Posted by Jerry in Idaho [24.223.94.244] on Friday, May 31, 2013 at 14:26:54 :
This has nothing to do with anyone who reads or posts on this forum (to my knowledge), and I realize it's off topic, so if Joe wants to delete it, he is certainly capable of and welcome to doing it.
My sons and I recently installed a deck, 100' long by 16' wide, using a well known deck product and the screws that the deck company recommended. Within a week a dozen or more of the screws had sheared off due to the expansion of the decking in a warm spell. Long story shortened, the reps for the deck manufacturer and for the screw manufacturer came to the site and both agreed that the installation method was flawless and that the decking was doing it's normal thing, therefore the screws must be at fault. Perhaps a bad batch had been produced (in China). After many weeks of deliberation, I received a letter from the screw manuf. saying they would replace all of the screws with stainless steel screws and all of the decking, but they would not cover my labor. They would, however cut a check for $1000 to "help" cover the cost of removal and replacement. My sons spent at least 2 weeks installing the decking. Now we are faced with that time again, plus the time to remove the original material. I am going to have to eat the labor over and above the $1000, which will amount to at least $5000. I will not ask my sons to participate without compensation. And I will not ask my customer to participate, as the screw manufacturer's rep suggested. So, anyway, what has happened to old fashioned acceptance of responsibility? I am a small building contracting company in a very weak economy, with far too little cash flow, and the screw manuf. is a multi million dollar company. Where is the justice in this? Thanks Joe for the space.
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