A Vista woman and her mother called NBC 7 Responds after they said they paid half of a sliding door project’s cost upfront and then didn’t hear from the contractor for months.
“It will not budge, it’s real heavy and rusted,” Denise Foster said while showing us the sliding door in her home.
Denise’s mother, Rose Marie Bates, asked her daughter to find a company that would replace the sliding door for the best price possible. Denise said, while she was at the San Diego County Fair, she discovered The Window and Door Factory at a booth and asked for an estimate.
“It was great, they were real nice,” she said. “They said they did all the windows in-house.”
The company came out to Denise’s mother’s home and measured the area. Once provided with a cost estimate, Denise said they were asked to pay half of the cost of the project upfront. According to Denise, a project that was supposed to take six weeks dragged on for more than two months. She said, she decided to call the company’s owner Dan Jaoudi.
“Please give me until tomorrow to go over this and I’ll get back to you,” Denise said she was told. “Of course, the next day nothing. Nothing on Monday and that’s when I contacted you,” Denise said.
At this point, Denise and her mother said they no longer wanted The Window and Door Factory to replace the sliding glass door.
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“I’d rather get my money back at this point,” Rose Marie said.
NBC 7 Responds spoke with Dan Jaoudi and he apologized for the delay, saying he had only taken over the company ten months earlier. Jaoudi told NBC 7 Responds the company was having supplier issues and couldn’t keep up with the demand.
Jaoudi promised to refund the money and four days later, Denise and her mother received a check in the mail.
In an email, Jaoudi sent NBC 7 Responds this statement, “We regret and sincerely apologize for the negative experience Denise Foster had. The Window and Door Factory is a small business, we are focusing on improving our communication and customer experience. I’ve only been in operational control of the company for the past 10 months...We have worked to be fair with customers including offering discounts and refunds when requested. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience Denise Foster may have experienced. The Window & Door Factory has tremendous potential, it has long history in San Diego. My goal is to continue to improve our processes and be responsive to customer issues.”
According to the Contractor’s State Licensing Board, consumers are only required to pay 10% of the whole project cost or $1,000, whichever is less, to get a project started. The CSLB states consumers should never be required to put down half of the entire cost of the project before the work is completed.
