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:09/20/2022

  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.

  I have signed a contract with Side by Side Contractors on March 13, 2020 to do many remodeling job in my house. That includes flooring , kitchen renovation, doors, carpeting, etc. The dispute I have is that he did a very bad job on the installation of the wood floor on the first floor and from the beginning it was obvious that the wood floor was not installed probably. He came to fix it but it was still in bad shape. The amount of money that I am disputing is $6450 which is the sum of $4500 flooring kitchen, bathroom, dinning room, and living room and $1,950 for the trim supplies and installation. After so many communications he told me that he contacted the supplier where he bought the flooring materials (Menards) where they told him that the material he purchased was not good material and they do not make this material anymore. I kept asking him for a solution which has taken over a year of text messages that I have on my phone where he blames the problem on the supplier (Menards). Finally on June ******* an inspector showed up and from talking with him whether this problem is material related or not. He assured me that it is installation related problem. He has received the inspection report and is adamant not to send it to me or show it to me . My interpretation is that the inspector report incriminates him for the problem. I have all the communications where he is reluctant to send me the report and finally I gave up and asking you for you help in recovering $6450 so I can fix the floor. The floor is falling apart and he acknowledges it but does not want to fix it and trying to find a flimsy excuse of this has to with acclimatization of the wood. This is his job and he should be able to install the floor properly. This is causing serious mental anguish since I am not sure how long this floor will stay in place. I paid this contractor over $60,000 for the remodeling job, I do not deserve this type of treatment. Thank you and please contact me at ********** Said

  Business Response

  Date: 09/29/2022

  This is in response to a letter we received about a customer complaint ID#********. We have been in business for 6 years under Side by Side Contractors, LLC.  This is our first complaint in all the years we have been in business. Our goal is to always satisfy the customer. In this case, we feel we did everything possible to try to resolve this matter. After completing three floors of the customers home, including new flooring, doors, trim, painting and new kitchen and bathroom, both parties were happy with the results in June 2020.

  Within just over two months, we were called back for a problem with the floor in the kitchen and around kitchen island. When we arrived, we found that the customers refrigerator had leaked water and flooded the kitchen area. At no cost to the customer, we purchased new flooring and removed all trim and the damaged flooring and replaced it. He didnt even offer to pay for our full day of work when it was his negligence. Our time and materials would have been several hundred dollars. We continually did additional work for this customer at no cost, including removing items just so we could work. We hauled several loads to goodwill for him and moved furniture in every room. He didnt want to pay a moving company so he hired our son and a friend to move heavy furniture for several hours and paid the two $25 each. After that was completed, he said the front door was broken from moving furniture and told us it was our fault. He said it was a new door. We looked at it and found it was the plastic framing around the door window that held the glass in that was warped and brittle. We also found out the door was 7 years old and it was damaged prior to moving the furniture.

  In July of 2020 we received a message that his floor was buckling by the island and front of basement door close to kitchen where we already replaced the area due to water damage. At that time, we removed the area that was buckled and checked perimeter gapping and fixed. We assumed this was from the previous water damage. We again, at no cost to customer and a full days work, fixed the problem. We got a call back in March of 2022 with gapping in the floor. At this time, we tried to purchase more flooring from Menards to find out it was discontinued. We contacted Menards and filed a complaint regarding the problem. We have been installing flooring for years with countless square feet without any call backs or issues. Once we found the product was discontinued, we also questioned the quality of the customers product. At this point the only solution was to put in a different type of product like carpeting. Due to a large sliding glass window with constant temperature fluctuation on the flooring, we thought this was a better choice. We have suggested this numerous times to the customer with no response to the suggestion. Fluctuation in any flooring happens.

  We are concerned with this complaint. When we came into the customers house, the best way to describe the house was that of a hoarder. We apologize, but this is best way to describe what we saw. We took pictures to verify the initial condition of the home. There were rodents everywhere. Mice droppings on the counters and in cabinets. We were sensitive to the condition and moved and helped the customer in every way possible. It almost seemed as if it was expected, and we did not charge him to remove garbage and clean the areas we had to work in. The majority of contractors would not have taken this job on.

  We are very proud of our business as we receive our business by word of mouth and previous customers. In fact, we remodeled 3 bathrooms for a customer across the street from him with and they are very satisfied, again word of mouth. We also have another neighbor request our services in that neighborhood. We are booked through 2023 and feel confident we are a business that can be trusted and relied on. We feel this is a very unfair complaint.

   

  Thank you,

   

  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/03/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [Please type your response here.]
  
  Regards,
  
  Said Goueli

  I would like to include a paragraph I copied from the business response as shown below:

  In July of 2020 we received a message that his floor was buckling by the island and front of basement door close to kitchen where we already replaced the area due to water damage. At that time, we removed the area that was buckled and checked perimeter gapping and fixed. We assumed this was from the previous water damage. We again, at no cost to customer and a full days work, fixed the problem. We got a call back in March of 2022 with gapping in the floor. At this time, we tried to purchase more flooring from Menards to find out it was discontinued. We contacted Menards and filed a complaint regarding the problem. We have been installing flooring for years with countless square feet without any call backs or issues. Once we found the product was discontinued, we also questioned the quality of the customers product. At this point the only solution was to put in a different type of product like carpeting. Due to a large sliding glass window with constant temperature fluctuation on the flooring, we thought this was a better choice. We have suggested this numerous times to the customer with no response to the suggestion. Fluctuation in any flooring happens

  First of All, it is his responsibility to pick the right material and do the proper installation. He keeps beating around the **** by not stating this problem is his due to poor installation as I was told orally by the inspector that this problem is an installation problem and this is why I repeatedly ask for the inspector report which he has it in his position and does not want to show it to me since it is clearly put the onus on him and not the material . Besides, he keeps repeating that he offers to solve the problem but he has never came up with a solution for my floor . I want to let the BBB that this contractor has not honored his commitment although he was paid fully on time which was due to my trust in people. If he is honest and claims that he does a good job , why he cannot show the inspector report and why he does not come over to fix the problem that he made. Thank you very much and I look forwrad for further action.

