Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:18/10/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Niagara Roofmasters replaced our deck roof in 2016. We have the paperwork for it, which is dated August 5, 2016. The paper says it is covered under a 15 year warranty. It is leaking along the front edges because it was not done properly. It was cut at the edge without leaving an overhang so rain water is draining directly in between the roofing material and the fascia causing the wood to be saturated. Our paperwork has "paid in full" with the worker's initials beside it. Niagara Roofmasters will not offer any resolution because they claim they do not have a copy of the paperwork because they restructured their company around that time. They also claim the employee that signed ours is no longer with the company, which I don't think should make any difference. They also claim we should have a seperate invoice, but we only received the quote and they used that paper as a receipt as well. We are not happy with how they are handling this. They should be standing behind their work (it's only been 6 years since the roof was done) and it should be redone properly.

  Business Response

  Date: 24/10/2022

  Niagara
  RoofMasters received a phone call from Mr. & Mrs. ****** on September 26,
  2022 regarding a leak on their exterior back deck. They notified our office staff
  that RoofMasters completed the work in 2016. As per our company policy, our
  warranty department requires a paid invoice from the customer showing the date
  as well as the work performed on that job as all paid jobs get an invoice once
  they are completed and paid by the customer. 
  
  Niagara
  RoofMasters has documentation of all jobs completed dating back to 2014 filed
  in our system, through
  our investigation and due diligence we found no documentation in our system for work done at *******
  and *******’s home. (**** ********** ****** ************). After
  notifying the ******’s we did not have any paperwork regarding their roof
  in our system, they mentioned they had a copy of an invoice and sent it over
  for reference. Once received, it was mentioned to the homeowners that this was
  not an actual invoice, this was an estimate, but as they had an active leak and
  seemed to be quite concerned, we sent one of our
  service techs to go and take a look at the
  issue. At the same time we started our due diligence process into
  the matter.
  
  Upon
  arriving our service tech immediately called our warranty department and
  notified us that it did not look like our work, but he would do what he could
  to try to stop the leak. We did not charge anything to Mr. and Mrs. ****** at
  the time of that service call. Shortly after our initial service tech went out,
  we received another phone call from the ******’s saying that the repair we
  performed did not hold, we immediately sent our other service tech out to go
  and inspect the area a second time. 
  
  Upon
  his arrival the tech called the office and also noted that the work on the
  roof, did not look like a RoofMasters job. He proceeded to take photos of the
  shingles on the main roof and also inspect the material that was on the deck
  roof that was leaking. Both of our service techs are long time employees of Niagara RoofMasters and both previously ran their own crew. The second tech reviewed the estimate that Mr. & Mrs. ****** sent to us from August 2016 and
  found that the materials were different than the actual materials that were currently on the roof.
  The shingles on the estimate that the
  homeowner provided shows *** ********** HD shingles - we have photos from the
  tech showing the shingles are ***** *******. Also shown on the provided
  estimate is a low slope 2 ply rubber and the material on the deck roof is a ***
  roll on material, not a 2 ply rubber as mentioned on the estimate. Since the products were not the same as the estimate that was provided by
  the ******, we notified the homeowners that it
  was not our work and that it must have been completed by another company/party.
  
  Niagara
  RoofMasters was purchased by ******** *** **** ******* in March of
  2022 and we have continued to honour any and
  all warranties that have a paid invoice in the system or one provided from the customer. As part of our due
  diligence we spoke with the original owners of Niagara RoofMasters and they
  indicated the same information above. Since there was
  no invoice in our records, no cash deposits for that amount indicated at that time, nor materials/documents presented by the homeowner for this warranty, (as
  well as the differences between the actual products installed at the home
  compared to the products quoted by Niagara RoofMasters on the estimate #****
  from August 2016), we are not responsible to
  provide warranty work on the ****** residence.

  As mentioned, we have no record of
  payment from this customer nor was a warranty registered with the
  Manufacturer which was the practice for *** products installed by
  Niagara RoofMasters. Therefore, we could not honour a warranty on another
  company’s work and we informed the ****** we would not be responsible to come back and redo the roof as
  they requested. If the ****** have any questions or have any further information we are quite willing to look into the matter further.

