Bad service and even worse ethics

Submitted on behalf of my client, Dr Robert Daniel:

When a company has a 50-year heritage, you expect great products, good service and guaranteed workmanship because logic tells you that if this was not the case then the company would not have remained in operation for half a century. Sadly, this is not the case when it comes to Coroma Garage and Industrial Doors – a name that is certainly known AND trusted in in the industry. My client accepted and signed a quotation for 2 standard double corosmooth white sectional overhead garage doors from Coroma Garage and Industrial Doors from Devcor Investments (Pty) Ltd t/a Coroma SA (Pty) Ltd on 17 November 2017. He had just moved into a new home with two small children and was looking forward to the convenience of having a home with everything custom designed and chosen to suit his needs. This included quality garage doors. Unfortunately, there were problems from the beginning – to start with the one door was scratched. Attempts at replacing the faulty panels resulted in the entire door being out of alignment which left the door inoperable. The second door operated but with such difficulty that the motor was under constant strain and he was concerned it would eventually burn out. Over a period of at least 9 months from December 2017 to August 2018 several attempts at repairing these problems proved ineffective and despite communicating his concerns and irritation to Coroma Doors/Devcor Investments there was no urgency on their part to come and finish off the job and to rectify what can only be described as shoddy workmanship. Coroma Doors/Devcor did however see it fit to send him a final notice with a threat of black-listing should he not settle the final 10% of the bill which was owing – an amount of under R2 000. Surely final payment should only be expected and paid once the job has been completed and equipment working – which it clearly was not. Aside from the frustration of having garage doors which have not worked for 10 months, the audacity of Coroma Doors/Devcor’s threat of blacklisting left no alternative but for him to seek legal advice and intervention. It was only after this was done that emails were answered, and technically capable staff appeared to fix the doors. Miraculously this was done within a few days and it was with some relief that he finally had two operational garage doors. Final payment was made through a lawyer, however one must ask why it had to take 10 months, a threat of blacklisting and legal intervention for Coroma Doors/Devcor to finish the job they were contracted to do properly? Is this the kind of service you have been giving your customers for 50 years? Is this the kind of quality that has made Coroma Doors/Devcor Doors such a sought-after brand? I doubt it. What I am in no doubt about though is that my client will never touch a Coroma Door again. In fact, he would warn the public against using this organisation. If their customer service was half as good as their debt collection, then they would be offering a good service. Sadly, the only thing that deserves black-listing is their own name.