Armando Franco (AA&C) Horrible customer service, Poor workmanship, unprofessional Fayetteville and surrounding areas North Carolina

Armando Franco (AA&C),

Mr. Franco advertises that he builds fences, pergolas, and decks.  He is a smooth talker and claims that you are a customer for life when you work with him and that he will do everything possible to make sure that his customer is satisfied.  I thought I could trust Mr. Franco because he is a veteran and I have treated him with nothing but respect. Unfortunately my experience with Mr. Franco was the exact opposite.  Mr. Franco made promises that he did not keep and became upset when I wanted to make decisions on what I wanted to stain my fence with to the point that he was blatantly disrespectful and unprofessional.  The character that he portrayed when he would eagerly say “I want to earn your business” (you can even see this slogan on his website) and the person that he ended up being was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  What I would say to a prospective customer is, run the other way.  If you want to control the modifications on the way you want your home improvement project done this is not a person to do business with.  He will make false claims that he does not fulfill and he will lie about his work.  Overall Mr. Franco is a very untrustworthy businessman and I would suggest to never do business with him.  I also caught Mr. Franco trying to over charge me for some products and not using all of the materials that he claims that he uses.  Unfortunately I believe Mr. Franco became rude about staining my fence because one,  I did not want to use the overpriced product and, two he does not get paid that much for staining compared to building a fence.  Not only is his customer service abhorrent but merely four weeks after completing my fence there is a ¾ inch gap in the wood for my gate poles.

Out of our several emails back and forth here are a few that highlight the conversations we had prior to completing our fence and then afterwards when money was already collected.

My response after finding out a price we previously discussed is different:

“Armando,

The fence is looking very good.  I thought you said the lights were 9.97 which would be about 160 with taxes right?  I think we only have 15 lights and we don't need 2 of them which would bring it down to 140.  Why the increase to 251.11?  Other than that we are good to go…”

His response when I caught him lying about prices:

“Your right I have two receipts one for 251.11 and the other for 143.97 the lights, other than that its the added pickets and 1x4 your wife requested 46.27 and that would set us straight so if I have it right LOL it should be 130.03 for the lights

Armando”

Take a look at this email during the phase he was “earning my business”

“Hello sir, many apoligies for the delay Lowes just would not move on the custom order Baige product you requested.  Its called the Stratford and each pane cost $110.00 (see estimate)  Its extremly expensive and each component of the fence is baige and special order.  Attached is an estimate  for the cap style you sent me not including the caps on the 4x4s those can be selected by you and we will install.  Lastly is a standard dog ear fence that is a bit more reasonable and durable but must be maintained.

Mr... the data I have was based of my initial measurement last year 291' with single gate.  We can always adjust if anything has change.  I also would incourage you to visit our web sir @AACfencing.com to see the additional varieties we provide.  Let me know what you think and I will call you tomorrow.

Thank you

Armando
(910) 644-3881”

The below email displays the way he treats a customer who just invested over $5,000 on a fence

“I was very disturbed that your persistence with your privacy fence has now invaded my personal time with my family.  I do not work after 5pm and you insist calling, texing then sending e-mails regarding the staining and condition of your fence.  I gave you my recommendations and time reference to stain the fence and attempted to educated you on wood being a natural product that does crack, bow and warp.  Per e-mail discussion you were tentatively schedule on (22 May) however you stated I did not give you conformation.  Conformation is not feasible in this business due to delays and weather conditions.  We ask our customers to be patient and understand we are people too and have lives outside of being contractors.
You waited three months then were indecisive about the color.  I went to the extra effort to get you a sample, stain it, send you the sample, and you did not go with the recommended product.  You may find this hard to believe all of this takes time that I really don’t have very much of.
You have decided to go with a Thompson product that I am not familiar with and don’t know what the formula for application is.  The one I sent you was for OLYMPIC and I don’t know if they are the same. Therefore I don’t know if 20 gallons is enough?
At this point in time we are over booked and will not accept your project because we are not familiar with its application, your persistence is annoying, and I will not be held accountable for spraying your fence with an inferior product.
There is no need for further communication and there are other handy men, fence companies, or self-helpers that may accept your product for application.

Cordially

My response to Armando:

“Armando,

I am deeply disappointed in your customer service and your professionalism not only because of the workmanship and guidance but also because I considered you a friend.  I contacted you three different ways because you would never reply to either, I did not think that was in your character since while you were trying to earn my business you always followed up in a timely manner.  The project was not finished until the first week of April and you did not get with me about the stain until the last week of April so the three month time lapse that you are referring to are false.  I asked you about the option of the Thompsons Water Seal at the end of April which you did not contact me back about.  During our talks initially you said that Thompsons Water Seal was a good product, so why would there be an application problem?  You also recommended several different products which included Thompsons Water Seal initially but it seems as if you got upset when I decided to order my own because the Olympic product to me "The Customer" is overpriced.  I was willing to get the Olympic product when you said it would use five maybe ten gallons to stain my fence when you started to build my fence.  That figure doubled when you contacted me about staining it.  Also when you were trying to earn my business you said that it did not matter what time I contacted you.  I respect you as a veteran and thought that I could trust you to do the right thing because you are prior service.  Unfortunately I will have to take you to court for poor workmanship.  Have a great day.” 

As you can see Mr. Franco is an unscrupulous business person who does not adhere to his own or his customer's standards.  “BUYER BEWARE”.