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:07/10/2024

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  On 5/4/2023, I entered into an agreement with Ground Loop for two geothermal systems at my property at *** ***** *** Silver Spring Maryland 20910. The project dragged on throughout the year and into 2024 with multiple delays. Finally, they requested the final payment before completing the configuration of the internet/symphony connectivity and the two zone damper which was agreed to as a part of the setup. They initially refused to do this, then came out and told me additional parts were needed for the setup to be configured appropriately. They ordered the parts and completed this portion and were paid $23511.32 for one system and $33027.71 for the other system with the final payments being issued immediately after they addressed these outstanding aspects of the project. However, afterward Ground Loop has attempted to extort me for additional money beyond what was agreed upon for the project at *** ***** *** before providing the required legal paperwork for the tax credits and rebates at the local, state, and federal level. These documents are required for the project to be complete and it is unprofessional and inappropriate to attempt to extort additional money from me when I have paid for what was agreed upon in the agreements. Furthermore, today I requested warranty service on the system in the main house as the thermostat or HVAC is not working properly with the temperature set to 70-73 and reporting 76-79. They have a contractual obligation to provide the appropriate warranty service and support for this system. This is unacceptable and I am requesting help from the BBB to obtain the required completion and legal documents from Ground Loop and for Ground Loop to properly provide the warranty service for this system which has only bee installed for several months.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/18/2024

  To whom it may concern: The customer contacting you is the person who signed multiple contracts with our company, but was not present or apart of prior conversations, description of work, schedule, etc before going under contract. Mr. ****** only became involved mid way through the project. Some of the customers information is correct. We were physically not able to install the system the way the contract was written, which was our fault. We offered to provide a credit back to the customer for the work we could not provide or gave him the option to upgrade some of his other equipment which would let us then install as contracted. We came to an agreement on this issue and the customer received the features he wanted. The primary issue is the customer has multiple contracts with Ground Loop and two are currently not paid in full. We provide some paperwork for rebates and incentives, one of these documents is a paid in full receipt which we cannot provide until paid in full. We tried for months to contact the customer with little to not success. Once we notified him that we cannot provide a paid in full receipt he finally became responsive and demanded his paid in full receipt/incentive paperwork anyway. We have been trying to amicably resolve the remaining balance/issues and are absolutely willing to come to a reasonable agreement between both parties. The customer wishes to discuss no further.   We are under no obligation to provide warranty or service if not paid. We have attached a statement showing the current balance. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/19/2024

  
  I am rejecting this response because: Ground Loop has made multiple factually incorrect statements and is attempting to avoid their professional responsibility at *** ***** *** in order to extort money from me for a separate project at a separate address that I do not own. I would like Ground Loop to provide the final documents required for *** ***** *** for completion of the project.

  The statement, "The customer contacting you is the person who signed multiple contracts with our company, but was not present or apart of prior conversations, description of work, schedule, etc before going under contract. Mr. ****** only became involved mid way through the project", is not truthful. I had the initial conversations about *** ***** with Ted from Ground Loop and personally reviewed and discussed the plan and the system specifications together with him for two geothermal systems at *** ***** ***. Each one of these systems had a separate contract. Ground Loop is referencing a separate agreement they had regarding an entirely different address that I am not at all affiliated with that I referred them to in order to help a friend who is the owner of that address. They had a disagreement with that property owner and they are trying to force me to pay for that separate property owner's project at that property owners address which is entirely separate from my two contracts at *** ***** *** which were paid in full upon Ground Loop addressing the mistakes they made with the internet connectivity. 

