WINKLER FENCE & DECK

We contracted Winkler Deck and Fence to replace 4 gates and perform minor repairs on our existing fence after receiving a referral. The initial engagement with the owner Curt was pleasant, the quote we received was reasonable, and the job started 8 weeks after we signed the contract. Unfortunately, that’s where the good ended… On the day of the job, the crew didn’t let us know they were onsite, which wasn’t a good start. Then after the work was completed they left without notifying us that the job was done nor doing a walkthrough with us. The next day we looked over the work and noticed that two of the installed gates were not level and were substantially tilted to one side. We contacted their office manager, Tammy, who stated that the owner Curt would stop by the following day to review the issues. Curt was a no-show and after following up with Tammy she stated he would stop by the next day instead. He was again a no-show. We once again followed up and asked for a specific day and time that they would come out so that we didn’t have to miss work again and never received a response… The following weekend Curt finally showed up unannounced and without notice and never apologized for the no-shows. He then immediately asked in a defensive tone “What’s your problem with the gates?”. We explained the issue and he tried to blame it on the previous fence builder. We stated that the previous gates were level and installed correctly and he replied “Well then what do you expect, this was a repair job”. Uh ok… I expect properly built and installed gates, per our contract. He finally agreed that one of the gates should be rebuilt after initially denying it had issues and said he would try to reposition the other gate to reduce the slant, but he clearly was not happy about doing the work. Also, after providing feedback on the crew’s disappearing act he stated “We have bigger jobs than this that are more important”. When I stated I couldn’t recommend them to others due to their lack of customer service, he walked off and barked “We have plenty of other work in this area so I’m not worried about it”. Wow… A simple apology would have gone a long way… Ultimately they did fix the gates and followed up to see if we were satisfied. However, based on our overall experience I would not recommend this company due to their lack of basic customer service, lack of basic respect for their customers, and shoddy workmanship. Also, they clearly don’t value smaller jobs, which is a bad move on their part because they lost future business with me as well as my neighbors who asked about my experience.