Complaint Review: HIMCO SECURITY PRODUCTS - HIMCO NATIONAL INC. - Los Angeles California

In July, 2004 I called several fence contractors to bid on designing a very simple wrought iron fence to enclose my front yard. All of the contractors were booked for months, so I hired a larger company that sent out a salesman and a project manager instead of the owner because they were able to fit my job in their schedule before the end of summer.

The day of the installation, the project manager failed to show up to supervise the installers. He claimed on my voice mail that he had not been told about the installation, he was upset because he didn't know about it and if he would have been on my property supervising, none of the following would have happened.

On September 29, 2004, two minimal English speaking installers showed up after battling traffic for two hours on my property to install the fence. One asked where Michael Jessen, the supervisor on the job, was. I told him I didn't know and for them to wait for him. They waited an hour and he hadn't shown up nor returned our messages. The installer asked if he could set the first post and I said that would be o.k. but to not do any more because Michael Jessen has to tell them how the fence is to be installed. I didn't know where he had planned to put all the gates but I did tell them to put the bottom of the fence directly flush to the ground with no crawl space.

I went in the house to make a couple of phone calls and when I went back outside to see if Jessen had shown up and he hadn't, I was shocked at what a shoddy job those installers were doing and all the open holes with raggedy edged wrought iron poles where someone couldn't stumble and fall into a hole. I immediately gathered soil and bricks to plug the open holes that were visible. I ordered the installers to leave and not return until Jessen came with them to clean up this mess and the horrible job they were doing.

I immediately called Jessen and left a message that I was really upset and that he better come out and take out that fence and reinstall it. I didn't get a return call until the next day. The night after I sent the installers away, two of my dogs disappeared and I thought they were down the street and I had missed covering an escape area under the fence. One of them was found several hours later and the other we couldn't find. I posted lost dog and reward signs everywhere and placed an ad in the paper first thing the next morning.

I got a call from the salesman telling me to go outside and see my dog. I was so happy she was back.......I went out and saw her lying dead next to a hole that she had tripped and fallen in that wasn't visible unless you knew it was there and the installers failed to cover it or warn me of it. I was so upset I told the guys to leave and then Jessen shows up and is completely oblivious to what happened and shows no emotion just telling me he has to finish the installation. I kicked him and the installers off my property and told them not to return for ten days.

I immediately called the owner, Jeffrey Marks, and told him he is totally responsible for the negligence of his employees and I don't want anyone back on the site until I figure out what to do. He smelled a lawsuit and what I didn't know about him is that he is litigious and will sue anyone for anything...he has a long legal history after inheriting his father's business.

He slapped a mechanic's lien on my property and then sued me for breach of contract which I never breached. He told me if I sue him for negligence it will cost me a lot of money and to let him come back and finish the job as shoddy as it was. He refused to correct the problem of the height of the fence or reset it. I sued him for negligence and didn't have enough time to hire the right attorneys. Fifteen months into the suit I was running out of money, couldn't pay my bills and definitely could not afford to go to trial which was scheduled.

His insurance company represented him and mine didn't because I was sued for breach and that is not covered in Allstate's legal representation parameters.

Since I was already late on my mortgage and facing foreclosure from losing over $55,000 in attorney fees, costs, lost time, emotional and psychological trauma from being sued by a mean spirited demon type person, I caved in and had to accept a crappy $6,000 settlement and forced to waive any future right to sue this b*****d for malicious prosecution which is exactly the basis of his suit. He sued me for his negligence which he finally took responsibility for in the mediation but wouldn't agree to reimburse for all I'd lost and reinstall the fence the way it should have been in the first place.

The fence is half installed with bricks and bags of sod plugging the area underneath it and the unfinished part is enclosed by a chain link fence. The gates have been leaning against my palm tree for two years and the fence looks like crap.

I am so furious with the legal system and the fact that this jerk continues to operate despite his huge litigation history and the unwillingness of the California State Board of Contractors to public display former complaints against contractors once they are resolved. I think all the complaints should be on the sight and we shouldn'thave to order them, pay for them and wait months to get them.

This guy, Jeffrey Marks, is a con man and doesn't give a d**n who he steps on. I hope he rots in hell.

Patricia

Chatsworth, California
U.S.A.