Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/24/2025

  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.

  The company never provided a proper contract or receipts of material purchased. They started the job, tearing up our porch and the outside area of the garage. They were to replace the outside garage door with a new external door. The door was an internal, used door and it was installed with the hinges on the outside where anyone can get into our garage. They supposedly purchased materials for the job that were never used. They eventually took the materials without reimbursing us. Over the course of 2 weeks they were only on the job for about 2 full days. Excuses were always made and they finally left the job taking the $5000 we gave them up front, and ******* refused to refund us anything. Our porch was left tore up and the ONLY thing they did was replace the garage door with the shotty replacement. Now we have to pay more money to have their work fixed. I tried to appeal to his supposedly kind heart but he would not give us our money back. ******* turned into another person when we expressed our disappointment and asked for our money back. We are a retired couple 76 and 80 years old. ******* totally took advantage of us. I told him that I would be reporting him to BBB, but he did not care. He had our money and that was all that mattered.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/12/2025

  Good afternoon,

   In reply to your email, This is what I have to say on my behalf. 

  Wow! Ms ********* painted a pretty good picture about herself being a poor elderly woman being taken advantage of but this is definitely not the truth, in actuality I think Ms ********* was trying to take advantage of me because of my latin descent and I say this because of the comments that she said to me at the end. I have met with Ms ********* and her husband ***** once before about 2 and 1/2 years ago to give an estimate on different work. I was referred to this job by her niece, a good friend of mine who works for a company called ******* which sells all construction materials for outdoor living spaces and such. I have been on their referral program for at least *************************************************************** to and she has also seen my work on my various projects over the years. With that said I never did any work for Ms ********* because she wanted to do a lot of work on a very low budget. ** bringing it back to the present in April 2025 I received several calls from Ms ********** She said that I have done work for her in the past and knows that I am busy but that they really need help. After several calls I went and met with them. I told Ms ********* that she was mistaken. I have given them an estimate before but never have done work for them. We then went to see the work they wanted done at this time. Several of the things they wanted done I told them  I just don't do. When she realized I was not a handy man she then focused on the primary issues that I do, which were two entrance ways. One was an entrance way into the house, they wanted to replace the wood landing area and steps, the rotted door frame and to replace the old door with a new one. Then they showed me the outside door entrance to the garage and told me they wanted to replace the door and molding inside and out as well as the stone step on the outside. I gave them a verbal estimate of $4,500 for the work they requested and using the same type of materials. I told them that I was going to put it together on paper and get back to them the next day. That same evening (friday) around 9;30 pm. Mr. ***** called and left a message very upset that they wanted to make some changes to the work discussed ( I still have all the messages that were left for me). I replied and told him that I will stop by and speak to him the next day, I didn't write up the proposal because I didn't know what work they wanted done. When I arrived Mr. ***** was there and he went over the changes that they wanted which were to not include the replacement of the door that led into the house but to remove and replace rotted door frame. ** I finished my day and went home. Same thing he called again late that night, I was sleeping and ***** left a message to come by. We need to talk and make changes. The following day was Sunday and he called me again in the morning when I was at church. I called him back after church, he wanted to go over the prices again and see if there were cheaper ways to do the front entrance. I explained to him that the cost of materials had gone way up. This was the best no frills way to replace the steps and landing without compromising the safety of the structure. He agreed and I said that we were going to come on Monday and start the removal of the door frame and landing not knowing what we were getting into. I didn't  write up the contract because I wasn't sure if they were going to change their minds again. Also, I haven't received any money eiat this point even though I usually ask for a deposit up front for materials. Remember this was my friend's Aunt and wanted to help but to a point. As we removed the door frame and part of the wood landing we found that the wood support beams below the door entrance were completely rotted (disintegrating) and infested with carpenter ants. They were both home and when they saw all the damage from the ants they were very upset. I went into the crawl space with my helper to see the extent of the damage. I will also send you pictures that I have of the damage and process of the work we did and receipts for the materials that I purchased. ***** asked me if I could give him an idea of what the cost would run to repair the damage. I told him approx. $7,500 to $10,000 for the entirety of the project to replace all the wood on that part of the foundation, replace the two doors and the steps with concrete blocks and concrete caps instead of wood because of the moisture and the carpenter ants. He said he wanted to go forward with the work based on that approx. estimate.  