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:10/24/2022

  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.

  Unfortunately had a very poor experience with Handyman Connection, and it's contractor. What was suppose to be a 1 day project turned into a 7 week disaster. The contractor they used had such a poor attitude the entire time, and made mistake after mistake and tried to take too many shortcuts that resulted in extremely poor quality of work that continually needed to be redone. The contractor kept talking about how poor the company was, and specifically used many vulgarities in describing the owner of the company as well. After attempting to deal with the owner, I can see where the contractor was coming from. Once the problems started, I attempted to contact the owner on multiple occasions. Was told they would always call me back - never did once, despite knowing there were problems. Then, when collecting payment after this nightmare project was over, the owner finally tried to talk to me right on the way out as the contractor was several hours late and wouldn't move their vehicle out of the way for me to leave. I told the owner I did not have time to talk to them at that moment, and then got a "grow up" email from the owner later that night (amazingly unprofessional), simply because I did not have time to *finally* talk to them at that exact moment after they *never* returned any of my messages over the last several weeks. On top of that, they tried to bill me for work that was part of the signed scope. Lesson learned - will never hire a company that simply outsources the work to independent contractors. Too risky, and quite frankly they don't care when things go wrong. They will say "Well I could've just left the job..." ... Again, crazy unprofessional. What started as a < $500 single screen repair resulted in a $2000 job that accomplished virtually nothing.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/31/2022

  I am deeply sorry that the client was dissatisfied with the outcome of the project. That said, his review left out some important information. We initially installed aluminum screening on the exterior of his porch. A few days after the work was complete, we received photos from the client showing fairly large holes in some areas of the recently installed screens. The client indicated that his cat had created the holes and that it was our responsibility to rescreen the porch again. Due to the diameter of the holes in question, (the holes were the size of a man's fist), we seriously doubted his story, however we agreed at our expense to purchase different screening material and install it at no additional cost to the customer. The amount of money the new screening material cost was $300.00, and the additional labor was over $1,000. The material was a special order and took six weeks to arrive. This obviously caused a major delay in the completion date. After the installation of the more durable screening material was complete, I personally contacted the client to make sure he was satisfied with the results and collect his final payment.  When the customer answered my call, he paid for the work in full and offered no complaints regarding the new material or workmanship. Once he paid for the work I attempted to apologize for the delay in the schedule. He commented that he had no interest in accepting my apology for the delay in the project, furthermore, had no interest in speaking further with me. Needless to say, I was shocked at his behavior. We could have easily elected not to replace the aluminum mesh screening and walk away from the job; however, this is not how we conduct business. Our company is completely committed to total customer satisfaction no matter what the cost.

  For the record, I bent over backward to honor my commitment to ************** and in return all I received from him was a complete lack of respect. For the reasons stated above including his lack of respect, I do not feel any reduction in the amount paid is called for. 
  

  Regards,
  
  *****************************
  Owner and Operator
  Handyman Connection of Silver Spring
  12057 A Tech Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904
  Relentlessly Pursuing Excellence
  
  Office: ************** Cell: ************** Email: *********@handymanconnection.com

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/02/2022

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:   Unfortunately the owner of the company has resorted to a plethora of lies and dishonesty in their response on so many levels, which I will outline below:

  1.  Contrary to what the owner says, the holes were not created by "cats", nor did I ever say that.   Nor did any amount of time pass between the job being done and the holes, because I contacted the company while the contractor was still working on the screening in the middle of the job.  Even the contractor himself said there was no way for him to work with the aluminum screening and not create those holes as he had to bend the screening to staple it to the frame, and the aluminum screening tears when it is bent.   I am flabbergasted that the owner would make up a story about cats, and also lie about any amount of time passing.  This is all documented on text message with the company when the pictures were sent - the same day the contractors were out continuing to work on the screening.  Not only that - all the holes were behind the railing where the screening is staples to the frame - no animal could even get there if they wanted to, much less a cat.   But regardless, it's silly since I sent the company pictures of the holes while the contractors were still working on the screening, and even they admitted that they had to make the holes in order to bend and staple the screen to the frame (since they chose not to remove the trim and install the screen underneath, but rather staple it directly to the frame of the porch - which was a huge mistake to begin with and not the right way to install a screen). 
  

  2.  Contrary to what the owner says, there were absolutely no "special order" items that took "weeks" to arrive.   The contractor drove to the hardware store and picked up all the screening - no screening was ever ordered at any time.   It puzzles me why the owner would make something like this up.  But since he also made up a cat story, I guess it fits with his integrity.

  3.  I never once refused to accept his apology or refused to talk to him.   First and foremost - I called his company multiple times, and on at least 3 occasions I asked to speak to the owner.   The lady who always answers the call said that he would call me back.   He never once did at all.  At the time he called his contractor to get payment information late in the day weeks after the job was suppose to be have been completed, the contractor was 6 hours behind schedule and I had to leave to pick up my daughter from school.  I politely said I can't talk right now because I need to pick up my daughter.  Again, the owner has made up his own story to fit his agenda. 

