Future Steel Buildings Deceptive Sales Tactics Markham Ontario

Dear Mr Fleming

In response to your entry of April 13 we would like to first say how disappointed we are to see here that you feel you have been somehow intentionally misled by one of our building specialists throughout your purchasing experience. Future Steel Buildings prides itself on the fact that our company operates on a level that is geared towards what works best for all of our customers – including “prospective” ones. Our philosophy is simple, we provide straightforward, affordable steel building solutions and we bank on the fact that the testimonials and customer referrals that we get after the fact about our products, our service and our commitment to good business practices will keep us in business for another 30 years and beyond.

Therefore in addition to the communication that we have had directly with you since your post here we are also taking the time in this forum to address your complaint and provide some of the details that were omitted that we feel will immediately correct your perceived wrong concerning the contract you authorized to purchase a Future Steel Building.

The number one confusion we must clear up is with regards to your statements: “out my $3,000 deposit” and “the $3,000 the company now wants”. Each is entirely erroneous in its context. As we have clearly communicated both in writing and via telephone with you directly, the down payment you made on one of our featured sale buildings is still just that – a down payment - and as such will be held as credit in your name until you are ready to complete the purchase and take possession of your new building.

The contract you received clearly states that by terminating the Purchasing Agreement you signed:
· “Future Sales is prepared to issue you a credit towards the purchase of another Future Steel building”

· “The credit will be applied to the purchase price of the building at the time that the credit note is used and not on the pricing that was in place at the time of the original sales agreement”

The building that you selected is, as you pointed out, one that was already manufactured and for that very reason as an inventory clearance item it was sold to you at considerable discount and the deposit you made secured that building at that price. It is standard policy in the industry to treat these clearance situations on a first-come first-served basis. We simply cannot hold the building and the price indefinitely. But what is never mentioned in your write-up is that given that you claimed that you were facing a situation where you just did not need the building right away, our customer service representative did offer you a delay until September 2009 to reinstate your original order so that you would not lose the building you wanted at the price that you paid.

The important point here is that at no time were we in default of honoring the purchase agreement you signed. Your deposit became a full credit and if anything, as is now evident, we were prepared to stretch our terms in your favour to better accommodate you, our customer.

And finally, with regards to the $350 charge for engineering drawings our building representative referred to that you could be out of pocket for, he is correct in that statement but he may not have properly explained why. So to be clear now, the only way that you would need to repay that charge, and hence be out of pocket, is if a second set of drawings needed to be engineered at a later date. This would happen in the event that the delay meant that you actually purchased a different building hence with a different set of specifications or if something changed with respect to your building permit. Either of these things would necessitate a second set of drawings and it would therefore be a second charge to you to have them engineered.

Mr. Fleming, you are welcome to contact our office directly to further clarify any of the above points.

Ms. Everson,

If a company will lie to you, they will cheat you and steal from you, which is what Future Steel has done to me thus far. Your employee, Mr. Johnston, a representative of your company, both told me via phone and then followed up with an e-mail to me that if I changed my mind and cancelled the order, I would only be out $350. Now Future Steel claims their representative made a mistake and that what he said was not what he meant. Any moral and decent company would stand behind what their sales representative communicates to the customer. Wal-Mart, for example, is a company that takes responsibility for their employees' actions. I went to Wal-Mart to purchase a weed-eater, which their employee had marked at a particular price although the item was not an advertised sale item. Wal-Mart took responsibility for the employee's action and sold me the product at the price for which their employee had marked it. That is a sign of a company with integrity.

With the deceitful practices I have encountered with Future Steel to date, I can only imagine the underhanded practices they use in handling their warranty claims.

As a representative of Future Steel, you sent a letter to me stating that the company is prepared to issue me a credit for the $3000 to be applied towards the purchase price of another building of equal or greater value than the building in question. However, you added that Future Steel may, at its sole discretion, rescind the credit upon providing 10 days written notice. Again, what kind of integrity is this?