Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/05/2024

  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.

  On Jul 3rd, we signed a contract with RF Home Co for demo/install of a backsplash and to refinish (sand, paint, and seal) our kitchen cabinets. We had a design consultation after signing the contract where we looked to the designer to choose a tile that would look good with our countertops. They chose a white tile with ***** in it, so we assumed it would match. They were scheduled to start work on 1 Nov with the tile person doing demo and beginning to install tile. They removed our partial granite backsplash and porcelain backsplash and discarded them. The first time we actually saw the tile in our home was when they started installing it on 1 Nov. It was immediately clear that the tile did not match the kitchen. We reached out to ****** early on 2 Nov to let her know. We worked all day *** buying and testing out tile to help minimize any delay to RF Home Co's schedule. We found a tile that matched, let them know, and they said they would re-work our contract on 5 Nov. She said she would have her tile person remove the tile on Mon, the cabinet team would start as scheduled, and she would get back to us with a new schedule. We expressed that the tile person could still install tile on Mon since we had found a replacement tile; choosing grout and trim would be easy to do while he was working. On Mon, the tile person came back and removed the tile. We tried calling the owner to discuss options. She did not have time to talk to us. By 2 p.m., she still had not attempted to contact us. We contacted her and left a message. At 5:16 p.m. with no contact from the owner & no attempt to discuss, we received an email from the company saying they were canceling our project, which is a breech of the contract. They cited concerns about us as people that were unfounded, implying we would be hard to please and might not pay (despite already paying a $4K deposit). They refunded the deposit; however, we are out our granite and porcelain backsplashes, time, and project completion.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/12/2024

  RF Home Co, did not initiate the change to the contract and could no longer accommodate schedule due to the change. The client is understandably upset that her project is not being completed, however, this project was not a good fit and could no longer be performed in the original time due to the clients changes.  The client was refunded in full, and had work and materials performed/given to them at no charge. 
  
  At the design appt, where there are hundreds of tile options the client made their color and tile selections.
  RF home co does not make these selections for the client but of course assists for the best outcome possible. Samples are available to take home (just as they did with their paint sample). At this appt the client noted a lot of apprehension about painting their cabinets and also noted that it took approximately a year to pick out a floor color. However, I felt like we made a lot of progress.
  
  A few days before the project start, we send a schedule confirmation with the payment terms copy and pasted from the contract. 
  It was at this point the client questioned the terms and indicated they were not comfortable with paying at completion but wanted a 7 day waiting period. I offered at that time, if they were not comfortable with the terms we could terminate the contract. The only reason I offered that as an option was because there were other instances that had lead me to the point of this being the tipping point that maybe we were not a good fit for them.
  
  We began the project on Friday November 1st. 
  On Saturday November 2nd we were notified by the client they did not like their selection and that they were questioning the paint color as well. Painting was not scheduled to begin until the following week.
  I responded to them repeatedly on Saturday even though I was out of the office. They had reported to have gone to the store and selected tiles and found one they liked better (which was a tile we carry in our showroom that they could have originally selected). The tile change is not the issue, as there are changes on contracts all the time, and most of the time we waive any and all fees that we can because we put the client first. However, in this particular case, I explained that because she was questioning the paint color AND the tile that and because she had so  much hesitancy with decisions in the first place that I would prefer to paint the cabinets first as that affects how the counter/tile/room looks so much. And I didnt want her to further regret any tile decision. She kept saying that tile should/could begin again on Monday. 
  I let them know that was not possible, as we now needed to get new grout supplies, select a new grout color, and new edge pieces as all of this was selected for the original tile. I let them know this would all need to be figured out and have the contract updated and assess any additional fees. Their original tile was also non-returnable and cost nearly $1000 so I wanted to see if I could get an exception, etc. 
  
  I told the client that the tiler would return on Monday to remove the tile and get the project ready for paint and we would reassess. The client's husband called at 10:12am on Monday morning, and I returned that call at 10:14am and left a voicemail. Happy to provide call log.  I also told her in one of the emails from the weekend that it would be later in the day Monday before I could assess all this as I had to contact the tile distributor etc regarding the return. 
  
  Per our terms (attached): This would be a $250 change fee, plus all materials and labor associated with the change because it was after the project start. This would have required an additional design appt ($150), and an additional day of labor (removal of what was installed/reinstallation) and to begin installation again. New supplies for grout and edge pieces. Totaling a change of an addition of $1300. 
  