  4.  Less than a week after installation, the screen at the top of the porch has already come off.   Upon inspection, the contractor didn't install the screen properly under the trim at the top and most likely couldn't reach it and just left the screen disconnected at the top.   The wind literally blew the screen off the top section of the porch in less than a week.  
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************
  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/25/2022

  *************** to **. ****** allegations and slanderous remarks. Please note I did not respond to **. ****** second voicing of his initial complaint using the standard response form email to me several days ago. This was because the form did not allow me to attach the number of supporting documents I required. Attached is a copy of the original contract. The day after my crew installed the aluminum screen mesh ************** contacted my lead person on the job informing him that his cat had ripped several holes in the mesh. ********************, (the lead on the project) distinctly remembers the conversation and I have no reason to doubt him. As you can see from the attached photos, I am almost 100% certain that a cat could not have created the damage. Why ************** would intentionally damage the screens is anyones guess. My guess is he did not like the look of the aluminum mesh and had found online another product which was more aesthetically appealing. Rescreening porches is something we see a lot of, and ******************** has a long track record of successful installations. Thinking thru this situation logically, why would we intentionally leave holes in the screening and expect to be paid? The answer is simple.. we wouldnt. As stated in my previous email response, ************** blamed the damages on his cat asking for us at our expense to replace the screening with a product he selected. Desiring to keep ************** satisfied and with the knowledge that he assured us no monies would be exchanged until new screening was installed, I acquiesced. A deal was struck whereby we would reinstall the new screening at no additional cost and ************** would assume the cost of the screening material.
  
  I was the one who ordered the new screening materials. At the time of purchase was informed of the material being on backorder. Upon successful installation of the new screening material and in the presence of ******************** ************** agreed to make payment in full on the original contract but reneged on his promise to pay for the new screening material. I personally took his credit card information and ran the charge thru our Merchant Servicer. Once the transaction had been completed, I attempted to apologize for the delay the material caused in the second installation. ************** abruptly cut me off mid sentence and informed me that he did not care to hear my apology and the conversation ended abruptly. I can assure you his demeanor was anything but polite.
  
  Attached are copies of:
  
  The original contract
  Images of the damaged aluminum screen
  Images of the completed installation
   
  In conclusion, I have spent way too much time and money on this matter and have no interest in continuing this back and forth with him. The project was completed successfully, and a payment was received. Again, logically speaking why would ************** have paid in full on the original contract if it had not ultimately been completed to his satisfaction. Of particular note, in the sixteen years I have been in business I have never had dealings with such a person as **************. I certainly do not appreciate his inappropriate remarks and slanderous statements. My BBB accreditation stretching over many years should attest to my integrity and honest dealings with over twenty thousand clients year to date.   
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************
  Owner and Operator
  Handyman Connection of Silver Spring
  12057 A Tech Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904
  Relentlessly Pursuing Excellence
  
  "To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity
  
  ************************* - Author 
  
  Please remember to always use **** licensed contractors.
  
  You can verify if they are and that their license is current at the following link:
  
  Maryland ***************************
  
  *************************************************************************************************************
  Office: ************** Cell: ************** Email: *********************************                             
  
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  ***************************** 

  Owner 

  Handyman Connection of Silver Spring

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/28/2022

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The owner of this company continues to go further and further down the rabbit hole of complete absurdity.   In the spirit of not writing a book, I will make very concise points:

  1.  I've attached some original pictures of the holes in the screen.   Anyone can see these are not holes that can be "created" - these are holes due to the improper attaching of the screen.    If a cat, or a human, were to "create" holes - the screen would be taught and there would be a rip/tear of a hole.  You can see all the slack in the screen - slack that wouldn't be there if the screen were probably attached.

  2. Actually I never contacted ******************** about the holes in the screen - his coworker was the one who called him, from his cell phone, and explained - while I stood there - that this screen doesn't work and there's no way he can attach it without making these holes because he doesn't have the right equipment.   This same coworker QUIT the company a few weeks later, citing the owner's lack of integrity and ************************ poor attitude.  This same coworker said, on this call to ********************, that he told ******************** from the beginning that the aluminum screen ******************** recommended was not a good idea and could not be installed properly without scaffolding.   ******************** did say he didn't remember him telling him that.  I then tried to get ahold of **************, and instead got their office manager who requested pictures and said ************** would call me back, which he never did.

  3. No new screen materials were ordered.   I wonder why, with all the attachments ************** made, that he didn't attach the order of the screening materials that he "personally ordered"?  Because it doesn't exist.  I have all the receipts from when ******************** went to ********** and ***** and purchased the screening directly.

  They did not leave holes intentionally in the screen - they simply thought that the holes wouldn't matter that much since they were tucked away in corners.   I have had another contractor out who took a look at the installation job of the screening and laughed about how they just stapled it to the frame instead of removing the the trim and attaching it underneath - the proper way, and the way it was done when it was built.   Instead, they thought they could get away with shortcuts and that no one would notice.   And obviously that comes from the very top, the owner of the company, who continues to create absurd stories.   I'd love to have ************************ coworker, who by the way installed 90% of the screen, sit down with myself and ***************   Because this would be sorted out very, very quickly.
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************