  *****************

  Business Response

  Date: 10/12/2022

  The customer complaint is very important to us. In the seven years now that we have been in business, this is our first complaint. This is not hardwood flooring, it is *** Tarkett Merrimack *********** floating floor that is sold by Menards. The reason we state this is that with this type of flooring system, fluctuations are extremely common. There are many factors that cause gapping and buckling. Causes include temperature fluctuation, water moisture, and heavy furniture. We are not the final decision maker as to what type of flooring, cabinetry or any other materials that are installed in a remodel. We are not dismissing the complaint. There was water damage initially when we first were contacted due to customers faulty refrigerator. We fixed at no charge. After that, we were called again because of buckling around island area in the proximity of earlier water leak. We removed all of the trim, checked all contact points to make sure expansion joints were proper and fixed the buckling issue. Lastly, we were contacted again and now there is shrinking issues. This was unexpected because we fixed a buckling issue. Now there is a shrinking issue.  We contacted Menards to ask them if there were any complaints with this floor. The floor was discontinued, and we could not buy purchase anymore. We asked the customer what he thought we should do. He did not have an answer. We suggested to install carpeting in that area due to the temperature fluctuation caused by large sliding glass door which could causes gapping in the *** flooring. We feel the $6,450 is extremely unreasonable. This flooring runs in the kitchen, dining, living, hallway, bathroom, family room and 3 closets. The only affected area is within the range of the kitchen where the water damage occurred. There is end to end gapping in living room which is a easy fix and due to large furniture being slid on floor. These gapping and buckling issues can be easily researched on the internet. We feel this is not an installation problem. We installed this same flooring in his basement with no issues and thousands of square feet of this type of flooring with no issues. We like to run our business as a two-way street and this customer take no responsibility for neglect. The infected area is 2-4 pieces, which we have. We can drop the 4 pieces off and he can have someone else replace the pieces. We do not think this will solve the problem in the long run due to other environmental reasons. You will still have the extreme temperature fluctuation in that area. We have always backed our work. We have many referrals that we can provide at any time. We are sympathetic to the customer's mental anguish, however this has also been very stressful on us as well due to the lack of feedback from customer. Just seems like he wants monetary reimbursement for an issue that we did not cause. Thank you for listening our side of the story and we are willing to answer any questions about this matter to anyone. 

  ***** and *********************

  Side by Side Contractors, LLC

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/16/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  

  Looking at the contractors response, you can see all over his response putting the blame on the material (which I have not had any knowledge of since I gave him all the freedom to buy what he sees as a good material at any price he asked me for), and yet he himself admitted on several responses that ****** (the supplier) told him that the material was defective and they are not providing it any longer for sale but he also put the blame not on installation but on circumstantial factors that are present in every house and yet, making it unique to my house. The house foundation is strong and in excellent shape, yet, he is trying to find an excuse for his faulty installation. I am sorry that this relationship reached this stage but as he said I repeatedly tried to ask him to solve this problem since it is a frustrating to me to see paying all that much money and yet I get incomplete performance and I might add defective outcome. I do not know why I should get someone else to fix it as he suggested other than he wants to get himself free from solving this problem that he caused. The reason I gave him all the freedom he had in remodeling the house, is that I thought by giving him what he asked for and let him do what knows how, I will not have to worry about the outcome since my knowledge in this business is limited and that is why I hored him to take over and paid him for what he asked for. He claims that I am unreasonable, I do not know who is since all What I am asking for is to fix the problem he caused amicably and give me a piece of mind with this issue that I have not had since the problem arose right away after installation.

  Thank you very much and I appreciate your help in solving this problem so your role in helping customers will not be tarnished or belittled
  Regards,
  
  Said Goueli

  Business Response

  Date: 10/27/2022

  Just to be clear, materials in which a contractor installs or uses as building material is ultimately the customers decision. We do not represent any company or manufactures products.

  The products that we use are the customers decision due to it's their property. We do not own the material or house in the end result. This product is an DYI type of product and very simple to install. The gapping is from excessive interior climate fluctuation as well as end result from a leaky refrigerator (moisture). 

  In regards to the "inspector", he was unaware of the previous water damage and hired by the flooring manufacture. 

  As stated before, we will gladly drop off the 4 pieces that we have remaining and that should take care of the affected area. 

  If anyone is concerned about out services or the previous clientele feedback, please visit our ******** page or message us personally.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/28/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [I have received a message from Side by Side contractor telling me that because I contacted Better Business bureau, he is not willing to fix their mistake which is shameful for someone who wants to prove that he does a great job not to be willing to fix their mistakes. I think it is shameful for someone to stay in business when they do a bad job and not willing to fix it. It is clear from his response that they have screwed up their installation of the wooden floor not willing to make the repair required. I trusted them and paid them in full with whatever they asked for and since they got paid in full, they do not think they are obliged to complete the job and take care of their mistakes]
  
  Regards,
  
  Said Goueli

  Business Response

  Date: 11/08/2022

  We can work it out, as we said in the email. We have 4 pieces of your laminate flooring and will gladly deliver it to you. The 4 pieces are more than you need to fix your problem. We will look for someone to install the 2 infected pieces.