THOMASVILLE, N.C. — Barney Johnson was walking around his house one day and decided it was time to replace the siding. The old siding has been up for more than 30 years, and Johnson wanted to upgrade.
“I thought I’d try to get good vinyl insulation to help bring the power bills down,” Johnson said.
A few weeks later, Johnson hired a company to come and do the job. The crew spent a couple of days at the house putting up the siding on the home and a shed on the side of the house. Almost immediately, Johnson noticed a problem.
The siding wasn’t lined up in several spots and was bowing out. The framing around the windows in the shed was not done well and several other issues were spotted.
“The seems [the vinyl] are not staying together they are popping out,” Johnson said.
Along with the issues outside, Johnson noticed puncture holes on several walls inside the home. The nails used for the siding were apparently too long and popped through.
A short time after the work was completed, Johnson called the company to complain. He tried to get them to redo the job. Johnson told WFMY News 2 that a manager with a siding company acknowledged the work was not up to its standards and it would fix the issues.
“It was nothing like I paid for,” Johnson said. “They said they would come to replace all the siding.”
Johnson figured it would take a few weeks before the crew would come back out. About a month later, he called the company and asked about the job.
“They promised me they would be out soon,” Johnson said.
The promises would continue but the work was never done. When Johnson asked, he was told different stories about why the work wasn’t done.
“It was one excuse after the other,” Johnson said.
A couple of months would become four and then six, the work still not done. Johnson did have some siding dropped off in his yard, but it sat there for several months.
Frustrated and wanting the old siding taken off and the new siding put up, Johnson called WFMY News 2 for help.
“It has been going on for a long time," Johnson said. "They keep promising me to come out and redo it. I hope to resolve it as soon as possible. I’m tired of waiting."
After Johnson called us, we called the company and asked about the case. A representative told us he would investigate the issue and get back to us. A week or so later, we were also told the company was going to get out to the home soon and replace the siding.
We waited a couple of weeks and when the work wasn’t done, we called the company again. This went on for several weeks without much progress. Eventually, we were sent an email letting us know a crew was heading to the home to replace the siding.
“Nothing happened; nothing worked until I got (WFMY News 2) involved,” Johnson said.
Even with our help, it took a while to get the company to come out and redo the work. Johnson is glad the project is done, and he can worry about other things. The company also decided to refund some of his money for the inconvenience and the delays.