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:05/25/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore 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.

  The payments were made in advance because Mr. ****** told us that, due to COVID-19 price increases, we would have to pay him in advance to get the best prices and that our items were paid for and ready to be installed when needed (the only thing we needed to do was pick out the color for the cabinets, backsplash, and countertops) We paid him in full for items that were to be installed at our residence. Copies of payments cashed by UMB Bank and FRB Credit Union are available.
  
  We have text messages from July 2021 to December 2022 trying to get Mr. ****** to complete the work started at our home. (We have text messages as well as the receipts for payments to BAEO Constructions (AKA ****** Zapata).
  
  We paid Mr. ****** a total of $34,175 for the following, which includes the list below that was not completed:
  
  The balance of work remaining to be done is $13,075.
  1. Stairs. The staircase was not stained as promised and the rod-iron spindles were not secured.
  2. Kitchen. We paid in advance for countertops, cabinets, a barnyard door, pot filler, a laundry chute reinstallation that was torn out during demolition, and a breakfast nook.
  3. Bathroom. The first-floor bathroom next to the kitchen was not torn down to the studs and no wall lighting was installed.
  4. The baseboards and floor flashings were left undone.
  5. The back door frame was left undone.
  6. Reimbursement for a broken stove and motion detector that was damaged during demolition.
  7. Incomplete basement bathroom shower floor which has scratches that were never repaired as promised. The entire ceramic shower floor has to be ripped up and reinstalled.
  
  As of December 2022, almost two years, we have had no communication with Mr. ****** to right the wrongs that he has done to us financially.
  
  Mr. ****** promised to have our kitchen completed in a month, and it’s been two years. In April 2023, we had to spend thousands of dollars to get our kitchen back to some kind of normalcy.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/13/2023

  God as my witness that I tried to asume all the extra costs due to covid and so I did it with the bathroom downstairs, the bathroom upstairs, even when I fixed all your drain issues,  all the new joists we replaced underneath the bathroom in the kitchen area, every time the customers was asking me for any repair I wasn't charging any additional labor only store costs materials and it easy to prove with the payments I received, when we were ready to install the cabinets we had everything done, floor, walls, electric work and plumbing but then you told me that you had plans for the next couple weeks and I had to reschedule it. Then the guys were busy working in another job and the same way they spent all that time working only in your house they had to be at the other job. When everything was ready I asked you just for once if you could help me with the difference of costs which it was going to be directly paid by you to the store it was only the increased difference but you refused, even considering there was a balance due up on completion and now you are saying you choose to paid someone else thousands of dollars because you didn't want to paid the difference for your cabinets? I doubt you spent less of what the cabinets difference was. It is always the same unfortunately we experience everyday people think that just because we are nice as a hispanic crew and we are just looking for work and not making any profit we should accept not been paid for the job we actually make. The customer had to assume only like there thousand for the cost difference I even gave then the company number so they can pay directly and then we were going to do the installation and then we were going to get paid the balance with it was another three thousand but the owner refused arguing that they had paid enough even though they know how many times the cut my estimated and I had to work just with in their will.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/14/2023

  
  In response to Mr. ******’s accusations that the we took advantage of him and his workers because of their race or national origin is 100% false, and it the same race card he pulled with us about the St. Louis City being hard on them because they are Hispanics. 
  
  Each job that we asked Mr. ****** to complete he gave us a bid for, and we accepted his estimate of the cost. At no time did he relay to us about a discount. Mr. ****** was recommended to me by a friend who told me that his work and his prices were competitive. The following jobs that we contracted Mr. ****** to complete: Upstairs bathroom, downstairs bathroom, joists in the kitchen ceiling supporting the upstairs bathroom, demolition of the kitchen, drywalling and taping the kitchen, were all completed by Mr. ****** and every check that we wrote him was cashed by him. 
  
  The following jobs installing kitchen cabinets and installing granite countertops were paid in advanced to Mr. ******, because he said he couldn’t guarantee that their prices would increase. He suggested that we pay him in advance because that would guarantee us that our payment was locked in. Mr. ****** failed to complete any of these jobs as of today. We were not paying extra for this work because we had already paid him in advance, which was not a part of the original agreement. On numerous occasions we reached out to Mr. ****** to finish our job. Many times we could not get him to return our calls. I have all of my text messages to prove our point that Mr. ****** had no intentions of completing our project. To say he was ready to install our cabinets when he did is 100% untrue! We had not even pick the cabinets out, because we didn’t know where he had secured them.
  
