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:04/09/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore 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.

  Graves Design promised a 5 year warranty on the Bathroom remodel that was completed in January 2024 per the signed contract. 1 week after the remodel was complete, the bathroom had water moisture stains across all the walls. We called to ask Graves Design to come look at the walls. **** Graves will not return our calls or texts, nor has he shown up at the house to look at the issue. It has now been over 2 months of continual attempts to contact the company and **** himself. In order to prevent mold/mildew issues in our brand new bathroom, we have had to have the bathroom repainted ourselves. We would like compensation for the work we had to do ourselves.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/28/2022

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  On 9/10/2021, I entered into contract with Graves Design to remodel my bathroom. I have Graves three payments of $5k from three different credit cards. Graves ham greed to complete the work by March 14, 2022, because my wife and I told **** that if they could not finish the work by 3/15/2022, we would not sign the contract, because we would be on worldwide travel after that date. Graves agreed, but never delivered. From September to early January, we never heard anything from Graves, until after I had called them several times and left them several messages. Early January, I got a call from a lady from Graves to order cabinets. We were a bit disappointed with the alaps time, but told the lady to send us the cabinet choices. The cabinets she sent were not what we wanted and we were told these were the only choices and we had to hurry up and order them to get them back within a three to five months period. I told the lady we wouldnt be rushed to buy something we didnt want, plus the three to five months was a game changer for us because we clearly told **** mid March was a hard deadline for us. We didnt hear from her again. About six weeks later another contacted us about get the work started and I explained the time frame and the contract breach and she explained to me that Graves Design had a major theft to take place internally and she didnt know why ****, the owner of sheaves didnt share this with us. I told her based on the time frame, we would not be moving forward with the remodeling. She said she would tell ****. **** called me mid February talking about getting started with the work and I told him the contract was breached and the time frame they were seeking wasnt going to work. They were talking about completing the work in June or July depending on everything coming in on time. I told him no that we wanted our money back. **** said that there was no refund. I told him the contract was breached when he failed to meet the dates we agreed to.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/06/2023

  From: ****** Graves <*******************************************************>
  Date: Fri, Feb 3, 2023 at 10:55 AM
  Subject: Re: *************************** Complaint (17637314)
  To: *********************** <************************************>
  
  
  Hi ****************,
  
  Thank you for your attention to the matter of *************************** complaint 17637314.
  
  Graves Design entered into an agreement with *************************** and *************************** on 9/10/21. We had an approximate, and I emphasize approximate, start date of 1/8/2022. They signed the contractual agreement in my office. As such the Section VI, Right To Cancel was scratched thru and initiated by myself and the *******'. As you know the right to cancel clause is for in-home sales only to remedy a customer who may sign under duress to get a salesperson to leave their home. The fact they signed in the office and even initiated the scratched thru clause eliminates any doubt there was any duress.
  
  You will also observe that there are numerous notes under Section III. Remarks. No where was it indicated that they had a drop dead date. I don't recall any such discussion and would presume something of such importance would have been insisted upon being included in the remarks section by the *******'.
  
  The *******' made 3 seperate credit card payments for the down payment, but the three deposits fell short of the contractual agreed upon down payment amount. When we were approaching the start date and still hadn't received the full down payment we contacted the *******' and they attempted to cancel the contract at that time. 
  
  We informed them the contract was non-cancelable and the cancellation damages, per the contract, was 25% of the contract price. Our designer reached out to them and they informed her they wished to cancel, using the excuse it was too late to get the project completed on time. My designer assured them we had cabinetry available and since the cabinets were the last item installed (after all plumbing, drywall, tile, etc had been completed, we could indeed complete their project by the (approximate) completion date.
  
  They refused to work with her and instead attempted to use her as a vehicle to initiate a refund. We had recently lost our lead designer ( I presume ****************** got "lost designer" and "Major Theft" confused as no one would have shared such information had it occurred).
  
  As for the assertion that  the cabinetry was months out is patently false. We do have a line of cabinetry with limited choices but those are 1 week out, not months, and there are literally hundreds of online vanity choices from places like Build.com and Wayfare which ship within 24 hrs. But I reiterate, the very cabinets they selected would have arrived on time. He made it clear he just wanted an excuse to cancel, as evidenced by the fact he never even completed the entire down payment as contracted.
  
  We got a chargeback  first from ***************************** credit card. Her success at getting the charge back was by lying and saying the charge to *********************************** credit card was invalid and was never authorized by " *********". She pretended she didn't go by the name ****** and was thus granted the charge back!
  
  Regardless, we are including 2 "chargebacks" as proof that the *******' have been refunded $10,000.00, less fees associated with payment. If it wouldn't cost me more to pay my corporate attorney than the 25% of the contract owed I would pursue a remedy. However at this point I am willing to drop the matter altogether.
  
  However, this should not affect my BBB rating for all the aforementioned reasons. 
  
  Please see all the attached documentation.
  
  Best regards and thank you again for the opportunity to clear our good name.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** D Graves
  
  President
  
  Graves Design & Remodeling, ****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/06/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: 17637314
  
  I am rejecting this response because:the response isn't factually true and has been skewed to meet the needs of the business owner. I've spoken my piece on this and my narrative is factually true. I have nothing more to add. I'm owed $5,000.00.  I stand by the facts, I received absolutely nothing for my money.
  
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/22/2023

  Hello. The following are responses to clients responses.

  All the previous assertions and claims have been asked and answered. I am abbreviating responses due to limited time given. Both client and BBB has a copy of contract.

  Section VIII paragraph A) states: Binding and complete agreement.... You may not cancel it... This contract supercedes all conventions, statements & agreements.... 

  This is because no one can either remember or prove a conversation, especially when hundreds of conversations with clients take place weekly.

  C) Refusing performance is the same as canceling....The agreed upon damages is 25% of contract price....

  E) Access. You will permit us to go on premises or pay us for damages.

   

  Any "conversation or statement" is null per paragraph A.

  Paragraph G) states: Interference with performance. We are not responsible for delays caused by.... inability to obtain materials. If the assertion was correct of a 6 month lead time on cabinets, we couldn't have made the approximate date if we'd ordered the cabinets the day the contract was written. I assert that was not the case. ****************** had my personal cell number, on my business  card, and never contacted me with any concerns on time. We reached out to him when the start date was approaching. The fact that we hadn't received the contracted amount is important. He stated we should have called, The fact that he knew the amount stated on the contract, paid on three credit cards and was still short, led us to believe he may be waiting on money. We shouldn't and won't hound someone for money in that situation as it may lead to an embarrassing situation for them. And with no "drop dead date" language on the contract, it was perfectly reasonable for us to wait. However, when the start date was fast approaching, we reached out, only to be rebuffed with a cancellation request.

  Regardless of the fact we have 2 signed plans, signed contract, 2 designers time reaching out and other time spent, I am willing to refund ****************** provided he & ****** ******* sign a non-disparagement agreement and we will close this out.

  ****** D Graves

  Graves Design & Remodeling

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/14/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  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. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/24/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  From: ****************** <******************>
  Date: Tue, May 23, 2023 at 3:33 PM
  Subject: Re: You have a new message from the BBB of ******************* & ******************** in regards to your complaint #********.
  To: Better Business Bureau <*********************************>
  
  
  Good afternoon, in our last email conversation, Graves Remodeling agreed that they would return my money, in return, I would sign the disparagement agreement. Over eight- weeks later, *** reached out to Graves on four different occasions and they havent responded. 
  
  Thanks,
  
  ***************************