Australian Outdoor Living

jb24  Newbie   1 review

Far and away the worst company I have ever had dealings with.
I had a fairly substantial contract with AOL, over $12000 for a pergola and over $6000 for outdoor caf blinds.
Naively I assumed I was getting expertise when they came around and provided my initial and secondary measure and quote.
We had a number of issues with our pergola, wrongly angled tie in brackets delaying the start of the project. The design of the pergola provided insufficient structural support and within days, fascia boards in unsupported areas began to sag.
But our major issue was one regarding the chosen colour for the colour-bond roof.
I was informed during the measure and quote, of the roof colour of my existing house and carport. As common sense would have it, my wish was that the pergola be matched to the existing structures.
Once the framework work had been erected it was brought to my attention that the two colour-bonds were in fact two different colours. One a dark grey, the other a blue grey.
I didnt think this was a big issue and thought it could just be swapped over for the correct colour. Upon speaking to the management I was informed that nothing could be done and I had signed for the colour-bond on the contract, and on me questioning why this mismatch in iron was not picked up was told well not everybody matches their pergola to their house. Really???
I informed them the mismatched iron was not going on and was told the best they could do was go halves with me in the correctly coloured iron, costing me an additional $500. I had no real choice as, AOL had received all their payment upon delivery of materials.
As I had no other real way of holding AOL accountable for their pathetic service I went ahead and cancelled my blind order, of which I had already paid a $2000 deposit.
There had been no secondary measure for these blinds and they are manufactured on site, by them.
Apparently there is no intention to return this deposit as stock was put aside for you.
I am a reasonable person and gave AOL chance after chance to redeem themselves, all of which they failed miserably.

Jinxed  Newbie   1 review

Australian Outdoor Living recently "half installed" synthetic lawn for us. After no end of difficulties with the quote, they laid the lawn, then left without securing it with anything. We contacted the office the day after and were advised there were concerns regarding the depth of the pipes the lawn had been laid over. We were told we would be contacted again to arrange for staff to come back and complete the install after assuring them the pipes would not be an issue. This was nearly a month ago. I called again to discuss and had their installation management yell at me and suggested quite rudely I do it myself (and void my warranty no doubt!). Very, very poor customer service. We have only recently moved into our house and are hoping to do a lot more with the front and rear yards, but certainly won't be using AOL again or recommending them!

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  AOL SA Newbie 

  Hi "Jinxed",
  
  We are disappointed to read the review of your experience with Australian Outdoor Living. We would like to make you aware that, upon receiving the notification of your review, we have acted quickly and our General Manager has attempted to contact you with the intention of rectifying this matter. A message was left on your message bank to please return the phone call so that we can resolve any issues and turn your experience around.

  5 months ago

  REPORT
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  Jinxed Newbie 

  Unfortunately, it seems it took a very public complaint to motivate Australian Outdoor Living to rectify the problems with our not-quite-installation. Had we not chosen to post feedback online, I doubt we would have received much more than the installation manager's "response."
  AOL's General Manager was in touch, and has since organised completion of our synthetic lawn. I wonder - how many companies require the involvement of their GM to finalise what I had imagined would have been quite a straight forward job? Our sincere thanks to Nicole in the office who was always a pleasure to deal with and Laurie, the GM for finally getting things sorted.

  5 months ago

  REPORT

BradSymes  Newbie   1 review

I just bought a new spa from Australian Outdoor Living. The Spa is amazing and the service from the team at AOL was even better. I couldn't be happier!

Thanks Colin and Michael. You are both great guys and really made the whole process very simple for me. Cheers also for convincing me to go with the new O2 spa....it's perfect!

All the best.
Brad Symes

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  AOL SA Newbie 

  Thanks for the positive feedback there Brad!
  
  We are glad that you are so happy with the spa and the service that we offered. We are sure there are plenty of great times ahead relaxing in your new spa!
  
  If there is anything else that we can help you with in the future, please don't hesitate to let us know. Happy to help again and provide you with the same service and quality of product :)

  5 months ago

  REPORT

Edster501  Newbie   1 review

Hi everyone,

I thought I would share my experience. I have a 2 storey house at Myponga Beach which is a very windy area and wanted to enclose my front balcony. I had a few quotes by various companies but no-one was really keen to install blinds for me without big disclaimers regarding strong winds.

Then I spoke to Australian Outdoor Living. They went and measured up the balcony and we came up with a great solution that enables the blinds to be lowered and raised easily from the upper level. The blinds are clear pvc and enclose the area perfectly. We frequently rent the house out to holidayers and there hasnt been any problems with them.

Its been almost a year now since we installed them and we are on the beachfront, the blinds still look like new.

