Was the damage done by the installer, transit or manufacturer? The doors are gorgeous. I hope you are able to get the situation resolved.

Man, that sucks. I'm not familiar with iron doors, but the seam welding looks like a NOMMA #4. An experienced welder or reputable company wouldn't settle for anything less than NOMMA #2 or 3 (1 is the industry best). That seems extremely odd that something is oozing from the door.

If an experienced installer cannot correct the fit, I would demand a replacement. If they were my doors, i'd probably demand a replacement or a refund. No one should spend that kind of money and get such an inferior product. Have they ever heard of quality control?!?

Good luck, keep us posted.

motherof3sons,

I think most of the damage was done by the installers, which was done by the manufacturer's own people.

C.

Tinycastle,

If I could get a refund, I would...however, I doubt that's possible.

C.

Have you asked about a replacement? From my limited knowledge about proper fitting of iron doors, there is some forgiveness with the hinges, but if the door is not 'plumb' I don't think that can be fixed by adjustable hinges...for instance, if the radius of the door is not the same radius as the jamb, or if the door appears slightly bent. I think with a wood door, carpenters can manipulate or shave minute increments if needed. Fat chance doing that with an iron door. The fit needs to be precise, which is another reason they are considerably more (on average) than a wood door of the same size.

Well, the company has responded and will do the following:

1. Doors will be removed immediately (tomorrow) and returned to manufacturer.
2. Doors will be hung at the manufacturer to determine the problem.
3. Doors will be repaired and reinstalled.

Not sure if I should be asking for more -- I did ask that a different installer be sent.

C.

That is good news, fingers crossed it all works out soon. Those are gorgeous doors, love them.

Just to followup...the manufacturer said someone would be on site on Tuesday to remove the doors. Not surprisingly, no one showed up and no one called. The builder sent an email this morning and received a reply back that no one could come till Thursday.

I am really inking that I should let them take the doors out and after they are on their way back, to request a refund and wash my hands of these guys.

C.

Door update...they are finally gone. The same installer removed them yesterday.

I am thinking of cutting my losses and asking for a refund to avoid any further dealings with these people. It's a huge inconvenience because I will need to find a new supplier quickly, but I do no think this company can be trusted.

Interestingly, when these events began unfolding, I googled around and discovered that the owner from whom I ordered the doors originally, seems to have sold the company around the first of the year. I was never told anything about this, but there is a new website, new contact info, and the secretary of state where they are located shows the original company as having a revoked (probably means expired?) business license. A new company is listed with a variatioon on the name as of 1/2011. The original owner who I had assumed was still the owner does not return phone calls or emails. The new owner (or his manager - not sure of the relationship) appears to be incompetent.

I never imagined I would be drawn into such strangeness by ordering a couple of doors!

C.

Look into Southern Front. Not sure about lead time/price, but I know they are a reputable company AND they do sell iron doors. They wouldn't be able to install though.

An update for anyone who might be interested...

Imperial Doors would not refund our money, insisting that we allow them to fix the doors -- of course we refused.

They did finally admit that the doors came from a 'new supplier' whom they had never used before (US sourced, rather than from Mexico). They also admitted that they installed the wrong hinges.

We are currently disputing the charge with the CC company.

Thank heavens you used plastic to pay for the doors! You may actually have a shot at recovering your $$$!! Good luck to you & keep us posted.

On May 30 we learned that we won our dispute against Imperial Doors for damaged / non-working iron doors. Their behavior during the dispute process mirrored the botched installation, so it took the entire 60 days. Fortunately we had photos, videos, and independent testimony from a local millwork for our defense and CC sided with us.

I would strongly recommend against dealing with Imperial Doors.

Here are some pictures of the installation and replacement doors from San Miguel Ironworks. The installers were absolute pros. The door operation is perfect -- no comparison with the other fiasco.

Congratulations, Constantinople!! Those doors are absolutely beautiful--and they fit so nicely too!!!! :-)

Thank you for posting the outcome. So nice to hear a success story after all the trouble you had to go through. The doors are absolutely gorgeous.