install the fence. Hedges that have been in my yard since 1972. They are damaged beyond repair and are starting to die. Part of the hedge was hacked down by the crew. I can't begin to express just how angry I am.

Time went by after my yard was measured and a diagram of my yard was emailed to me along with the contract. A permit had to be obtained by the company from the permit department in my town and of course I knew this. More time went by and I received a phone call from a woman named Bessie and she said she is my 'go to' person. At no time did I meet this woman in person.

More time went by and as I stated above, time was of the essence for this fence to be installed. No one from the fence company contacted me to let me know the permit was sitting at City Hall. I called the fence company to ask about the status of the permit and Bessie laughed and said it was there and all someone had to do was go pick it up. Grrrrrrr.

On a Friday I was told that the fence would be installed the following Monday morning. Monday morning came and no one showed up. I called Bessie and again she laughed and told me the fence would be installed on Tuesday. What???? I should have cancelled the entire thing but I needed a fence and I STILL need a fence.

Tuesday morning comes and no one from the fence company bothered to call me to give me a heads up that the crew was on their way. I had no idea when they were arriving. I just happened to be out in my yard when I saw a group of men walking up into my yard wearing bright neon colored yellow/green shirts. I figured they were the fence crew but just to be sure I said, "Can I help you?" All the guy said was, "fence". As it turns out, NO ONE on the crew spoke nor understood English. I don't speak nor understand Spanish. This became a huge HUGE issue.

Because no one spoke English I couldn't communicate with anyone to tell them how I wanted the fence installed. There are a couple of issues in my yard because of trees. As a matter of fact, in the contract, my fence was supposed to be a contoure fence to accomodate the trees. The crew installed a straight fence and this caused more issues. It caused the fence to leave large gaps from the bottom of the boards to the ground. The gaps were large enough for a small dog to crawl under. Again, I couldn't communicate these problems to the crew even though I tried. Everyone said to me, "No habla English".

I contacted the office several times about these problems and hours later, the operations manager came out to my house. He speaks English and he listened to my complaints but he allowed the crew to continue doing what they wanted to do. He didn't stick around long because he is in charge of five crews. Well, it isn't MY problem is it?

The fence was constructed on site meaning that there were no pre-built panels brought to my yard. Because of this and because the smooth side of the fence had to face outward, there had to be enough space for a worker to nail the panels onto the frame of the fence. You should see what this created. There were two 'alleys' on either side of my house between me and both of my neighbors. I am not a thin person and I was able to stand facing the fence with plenty of room behind me. There was no reason in the world why there was a huge space and it ate up a lot of my property. These 'alleys' went nowhere. Not only that, how was I supposed to mow the grass there? My lawn mower wouldn't have fit in there.

Another issue was that I wasn't told the installation would take more than one day. Of course, no one told me anything so I shouldn't have been surprised. The crew started late and stopped early. They were packing it up well before 2 pm which I thought was weird and they didn't arrive at my house until after 8. This caused another issue for me. No gates were installed the first day and this meant that if I let my dogs outside they would run off. I had to take my dogs out on their leash and walk around until they decided to do their business. I did this several times. This is Florida and the heat and high humidity is awful and it's hard for me to breathe. Being outside like that was difficult for me.

The crew returned the next day and finished the installation. There was a major issue with the latch for the gate. As I stated above, no one from the office bothered to ask me what type of latch I wanted so the crew installed whatever they had. The cheapest piece of garbage of course. The latch only locked from the outside of the gate. This is not what I wanted. Why would I want my lock to be on the outside and not the inside? If anyone wanted to they could cut the lock and come into my yard. I contacted the office and told them this was unacceptable. The office told me they would send someone over with a different latch. The latch was the type that could be locked from the inside and outside. The office made sure to let me know that this particular latch was more expensive. I don't give a crap. Not my problem.

So I'm standing at the gate watching a guy install the new latch and I had my lock in my hand. Well guess what? It didn't fit. The lock fit through the latch holes just fine but there wasn't enough space against the gate post for the lock to fit. Keep in mind that I wasn't able to communicate with the crew because.....no one spoke English.