  Since Mr. ****** brought God into this dispute, I noticed that he failed to mention that the times that my wife prayed with him when he told us his father was sick, and that he would not show up to our house to complete the earlier jobs, or even when our pastor (*** ********* ****** ****** ** ******) reached out to Mr. ****** in early December of 2022 to see if he could appeal to his moral character to finish our kitchen. Mr. ****** assured our pastor that he would have everything completed by Christmas 2022. (Pastor ******** can verify his conversation with Mr. ******.  Mr. ****** is a habitual liar! When Mr. ****** called us and said it would cost us more to complete the job, we decided to cut all communication with him and report this unprofessional behavior to  the BBB. We had been calling and texing him for months, before our Pastor asked if he could intervene. 
  
  On many occasion, Mr. ****** told us that he would be at our house and never showed for weeks and months.  Sometimes he would just show up without any notifications.  To say he was ready to install our cabinets when he did, is not true!
  
  Is there a way to have a phone conference between the two parties?  There are so many other things that transpired that are too lengthy to add to this subject.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/21/2023

  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.

  I hired this company in May 2022. Our agreement was to do driveway and backyard concrete and a basement bathroom for $18,000. Our agreement was to get the appropriate permits. I paid $6000 on May 8 2022. It took 4 months to get the driveway done. We gave him $2000 more for city hall, which they were supposed to refund but have not. We paid $7000 when he finished the driveway. I asked about when he would start on the basement and he said soon and was working on the permits. About 4 or 5 months go by and nothing is done. He got a permit for drywall, but come to find out he didn't for electrical or plumbing. City Hall said we need an egress window to have the bathroom down there and he made it seem like he had the appropriate permits. He then said it would be $5000 more so I paid him. He then got the electrical permit but not the plumbing. He did not finish the work. My basement is a mess. I asked him to just give me part of my money back. He said he would meet with me and calculate the work done vs. what I paid. I have probably called him 100 times. He never answers.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/21/2023

  We were hired by the homeowner to do his driveway and a bathroom in the basement, the were supposed to do it with in one month. Then he decided to add the approach area and this was not included cause this is something the city hall takes care all the time, then I asked him for $2,000 to pay the bond the city requires to touch the approach area and he took it from our previous arrangement like if it was included in the first place. He told me to do the demo of the old driveway, gravel and rebars and the bathroom for only $18,000 but he is not considering the approach area demo and concrete which is more deeper meaning more concrete more labor. Just demo the driveway and the approach area and install gravel, forms and rebars was $3,000 plus $2,000 to pay the bond in the city, concrete was $5,400 because he added more area in the patio and hiring a concrete company was $7,500 total $17,900 and then the bathroom we made us do the plumbing and electric without the permits and we were caught by the inspector after the framing was done and the electric and rough plumbing too which represent around $4,000 for a total of $21,900.

  Then he made me hire an electrician to get a proper electric work on his basement because it wasn't by code he made me pay him always with the promise he was going to pay me later but he never did and finally when the electrician finished he asked him to leave and now he says he doesn't like anything else and I have to pay him back like my work doesn't worth a penny. 

  He made me hire an architect with the promise he was going to pay for it and still nothing. He still owe us for all the time we lost waiting for him to take care of the things City hall was asking. Please see attachment.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/12/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising 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.

  I own this rental property and hired him to do some work. He was supposed to redo the bathroom and to build a deck on the back. He left a hole in yard where the deck was, having torn down the existing porch. He also tore down the garage. He did about 3% of the work in the bathroom. There is water that runs from the bathroom to the basement. I have tried contacting him and all he does is give me excuses. I paid the entire amount, $12,000 and I have a receipt which is signed.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/17/2023

  We did what are you hired us to do with demo the garage we hauled everything that we were supposed to do then we demo the entire bathroom we made an opening for the exhaust vent when I told you that more work had to be done because of the conditions of your house, you are agreed to those changes then you made us do more things out of the scope of work that we were hired to do but you said that you were going to pay me over more time and I told you that we were good with the money that you had paid us, and when you had more money, we will be able to come back we supplied and installed everything new to your satisfaction, but when I started asking you for the next payment, then you suddenly said that you didnt like the materials that I have use and I apologize in advance for this issue for lack of communication for a language barrier probably Im made several attempts to go to your house, but you said you had another contractor and that you needed the whole money like if all the job that I did wasnt worth anything. I apologize for the delay to answer about your complain. I had a concussion grade two land I couldnt use the phone or anything.