Complaint Review: Dixie Fence Contractors - Athens Tennessee

This Estimate is good for 14 days from the approval date. 50% deposit is required with balance due upon completion. All additional work will be billed separately and due upon si for all custome order cancellations.

Those 4 simple sentences could have saved what has become 8 Months of stress for our Customer who we appreciate and value and all this negative that is now floating around on this web site. I try not to imagine how many people saw this complaint before we were able to respond and were cheated from the opportunity to even know if we could have helped them with their fencing needs. I can certainly appreciate the Coutures feelings and I too wouldn't want someone to bait and switch me either, but that is not what happen here. We have several customers who simply make us small payments on their balance from a fence we built for them and I've had single Mom's thank me in tears for helping them be able to keep their kids safe by allowing them to just kind of pay as they go on their balance. It's not our intent to deceive or Ripoff anyone and with 60+ years of service to thousands of customers a year in multiple Cities and States. This incident of ripping someone off is just not the normal for Dixie Fence. I
n closing I want to say we have NO ill feelings against the Coutures and we will stand behind our warranties and our work. We thank them for their business and appologize for playing a part in the rough year they had

Most Sincerely, Rob Fraley 3rd Generation Owner of Dixie Fence in Athens Tennessee

I would like to at least state the facts to this story. The only part of this complaint that is honest and correct is my companies name and contact information. I would like to at least inform the public of some FACTS not opinions about our business practices and the ACTUAL details of this paticular customer transaction.I start by stating that this is a real shame. This complaint was also filed with the Better Business Bureau, in an attempt to discredit our company, however that was quickly corrected and we continue to maintain an A+ Rating with the BBB. In 2011 Paul Lee & Donna Michelle Couture inquired about wanting a fence estimate at their new home in Calhoun Tennessee and I personally was the one who met with them and gave them our proposal.

That very evening they agreed to choose Dixie Fence to build the fence to keep their pets safe. After agreeing on the terms and drawings of the fence we signed both signed a very simple contract, they gave us a deposite for the work and we even set around and discussed the possibility's of other contractors like myself that I might be able to help them with other projects around their home such as concrete work. Just like our agreement said we arrived in a specified manor just like the proposal said and we built the Couture's the exact fence they wanted and they paid us the remaining balance and as far as Dixie Fence was concerned they were a welcomed addition to the over 2,000 satisfied customers we service from our Athens TN. location. Several Months later i received a call from stating "you probably don't remember me, but this is Paul Couture" and I said "Oh yes, from Diamondback Estates" and Mr. Couture was very shocked and impressed that i remembered his project at that time. Since I want this statement to be about the TRUTH, I will have to admitt that caller ID really helps a business owner be able to remember his customers. :-)

Mr. Couture proceeded to explain to me that at the time of his fence estimate he had made a mistake in his calculations of his property line and that he hadn't realized until now because the lot next door had been vacant and recently someone had purchased it and expressed a concern about his fence possibly being a few feet over the line on to his future neighbors property. His purpose at that time was to ask if it was possible to move a fence and if we even did jobs that small. I informed Mr. Couture that we appreciated his business and even though we have a Company policy of $500 job minimums because he was a good customer we could possibly cut him a break and move the 50 feet of 4' chain link fence for somewhere between $350-$450 and I would do my best to keep that cost down as low as i could in appreciation for his previous business. We agreed to wait to hear from the realtor, neighbor, or surveyor (I honestly don't recall)

Approximately a Month later, Paul called again to say The Fence did in fact need to be moved and at that time I explained that upon further thought into what it would take to move the fence over it was going to require removing the fence and then setting the posts again and allowing the concrete to harden and more importantly we would not be able to simply move the fence to the next inside post as he had hoped because a corner post needs to be larger and requires more stability than a line post so it may run more but once again I agreed to do my absolute best to keep his cost down. I fully understand how frustrating it must have been for them to find out they had to pay to move a perfectly good fence that they were very happy with just because they miscaculated their property lines.