One of the guys realized that the lock wasn't going to fit so guess what he does? He hacks a chunk out of the gate post first with a screwdriver and then with a Sawzall. I felt like I had been taking crazy pills. What kind of fresh hell was this?????? The lock STILL didn't fit!!!!!!!!! By this point I was so over the fence installment I went back inside my house. I contacted the office again for the umpteenth time and told them what had happened.

I took photos of this cluster f*ck project and sent them to the office. The owner of the fence company began emailing me and I kept the emails. Lots of emails between us. He wanted to call me but I was so angry there was no way I was going to talk to anyone on the phone. There is no telling what I would have said to him. This guy Anthony Paradiso tried to defend his crew (of course) AND defend his office staff but there was no way he could justify anything that happened. Everything I said to him and everything I am writing are facts. It was such a horrible experience that I don't HAVE to make up anything!! It actually happened!

What stands out to me is what Mr. Paradiso accused me of. He said a lot of things but this is what stands out: Mr. Paradiso accused me of being a racist. He said I was a racist and that I hated "Spanish" people. He said this and I'm guessing it's because I complained that no one on the crew spoke English. This became a HUGE issue between me and Mr. Paradiso. I pointed out to him several times that I am NOT a racist, I don't 'hate' ANYone and I was pissed off and frustrated because HIS crew couldn't communicate with me! Does this make THEM racists because they couldn't communicate with ME? Wow. Mr. Paradiso has a big issue with communication and I'm sure this is also why his office staff didn't communicate much to me AND why his crew can't communicate with non-Spanish speaking people. I don't even know if HE speaks Spanish but his name implies that he is of Italian heritage. Maybe he speaks Spanish, maybe not. Is Mr. Paradiso a racist toward non-Italian, non-Hispanic home owners? Sounds like it.

Mr. Paradiso offered to correct the fence line on either side of my house where the deadend alleys were. I told him I also wanted some of the boards removed and placed closer to each other. The gaps between them were so wide that I could see my neighbor's houses on both sides and behind me. My fence wasn't a privacy fence but the fence looked like a cross between a regular stockade fence and a picket fence. That's how wide the gaps where. In fact, the gaps between the boards on the front gate were huge. Standing on the outside of the gate I could see my tool shed. Standing on the inside of the gate I could watch the traffic go by and could see the house across the street from me. Some of the boards were nailed on crooked, some of the boards were split all the way from the top to the bottom from being nailed. The wood was purchased from Home Depot as I found out and was of poor quality.

Mr. Paradiso refused to have the boards removed and butted up closer to each other. He said that the project had already 'cost' him a lot of money but I don't see how. Maybe it's because his crew started late and quit early AND had to return for a second day? When I insisted that the fence be done properly, Mr. Paradiso sent me an email and said he was refunding my money and the fence would be removed. LOL. Okay man, whatever. He threw a temper tantrum and what my mother used to call a "hissy fit". Mr. Paradiso told me that my refund check would be in the mail. I told HIM if my check wasn't brought to my house when the crew arrives to remove the fence, no one would be allowed on my property. I would call law enforcement and have them trespassed.

This past Saturday which was Sept. 16, a huge crew arrived with a van hauling a long trailer, two huge trucks came and two large pickup trucks arrived. The operations manager had my refund check in hand. I believe his name is Orlando and we had a long conversation about this huge cluster f*ck of a project. He admitted that the fence wasn't installed properly. He said that he is in charge of five crews and wasn't able to be here during the entire installation and for that, he apologized. Orlando wasn't aware that a sales representative never came to my house to go over the details of the fence. He said though that he recently fired a sales rep but because I was never assigned one I had no idea if it was the same person Orlando fired. Doesn't matter. We also discussed the fence itself. I pointed out the long cracks in the wood from being nailed, I showed him the large gaps between boards, he saw the wide alleys that were made by his crew. He apologized over and over but it was of no use because the fence was coming down.

The crew got busy knocking down the fence and removing the posts that were in the ground with cement. Because the trucks were parked on a side street around the corner from my next door neighbor's house, the crew walked through my neighbor's yard tromping down her plants in the process. They didn't bother using the sidewalk. I walked out front and got the attention of one of the crew. I told him not to walk in my neighbor's yard. He replied, "No habla English. Uno momento". Geezus. The ops manager came over and I told him not to let his crew walk in my neighbor's yard and he told them. However, my neighbor was in his front yard looking under the hood of his pickup truck and watched the crew walk through his yard and he never said one word to them. I just shook my head and went back in my house. If my neighbor doesn't care then I don't either.

