Valley Storm Shelters

We purchased a home and contacted Valley Storm Shelters about relocating and reinstalling a shelter (that was purchased from them in 2011) to our new address, 7 miles away. The first person we spoke with quoted a price of $1,000.- $1,049.

max. As it got nearer to our closing, we called and spoke with him again, verified the amount, and asked that he e-mail us the quote. We then received an e-mail showing a price of over $800.00 more. When we balked, they were able to "get it down to" $1,424.

We were unhappy about the increase but accepted the higher price and scheduled the date and time for the move, which was to be between 9-10 am today. The installers arrived at 10:30 (understandable due to traffic) and informed us that they must have a wrecker to get the shelter moved onto their trailer. They called their usual guy (who was a good 40 minutes away from us) but his truck was broken. They had to get another wrecker lined up and we are still waiting for him as I type this review, two hours later.

Why Valley would not have the wrecker lined up ahead of time is beyond me. Add to these issues the fact that the CORELOCK system that Valley loves to advertise, that we requested both by phone and in writing, and that was supposedly included in our price quote is not even available on older shelters. Nobody bothered to relay this information to us even after we supplied them with a purchase date. We contacted Derrick Owens at the Huntsville store to let him know how upset we were.

He apologized and offered to contact the owner, Tim Richardson, and then call us back. Instead of offering any kind of discount or apology, Mr. Richardson's response was to call the installers himself and tell them not to do a thing without payment from us upfront and that, if they did, they would be fired. What a guy!

As it stands now, we are still waiting for a wrecker. I will be waiting until this job is complete to post my review for fear that, if I do, the shelter won't get moved at all. The bottom line is this, I will NEVER again use this company and I will warn through reviews and word of mouth anyone I can reach about my experience with them. Just awful.

Update: The shelter is now installed but my anger and disappointment have not subsided.

The only, and I do mean only, good thing I can say about this company is that the installers, Dakota and Daniel were as nice and professional as could be. It was just their misfortune to be caught in the middle and to be working for a guy who cares nothing for his customers.