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Thread: National Floors Direct

  1. #1
    Elephant
    Registered
    Feb 2009
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    909

    Default National Floors Direct

    I'm having a wood floor put down, and got three quotes. Empire, a local guy, and National Floors Direct. The first appointment with NFD (National Floors Direct), they called and said they wouldn't make it till the end of their two-hour window - 8:00 PM, but based on the guys location when he called, it was much more likely that he wouldn't arrive till 8:30 or 9. So I cancelled. He called the next day and said he'd be there at 6, so I left work early to be there. He didn't show up, but he called and said he'd gotten his days mixed up and wasn't scheduled to be there. So I called and scheduled again, during the day, and my wife handled it (the girl that booked this appointment was way fucking bitchy). The guy that showed up was a thug, brought his wife, and appeared to be casing the place, but left us with a very good verbal quote. That was a few weeks ago. Now I'm ready to pull the trigger.

    NFD sends some other guy (Vinny got himself fired). This prick calls 45 minutes before his two-hour window starts, and says he's in the next town, and can he come early. I tell him - no way, Jose - sorry - I'm at the office 45 minutes away. I'll be there at 5. He starts talking like he's gonna split if I'm not there right at 5. So, I had already planned on leaving the office at 4:30, I end up leaving at 4:20. Not a big deal, but if I thought I was going to leave at 4:20, I'd have told my boss 4:20, you know what I mean? Moving on... I get there at 5:15 (traffic). Let him in. He does his thing. The quote is TWICE AS MUCH as Vinny quoted me! I tell the guy he's not even in the ballpark, and start collecting his shit like I'm gonna give him the bums rush. He ran me a bunch of bullshit, and called his manager, and ended up dropping the price by about a third (to a price competitive with the other quotes I'd gotten). Still almost $500 more than they'd originally quoted me, though.

    I'm definitely not doing business with these sleazebags. Beware!

  2. #2
    sleeps with Sleeps SugarPlum's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
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    110

    Default Re: National Floors Direct

    That is SO annoying.

    We would get a lot more work done on our house if we didn't have some kind of totally shitty experience just like this every time we try to get something done.

    Can anyone explain why it seems like this entire home improvement contracting industry is run this way? Don't even get me started on the stories from when we got our siding replaced. Ok, get me started. There are approximately 200 stories I could tell you, but I think the best story of all was when the contractor leaned a big beam against the garage door, then rang our front door and asked me if I could open the garage door. Then the guy got mad at me when I opened the garage door and the beam fell on our car. Apparently it was stupid of me to so carelessly agree to their request.

    Sigh. Now my head is reeling with the rest of the annoying shit they did.

    My best advice would be to just move into a new house.

  3. #3
    sleeps with Sleeps SugarPlum's avatar
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    Mar 2009
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    Default Re: National Floors Direct

    Also I can't believe the first guy brought his wife to your house. Who does that?!

  4. #4
    Sophmoric Existentialist
    Registered
    Mar 2009
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    777

    Default Re: National Floors Direct

    http://www.makeitright.ca/makeitright/index.php

    Mike Holmes is a hero. I wish there were a million Mike Holmes.
    Sophmoric Existentialist

  5. #5
    Oliphaunt dread pirate jimbo's avatar
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Calgary, AB, Canada
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    1,165

    Default Re: National Floors Direct

    Mike Holmes is a national hero, I 1000% agree. He was awesome when we saw him at the local Home and Garden Show a couple years ago -- had lots of great advice for doing things the right way, which is his mantra.

    One of his suggestions was that you ask a prospective renovator for a minimum of five references and that you follow up on every single one. If they can't or won't provide that for you, fuck 'em and find someone who will. Since the economy has slowed up a little, I suspect some of the real shysters are now out of business, or close to it, so requiring this kind of thing should be much, much easier than it was a year or two ago.
    Hell is other people.

  6. #6
    Go Phillies !! Cartooniverse's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
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    193

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by SugarPlum View post
    Also I can't believe the first guy brought his wife to your house. Who does that?!
    The guy who did the quote on the windows we had put in does that. However, she apparently runs the business WITH her. She sat in the car working the laptop/ Broadband card and came in once for a moment. At first I thought the same thing, but she was clearly working WITH him, not just along for the visit.

    Otherwise? Yeah. Skeevy.

    Cartooniverse
    If you want to kiss the sky, you'd better learn how to kneel.

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