I felt bad for them, I told him he needs to call their exterminator  so they can see the full extent of the infestation throughout the home. He did call, but the exterminator didn't show up that day. I went out of my way to take him to Lowes and show him what was ready available to kill and repel the ants from that area of the foundation where it was infested. Atleast to get started until they did show up. I did once again tell ***** that I was going to write up a proposal or contract and that I would need a deposit of $5,000 so we can continue with the work. Once again the same thing later that night he called me that they wanted to make changes. ** the next day we returned ready to work. At this point I was so frustrated and I asked him, "Why do you keep calling at night all upset about something that we agreed to and then want changes again." He said "it is not me, it's Charlotte." ** he then told me they only want to replace the damaged wood beams in the crawl space, the door frame moulding, the steps and landing using the concrete block I suggested.  A new side entrance door to the garage,with new crown moulding and concrete block step outside the door. ** we were there and so just started removing the rotted wood and then replacing it with the new wood in the crawl space area. We loaded up all the debris and I said to ***** that I needed to get a deposit. If they were going to do everything as we just discussed in the morning it was going to be $10,000 for the total project and I needed a 50% deposit of $5,000. He said okay. He told ********* to give me a check for $5,000, and she did, everything seemed to be going well for a change. The next day we went to Lowes to purchase more materials and proceeded with the work. We installed the side door by the garage, and crown mouldings inside and out. ***** said he was very pleased with the progress. Before we finished the day ********* came home and started complaining about our work. That the door we installed was a refurbished door not a new one. Then she went inside the house, ***** then said to us, "see it's not me it's Charlotte"  I told ********* all the materials were purchased new at the Lowes store in the area, that the door and moulding come unfinished and that  it just needs to be painted and that we will paint them. The next day we came to paint the door and crown moulding, picked up and delivered the materials for the stone landing and stone steps. I went home to finalize all numbers and put them on paper so I could bring it to them tomorrow. Until Once again Larry's song late at night. I want to make changes and need you to come pick up your stone materials. ********* was there and she wanted to know how I was going to install the steps, so I showed them both and they both agreed to continue with the job as planned. By then it was Friday, and the plan was to come back Monday and continue with the steps but to my surprise on Monday when I came back they told me they wanted me to stop the work and to take all the stone materials away.  I was upset with them and all this ridiculous time consuming back and forth. The truth is that she wanted me to do the work but did not want to pay me the full price and was constantly trying to manipulate me into doing it for less money. She even managed to manipulate my men into doing extra things for free like transplanting trees as well as other things when I wasn't there. *********, still trying to manipulate me, asked me to sit down and talk with her that day. She  then proceeded to talk to me like I was a five year old, saying "you know God is always watching you *******." I told her, *********, I love the Lord and know I am far from being perfect but I am an honest  and hard working man and deserve to be paid fairly for my hard work. ** let's put your religion aside because I know where I stand with my God do you? No one is good except God. With that she got very upset, I got up, walked away and started to put the stone in my truck and take it back to the yard then came back and shovel 4 yards of gravel into my truck, picked up the rest of my equipment and left. A couple days after *********** niece from ******* sent me an email in regards to what happened. I called to speak with her and explained everything so she understood what I was dealing with. A few days later ********* called me just to threaten me of what she was going to do. She made ignorant, derogatory and racist words and comments to me saying you and your no good Colombian people are non Americans. I shared that with her niece and she apologized and that .   She was ashamed of her aunt for what she said. I've been discriminated against before for the color of my skin, but at this point in my career and my life still hurts. I always try to treat people with respect and dignity and do the right thing by them. In my twenty years in business I only had one small  complaint that I addressed and it was never taken off by the BBB administration   

  ******* ******          .