  The statement, "We were physically not able to install the system the way the contract was written, which was our fault. We offered to provide a credit back to the customer for the work we could not provide or gave him the option to upgrade some of his other equipment which would let us then install as contracted. We came to an agreement on this issue and the customer received the features he wanted" is correct and we met in person to resolve this after several attempts at communication failed to resolve the issue. Ground Loop initially was trying to demand the final payment for the project and threatened legal action against me without fulfilling the obligations of the contract! This resulted in me putting them in contact with my lawyer and finally they agreed to meet in person after a couple months of not resolving this issue so that they could attempt to resolve the issue. It was disappointing that after saying this was impossible for them to address multiple times in other communications that it was rather easy for them to solve within a couple days work. This made me feel that they were simply trying to avoid their professional responsibility. Ultimately, this was resolved when Ground Loop agreed to provide the service to install the equipment according the the contract appropriately without charge, however they STILL charged me extra for the equipment that should have been provided as a part of the contract. This was very disappointing but ultimately I just wanted to resolve the issue and felt bullied into accepting this even though I feel that it was wrong and they should have honored the original agreement and done the job according to what they agreed without tacking on additional costs that were not in that agreement. 

  The statement "The primary issue is the customer has multiple contracts with Ground Loop and two are currently not paid in full" is not correct as I only have two contracts for *** ***** ***nue and both were paid in full after they finished solving these initial problems with the system not being installed to specification of the contract initially. They are referencing another agreement that does not involve me but is for another address with another homeowner and are trying to extort money from me on behalf of that homeowner which they have a separate disagreement with. It is telling that I am not the only person that is having an issue with Ground Loop providing the professional service they agreed to provide. That homeowner had to hire a separate HVAC professional to finish the work at their residence because Ground Loop refused to perform the work as agreed and also wanted to charge him additional money to complete the work as they had discussed. This is a pattern is seems with Ground Loop to attempt to extort additional money from customers after they do not provide the work as agreed. 

  The statement "We provide some paperwork for rebates and incentives, one of these documents is a paid in full receipt which we cannot provide until paid in full. We tried for months to contact the customer with little to not success" refers to a portion of the documents that Ground Loop is supposed to provide after receiving payment that is used for the appropriate government submissions related to the system and for rebates and tax reasons. I want to be VERY clear that Ground Loop was not only paid IN FULL for the two contracts they had at *** ***** *** after they addressed the problems, but they required me to pay about an extra $1800 for 'extra parts' they said were needed to install the system properly as in the contract. Why would they charge me MORE than the contract in order to fulfill the contract? This is the first example of their bad faith dealing that I encountered and I was bullied into paying this additional amount above what was agreed! Then even after paying MORE than what was agreed to in the contract, Ground Loop refused to provide the final documentation to me for the governmental submissions which is required for *** ***** ***. They said threatened that they would not provide these documents until they received money for the other project which is not related to *** ***** *** at my friend's house which I referred them to and have nothing to do with.

  It is completely disingenuous when Ground Loop states they have "been trying to amicably resolve the remaining balance/issues and are absolutely willing to come to a reasonable agreement between both parties. The customer wishes to discuss no further."  By this they mean that they are trying to extort me to pay for another project at another address that I have no affiliation with or ownership of before providing me with the required documents for my project at *** ***** *** which is paid in full as shown in the invoices and receipts I attached originally with the submission. After their refusal, I requested the bank and credit cards place a hold on the payments made to Ground Loop until they resolve the problem. At this time a portion only a portion of the additional $1800 they inappropriately charged over and above the original contract was recovered, so Ground Loop is still paid in full for the two contracts at *** ***** ***. I would like for Ground Loop to honor their professional obligation and simply provide the documents required for the two contracts at *** ***** which are paid in full. I do not believe that I should be responsible for additional money over and above the original contract for their incompetence in installing the system they agreed to install in the contract. These extra costs should be costs they incur for their own mistake and should not be passed on to me.

  The statement "The customer wishes to discuss no further" is obviously not true as I am communicating currently with BBB and my Lawyer and Ground Loop to attempt to resolve the issue amicably, however Ground Loop has refused to do so. It is actually Ground Loop that has stopped appropriately communicating about this issue NOT me. 

