TheBirdHouseBarn

I ordered a birdhouse in the fall of 2022. Fred told me if I paid him $495 by Nov. 1, I would have the birdhouse by Christmas. About 3 days before Christmas he wrote " you won't have your birdhouse by Christmas, hope that's ok". Shortly after that I filed a dispute with PayPal. Fred is crafty enough with his words that PayPal did nothing. I asked for pictures of the work in progress, Fred didn't have time. Then he claimed the birdhouse was in the dryer with other birdhouses, it would be several weeks. The birdhouse finally came and I was mortified. The birdhouse was to look like the bell tower at Chautauqua, NY. The bell tower is red brick, he painted the birdhouse a light beige. There are faint shadows of a brick pattern here and there. The proportions of the door and windows are a mess. There is a clock on the bell tower. Fred nailed on a watch face type item that was to look like a clock. It is about 1.25" high on a 2' birdhouse. It looks absolutely ridiculous. My recommendation to you, the consumer, if you want a poorly made birdhouse, loads of lies and absolutely NO time line, order from Fred. This was a TOTAL scam and waste of $495.

This Business, The Birdhouse Barn and Fred Heartley are a poor choice to do business with.
I ordered a birdhouse that he had on his website and his estimate for deliver was 8 weeks but could take up to 16 weeks. At 17 Weeks I contacted him to see how long it would be before I received my order, he replied back a week later. "I will have tracking as soon as it ships". 5 weeks later I asked again when it would ship and Fred replied, "I sent you a pamphlet showing color images of our products while you wait for your order to arrive. Along with a note explaining our items are handcrafted and cannot be cancelled".
At this point I had created a claim with Paypal which I had used to to pay for my item. Fred had sent the pamphlet to me in a cardboard sleeve so he could prove that he had sent something to me with a tracking number and used this to show Paypal that he had sent my item. Paypal denied my claim because he showed something had been delivered to me. I then contested with paypal that he had tried to falsify that he had shipped the item I paid for. Paypal then agreed that he had not sent what I had ordered and I believe he did this fraudulently. Paypal is crediting my account and now Fred is threatening to still charge me for my item when it is finished. This was his comment to me 25 weeks after my initial order. "I hope you can understand that these items are made to order and handcrafted. We cannot get back the time and materials used. And yes, a little longer than 2-4 hours to build and paint. But we build a large volume of orders at one time and finish them in steps so that we can make multiples of each product. We are making 6 of the same birdhouses you ordered for many customers."
If he is making 6 of these items at a time then obviously they are not custom made to order and 25 weeks at this point to receive an item that I should have had 2 months ago is ridiculous.
I should have done my homework on this company before I ordered, I have now looked up this guy and 25 weeks and waiting is nothing compared to others that have ordered from him. There are other complaints that 1 year has gone by for $500 plus items that have not been delivered and the customer keeps getting pushed off.