Great Product, Wonderful Staff- Why I Love ATM Glass, Buchanan, NY

Some months back, my wife and I were approaching the final leg of our draining, yet rewarding, bathroom remodel. Something we were confident we would never do again as acting "General Contractors". I can still hear her pleas begging why we couldn't just hire a designer who could put the whole thing together for us. I always there with the constant reminder that we are doing this on a budget and (silly me) how hard could it really be? Several bad contractor choices and readily believing whatever a few tradespeople said to us cost us probably more money than I'd care to admit. But hindsight. And by the time we reached the home stretch I was a jaded professional. So began our quest for a shower door and mirror. Seemingly simple enough.

A quick search via the internet yielded me hundreds of results; all shower door companies ready to provide me with the best shower door anywhere...sigh...so my journey into the abyss began again.

If any of you folks are like me, you imagine this to be a rather simple item. It's only glass and a few pieces of hardware. Lesson learned number one: shower doors, like everything else, they are not that simple. I began with a few of the the companies in my immediate area because of convenience. The first guy I called was rather gruff...no problem, I have been there myself from time to time but I am also not in customer service. Neither here nor there. Gave him a brief description stating that I was looking for a price. I was immediately pummeled with questions peppered with industry jargon. First I was flattered, thinking I must sound like a pro! Perhaps my experience with home improvement was showing. This thought quickly faltered after I realized this guy was not really interested in speaking to me. I told him I'd find out the answers to his questions and get back to him. Next please. The following two companies I called must be in competition with one another given their close approximation. One said I had to do the enclosure with something they refer to as channel, the next said (literally) "using u channel is just stupid, who told you to do that?" and mentioned the other company name I had just called. Drama. No thanks. I decided I'd call one of the next people in line...this company offered 100 years experience, state of the art showroom and lots of bells and whistles. Lucky me! Not too far a distance from my home, I decided to give them a jingle. This time I was greeted by polite young woman who promptly invited me to visit the showroom. After receiving some rather convoluted directions I arrived. Not the nicest area, but the showroom seemed pleasant . I arrived with my drawings in tow and a list of my questions. Lesson learned number two: customer service. This place was an example of what customer service should not be. I entered to find who was probably the girl I spoke to, engaging in a phone conversation. Well enough. Despite she was clearly speaking in a foreign tongue, it could still be business related.

After no less than 10 minutes, the conversation was still in full swing. I decided I should make my presence perhaps more known and approached the counter where she held her post. She acknowledged my presence but still the conversation continued (reminiscent of that scene from "planes, trains and automobiles" where Steve Martin's character stood waiting next in que while the sales representative continued her personal conversation and he grew increasingly agitated. I took this opportunity to browse the items on display..so perhaps not all was lost. The call finally ended. No apologies from the young woman..but still I proceeded. I showed her my drawings, presented my questions. And was told, "ok, I will give them to the owner to price and get back to you". I explained that I didn't need anything etched in stone..just some idea of cost (along with some generally product information). No can do. So I drove almost an hour, 30 minutes of which was spent lost. To wait an unreasonable amount of time to be helped..to find out I couldn't be helped. I did mention, since I was completely ready to jump out of my skin, why it was suggested I come down. "So you can see our shower doors". (facepalm). I felt compelled to write a letter regarding my blatant waste of time. But didn't. This was the 5th company I went to and was quickly becoming disheartened. It wasn't until I popped into my tile suppler showroom did I find any help. Venting some, I spoke to a sales person whom I had become rather chummy with. "Oh, you need to call Jim at ATM Glass, why didn't you tell me you were looking?". I rolled my eyes as if to imply, "yeah, right". She ensured me Jim's company was long established and had a reputation of "holding his customer's hands" through the whole process. Process..who figured a shower door would be a process? More so than the purchase of any other fixtures in my bath. "Yeah" I asked, "And what will this Jim charge me?". Dollar signs floated before my eyes. She couldn't answer that, but gave me his card.

Much to my amazement, the phone was answered by someone who sounded ready to help. Ready to get the slap in the face I've become used to, I rattled off my questions. "Sure, give me a few moments and I will price for you, can I put you on hold?". At this point I was ready to fall off of my chair. Was I actually getting somewhere? This couldn't be! The woman whom I was speaking to provided a price with the information I had given, along with some alternate prices for upgrades. Not sure what the upgrades were, she promptly explained that I was welcome to visit the showroom or she could arrange for someone to come and visit my home to demonstrate the differences. Shocked again. Meeting with Jim was a much needed breath of fresh air. He was pleasant and professional and took every bit of two hours "holding my hand" as my lovely tile friend stated. The price was right and together we devised a shower door that we could be proud of. About two weeks later, Jim's company came to perform the installation. His guys were wonderful. They covered their shoes so not to dirty our carpet (which my wife was thrilled about). They went about their business and a few hours later, the installer came to find me and told me, "we're all set". Beautiful. And the bathroom was completely tidied up. The installer gave me an overview how to care for and clean and provided me a copy of my warranty. The shower door actually looked significantly nicer than any of the others I had seen during my research. It just had a cleaner look. No bulky top piece, no channels (the guy who I met earlier who advised me not to get that was correct!). My wife and I were happy customers.

What both my wife and I liked was that Jim not only took his time with us, knowing that we were doing this on our own, he didn't take advantage of that, whereas some of the others mocked our lack of knowledge or just plain out didn't want to help. Jim even through is some extras that none of the others proposed, such as glass treatment to keep the glass cleaner and a nicer handle to match our decor. Any question we had, he answered. His office was happy to talk to us and not waste our time. It left a positive impression on us.

My wife and I still rehash our home improvement experiment. Much of it was disastrous, but along the way, we learned a few things and made a few friends- such as Jim and Company at ATM Glass.