  The statement "We are under no obligation to provide warranty or service if not paid. We have attached a statement showing the current balance" is just another example of unprofessional bullying on the part of Ground Loop. Since they have been paid in full for both contracts at *** ***** (as shown in the invoices and receipts I initially attached, they have a contractual and professional obligation to warranty and service, which they are refusing to provide. The system was not installed properly and stopped cooling over two weeks ago and completely stopped working last week. I notified Ground Loop that they needed to evaluate and fix the system which was just completed and paid for. Ground Loop refused to service their system as an attempt to again bully me the customer into submission to pay extra money they are trying to extort inappropriately again--this time for a property completely unrelated to me! It is ridiculous. If they have a problem with another homeowner/project they should take that up with that individual. They should fulfill their service and professional obligation to my two contracts at 310 Wayne. Instead, I have had to hire another professional to fix their problem who identified problems with the way in which Ground Loop configured the cooling lines for which I have attached photos. 

  The costs incurred for fixing the problems that Ground Loop has refused to address from their work as well as the damages from displacing my tenants at the property should also be Ground Loop's responsibility and I am no waiving any legal rights that may be appropriate against Ground Loop outside of obtaining the documentation related to the system completion for the government submissions by addressing this matter with the BBB.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* ******

  Business Response

  Date: 07/22/2024

  Good Morning-

  This is part of where this dispute is stuck with the customer. I have attached a copy of the email thread where Mr. ******' assistant signed the other contract. All three contracts are in Mr. ******' name. There was never a question on who was responsible for paying after ***** ******** who works for ****** M LLC confirmed that they were taking care of payments. The deposit was paid for ****** **** through ****** M LLC. As per the emails attached, we were led to believe that Michael ****** and ****** M LLC was responsible for all payments. There are two properties that we worked on, ****** **** and ***** ******. We were trying to resolve the issue with the ****** **** property and a piece of equipment that Mr. ****** still has that needs to be picked up or paid for. He decided to do a chargeback dispute on two $1,000.00 payments and was given that money back on the ***** ***. project. Therefore we now have two properties that are not paid in full and cannot provide any paperwork saying they are paid in full. That is what he wants and we cannot physically do that until this is resolve. Jason, my Vice President is on vacation and will not be back until Monday, July 29th. 

  Thank you, 

  Gina H******

  Office Manager

  Business Response

  Date: 07/31/2024

  In order for Ground Loop provide final incentive paperwork (which includes paid in full receipts), and to provide any necessary warranty work; is for the customer to be paid in full. There is an outstanding balance of $2,000 that needs to be paid. In addition we need to resolve the remaining issues from Work Order Authorization. The WO was signed by his representative, as admitted to in the attached emails. The WO was $8,300 for some duct work and for a stand alone dehumidifier, and a $4,000 deposit was made. Work began and the owner/his represenative made some changes to the ducting required, and we agreed to a $500 to include the duct change requested. All the ducting was competed except the installation of 1 return because we were waiting for the onsite contractor to do some framing. We also had a loose connection on the microwave vent that we were going to address when we came back to finish the return work. The dehumidifier is onsite and we were ready to hook it up stand alone as per the contract when they decided they did not want it stand alone but they wanted it duct into the house. We gave them an option to duct the dehumidifier into the house which the homeowner declined. It is at this point that the owner wished to walk away from the work altogether not respond to our attempts to resolve this matter reasonably. For several months we tried to contact the owner to resolve this with little to no response. At this point the amount of work not completed under the WO is a small 1 return duct and an exhaust vent pipe needs to be resecured, and dehumidifier plugged into the wall. We offered to credit the owner back for this work which was not completed. Right or wrong the WO did not specify a price separately for the dehumidifier from the ductwork. We have offered to pick up the dehumidifier and even went above and beyond to make the matter go away and resolve peacefully to waive the remaining $1800 or if he would like to keep the dehumidifier he can pay $3,000 and we will waive the $1,800. We have been trying to have a cordial conversation about this for months and the owner's response to us is he is not willing to talk about it period, and he is paying no more money period. 

  Ground Loop has been diligently trying to resolve this matter and is hopeful we can bring this to an end.

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/07/2024

  Better Business Bureau:

  I would like to reject the offer of Arbitration for complaint ID ********. The business is in receipt of correspondence from my lawyer.

  Sincerely,

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