Dallas Deck and Fence
aka Cowboy Fence and Deck Company
aka Cowboy Fence Company
aka C&C Fence Company

A DFW area based company based in Lewisville. Formerly known as C & C Fence Company or Dallas Deck and Fence. It is run by Jamey Carter. (Doesn't matter what you call yourself Jamey, plenty of people have eyes on you. The Internet won't let you hide for long.)

Be sure to look up the people who work there in the public online criminal records search located here:

1. Denton County
2. Collin County
3. Dallas County

1. Cowboy Fence Company Dallas Fence and Deck reviews

Read the stories about why you shouldn't do business with them.

1. My Cowboy Fence Company Dallas Deck and Fence story
2. <Second Older Story Removed>
3. Cowboy Fence Company Story 3
4. One person's suggestions on how to deal with Cowboy Fence and Deck
5. Read about Cowboy Fence Company's stain man of choice: Big D Fence
6. Judgement given against Cowboy Fence and Deck
7. A Second lawsuit against cowboy fence company for his website.

Dishonest. The owner there has a habit of lying. He lied at least twice to me and from what I find on the internet, I'm not the only one. Unfortunately for him, he came across the wrong guy. This page will follow him all the days of his life or until he pays the people he owes.

My (Cowboy) Dallas Deck and Fence Company story:

I told his salesman when he was out quoting the project that my house was in a windy area and that his fence needed to be strong enough to standup to it. His salesman said 'ah, it won't be a problem' (to paraphrase).

6-7 months later a wicked wind comes flying across my yard. 2 sides of the fence are fine (many posts shaken loose though), including the sides that the wind hits first. However on the backend of the wind path, the fence is blown over. If the whole thing had blown down, or someone else's house next to mine had blown down as well, you could definitely say that this wasn't the fence builders fault. However when no fence near me has an issue, including the fence connected to mine on the side where the fence is pushed over, and when the brand new fence across the street is still upright, to me, this stinks of 'something the fence builder did wrong.' I haven't seen a fence within 100 yards that had any issue.

Now add to the fact that the owner writes: "THE POSTS WERE SET IN 2 FT. OF CEMENT THATS ALL WE EVER DO AND EVERY FENCE CONTRACTOR IN TEXAS" (lie #1). He admits that he never made allowances or gave one concern about the wind. This in fact was part of the deal. He simply took my money and ignored my requests.

Pictures of my Cowboy Fence / Dallas Deck and Fence.

That fence in the background is still there. Standing strong

UPDATE
I went and dug up one of the posts, thinking I'd just solve the problem myself. Turns out, not only did they ignore my requests to account for the high wind factor, they didn't even set the posts in the standard 2 foot of cement like he claimed. Images below.

Here's a second post on a different side (back side). He's 2 for 2. How close to the 24" minimum (he says) do you think he got? It's no more than 16-17". And yes, he refuses to fix it.

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How deep should fence posts be dug? "The traditional rule of thumb has always been to set fence posts one-third of the length, hence: 2ft for a 6ft post, leaving 4ft above the grade; 32 inches for an 8 footer, with just over 5ft above the grade...." Wooden Fences - by George Nash

Here's a whole page full of results that show the same rule.

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I eventually had 26 posts replaced at a cost of $1500 and all of them were at or near 17". Guess how CFD proposed I fix it? Jamey Carter suggested that to fix it, just insert more posts inbetween the ones that were already there. How would that look? Instead of telling me the best thing to do would be to replace it, this joker wants to add more posts, apparently at 17" depths also. This guy is as unprofessional as they get.

WHAT OTHER FENCE BUILDERS SAY:

4-19-07 UPDATE
I wrote to to various fence builders across the dfw metroplex and asked them the following question:

"Theoretical question for you.
If I were to purchase an 8ft tall board on board fence, how deep would you dig the holes for the metal posts? I had another fence builder do this for me, and I don't think he dug them deep enough."

The first response I got back was this. And this was all he said. "30" minimum."

I wrote back with a follow up question:

"one last question and I'll leave you alone. I really appreciate your time.
Would you consider it poor craftsmanship if someone only dug them 17" ?"

His answer:

"Yes! If this was one of my jobs I would have the crews reset the post."

4-24-07 UPDATE
The second of 3 fence builders wrote back and answered my question:

"When we set post we set them a minimum of 36 inches, if there is rock or concrete that does not allow us to go deeper than that we charge a resonable amount more to bring more equipment in so that we are able to set the post deep enough."

Same follow up question as above got this response:

"Extremely...the first year of life is going to be very tough.  The posts will lean in no time at all.  24in is what a lot of companies do, and that only last about 4 years usually, but anything less is scary."

The 3rd builder didn't write back.

6-4-07 Update:

A second case against Cowboy Fence Company of Lewisville was filed today. It cost me $1500 to have someone else repair the lean that was caused by the poles not being dug deep enough in the first place. The results of the case will be made public both here and on the Denton county website. The guy that did the repair was very disturbed by the 17" depth of the poles since the fence is so tall. So much so, that he offered to appear as a witness, before I brought it up.

6-18-07 Update: The Dallas BBB Better Business Bureau

After being annoyed at the profound delay at the BBB of dallas, I wrote an email on the 17th complaining about how long this process was taking and how other people were getting screwed over. I also threatened to leave a complaint with the Council of BBBs and accused them of protecting their pocket book (the companies) instead of looking out for the consumer. What do you know, I get mail from them the very next day offering to take the matter to arbitration.

After reading all the fine print, I have a couple of choices.

1) Take the matter to an independent arbitrator (BBB appointed) and let them decide. The good news about this is that CFD would have negative feedback and would have to pay me within 2 weeks. The bad news is that I could not take the matter to court after that and all records of the BBB are essentially private. Plus it costs a non-refundable $70. It's not easy at the BBB to see what the complaints are about a company. They hide them. That's another way the Dallas BBB (and apparently any other BBB) protects companies infavor of the consumer. You're better off leaving feedback on a website about a company.

2) Leave the BBB out of it in favor of my court date that I already have. The upside is that when CFD loses, all records will be public information, freely available for all to see. My court costs and interest are refundable. Should CFD not pay, I can turn them over to collections.

I have decided to go to court.

8-13-07 Update - The matter has been decided. Judgement against Cowboy Fence and Deck.

I chose to take the matter to court, since the judgements are a matter of public records and the BBB is a useless venue for consumer complaints about a company. I wrote the BBB and expressed my disappointment with them. They did not respond. They've probably changed my complaint status to "resolved", which makes cowboy fence look better even though they actually did nothing.

Anyway, Cowboy Fence Company decided not to show up, so judgement was automatically against them. I wondered what kind of a defense Jamey would try to come up with. I figured he wouldn't show, or he'd try to lie his way through it. I was prepared for everything. He now owes me for the cost of the repairs plus court costs totaling $1570.

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