We hired Maize Eavestroughing to install guttering and downspouts on our new house. They did an excellent job with matching the material colours to our house - much nicer than some of the other companies we spoke to. Everything was installed quickly and neatly, the sharp scraps of aluminum and nails/screws etc were picked up. That was all excellent.
Maize promises a 25 year warranty. We have a problem with a downspout that was always overflowing. I have been trying for months but it has been extremely difficult to get a return phone call from this company. When I do get a call, the person says "oh you need to speak to XX", and then I don't hear from anyone again untiL I have called again and again and again.
The downspout has been overflowing so long that it has eroded the landscaping stone for our front steps. The landscaper will not correct the damage under warranty because the problem was caused by the downspout overflowing.
I would have fixed this before but I have a fear of ladders and heights because I was on a ladder that fell about 15 feet once. I got a taller stepladder and was able to reach some of the elbows in the downspout so I didn't have to get up on a big ladder. I found that the part of the elbow that fits into the downspout was almost pinched closed. This didn't allow the water to flow freely into the downspout and caused the eavestrough to overflow. I opened up the pinched part and put the downspout back together, and did not see any overflowing in the recent storm (left over from Hurricane Ike) so that fixed the problem.
Lessons learned:
1. check a company's reputation for follow-up before hiring them.
2. try to fix a guttering/downspout problem early before it causes damage to your landscaping.