Well, as we agreed I scheduled my crew (that has worked for myself or father for over 20yrs installing fence, to go out to his home and make these adjustments. Right away my crew forman realized a HUGE discrepensee in the change order I sent with them and the actual work that needed to be done at the Couture's property. There was a 10' double drive gate in the middle of that fence line that would have to be removed and then drive back to Athens to get more terminal posts and concrete to enable us to re-set the gate so they would still have access to that part of the yard. Jody Haberny has been trained after 20yrs of service with my company that that is in fact a BIG change and he did not have the needed material, supplies, or allotted time to complete the project we thought we were coming to do. As Jody has been trained in our company policy we do NOT do extra work without making our customer aware and as the complaint stated he approached Mrs. Couture and also called the office to explain the sittuation. Mrs. Couture stated that tit has to be moved so do what it takes and I agreed (keep in mind I'm still wanting to keep the cost down but if you call any fence Company in Town and as for a price to move 50' of chain link with a 10' double drive gate and you will get prices between $650-$900 depending on company)

We completed the work and I told my crew NOT to collect at that time as agreed because i wanted to calculate the actual cost and only charge the lowest amount possible. After adding the labor and materials actually used to complete the job it totalled $609.74. I told my Office Manager to just simply bill them as a job minimum since they had been previous customers and I wanted to give them a special discount. That is exactly what we did and we simply mailed them an invoice and awaited payment. After a few weeks, when an outstanding invoice is not paid we like to contact our customer to make sure they did receive the invoice that we had sent. It was at that time that my office manager got a COMPLETELY different side of Mr. Couture. She described him as being very upset over the extra charges and she tried to explain that I had actually lost money on their job and she was very shocked that he wasn't appreciative of our kind jesture and never the less Paul agreed he would send a check out regardless, but he wasn't very happy. When i was made aware of the sittuation I then called Paul to try and see if maybe it was just a bad day when she spoke with him and more importantly I wanted to make it very clear WHY the invoice was $50 higher. Paul was not real understanding of the sittuation and COMPLETELY unappreciative of the loss we took trying to please him but once again told me he would mail a check.

All of this leads us to the day he posted this complaint. We waited and waited for the payment but it just never came and i was dissapointed that i chose to go out of my way to help someone that wasn't even going to pay us anyways and I kind of wished I had just left it at $609.74 so i could write the real amount off my taxes. At the end of the year it is normal for us to attempt one last time to collect that years bad debt so we do have the office reach out to try and resolve any loose invoices and once again Angela was the one who had to get the bad side of Mr. Couture. She called and asked very politely (as she did with any other open invoices we had at the end of the year) if they had any intentions of paying the balance due for work completed at their home. She was told "YES! I guess i mwill bring over right now! she was a little taken back but never the less she explained that the week before Christmas we were not in the office and Paul said he would actually bring it to my personal home which was a little odd but she said i guess thats fine if mailing it wasn't an option for them and she just figured I would be really happy and shocked that she was able to clean that last open invoice off our books by years end. He arrived and told his children as he paid "there goes your Christmas" My office girl was shocked and actually cried when she thought of how sad that must have been for their poor children who knew nothing other than Daddy had to give our Christmas to those mean people. Now you must agree that this is in fact a real shame.

To sum this all up we sent the Coutures a $50 refund as they requested. If i had known that they were in such dire straights and were legally bound to move their fence and that in doing so it was going to completely ruin their childrens Christmas, we honest before God would have donated the entire job to them. You see, it’s just a shame that we never knew the Coutures were just 90 days from filing bankruptsy. You can ask all over Town and you will find that Dixie Fence is one of McMinn County's most generous businesses. We donate and give charitable work to the City, ALL local Churches, local banks, and hundreds of worthy causes & Charities in our community. In hine-site, I wish we had asked more questions or tried to make sure we had stuck to our regular rates and deposit policies before we start their job and sincerely that is usually our practice. But with the intent of lowering our expenses and our customer’s costs we stepped away from our normal business policies. I can assure you that we have learned from this mistake and realize that is why my Father and Grandfather put together some real basic wording in our extremely but effective sales order... 

This Estimate is good for 14 days from the approval date. 50% deposit is required with balance due upon completion. All additional work will be billed separately and due upon si for all custome order cancellations.

Those 4 simple sentences could have saved what has become 8 Months of stress for our Customer who we appreciate and value and all this negative that is now floating around on this web site. I try not to imagine how many people saw this complaint before we were able to respond and were cheated from the opportunity to even know if we could have helped them with their fencing needs. I can certainly appreciate the Coutures feelings and I too wouldn't want someone to bait and switch me either, but that is not what happen here. We have several customers who simply make us small payments on their balance from a fence we built for them and I've had single Mom's thank me in tears for helping them be able to keep their kids safe by allowing them to just kind of pay as they go on their balance. It's not our intent to deceive or Ripoff anyone and with 60+ years of service to thousands of customers a year in multiple Cities and States. This incident of ripping someone off is just not the normal for Dixie Fence. I

n closing I want to say we have NO ill feelings against the Coutures and we will stand behind our warranties and our work. We thank them for their business and appologize for playing a part in the rough year they had

Most Sincerely, Rob Fraley 3rd Generation Owner of Dixie Fence in Athens Tennessee