I watched the crew toss their trash in my yard and flick cigarette butts in my yard. I contacted the owner and was told that they would make my yard look like no one had ever been there. This turned out to be a damned lie.

The crew left behind trash, two bundles of wire, as I said, cigarette butts, pieces of broken fence and they damaged my hedges and ruined my grass. I picked up the wire, trash and cigarette butts and broken fence. I am so sad that my hedges are damaged. They won't grow back.

So instead of Anthony Paradiso having a crew member come to my house, remove some of the fence boards and place them closer together as I asked, he lost a LOT of money on this project. Even the ops manager said the same thing. Orlando told me that it costs $700.00 a day to run the big trucks. It cost Mr. Paradiso the following:

Two entire days of a crew installing the fence and they arrived in a huge truck

All of the fence materials including pressure treated posts, bags of cement for each post, nails, a gate, two latches and hinge hardware.

One entire day of a much larger crew to remove the fence, posts, etc. and they arrived in several vehicles

They had to replace the two gates that were here originally (chain link gates and sections of fencing) and bags of cement to install them

The owner refunded my money

The company now has a tarnished reputation not only on here but on Google reviews as well. They have several negative reviews by other angry customers.

I might get my attorney to file a civil lawsuit against the company to pay for my damaged hedges.

So what kind of a business man is Anthony Paradiso who refused to correct the problems his crew created during install then lost a huge amount of money when he had the fence removed? I have to say that Mr. Paradiso either never went to business school or he simply has no clue how to run a business. Why would a business person be willing to take a financial loss, lose a customer, have his reputation tarnished instead of simply making the customer (me) happy by doing what I asked? I didn't ask for the fence to be completely re-done. I asked for the fence to be installed CORRECTLY.

What kind of business person doesn't train his staff how to communicate with customers? The office staff has no clue how to communicate. No one seems to be in charge. As I stated above, no one assigned a sales rep to come to my house to go over the project with me. If they DID assign someone, the person never showed up. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing so to speak.

I want to point out another thing Mr. Paradiso said to me in an email. Florida was hit by hurricane Irma. My town took a big hit but not as bad as other areas. Mr. Paradiso accused me of being 'insensitive' to those who were effected by the hurricane and he didn't even know if MY property was hit. The fence was installed two days before the hurricane hit by the way.

I had contacted him and asked that my fence be corrected AND I said the work could be done when it was possible. However, Mr. Paradiso seemed to think that I am a mind reader with some kind of psychic abilities because he had closed the fence company and let his employees take the week off. I guess I should have known this some how. Did anyone call me to say the company was closed? Did anyone email me about it? No. Of course not. How in the hell was I supposed to know that they were closed. Not every business here closed their doors after the hurricane came through.

Mr. Paradiso believes that I am a racist because I don't speak Spanish and he believes that I am insensitive to those hit by the hurricane. LOL. I'm still in amazement about this. I want to point out that every single person I saw on the crew AND the two or three women in the office I spoke to on the phone are Hispanic. No white people. I don't care about that one bit because as I stated above, I am not racist. I have Hispanic friends, black friends and friends of mixed races. As long as people treat me right I have no issues with their ethnicity. Mr. Paradiso's fence crew are from Venezuala. Now that I think of it, they live and work here but don't speak a word of English. Why not? Seems counter productive.

I really hope no one hires this company to install a fence. If anyone reads this complaint and reads my Google review about this company and you STILL hire them, you get what you deserve. There are a lot of fence companies in central Florida including Home Depot and Lowes. They are pretty busy right now because of the hurricane mess but they will come out and talk to you about a new install. I don't think they are doing repairs.  Just stay clear of Osceola Fence Supply.

I filed a complaint with the BBB. This company surprisingly enough is accredited with them. I suppose this fence company does a decent job for home owners who speak Spanish. There would be no issues with trying to tell the crew what you want done. For me though, it was a complete failure.