DENVER — Customers of a Colorado-based steel building company say they’ve paid thousands in deposits but received nothing but major delays and price hikes in return.
On his land in southeastern Colorado, Mark Bevel has always dreamed of building a little workshop.
"This is the area over here where the building was going to go," said Bevel, pointing to a now overgrown spot beside his home. "I've been planning and saving money for a long time."
He signed a contract with Centennial-based Armstrong Steel Building Systems in February of 2021 and said he expected the building to be completed in three months.
"I just kept calling and calling and calling, and no response whatsoever. Nothing," said Bevel, who said it took more than a year to even get the blueprints.
Then, he said, the company informed him that their contract price had changed.
"It went up over 100%. It was originally $27,000 for the building. Now I'm at $55,000. I don't have that. I saved for the building, but I didn't save for double the cost," he said.
To make matters worse, the company has refused to refund his $7,000 deposit.
Bevel is not alone.
"I've been getting the runaround and it's been so stressful," said Sacha Lane, who bought a building from Armstrong in January of this year that she thought would take a few months.
Lane said her date for delivery kept getting pushed back, and she is still waiting. She said the company also tried to get out of the price lock she had in writing.
The Better Business Bureau shows Armstrong Steel has dozens of complaints from customers, mostly in the last year and mostly involving problems with a product or service.
"A good handful were in southern Colorado, but it was across the board," said Keylen Villagrana. "We were seeing complaints from all across the nation."
On the BBB site, the company defends itself, responding to the complaints and blaming the pandemic and inflation, which is part of the reason it has kept its A+ rating despite the surge in complaints.
"The steel industry is facing significant supply chain issues, as they know, in their explanation when they respond to consumers. So sometimes with businesses, there are outside circumstances that really affect their operations," said Villagrana.
In a statement to Contact Denver7, the company said it has thousands of satisfied customers, blames the pandemic and stated:
"We are disappointed to learn that at least one customer has chosen to sensationalize his views in the media but we can certainly understand his frustration with the challenges faced by the manufacturing industry at this time. Like most companies throughout the world, we have been unable to fully avoid the impact of the COVID pandemic and the effects it has had on material supply, sharply rising costs, inflation, and other aspects of production."
Bevel is not much of a sensationalist, but he said he is joining a class action lawsuit against Armstrong, and he is doing everything possible to keep what happened to him from happening to others.
"I should have had a building a year-and-a-half ago," he said. "Somehow we can put a stop to this so other people aren't affected like I have been."
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