  **** ******

  CFO

  ******** * **** *******

  Customer Answer

  Date: 24/10/2022

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  On Monday September 26, 2022, I called Niagara RoofMasters
  to let them know about our leaking deck roof that they did on August 2016. I
  was transferred to the warranty department and was told they couldn’t find the
  paperwork for our house. I sent her 2 pictures of our signed paperwork on
  Monday September 26, 2022 at 9:42am. A short while later I called to ensure
  they received the pictures. She said she did get them and we agreed upon Friday
  September 30, 2022 for a repair technician to come out and fix the leak. When
  the repair technician inspected the deck roof, he said it wasn’t done properly
  and tried to caulk along the edge. He said Niagara RoofMasters did not do the roof
  properly because there is no drip edge.
  Thursday October 13, 2022 the deck roof was still leaking
  following some rain. I texted the warranty department to let them know and I
  sent pictures of the wet/moldy wood. I mentioned the wood would also need to be
  replaced because it was so damaged. Now that the caulking attempt did not work,
  suddenly our signed paperwork was no longer good enough. They were great about
  validating the warranty up until this point but everything suddenly changed once
  they knew it would now involve new plywood and a new roof with a correct drip
  edge.
  Back in August 2016, once the job was completed, we paid cash
  and the estimate was signed “paid in full” along with the worker’s initials.
  This was the only “receipt” that we were given. Paid in full means exactly that:
  paid in full. We did not get a separate invoice and it shouldn’t be our fault that
  they decided to use the estimate as a receipt as well to minimize the paper
  trail. I also have bank records showing we withdrew $2,700 in cash on August
  30, 2016, ($2,800 minus the $100 deposit).
  We were not trying to cheat the CRA by paying cash. Niagara
  RoofMasters were running a save the tax special and it was even advertised on
  their ******** page on April 13, 2016 and January 18, 2017. I’m obviously not
  familiar with Niagara RoofMaster’s accounting, but cash deals should also be on
  the books. It’s not our problem if they were trying to pocket the CRA’s portion
  by excluding the cash deals from their books and conveniently having no record
  of the work completed at our house.
  Their claim about us having ****** ******* roof shingles is
  correct – but on our house. We had our house roof re-shingled on March 30, 2022
  by a different company. I have paperwork that states they only did our house roof,
  and not the flat roof area of the back deck. I can’t believe Niagara RoofMaster
  would insinuate we would have a different company/party redo our deck roof when
  it is only 6 years old and it’s supposed to be covered by a 15 year warranty.
  We stand firm on wanting Niagara RoofMasters to redo our deck
  roof that was not done properly by them in August 2016. We have signed
  paperwork that says paid in full and a bank statement showing the cash was
  withdrawn. They were running a save the tax special and there is no denying the
  deck roof was done incorrectly. I have proof the deck roof was not included in
  the house roof work in March 2022, and we are still well within our 15 year
  written warranty. If they do not want to redo the roof, it would also be satisfactory
  to have another company complete the work at the expense of Niagara
  RoofMasters.
  

  I included pictures of the signed paperwork, our bank statement,
  the ******** save the tax postings, and our new house roof paperwork from March
  2022. Please let me know if any of them did not upload properly. 

  Sincerely,

  
  
  
  ******* And ******* ******

  Business Response

  Date: 01/11/2022

  We appreciate the response and at this point we are trying to find related records to this address or the names involved and we still have not found the necessary documents. We would ask for some more patience as we have been speaking with the original owners, they believe at this point that this was not a job completed by them/Niagara RoofMasters. We have requested old bank records and other documents and through these efforts we did not find any record, nor the deposit amount (each deposit (cash or cheque) has a property address attached to it), nor the final payment amount indicated in the bank statements related to the estimate provided. The original owners of Niagara RoofMasters have requested that both sides of the estimate be sent. On receipt of both sides (and any other documents they have as proof) of the estimate we will make a final decision and post it on this BBB board. We wish to do our best for all consumers and to ensure their homes are looked after properly and we do appreciate the patience of the consumer as we try to resolve this matter.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/11/2022

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  That is no problem at all. I will send a picture of each
  side of the paperwork. If needed, I could also bring it to your office at an
  agreed upon day/time so you can be assured it is the original paper without any
  alterations. I’m not sure what else you could possibly need. We have the signed
  paperwork, the bank statement showing the withdrawal for the proper amount,
  ******** pictures advertising your cash specials, proof it wasn’t included in
  the house roof that was completed in March 2022, and your warranty department
  confirming the deck roof wasn’t done properly. It’s unfortunate your records are
  lacking. Your slogan is “trust, honesty and integrity is our business” so I’m upset
  we are even in this situation. 
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ******* And ******* ******

