Viewrail Avis 395

I was looking to add a glass and metal rail system to my small home project of duplexing my apartment with the basement. Called up Viewrail based on a friend’s recommendation. Good response time to request a quote. I gave Damon my dimensions and what I was looking for. He got back to me with a quote a bit higher than I was thinking it should cost. I asked him a couple questions via text and that’s where it ended. No “I’ll get back to you” or “let me work on that”. Just no response. After 3 days of no contact, I called another company, that came back with, not only a lower quote, drove a rep to my home to discuss my options with installation as well vs. Viewrail’s install it yourself cost.

I am providing this rating on two factors: (1) how long it takes them to actually fabricate and (2) how pathetic their delivery process is.

1.) Design / Fabrication
They provide a template with design data you must submit. My team did and they got the orientation backwards ("a software problem" which would have been mine if I didn't point it out). It took over a month of back and forth before they 'finished the design' and we could 'schedule' productions. Despite requesting expediting my order (it was placed a long time ago), I was told Black Friday Deals were pushing things out. It took a MONTH before they finished.

2.) Delivery was horrible (check out the photos)
a.) I repeatedly tried to reach my project manager to get the delivery ETA. He didn't respond by SMS, email or phone (I tried them all, multiple times). Finally he provided a vague "it should already be on its way" after few weeks.

b.) There was NO programmatic update telling my order was out for delivery. Are you kidding me? This is a $25k+ order!!!!

c.) the shipper calls the night before and demands I be prepared to receive 5 pallets the next day! Really? I asked for more time to ensure I had a crew and excavator only to be told I could have one extra day or be charged storage. Seriously???

d.) when the shipments arrived, they were mislabeled:
- still reflecting an original contact and company that placed the order a year prior and was no longer involved. I had asked ViewRail to update the contact to me multiple times but they failed to the end.

e.) the shipper had packages strewn throughout the truck and no clue where things were. I actually had to get on the truck and search. Further I had to move things WITH THE DRIVER!

f.) View Rail did a terrible job packaging an expensive shipment. Clearly there is no concern for getting me the product in good shape.

I would never order from them and will never do so ever again!!!!!

After my previous post (Updated Sep 17, 2024
Wobbly and Unsafe Glass Railings, Compromised Deck Waterproofing: My Experience with Viewrail), I am surprised and disappointed to find that my outstanding balance was sent to a debt collector without any response or resolution of the issues I raised. This experience has left me highly dissatisfied, and I strongly urge potential customers to reconsider working with Viewrail due to the following reasons:
 
1. Remote Operations: The remote working model led to numerous iterations, causing delays and inefficiencies.
  
2. Local Installers' Expertise: Viewrail relies on local installers who may lack the necessary expertise for installations. In my case, holes were drilled into my balcony, voiding the waterproofing warrantee instead of doing it by mounting brackets. Let alone current railing wobbles causing security concerns
 
3. Vendor Exclusivity: Viewrail products are proprietary, limiting options if issues arise. I recommend considering alternatives like CR Laurence, a reputable parts company that offers broader compatibility with skilled local installers.
 
After investing $50,000 in this project, I now face an additional expense of $21,000 to redo the external railing—just as the rainy season is approaching.
 
I hope Viewrail takes this feedback seriously to improve their service and avoid similar issues for future customers.

The product finally received was good.
However part of the order was missing and part of the order was wrong that View Rail billed me for.
My carpenter was able to purchase screws to make the railing fit. I returned the portion of the order that was not ordered. It was a hassle to get this done and View Rail wanted me to pay a 50% restock fee. I protested this because I didn’t order what I wanted to return. View Rail agreed and was supposed to refund me about $250. Months went by and I followed up with Phillip Hardesty and he shuffled me to Pam Harmon who has totally ghosted me. Not a good way to do business. I would not recommend this company!

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE EVER! Inaccurate quotes and extremely long lead times. Expect your project to cost you 30% more than you were originally quoted, without you making a single change to the plans. Save yourself the nightmare of working with this company and choose to buy elsewhere!

