We are a small local restaurant that purchased a pizza oven from Russell Hendrix in the Spring of 2018. We carefully planned for this moment and were excited for our new equipment as we were due for an upgrade.
The overall experience was fine, but it took a turn for the worse. During the removal of our equipment, our property was damaged by the contractors removing the old oven. We were told prior to signing the agreement that any damages done during the job (removal and installation of old and new oven) would be repaired. Minutes before the job began, we thought it would be a good idea to take photos of the property to ensure it remained the same after the removal and installation of the equipment. This way, if anything happened, we at least have documentation.
The removal and installation came and went. About a couple days after the job we noticed damage done to our external entrance of our building. This was the same entrance the old equipment was being removed and the new equipment was brought in. The impact of the damage, the location of the damage, the location of the truck that was removing the equipment and the height of where the damaged occurred all pointed to the sign of the building being damaged being done during the removal of the oven. We didn’t want to assume anything - so we looked back over the photos of the restaurant prior to the installation to ensure the property wasn’t damaged before the job occurred, it was not.
We brought the damaged to the attention of Russell Hendrix and they were of no help. They investigated and suggested that since the damage was not reported 2 days after installation (which was never explained to us to be the case) that the contractor were not liable. Even though we provided witnesses, evidence of the property before and after the job, and clear explanation of how the equipment was transferred in and out of the building. I am really unsure what more we could of done to support our case. We provided multiple pieces of evidence and were denied. The most they could of offered us was “discretionary pricing” for our next piece of equipment purchased with Russell’s.
Fast forward a couple months and we reached out to our Russell’s sales representative for the discretionary pricing on a new prep. refrigerator. The discretionary pricing was the same, if not worse than their competitors.
This was by far one of the worst customer experiences we’ve had after spending 5-figures with a company for a piece of equipment.