First Door Stripping

Arranging to have my doors returned was a nightmare. Delivery day not confirmed/changed day before delivery due - day off work wasted. Loads of paint left on doors - one long edge completely un-stripped. Areas not neutralised properly - attempting to sort myself with vinegar. No response from company about my concerns. Wish I’d done the job myself - would probably have been quicker and less trouble!!

AVOID! More...

DO NOT USE THEM !

POOR QUALITY, POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. SHOCKING COMPANY.



I have had 7 doors sanded/dried all of which have come back NOT sanded down to original colour all patch and and chemicals left all over them. THEY STINK are Wet and have not dried correctly and look worse than when I sent them!!!! I have contact them plenty of times to rectify this and have been ignored. THANK GOD I PAID WITH CARD. They tried very hard to make sure I gave them all in cash but I refused. I have contacted my bank to complain about them! disgusting company . More...

"WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER COME ACROSS IN ANY INDUSTRY!! Star rating would be -100 if I could. This review is based solely on my personal experience with First Door Stripping based (Unit 4 Lexden Lodge Ind Est, Crowborough Hill, Crowborough, TN6 2NQ) and Viktor. I phoned FDS and asked for a quote for stripping the white paint from my solid wooden 15 glass panel internal door. I was happy with the price and the timescale of 1 week. I was warned that it may be possible the glass could break due to the solution the door is dipped in. I was happy with this risk. I asked for the door to be stripped initially and then sanded and oiled afterwards. I asked if this would extend the timescale, I was informed it would not. The whole cost to me for this was £90. Far more than I wanted to pay but the door was a very heavy duty and solid door and I liked it. The door was collected. I received the door 2 WEEKS later , 1 week later than promised. No explanation. The door was absolutely and utterly destroyed. It was damaged, split (2feet long) across the top of the door frame and another small one near the very top left hand side, cracked and wood missing at the top end of the door frame and distorted to the point that the door would no longer fit in the door frame. The bottom of the door touched the door frame while the top of the door was 2cm's (enough to get my finger through) away from the door frame. The door would no longer shut at all. There was still paint in the crevasses of where the glass sat. The glass panels were all cloudy and not cleaned with residue of oil on them. I was told by the delivery driver I need to just wipe them over. They had written on the spine of the door in big black permanent marker my post code. This door was wrecked!! A friend suggested to check the door before I paid but I had complete trust in the workmanship (HOW WRONG I WAS!!!) This is not the most annoying part but the email and phone exchanges I had with Viktor who is part owner with his wife. I sent clear cut pictures of the damage and videos. Viktor has the audacity to say to me we can not see a crack in the door (the crack/split was 2 feet long and wide enough to put a butter knife in). When I informed him the door now doesn't fit in the door frame he said I am hanging it wrong (the door was already in place and simply needed re hanging in the exact same position). Viktor offered to take the door back to fix it. But if I could upload photos here I would show you it can not be fixed with out bodging it and my trust in them was none existent. They wanted to put filler in the door and shave the door down until its miss shaped enough to fit into the door frame. Why should I have a bodged door. To be honest if they cannot do the job properly in first place why on earth would I let them do it again and waste my time. They still dismissed that they had done any damage to my door yet they offered me half of my money back. Why would you offer half my money back if you have done a good job and there is no damage. The shear arrogance and ignorance and to be honest the lack of customer after care was shocking. They had my money and didn't care. Offering me half my money back was just an insult. So I would have £45 back and a completely destroyed door. How does this fix anything.... I do not know how this door was allowed to leave their workshop and be proud of the workmanship. You would find doors in better condition down your local waste site. I hope this review gives you an idea of what to expect. " More...

Essentially, just copy and paste the comment dated 13 July 2022.

Initially, communication was very good and proactive and doors were picked up quickly.

We sent four doors to be dripped and stripped and they completed two as they struggled with them. The two that had been completed came back destroyed, they were split in many different places, and swollen so no longer fitted in the door frames. The panels in the centre of the doors had also come apart making it fit even more poorly. The untreated doors came back filthy with our postcode written in permanent marker all over them. Communication after this was essentially non existent. I advised how they had come back and they kindly offered to treat them again at an extra cost. I explained this would not be happening and asked what they could be to rectify the situation and I am yet to receive a reply (2 months down the line). Would certainly not recommend. More...

I asked for a quote for the stripping of my doors which I was happy with. The date for collection was arranged quickly. I received a text message confirming the collection the day before with a 2 hour time slot. All very satisfactory.

I had the doors removed on the day of collection, and no one showed up to collect them. I text and called the number from the previous days confirmation - no reply or answer.

The following day I get a telephone call saying they had attempted to collect and I wasn't in which simply isn't true. If they had come to collect they would have called as they had my mobile number, also if they had driven down the road my CCTV would have been triggered, which I wasn't. I got zero apology just offer to rebook - which I declined as if they cannot collect a door as arranged, then lie about attempting to collect it, there is no way I would trust them to return the door within the timescale quoted. More...