They are super super slow and they wasted us 6 months. We paid more than 20k as deposit and now after 6 months the project is still in design phase and production hasn't been started yet. I am considering how to get my deposit back.
By the way, the designer rarely deliver his drawing on time as he promised. We have to chase him again and again. And the sales person recently didn't provide the price details to us until we asked 3-4 time and scheduled a phone call with him. I don't know what's wrong with this company. But I want to say, if you want a happy and healthy life, stay away from Viewrail.

Send numerous emails, never received a reply. Finally managed to get through to someone at the company who transfer me over to someone who supposedly would deal with the request. God, voicemail and again no response. If it is this difficult to try and get a quote, I can only imagine how bad the follow up service and everything else will be.

Delays in communication, internal miscommunications leading to significant delays, shoddy material, lack of important information...I am dismayed at the cost compared to the quality and professionalism. For the price, I would have expected that we would have been dealing with a company which would be eager to provide a quality product and expertise which would improve our project, not make it the incredibly frustrating, time-consuming waste of money that is has been.

Very professional, technical, and efficient shopping, design, and delivery experience. Response times were very, very fast on every communication occasion.
Build time and delivery were quite fast.
The installation manual that came with the order is amazing in detail and easy of understanding.

We signed up with Viewrail to have them measure, design and build a stairs for our remodeling project. After we signed the agreement, we paid a large deposit, and the project was passed to their engineering team. Over four months, progress was sparse.

No meaningful progress would happen until after I repeatedly called their engineer, we had to re-measure measurements made by their on-site installer, and each of the designs provided had significant errors. While we encountered these issues, we repeatedly tried to engage their sales team and executive team, who ignored our outreach.

In the end, Viewrail was unable to deliver a safe stair design, we were unable to move forward with them, and they notified us they intend to keep a large portion of the deposit.

Finally, when we asked for a refund, they stated that we changed headers and beams around the stairs repeatedly, leading them to be unable to design our stairs. However, these changes were made by our contractors at extra cost to us, to try and accommodate their design work.

Viewrail did reach out in the end, acknowledged we were dissatisfied, and refunded us in entirety for the project. We appreciate that follow-up and in the end they did make things right for us.

Very good customer service, high quality deck railing, and great installation. Excellent experience overal.

The cable railing system is a well thought out and fantastic product. It was relatively easy for me to achieve a professional look. I'm very happy with the result. Thanks to the great team for putting it all together

This company is a complete disaster. I highly recommend that you run the other way and find other options. My small project took 6 months to complete, the result of multiple engineering mistakes that required remanufacturing to 8 of the 10 posts in the project. Of course, the issues weren't identified until after the posts had been installed, so there was a great deal of additional labor, all at my expense. In fact, they tried to charge me for the reengineered posts at cost, which I refused to pay and they ultimately acquiesced. When the problem surfaced, I was referred to the engineering department, who were slow to respond and difficult to effectively communicate with. I reached out to the salesperson, Lauren, who refused to take my call, telling the assistant that I had to work with Engineering. Obviously, she is getting many of these calls. At one point they sent out a supervisor, who freely admitted that the engineering group "didn't know what they were doing". This was a project in my own home, but if I were a contractor this would have cost me a fortune in lost labor, and the based on the amount wasted materials from Viewrail I am guessing that this wasn't a profitable job for them either. While the product is nice (but not anything over and above what is advertised) It is shocking to me that they are still in business, based on their service. I only wish I had seen the other reviews here before I decided to use them!

Great customer service, very responsive, excellent products. Highly recommended!

Great product, great support (before and after sale), excellent instructions and good value

It’s excellent. The only complaints I get are a lack of communication from the Viewrail team. Everyone needs to understand this is a premium product that is exclusive to a limited number of people. It cannot be rushed along.

Beautiful design. Relatively easy to install. Great end result.

Your representatives were extremely helpful!!

Overall engineering was good. Top wooden rail was too narrow (not as shown on you tube ) top post brackets barely fit. Some holes in posts were too big knock ins didn’t press in the right. Crimping tool Also very flimsy didn’t work great handle fell apart.

The people I am speaking to are very knowledgeable and accommodating period they also responded very quickly with the estimates and as I have already built a custom home with this product in it. I am clear about the direction I am moving and they help me figure out what I specifically need.