  After assessing that we would need an additional design appt to make further selections, I also knew we would no longer be able to maintain the schedule through no fault of our own. We were supposed to complete the backsplash on Nov 4th/5th, however as of the 4th I was working on the return of the tile and then would have to get the new design appt scheduled to select grout and edge pieces. I thought I could maybe make this work on the 5th/6th but realized I would not be able to and with the painters in the house, it wouldn't be possible to complete. The backsplash would have had to be significantly pushed out past the 1st of the year as we did not  have availability for the hours needed for the tiler for this project until March and as previously stated I was uneasy with moving forward with a decision made so hastily. It is their home, and we will install whatever they choose but knowing how thoughtful and lengthy previous decisions were I was not comfortable executing a new tile that we were not under contract for. Knowing they were also questioning the payment terms and paint color, among other minor things I decided it would be unfortunately best to not proceed. 
  
  I had fallen ill and sent them an email letting them know that we would not be moving forward with the project. Even though we were contracted for and executed the tile demo before they changed the terms/tile selection we refunded them 100% in full, including the work performed.
  
  I understand they wanted their renovation complete for the holidays but that was no longer possible given their change and our schedule. She informed me on 11/18 in a multi paragraph email where she insulted everything from my mental health to business practices -that she had already found another backsplash company to proceed this week.  Despite this email, and despite losing thousands of dollars ourselves from this project we also offered to let them have 2 doors that we had made to somewhat match their existing doors to cover some cubbies, they did not want exposed at no charge. On Nov 11th the husband responded to my email saying that he greatly appreciated the offer and that it was generous. An offer he accepted, and picked up the doors yesterday and thanked us again for after leaving. So I am stunned today to receive a letter asking for an additional $1000.
  
  We did not initiate the change to the materials under the contract. And while I understand having the project cancelled is very frustrating for them, their email response confirmed that it was not a relationship that could continue. Even though per the contract, I was perfectly fine to keep the money due fpr the tile they changed and for all materials procured and labor performed (totaling $2912) I refunded them in full because I can still empathize with being frustrated at having a contract cancelled. In 11 years and thousands of projects, it is something we have only done 3 timesand this being the ONLY time ever after starting. So it wasnt something we felt good about even though we knew it was the right decision for our team.
  
  Again, these changes were not initiated by us, and we could no longer accommodate schedule. We were uneasy moving forward, and in correspondence with the client they were uneasy as well so we saw this not being a optimal path to continue on. 
  
  
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/12/2024

  Correction: the email from the customer responding to her cancellation was on 11/8. Not 11/18. 
  Additionally happy to provide any necessary evidence that she initiated the changed and that she signed off on her original tile choice. 

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/12/2024

  At the end of the day, both the contractor and the customer did not have confidence in moving forward on this project. The client changed the scope, the schedule could no longer be accommodated, and because we refunded in full, the client ended up receiving their tile demo for free, ended up not being out $1000 on non refundable tile, and according to them were able to get a contractor in that was cheaper and they felt better about. We lost thousands to simply walk away from a situation that looked like it was going to not go well. They are upset, they sent an email that was around ************************************************* and I responded to that with kindness and offering them additional materials. Unfortunately, Their own material change was not going to allow this project to be done on the timeline they wanted whether we did the project or not.I am sorry we didnt have a better outcome as I don't want anyone to feel frustrated with us but I am just stunned at any request for monetary damages when we took the demo hit and all the material hit for them. We didnt just refund them in full, which is a financial loss, but we have a lot of material and labor loss and made no effort to recoup despite work performed.  I have really been trying to lead with empathy and understanding, even ignoring mental health issues mockingly put in quotes by the client- to be thrown back in my face that I openly share for the sake of inspiring other small business owners. I ignored all the of the personal attacks in order to try to move things along peacefully and was shocked today.  At this point, I really just wish for all communication with them to end. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/18/2024

  **mplaint: 22514838
  
  I have reviewed the business' response and am rejecting it because:

  The business owner fails to realize that it took 6 months for us to plan a major home renovation, which the kitchen was just a small part of.  I scheduled our floor refinishing to be finished prior to the cabinets being done at the advice of RF Homes *** That meant that the staircase and painting all had to be done prior to the kitchen project as well.  This took a lot of time and coordination, and we had it all planned to be completed before Thanksgiving, so that we could enjoy the holidays with family. While we did find a contractor to finish our backsplash on short notice, and it was cheaper, the cabinet estimates are coming in much higher than what we had contracted with RF Homes *** one estimate almost double. RF Homes ** chose to move forward with terminating our contract without one phone call or attempt to resolve.  We only agreed that it was in our best interests to not do business with them after they acted in such an unprofessional way and had already canceled our contract over email.  If RF Homes ** had tried to resolve issues with the wrong tile color early on, their schedule could've easily been maintained as we had already found replacement tile the same day that we notified the owner that there was an issue with the color. The only reason the company lost money is because they chose to walk away from an unfinished project, leaving us with no backsplash and a kitchen that wasn't presentable.  We will still have empty cabinets and boxes everywhere for the holidays.  The 12-paragraph email was giving feedback to RF Homes ** on how they can do better and act in a more professional way with their customers. While it may have been perceived as insulting to the owner, it was not intended to be insulting, and we truly tried to take time (after we were no longer upset) to give the owner feedback that would be useful in running a business professionally.  The owner said she likes transparency, and we thought it best to be transparent in hopes that she would treat other customers better in the future.  In addition, we were never able to give her our feedback in person because she didn't call us once from the start of the project until canceling the project via email with no attempt to resolve.  Since the cancelation of the project, we have spent 4 more days off of work with a contractor in our kitchen where we were unable to use it to cook meals and eat dinner as a family; we have spent many hours meeting with and getting new estimates from new contractors to finish our kitchen; and we will have to spend an additional week off of work when the new contractor will be able to come complete our cabinet painting job.  RF Homes ** gave us the $400 custom cabinets that they had already built for our project, so we would be happy with $600, which hardly pays for the weeks worth of time that this has cost us, in addition to the thousands of dollars more that our cabinets will cost to have refinished by another contractor.  In the end, we will have lost much more than $1000, and again, not by choice.  We did not choose to walk away from the contract and were very ready to continue on, resolve the tile issue, and pay for any change fees and the loss of materials.  If we had gotten in some type of argument or had done something wrong, we could understand RF Homes ** walking out in the middle of a contract; however, nothing of that sort happened, and she didn't even speak to us once to even attempt to find a solution.  We have worked with many contractors, even over the past 6 months, and when there are minor issues, we discuss the issue and all move forward in a professional way.  That was our only expectation from RF Homes ***  We did not expect them to walk out of our home with all materials for the project knowing they weren't coming back without even one discussion to resolve the issue and then them canceling the contract with no warning.  We should be owed more with all that this is costing us, but we are only asking for a small amount.

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

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/19/2024

  I understand that it took time to plan a home renovation. It took us time to plan our part of her renovation as well. To put it simply, on Saturday November 2nd the client contacted us second guessing their tile choice. We corresponded back and forth 11 times the same day we were notified, outside of business hours, to work the problem. It was impossible for us to respond more promptly. As previously explained to the customer in that correspondence, we needed to select and procure new end pieces and grout. We also needed to work on the total cost change and attempt to get the non refundable tile refunded. This is something we are STILL working on. We let them know we had to finalize these changes before proceeding. Because they were still questioning paint color we also let them know we were uncomfortable  proceeding with the tile before painting was complete. They pushed back against this. 
  While I understand their desire to have the renovation completed on their schedule.the fact is the scope had changed due to a tile change from the client. Our schedule did not have the flexibility to accommodate this change and be completed prior to the holidays. It was no longer possible due to their change that we worked several hours on the weekend to accommodate. If my intention had been to cancel the project when we sent **** there to do additional work, I would not have spent so much time addressing this with her on a weekend. Throughout those interactions, combined with previous interactions, by Monday afternoon -after working with the tile distributor that morning, I chose to cancel the project. Not only could we no longer accommodate the schedule, the scope had changed and we were no longer comfortable proceeding with the client based on our correspondence and deliberation with our team on Monday. Monday was our first availability to loop our team in and discuss how to proceed. 
  Despite the client initiating the change, despite us spending the weekend addressing that change, despite work already performed, we refunded the client in full. PLUS they received labor (backsplash demo) and materials at no charge.  We can not be pushed or forced to do projects when a client is questioning every design choice and when we are saying okay lets pause and proceed correctly and do this right and the client is adamant that we proceed as planned. Especially when that plan is not only no longer possible but has changed. That is a how a project snowballs out of control. The client received a full refund in addition to over $1300 in free labor and mavterals that they were able to benefit from, in addition to not being held financially responsible for the non refundable tile of almost $1000.