Chesley Fence Co

Patty, you are as clueless today as you were years ago when I filed this complaint. I could not have dropped this complaint in June of 2009 because I filed the claim years ago. Just another example of your terrible customer service and records. Ignore the man behind the curtain. (Wizard of Oz reference) Yes, you are a big company in the area, and because there is such a demand for fences, you can blow smoke and do whatever you want. Put up as many fences as you can, and ignore anyone that has any problems. Just as the Representative told me. My goodness, everyone read what happened. I'm not creative enough to make that stuff up. I was totally shocked to be treated like that when Tom had been so kind and seemed so trustworthy up front. Things totally changed once I paid them, however. This happened to me years ago, and I still can't look at a Chesley Fence sign without getting a sick feeling to my stomach.

Posted 11/20/09 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

Chesley Fence is a reputable company. This company is family owned and operated, and installs hundreds of fences yearly. Unfortunately, as in any business, there are customers that, as much as you try, you cannot satisfy.

Chesley Fence Company has an A+ rating and is a member of the BBB. They do strive to keep their customers happy and reputation strong as it has been for 43 years.

It is a shame that when a complaint is listed on line against a company it is not always the complete truth.

NOTE: July '09 LETTER ON THIS SITE DROPPED THEIR BBB COMPLAINT in June '09

Posted 08/04/09 | Report Abuse

0 out of 25 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

Needed a privacy fence that could contain my dogs and more importantly my son.

Called Chesley and was greeted very nicely and we setup an appointment.

Tom came out and we walked the property and took measurements. He had a few ideas that worked out great.

The installation went great and the fence has added value to my property.

The gate had a small issue and someone was sent out right away and took care of the problem.

I would recommend them to my family and friends.

Posted 04/10/09 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

We purchased and had a fence installed by Chesley Fence. The biggest reason we chose them was their claim of such a great product that had a lifetime guarantee. Tom Chesley told both my wife and me during his sales call that Chesley Fence were able to give the lifetime warranty on their aluminum fences because it was such a great product, and the only things that they had had to come out and fix in the past were minimal problems such as latches and screws. He told us that if we ever had a problem that all we had to do is call his office, and they would send someone out to
fix it.

The fence was installed in the early Spring. We were very happy with the installers. They were hard workers and did a very good job of keeping the jobsite clean. Because of our satifaction, we paid upon completion of the job.

A couple weeks later, however, we noticed that one of the screws that holds one of the gates up was sheared off. We called and talked to Patty Chesley, and she said that it would not be a problem; she would send someone out to take care of it.

A month went by with no one coming to fix it, so we called again. Patty made the same promise. After
waiting another month, we had noticed another screw on the fence was sheared off like the first one. We called back again, with more unfulfilled promises. A few more calls throughout the Summer did not get any results either. They were always either too busy or understaffed.

In October, I called again, and didn't even get a call back, so I waited a week, and called again, adding
that there were now up to 4 sheared screws, and one looked like it would shear very soon. Patty returned the call that day, and said that she would talk to Tom to see when they would be able to send someone out to take care of it.

I called back in December because once again no one had been out to fix the problem. I left on my message a request to talk to Tom since Patty always seemed to just push off the excuse that she needed to check with him anyway, and if there was not a resolution soon, that I would have to take other measures. I did not get a response at all from that call. I called a week later with the ultimatum that if I did not hear from Tom that day that I would have no choice but involve the Better Business Bureau. I did not get a response.

The next day, I made my "First" claim against Chesley Fence. Chesley's response to the BBB was
"Unfortunately my aluminum repairman has been out (two surgeries) for the past few months. I thought the customer was taken care of, obviously not. He will be taken care of today."

(There is no way they could have thought I was taken care of with all the calls I had been making for 9
MONTHS.)

Amazingly, however, they did send someone right out, and he fixed the broken screws and inspected the rest of the fence to see if there were any other problems.

My wife asked him what we should do if any other screws broke, and he told her that all we would have
to do is call the office, and he (or someone else) would come out to fix it.

In March, just over a year after the initial installation, the weather from Winter warmed up, so I
checked to see if any more screws had broken over the previous couple months. I found three more broken screws. I immediately called Chesley Fence, and the receptionist said to mark the broken screws with yarn, and someone would be out to fix them.

A month later, I called again because no one had been out to fix the broken screws. No one returned my call. I continued to call every week requesting a call from Tom Chesley to discuss the issue.

In May, I received a letter from Patty Chesley with twelve screws saying that they were sending the
screws, so I could fix my fence even though "this is not under warranty" I immediately called Chesley
Fence, to find out why they felt this was not covered by their lifetime warranty. The receptionist would not forward me on to anyone, and only told me that I should call a representative from the fence
manufacturer.

I called a number she gave me, and the representitive said that there had been a bad batch of screws that went out, and it sounded like my fence was put up with some of them, and that all the screws should be replaced. He said that under the product warranty, he could send me a box of replacement screws, but he could not force Chesley Fence to do the repair. He said that I was lucky to get them out to do the first repairs. He said that many of the fence companies are so busy with new installations that they don't have time to deal with repairs, and since there is such a demand for new fences, that they can neglect previous customers without feeling it in the pocket book. He did, however, tell me that he would call Tom Chesley, and see what he could do about the situation.

I waited almost two weeks without hearing back from anyone, so I started calling Chesley Fence again,
trying to get Tom Chesley to discuss the situation, and why Chesley thought the faulty product they sold was not covered by their lifetime guarantee. All I got from the receptionist was promises that she would pass on my messages.

I finally gave up, and in June made a "Second" claim with the Better Business Bureau.

Chesley's response this time was much worse than after the first claim. They stated that the lifetime
warranty was only for the finish on the fence, and that "Our company warranty, stated clearly on our
contract, states a 1 year warranty on labor and materials, not lifetime as the customer states. After
1 year, we supply any materials that are defective, but not our labor. The customer has been told
repeatedly by our office that the sheared screws were defective from the factory and do indeed need to be replaced, but not by our company as a warranty issue. Again, our company warranty is 1 year on labor and materials, not lifetime."

This was the very first that I had heard of a 1 year warranty on labor, and there was nothing at all on my
contract stating anything about a 1 year warranty on labor. They could not have repeatedly told me about one either because they would never return my calls.

We feel that Tom Chesley misrepresented the product and its warranty. We chose their company to install our fence because of this warranty, even though it cost more than having a similar product installed by one of their competitors. We would have never done so if we had known they were not going to stand behind it.

I couldn't have had a healthy conscience if I had not put my story out here to warn others of my experience with Chesley Fence.

PROS: Installers were very courtious and worked hard to get the job done.
CONS: Awful Customer Service, Misrepresented Product and Warranty

Posted 06/23/06 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

We got a quote from this company when we were recently searching for companies. The staff is friendly and always returned our phone calls. However, we did not use them because no one came out and did a personal quote with us because we would have had to wait about 3 weeks just for that, and they would not meet or beat the price of another company without something in writing to prove it was the exact same fence, with the exact same specifications. That was too much work for us, when everyone else would just lower the quote.

PROS: friendly
CONS: price and rules

Posted 05/04/06 | Report Abuse

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?