We were so happy with them that we installed bella vista blinds to our back veranda also. The staff were very friendly and when they come to measure and quote we actually had a great time sitting around the back table, designing what would suit the area best.

The product is great.

Crows Fan   2 reviews

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the Australian Outdoor Living team who installed our Bella Vista shade blind. I Have a big pergola area that just wasn't getting used enough because it was either too hot or too cold. We weren't sure of what was available and there was no way I would ever be content with some of the cheap spring loaded blinds or zippers.

We rang several companies but none could come up with a solution to enclose our area with out making tacky additions ie tracks and posts or span the distance in one blind. Though I couldn't really blame them it seemed they all had very little knowledge on the product as it was secondary to their other products and was supplied to them by another manufacturer, in some cases this was the same one. Don't get me wrong if I was wanting something the size of a canteen window slide blind might do but for a project with blinds spanning up to 5mtrs Australian Outdoor Living were the only company who could do the job and guarantee it.

From my first call to installation the level of service was fantastic they even called to confirm appts made and let me know when the consultant was running ahead of schedule so as not to inconvenience us. The visit with the Australian Outdoor Living professional consultant really impressed me. He seemed as though he was not there just to sell us any thing, but more so to provide the best possible solution whilst incorporating our needs into the custom designed cafe blinds. He left no doubt in our minds that their product, manufactured by them here in SA, was the ONLY option for anyone serious about having Outdoor Blinds. I just wish I had them out first and could have saved so much time wasted with the cheap alternatives.

Again I wanted to say a big thank you and well done to all at Australian Outdoor Living, I am in business myself and though there will always be a few difficult customers who are quick to exaggerate any small issue, I want to say it's good to see a fellow SA owned business providing magnificent service and top quality products.

Blue petal   3 reviews

I have just recently had my artificial lawn laid in my front yard and I am just as happy once again from when the Australian outdoor living team did my back lawn mid last year.... Which is still looking great might I add.
Excellent service from start to finish with all staff and installers!
I was referred by friends to use Australian outdoor living based on their service and products and they exceeded my expectations 100%.
I now too recommend Australian outdoor living to anyone who is looking for great service, quality!

Dorota  Newbie   1 review

Here is my experience in purchasing from this company:

1st quote: great.
2nd quote/sign-off: the representative arrives having not prepared the qutoe for sign-off and takes 40 minutes to do this in my living room as I wait, despite my call to them confirming we were happy with their quote and are ready to sign-off. Can they email the sign-off paperwork? "no, I must come in person"

1st visit: it is raining and I call to see if the installer is still coming - "yes, of course".... what time are they coming because they were meant to be here 10 mins ago... "okay, let me call him"... 10 mins later "actually, they are not coming because of the rain".

2nd visit: the installer puts up the blinds which are the wrong size, and DOES NOT TELL ME, trying to pass off the gaps as a "mismeasurement by a FORMER employee of the business"... my husband checks the length of the blinds against our quote when he comes home and discovers the blinds are the wrong size for our space and we call to complain (no apology from anyone).

3rd visit: the revised replacement blind is too long (no apology from anyone).

4th visit: the revised replacem,ent blind is too short (again, no apology from anyone)... in addition, the installer is rude, does not knock on the front door when they arrives just proceeds to let themselves into my back-yard without being invited.

Now, I'm not telling you whether this company is good or bad, however if I had known that I needed to forfiet 5 days of wages to the cost of the blinds then I doubt I would have bought from this organization.

mandk  Newbie   1 review

Good product but service is very poor, however very efficient in asking for payment. I have refused to finish off the second part of our place because of the time taken to complete the first part being nearly a year. Definitely don't recommend this place!!

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  AOL SA Newbie 

  Hi mandk,
  
  We are very sorry to discover that your experience was unusually unpleasant. We do not get many complaints from our customers and when we do, we take them very seriously.
  
  We are always striving to improve how we do things and investigate new ways in which we can best serve you however we do understand that sometimes you may feel there might have been room for improvement.
  
  It is unfortunate that we did not have the opportunity to complete your project and change your opinion of us. However, your feedback is much appreciated and will help us to learn and build upon our strong foundations here at Australian Outdoor Living.

  9 months ago

  REPORT

sudras   2 reviews

A great business with excellent roller shutter products. The staff are very
courteous and obliging with no pressure at all. The installation team led by Lincoln
provided a fast and very efficient service and went to great lengths to ensure that we
were totally satisfied with the finished product and understood its operation before their departure. We will certainly use them again and have no hesitation in
recommending them for the supply and installation of any roller shutter products.

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  AOL SA Newbie 

  Thanks a lot for the positive feedback Sudras! :)
  
  Hope you dont mind that we posted it on our facebook page?
  
  Glad we could be of assistance and we definately look forward to helping you out again!

  1 year ago

  REPORT