Sam's Clock Repair

Sam is an artisan. I have a 250-year-old Regency era Grandfather clock that has been in my family forever. After my mother died, it was shipped to me and severely damaged. Two attempts at repair had failed and possibly made the damage worse, reducing the clock works to broken and bent pieces. A friend suggested Sam’s Clock Repair. After detailing what needed to be done and what it would cost, we agreed on the repair that would be done in about 6 months. One day shy of six months it was restored- (the two broken pieces welded together and the bent parts straightened and cleaned)- and working in my center hall. To me this was miraculous. I will admit the repair probably cost more than the clock was worth in monetary value, but Sam told me that upfront. Also, Sam arrived much later than he first scheduled and stayed much later to finish the work than he anticipated. Such is the life of an artisan. My family’s clock is restored. I am very happy.

Around April 2025 I had Sam come over to my house to try to fix and oil a 1996 grandfather clock that I acquired 2nd hand. The clock was fully functioning but was running a few minutes off time. Sam was pretty anti-social but his wife was extremely kind and pretty. They spent some time on it and then left. I noticed that my automatic shut off wasn't working anymore after they left, so I sent an email and received a response (see photo). I think his wife called me back and told me to move the hand 12 hours backwards to fix it. That didn't work. I didn't call them back because I didn't like the service. I ended up calling another grandfather clock specialist in the area that took weeks to get on his schedule. He came to my house for servicing today. He looked shocked that I told him I just recently had the clock oiled. He told me that the clock was not oiled where it should have been, and the oil that was on the clock was dirty like it hadn't been cleaned and re-oiled by the last tech (aka Sam). Also when he fixed the auto-shut off, the timing of the clock changed from 10:15PMish shut off to 9PM shut off. The time on had also shifted from 7:15AMish to 6AM. He told me he didn't change the timing and that had to be done by previous clock techs. At this point I'm wondering what I paid Sam to come to my house to do with my clock and want a refund for the services he provided, since they did not meet expectations.