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:11/01/2024

  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.

  Please see attached files for details. Your form does not allow enough characters to explain the problem. Superior Softwash was here on July 30 & 31, 2024. I have many more photos if needed. This company is very unresponsive when trying to report damage. It took 12 days to hear from their "site manager." The only reason they finally emailed me was because I threatened to call my attorney. After I did that, they said I was harassing them. They have made no other attempts to contact me. It will cost well over $10,000 to clean up the mess they made. They pretend to know a lot about shrubs, trees, and plant material, but they are not licensed arborists or landscape architects. This is why I had my licensed arborist as well as landscape designer take a look at the damage. I included my latest water bill so you can see the exhorbitant amount of water consumed at my home. We were very diligent about watering the landscape this summer due to the impending drought situation in central Maryland. They will probably try to say that I don;t water and take care of my plant material. Please see the 2 attached "Details" pages for more information. The added line about the plant guarantee had no asterisk by it or time frame to report damage. The salesperson/agent said nothing about a time frame and I was led to believe they had liability insurance. The "Conditions" page which states a 14 day period is part of their standard boiler plate contract. The site manager said it was 10 days. They cam't seem to get their stories straight. I would not have signed the contract if told that the guarantee was not insurance and I only had 2 weeks to declare damage. Damage to conifers can take up to a month or more to show up! This is fradulent misrepresentation on the part of the sales AGENT in my opinion.
  
  **** ****

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/19/2024

  See attached response.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/20/2024

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: He does not address the points that I have made:

  1) I paid extra for a guarantee of no plant damage. There was no time limit mentioned in this addendum. The 14 day notation is listed on all standard contracts. Why did I pay extra? I would have not purchased their services If I had no guarantee that plants would not be damaged.

  2) I have written reports from the professional arborist from ***** **** stating their chemicals were the cause of the tree damage/death.To my knowledge, Superior Softwash are not professional arborists so they do not know as much about plants, shrubs, and trees. It takes as long as a month for that type of damage to show up in conifers. My landscaper and arborist had been here before, and during the first couple of weeks after, they softwashed my roof and saw no damage.

  3) They are accusing me of not watering my shrubs, plants, etc. I watered non-stop this summer, especially due to the high temperatures and drought conditions. My water bill was hundreds of dollars, which is proof I was watering.

  4) Sending their crew out to take care of plants that were damaged would have caused more plant death. ***** **** had been out in August already to check my yard/[plant material. Fertilization had been done before they performed softwashing. More fertilizer would have further damaged my plants, but they don't seem to understand that. Propably because they do not have a horticultural degree.

  5) Temperatures went as high as the upper 90s while they worked on my roof, so they are incorrect in their statement. Wind gusts were much more than 10 MPH. You can see it here:  LINK REMOVED

  There were severe thunderstorm warnings on those days, but the rain never came. The wind gusts most likely blew some of the chemicals onto the tops of the taller trees (0ne as tall as 25+ feet) that were damaged, which is the professional opinion of my aborist, who has been practicing since the 1990s. These trees were conifers. The damage started at the tops of these larger trees. Once those chemicals hit the needles in a conifer, they are damaged. 

  6) I was told numerous times that someone would come out to look at my damaged plants within a couple days of me first calling. They never showed up. They did not respond to me until I threatened to call my attorney. They have done this with others. Here is another recent review on ******: here: LINK REMOVED

  There are also numerous reviews on **** showing I am not the only person who has had their home and/or shrubs and trees destroyed. They lie to people!!! Please see here: LINK REMOVED

  7) The owner of the company called me on Tuesday evening, December 17th. He wanted to talk to me for "20 minutes," and I said I could not talk at the time because I was making dinner. He then pushed me for a time on Wednesday to talk. I told him I had 2 doctor appointments on that day for my disabled sister as well as an appointment on Thursday and could not commit to a time this week because I may have more appointments based on what the doctors would tell me on Wednesday and Thursday. It upsets me that I called for 2 weeks back in August and was ignored, then when he calls at 6:45 pm while I am making dinner, I am supposed to drop everything for him and/or rearrange my schedule for the rest of the week to accommodate him. This is a very busy time of the year for anyone, especially someone who is the sole caregiver of a physically and developmentally disabled sister. I will send him an email and tell him I can speak with him after Christmas. He can certainly wait 10 days to 2 weeks. I have waited since the 3rd week of August. 

  I hope the BBB can do something about this company! They have damaged so many customer's properties—home exteriors and landscapes—but keep getting away with it!

  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/18/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore 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.

  14 Nov 2023 The SoftWash results of the cleaning of house and roof are exceptionally great! The gentlemen who performed the work were professional and extra nice.
  BUT after the process all three decks evidenced pervasive very light blotches caused by Superior SoftWash chemicals. On other wood surfaces as well. We had had days of extensive and copious rain and I was informed the wood was so wet it would not absorb the chemicals.
  
  Aqua Star, which prepped and stained the decks months before, found no structural or other problems. The decks looked great through two seasons before Superior cleaned the house and roof.
  
  Needed resolution to make 4 stars: Superior Administration to finally follow through with agreed upon reimbursement costs for the re-staining of my decks plus supplies and cost of stain.
  
  For months I patiently, nicely and with compliments contacted Superior with little responses to address the damage. I am not interested in any communication with them except a check.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/25/2024

  After receiving a call from Mrs. *******, one of the owners went out to inspect the decks with her. Upon inspection, it appeared as though the workmanship from the original stain was less than desirable. Furthermore, the client also stated that the stain job was nearly two years old. So, the deck had endured weathering for nearly two years. Our SoftWash cleaning process does not routinely "strip decks" nor damage deck staining. However; she was thrilled with the results of her home SoftWashing. So, in hopes of keeping Mrs ******* a happy client, Talbot W******, one of the owners, agreed to supplement Mrs *******'s cost to have her deck stained again. We were waiting on Mrs. ******* to get a cost from her painter to restain her deck. There was some delay in getting a total cost of the stain job. In the transition of getting pricing, and reimbursing her to supplement the cost of the stain job, we failed to follow standard company procedure regarding proactive client communication. Upon Receiving this complaint, Talbot W****** handled the process personally and made sure Mrs. ******* was reimbursed promptly. We not only wrote the check immediately, but we overnighted the check to her the same day. We have attached a pic of the tracking number that shows delivery to Mrs. *******. We will use this experience to learn and insure future clients do not have to go through the same waiting process.

   

  Sincerely

  Talbot W****** 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/25/2024

  
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ****** *******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/16/2022

  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 May 9, 2022, Superior SoftWash (MHIC #137667) came to my house to perform Softwash services to remove mold from my siding, brick and gutters, sidewalk and house foundation. During the process of performing the work, the company personnel performing the job damaged one of my motion sensor spotlights, rendering it inoperable. I contacted the company representative, Laura, and was verbally informed that I would receive a replacement in kind, or nearly in kind and of equal value. I have since telephoned the company twice more, sent by txt msg to Laura the equivalent motion sensor spotlight made by the same company as my other two lights, and still have not received any replacement motion sensor light. The approximate spotlight value is $90 plus tax. My contract value was $2119.12.
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/07/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2022/08/30) */
  It is unfortunate on our company's end that the client felt it necessary to file a complaint through the BBB. This was a simple thing that was an oversight. We have issued the client a refund in the amount of $96.00. Although this looks like a small matter, Our client care process is something we take great pride in. We have investigated this issue and taken the necessary steps to make sure that out processes are followed in the future alleviating other clients from experiencing the same issue. We will use this situation to train and get better to assure a thing such as this is never an issue again.