Custom Wrought Iron & Metal Fabrication

With the start of a new BBQ business we needed a new BBQ smoker and what better way then to have a custom built one on a trailer!
We searched all over California to find the most reputable fabricator and there wasn’t much showing up in the search! One day while browsing craigslist we stumbled upon Alex, fabricator and owner of Custom Wrought Iron & Metal Fabrications. We contacted him and looked at pictures of his work and planned to sit down with him and discuss the blue prints and cost.
We figured out what we wanted and he started on it immediately (or so we were told). When we sat down and made our deposit we were promised Tuesday June 23^rd for pick up. When it came time to pick it up he said it would be ready by 10am the next morning… well his shop is 2 hours from us so we left the house at 7:30am…an hour into the drive he texts and said it won’t be ready till the following morning because suddenly something wasn’t finished. So that night we ask what time and he said around 3 pm. So at noon the next day we head out there…15 minutes from destination and we are told it won’t be ready AGAIN till the next morning. Mind you we needed to season the grill and to use it for an event on the very next day. We didn’t get the trailer until Friday June 26^th.
So we head home and pick it up the following morning (FINALLY)! We get home… put some wood in it… annnnnd the connector to the propane doesn’t ignite. And then the torch to light the wood doesn’t work because of the igniter. When we called him about this issue he had no solution to help. For the price we paid he should have offered to either meet us half way or come to us to check it out.
We started the grill up without using the equipment ATTACHED to the trailer which is meant to start the fire. Within 25 mins of the fire going we noticed both of the thermometers did not work. Within an hour the paint was cracking and flaking off.
When we contacted him again to tell him about everything else that was wrong he said in order to fix the torch issue he needs a tool which will cost $ 200 so we have to pay for the tool and for him to fix the issue!
We are now 3 months into the trailer and the torch still does not work, the griddle won’t work because we need the propane setup to work it AND the trailer will not successfully attach to the hitch of our truck. We spend 30 – 45 minutes at each event trying to hook the trailer back up because he decided «Mickey Mousing» the hitch and using a cheap one would be better.
I would never recommend him!