Well shortly after yesterday morning's post, Fedex pulled into the drive and delivered the access door package - so the whole pickup or delivery question was decided. And that's okay, like I said the delivery charge was much less than quoted - and we didn't have to make a run to Denver just now.
I never did receive a reply back to my email where I reminded them we had discussed in-store pickup. That's just a tad annoying, but then I remembered they don't always check the Internet.
I was a busy boy yesterday running around town on a fact-finding mission (the exterior paint question) and I'll post on that in a day or so over in Finishes and Finishing, but before that - I got the new doors out.
They were really packed well! Although the mailing surname was misspelled and the zip-code was transposed, but I guess delivery folks are trained to deal with that sort of stuff. The build-time was excellent, as were the delivery times and charges. One of the first things I checked was rough opening fit - again excellent!
The first door to come out of the package was the small access door for the back-wall dump-valve basement. Key-lock - check. Over-all looks real good! Insulated as ordered.
I think I would have put a tad more effort into the seal corner-cuts, but then I take years to do a camper.
Next door was the right side propane compartment. The first thing I noticed, it wasn't keyed as ordered - just a twist lock.
At the time I thought "inattention to order detail". Later, while speaking with the manager, I learned it is a legal issue (no lock on propane tank/appliance access doors). Okay that makes sense. I was polite in my point-out, and readily accepting of the explanation. My only thought now is - would a phone call have hurt, since their online order and two or three subsequent order reviews on the telephone failed to catch the anomaly while we were discussing the locks on each door?
The next thing I noticed was the sloppy seal cuts and the folded over seals (that if it were my business I would have cut out and discarded the damaged pieces - that whole pride in a job well done thing).
And the bottom seal and backer is cut out, and I thought, "for what purpose"? (I found later in talking with the manager that the cut-outs are also a legal thing for propane leakage issues, again, an explanation I readily accepted).
But also, small seal pieces at the bottom were missing (I found later in the packaging) and between this door and the next, not only poor fit seals to channels, but one was even inserted upside down? Very minor stuff and so easy to fix and do right before packing and shipping! That's why it was so shocking to me!
Next, the lower fridge vent door. Same thing - latch lock and sloppy seals, cut out extrusion at bottom. Although this isn't a propane tank to shut off, so I'm still choosing a key-lock because it is also a storage cabinet.
These things are minor. But with the overall number of small issues, and because I think in today's society we have two problems in how we deal with companies...
1- we don't provide feedback to a company, we move on to another who provides the same good or service, perhaps leaving the first to wonder just why they keep losing business, and
2- too often we accept shoddy work and consider it normal,
I felt a phone call was in order.
But first I did some Internet research, instead of the original "just relying on my neighbor's recommendation".
I found the cost of the doors to be competitive ($118, $118 and $81). Roughly equal to many online pricing door companies and about half the cost of one company whose reviews indicated theirs is a top-quality product.
Next I made a short list of "pros" and "cons".
Pros: packaging, build time, delivery charge and time, rough opening fit, competitive cost relative to quality of product.
Cons: two doors with latches instead of keyed locks (acceptable eventual reasoning, but no pre-explanation), poor quality seal material (I've seen much higher quality stuff), removal of the seal along the bottom of the extrusion (I'm trying to keep road dust down) BUT this issue was later explained satisfactorily, and finally, the "shipment instead of phone call" as originally discussed, and then ignoring my email about it; really, my email reply was extremely polite and I still haven't received a reply to it.
Next the phone call. I hate this stuff. I try, but I'm not exactly the most touchy-feely kind of guy. I try to be nice in these situations, but it can be very hard to bring up even minor complaints, especially if the receiver is defensive. And he was.
Later, after the phone call, I figured it might be likely the office woman, and the manager guy, may well be a couple! And if they are a couple - well that adds a whole new dynamic into the universal disturbance.
But before that thought came to me, his offer was..
1- crediting the delivery charge (I turned this down, as I felt it would harm them and their company and I HAD benefited from the delivery, so that was just an awareness thing and a request to hold, HAD it not yet been shipped.
2- If I wasn't satisfied with the quality (the seals for crying-out loud) I could ship the doors back. That was offered several times, and felt knee-jerk and defensive. In each case I re-stressed the items on the pro list and still felt shocked that as a business man he wasn't interested in some customer feedback. That he would rather receive the doors back - unpaid for, than to be accepting of some feedback.
3- And finally it was explained what I think is the real issue, because they've never had a complaint before - they work mostly in large wholesale orders and hardly ever do retail. It was kind of a favor to me, it seemed he was saying (or perhaps trying not to pick sides between a customer and his wife).
But that's what I said yesterday as my probability #2. They didn't need my business.
We settled on them sending me one key lock and 6' of seal (that was my suggested resolution), and I'll send them a check.
And now I don't have to decide whether to name or recommend them, since they are wholesalers.
And the doors are fine by the way. I can fix the minor issues. Just like anyone has to do when debugging a new RV built with products provided by wholesalers.