  Business Response

  Date: 07/11/2022

  Thank you for your response and we do appreciate your position based on the information provided, but the original owners have indicated that the work done on your roof was not done by Niagara RoofMasters. They have indicated to us that there would be an invoice proving payment and work completion, this is the only way a warranty can be certified. (Which they do with the manufacturer). I have checked the bank account records for Niagara RoofMasters for the period involved and there is no amount deposited for $2,600 or $2,700. All $100 deposits are allocated a file name with the address indicated of the job location, and none correspond with this address. Further the material use on the flat roof portion of the roof was also not the material used on the estimate provided. They also indicated that the 15 year warranty only applies to *** ********** shingles (which is on the back of the estimate) and not any other roofing work completed such as the flat roof. They seem to imply this was side work done by someone else using the Niagara RoofMasters forms, not the company itself.

  We find ourselves in a difficult position at ******** * **** as the purchaser of this company. Our corporate policy is to honour all warranties under the terms of the contract, we have done this for over 40 years and have done this with the thousands of customers we have had over the decades. We would like to state that all calls from customers are responded to and we help them wherever we can. All calls coming into warranty and responded too by our technicians/warranty department are to resolve the customers issues, i.e. do what we can to stop a leak ASAP. At the same time the technician with the office staff will ascertain if it is a warranty item or not based on the original contract terms. Just because we send someone out to help the situation does not mean it is necessarily a warranty item.

  Having said the above, we do want to resolve this issue if we can with the consumer. I might suggest at this point it is best for the consumer to call me directly on my cell *************, we do really want to work out something for them.

  Paul

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/11/2022

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  Sorry for the delay in responding. Since we didn’t seem to
  be making much progress with this problem, we decided to contact a lawyer for
  advice. We were informed that once an estimate is signed: paid in full, it
  becomes a binding contract. An invoice is not legally required. She brought up
  a valid point: if we didn’t pay Niagara RoofMasters the $2,700, they would have
  sued us for non-payment and would not have let it go for 6 years and counting.
  Plus, we have the bank record showing the amount withdrawn. You believe a
  previous employee may have committed fraud by keeping the cash. That is not our
  responsibility and it doesn’t affect our contract. During the initial phone
  call with ******* ****** prior to submitting this BBB claim, it was admitted
  that the person that signed the estimate was a known previous employee that no
  longer works for Niagara RoofMasters. We were told your company can decide if
  you want to pursue an investigation, lawsuit, or criminal charges against that
  previous employee.
  

  We were also able to find some pictures of the roof that
  shows the lack of an overhang. They are time- stamped Sept. 2, 2017, Aug. 24,
  2020, and June 2021. Upon zooming in, it’s obvious the roofing material is cut
  flush with the edge. Our deck roof has not been altered, repaired, or redone
  since it was originally completed by Niagara RoofMasters in August 2016. This
  is not a material defect problem, but rather a workmanship error. It is not
  leaking anywhere else, just at the edge where it was improperly cut. Therefore
  the 15 year warranty on the shingles is not applicable, but the 15 year
  workmanship warranty is what we are asking you to honor.
  

  We are not comfortable calling your personal cell phone. We
  tried to work this out initially over the phone and that didn’t go well. We’ve
  never had to make a claim through the Better Business Bureau before, but a
  phone call doesn’t seem appropriate now that the BBB is involved. The lawyer
  also advised us against calling.
  

  After talking to our lawyer and having our case validated,
  we are even more adamant on having the roof fixed properly at your expense.
  

  Please see the attached letter from our lawyer. 

  Business Response

  Date: 11/11/2022

  Someone from the office will reach out to the ****** via email on Monday or Tuesday to set up a time, weather permitting for a crew to come and replace that portion of the roof.

  Paul

  Customer Answer

  Date: 24/11/2022

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because we want to wait until the deck roof is fixed before we close our complaint.

  Niagara RoofMasters have agreed to fix our deck roof in the
  next 3-4 weeks. We intend to have a third-party roofing company inspect the
  roof (at our cost) once the work is finished for our peace of mind. After the
  inspection, if everything is satisfactory, we will be able to close the complaint.
  
  We look forward to having this problem resolved soon. 

   

  Sincerely,
  

  ******* And ******* ******

  Business Response

  Date: 25/11/2022

  Thank you for the reply and we are in agreement. We are moving ahead to make the repair/replacement for the Homes. We booked an earlier date, but they indicated they wanted a third party to review the replacement roof at there cost. On this basis, they requested the work to take place after a certain date which we agreed too. We will hold the matter in obeyance until the replacement is done and reviewed by the third party.

   

  **** ******

  CFO