Id like to ask all my friends to share this post. My retired vet father in law being treated poorly way too long ... piles of it lately
So, I need to let everyone know of the experience my father and mother in law had with Tefco of Utah.
Roughly a year ago in march my father in law had a double bypass that was performed at the VA. Landy is a 21 year Air Force Veteran who is 100% medically disabled.
In October last year, my father in law was nearly fully recovered from that surgery and his knee gave out, ( replacement knee he had ).
After 8 months of sheer hell following the knee surgery, with him being placed in a home in ogden for 7 months, he's barely getting back on his feet. They had him laid up for 7 MONTHS where he couldn't move waiting on a knee replacement.
Before they would let him out to come home from George E. Wahlen Ogden Veterans Home she (sandy) had to make sure the house had some railings installed. Which the VA was funding via HISA Grant for disabled vets.
My mother in law chose TEFCO in Ogden Utah, off the list of 25 or so vendors that are approved installers.
He has been in his home now 2 months, and still has no railings to get up and down the stairs, in and out of the house...
TEFCO Came here to the house while Jaime and I were here to help answer questions, and make sure that she was getting what she wanted. This was back in June 2016, before he came home.
She printed a picture off their website, and had it handy when "Austin" came to the house, Sandy explained in detail to the installer what she wanted, showed him the printout FROM THEIR WEBSITE
She printed this out, she wrote down "Image 17"
Her house is gray brick, next to gray siding..
She didn't care about the fancy things in the middle of the rails, she just wanted this style and color in gray.
Last monday Tefco showed up, started pulling out the railings, and if you look at image 2... it looks NOTHING like image 1.. Image 2 is the ones they tried to install, I made sure I was here to make sure they were installing the correct ones, which ... these were not.
I called my mother in law (who was in Idaho )and let her know what was going on, and she said to decline the install. They were not even remotely the same railings.
Mistakes can be made, sure I understand that.. How to gauge a company is how they handle their mistakes.
Today when she went down to TEFCO to look at the railing they had made that I had rejected she spoke with Austin, they basically called her a liar, and said she ordered these ones. Which.. make NO SENSE AT ALL if you keep reading.
The first thought that popped up in my mind is... the VA told her she had $6800 to have modifications to make to the house, why would she order the cheapest plain ones? I think the ones she ordered were almost $2000 for both porches, and interior of the house.
WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD SHE BUY THE MOST BASIC RAILINGS?
Sandy called me, to talk to me about my recollection of the discussion with Austin. As I recalled it, and her paper and her glee over the awesome railings she was having installed. She bragged and showed the printout to everyone, and was genuinely excited. Jaime was here, and heard the conversation, and saw the printout as well.
Suffice to say shes Not excited anymore, after being called a liar, and treated with disdain. Also, having the knowledge we get to start over with the railing install with another company.
I called Austin at Tefco, and he told me "Why wouldn't I have built the nicer railings, Id have made more money"
I asked why he couldn't just make the new railings to have them installed and still get paid? He said he would make "changes" to the ones they sent, which.. there is no way to make them look like what she ordered. He was not willing to make a new set, even though he admitted to making a mistake.
Well... apparently two things could have happened.
You screwed up, Your welder screwed up, Or you're trying to scam the system by installing cheap railings and charging for the more expensive ones? I dont know, its up to you to make sure the customer gets what they want?
How many people have heard of older Retired Vets getting taken to the cleaners? That's why she had asked me to help keep track of this, Landy and Sandy are in their late 60's and just want things done right.
When speaking with Austin, he said he could make "adjustments" to the current ones, and repaint them. I told him, absolutely not she wants the right railings installed, or she will take her business elsewhere and you've lost not just a little money, but youve lost the entire install, in addition to filing a complaint with the VA administrator.
After Sandy I talked after I spoke with Austin, I called TEFCO Back to speak with them, and talked with "Debbie" I asked for Austin, and was told he went out on an install. I asked debbie if she could contact him so we could talk before Sandy called the VA to indicate to them she was going to use another contractor, she said "Go ahead and call the VA" read more