It happens on a regular basis. The
phone rings and an anxious homeowner asks what we will do about a broken gate hinge. I just dealt with a customer whose gate
fell off because the hinge broke. He told me what size it was, and I
shipped him a replacement, at no charge, asking only that he return
the broken hinge to me so I can examine what went wrong. We do this
so we can see how we can make our hinges better.
I got his old hinge back today. I was
excited to see what had gone wrong. Whenever I get one of our hinges
back damaged, it is because an unsecured gate has been forced back
the wrong way through the opening, which bends the hinge against the
gate post. A simple gate stop will prevent that, but even when
contractors neglect to install a proper gate stop, we warrant our
hinges. Forever. (And we stress to our contractors how important a gate stop is!)
When I opened the box, this
is what was inside:
This hinge wasn't broken by
abuse. It wasn't forced backward through the opening. It fell apart
under normal use because it is junk. I don't know who made it, and quite frankly, don't care.
When people ask me why they
should buy an American made Modern Fence Technologies hinge, this is
why. That hinge was installed eight years ago. It broke because it
was made of inferior quality materials, using an inferior design, and
improper construction techniques. The contractor saved at most five or ten
dollars per set of hinges on a fence job that cost the homeowner
thousands. Do you think the customer would have paid a little more
to avoid the hassle? Do you think he's ready to give a referral to his friends for the contractor who sold him that?
Here is a picture of the hinge I sent him, of course, I sent him a white one:
Instead of buying poorly
made inferior hardware and risking angry customers, contractors who
use MFT hardware sometimes pay a little more, (and sometimes a little less), use
American made, high quality hinges, charge their customers
accordingly, and walk away with better profit, and more satisfied
customers.
If you are ready to sell quality, American made gate hardware, make more money, and have more satisfied customers, call Modern Fence Technologies today.
