The Deck Barn

BUYER BEWARE!!!
Ordered five (5) items for the deck I was building from The Deck Barn in October 2015. It was less expensive than the Deckorators balusters I could buy at Lowe’s/Home Depot. Purchased 26″ Aluminum Round Deck Spindles, 24″ Aluminum Round Deck Spindles, Spindle Connectors, Stair Spindle Connector, and Stainless Steel Screws for the Spindle Connectors.
The order arrived in reasonable time, but… I received the wrong number of Spindle Connectors, Stair Spindle Connector, and Stainless Steel Screws for the Spindle Connectors!!! Sent an e-​mail to ask for the items I was missing. No reply in 24 hours. So I called & left a message.
I received a call a day later that I recognized as from the area code of The Deck Barn. The woman stammers a bit and said she got the wrong number. I corrected her and tell her no, I have been waiting for a call back about the shortage from my order. She said I must have called in as she was placing a call out. I corrected her and tell her she actually called me… She seemed confused, but said she thinks the items I was shorted have already gone out and will call me back. I never hear back.
I called the next day and talked to the same woman again. I was told my missing items have gone out. Ten (10) days later, I received them USPS mail. Not Priority, but First Class!
It gets worse.
In the meantime, I started installing the items that I already had. I initially thought the gaps between the spindles and the spindle connectors had to do with variations in the 2×4 treated lumber. But by the time I completed my third section of railing, I noticed the problem was with the spindles themselves.
I was surprised to see a fairly substantial variation in spindle lengths… a 1/​8-​inch or greater variation in a 26-​inch spindle. And some of the cuts were not exactly at 90 degrees!
I ultimately unwrapped all the spindles and laid them out flat. I then ordered the spindles from shortest to longest and used the dozen or so of roughly the same length for each railing section. I eventually had to go back and redo the three section of railing I had already done.
I sent an e-​mail with pictures and a video link (
) to show the problems. Six (6) days later, still no response, so I sent the e-​mail again with the pictures and video link.
Finally got a reply: «We have recalibrated the saw. You should have just told us of your problem and we would have been glad to swap out any products for you. Sorry for your problems.»
Really??? I did tell them in an e-​mail that they never responded to! They apparently have some real QA/​QC issues!
Any money I might have saved by not using Deckorators brand from local sources I lost in time redoing work & having to deal with The Deck Barn.