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:09/28/2023

  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.

  While Deible's Hardwood Floor INC. dose mention to the concerns I have with the wave pattern in the primary bedroom and the board the was intentionally damaged for some unknown reason they do not offer a resolution to me concerns. The remedy that they are offering in their response to refinish the floors was not offered prior to sending me a final bill. Additionally, I have already provided a retort to the offer for Deible's to re-sand the floor to raw timber and refinish the floor. I have concerns; 1) Deible's capacity to complete the task given my experience, 2) Deible's ability to act in good faith given that they did not honor the written contract they provided, and I agreed to, 3) because of these reasons I would need a third party to verify that there is a sufficient thickness of wood remaining on the boards before I would allow for them to be sanded again.

  Thier response does not make any mention of the fact that they were in breach of the written contract / disclaimer that I was asked to sign. The written agreement they provided stated that Deible's Hardwood Floors INC. would be performing the work as outlined in the estimate. They did not. As stated in their response a crew of sub-contractors was sent in their stead. While Deible's has 50+ years in business **** ******** ****** ***. does not. As is apparent by the fact that I have 4 other estimates, should I have desired to hire **** ******** ****** ***. I could have easily done so. I did not hire a company that has been in business for 2 years to do this job, I chose a company with more than 50 years in business because that is what I wanted to pay for. I assume that the job would have cost less had I hired **** ******* ****** *** - regardless of what nationality the employees are. 

  Finally, Deible's response here is as most of the responses I have gotten from them have been full of assumptions, inferences and hearsay. I would like everyone here to focus on the fact that they provided me with a written contract, and they are in violation of that contract in no less than three ways. Perhaps they should have provided the contract to **** ******** ****** **** so that everyone could be on the same page.

  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  ******* *****

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/11/2023

  Our operations manage did a walkthrough with this homeowner and a discussed all of her concerns.  We sent a crew back a few days later and they addressed everything that she wanted addressed.  We agreed to repair the lines in the floor, but the homeowner didn't want us to.  I was told by our operations manager that you can't feel the lines in the floor, and you have to get down and look at them at the right angle to see them.  The homeowner is saying that our machine wasn't balanced and that the floor was not sanded properly.  I am not sure what she means by that.  If there was a problem with the sander the lines would be everywhere.  It is common in older homes to have floors that are not level and the sander ride the contour of the floors.  Either way, we would be more than happy to address these lines.  

  She mentioned something about filling holes in some boards.  I do know that we did fill a couple holes in the boards, and we also replaced a board by the front door that had termite damage, at no charge.  We take it upon ourselves to repair defects in the boards if possible.  All of these repairs turned out great.

  At the start of this job we received a call from this homeowner saying that she felt betrayed because of the crew we sent to her house.  We sent a Latino crew that has been sanding floors for us for years.  The are extremely professional, and they are some of the best floor refinishers in Columbus. They are technically sub-contractors, but they work for us every week.  The ladies in our office said that when this homeowner called in to complain she was verbally combative.  Our operations manager went out to the jobsite to address her concerns and she ended up apologizing.  She didn't seem to like our company from the initial start of the job.  We did everything we could to try and make this a great customer experience. 

  Deible's has been in business for 54 years and we do everything we can do insure that our customers are happy with their floors.  We are more than happy to address any of the remaining concerns.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/27/2023

  Deible's Hardwood Floors has always stood behind each and every job.  Again, we are more than happy to come back out and address the "waves" in the floor.  There is plenty of life left in this floor, but I would most certainly be open to having a third party inspect the floor.  Also, could you please list the three ways in which we breached the contract, so that we can submit to legal for review. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/30/2023

  Thank you for your prompt reply. The responsiveness of the BBB staff during this process has been appreciated.

  At this point, I am not sure what Deible's Hardwood Floors INC (Deible's) has to offer me as a resolution to this issues (there has been little attention paid to the board that was intentionally damaged just to create a hole to fill with epoxy because **** ******** ****** *** could not simply ask me to direct them to the issue that the Deible's staff had identified to be corrected before a top coat was applied).

  The entire time since the work was started by **** ******** ******, Deibel's contact for my account has provided me with excuses, assumptions, accused me of being a bigot, insisted that I was rude, taken an inordinate amount of time to respond to the complaints filed with the BBB, and generally not acted in good faith to genuinely resolve the issue.

  It is the principle of the matter. If I were in breach of the contract they provided me I would have been financially responsible for that breach. However, they can violate the terms of the contract they provide to clients and the consumer has no recourse but to turn to the BBB for mediation. I have done that. Short of one moment of intense frustration and fear for the integrity of my floor and the value of the largest investment I own - my home, I have been polite, accommodating, and professional. If Deible's and their representatives could have manged to reciprocate such behavior we most likely would not be in this situation. 
  

  They can offer to reduce the bill by charging what **** ******** ****** *** would have charged. As a matter of fact, I would prefer to pay the balance of the bill to **** ******** ***** *** directly. If that is not an option, they can formally apologize.
  

  Deible's was wrong and never acknowledged it. I have had a cashier's check made out for the full balance since 10/04/23 (I had the bank issue a new check on 10/26/23 so it would be good for another 30 days). At this point, they can properly apologize. In the future they should honor their word, as written in the contracts they require clients to sign.