Compensation for bad service... (Full Version)

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IonMoon -> Compensation for bad service... (7/1/2008 9:30:42 AM)

We contracted with a major company (won't name it here, but a home repair chain store) to have roofing work done. We paid in full (I know, stupid, stupid, stupid!) in March.

They called us every day during the estimate/payment process and told us that the work woulf be done within a few weeks (2-3) of payment because they have several contractors and if one can't get there, they send a different one.

We were very adamant in explaining that it was urgent we get it done right away, because we have water pouring into our kitchen (not just a little leak). No problem, they said.

Well... the contractor called and said it would be 6-8 weeks. He left that message with my teenage son with no contact info! We called the store and told them this was unacceptable, they agreed and said they'd get us someone else. Well, we have had to make multiple calls, our calls are not returned, talk to someone different every time, etc.

Fast forward to last week. I called and talked to the store manager for the 3rd time and she said that she would get the materials here today and the roofer out tomorrow &/or Thursday for sure.

My dh called the home office and spoke to a rep there yesterday, and she said that the regional or corporate manager will be calling him with in the next few days to see what can be done.

Now- in this time, we have not been able to use our kitchen on the days it rains, we now have twice as much damage to our kitchen ceiling, we have had our money tied up for over 3 months, and it has caused quite a bit of stress on all of us.

So... what is a reasonable expectation of compensation? I don't want to be greedy, but I don't want to take what sounds like a good offer if we are reasonably entitled to more...

We would be happy for either a cash refund or store credit, as we have a lot of other repairs to do (though wee will likely never use their contracting services again!).

Tara P



creationtalk -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/1/2008 11:26:50 AM)

Do you have a contract that states the work will be done within a certain time period after payment?

Do you have a dated receipt indicating payment in full?

Do you have any thing in writing to indicate the times that you have tried to get help from the company and not had the situation resolved? (this will only help if you go to court)

First I'd check to see what rights you have under the contract, then I would contact the company in regards to the damage. Sometimes a major company will cover things not in the original contract to keep goodwill with a customer--not always, and don't expect anything beyond what is in your contract.



IonMoon -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/1/2008 11:57:27 AM)

The contract does not have a time period in which the work will be completed. It states that "the company" will not be held responsible for work delayed due to weather or other things beyond their control, which this clearly was not. It is very vague with "reasonable time period" or some such wording (don't have it with me).

The reciept does show payment in full & the date.

We have documented all calls- date, time, who we spoke to, etc. But nothing from them in writing regarding those calls.

We have no plans whatsoever of going to court or hiring a lawyer, though I think we would have a case if we did... and they have already stated that they would give us our money back in full if we choose to cancel. But if we cancel now, we have still be inconvenienced and would then have to find another contractor to complete the job.

So, we are just hoping for a goodwill gesture from the company to keep our business (and keep us from telling everyone what lousy service we got!).

I just wonder what people feel is a reasonable expectation for such a gesture.

The store manager seemed genuinely concerned and apologetic when I spoke to her, and the person from home office my dh spoke to, he said the same... So I do feel that 1) the contractor will be here as they said and 2) they will try to make things right.

Tara P



Consecrated2God -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/1/2008 12:08:16 PM)

Wow, Tara, I wish we were closer--my husband could have that fixed for you in no time. [&:] We had a similar thing happen with Home Depot over a carpet installation. They finally gave us a cash refund on the carpet itself, but not on the labor. They dragged their feet for months on it, and we were not satisfied at all. If I were in your shoes I'd call a smaller company and get a quote, and try and get your money back. In the meantime, can you put a tarp over your roof?



BlueAdept -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/1/2008 12:10:06 PM)

You need to decide what you think is the reasonable thing to request of this company.
Having your money tied up for 3 months was not acceptable, being told that the cpntractor would be there in..... whatever time frame.... is reasonable.

Yet when the contractor contacted you and told you 6-8 weeks, the store effectively did nothing. They told you X, but did not seem to change anything about the actual work date.

So you have 2 choices, let the do the work and HOPE they get it done timely or cancel and seek another company to do the work.
If the company does the work, they could come back and attempt to charge you for the extra damage that has occured since the contract was signed. What you could do is tell them you will pay for materials, but they have to supply the labor. If you cancel you will have to pay the full amount for the repair, unless you want to attempt to take them to court for the cost of the delay. That might cause more problems because you would have to prove that you did everything you could to reduce the damage being caused, as well as show the "before and after."

Lastly I would make a point of telling all your friends of the horror story you have lived through, no matter HOW they "fix it."



creationtalk -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/1/2008 5:01:22 PM)

quote:

Lastly I would make a point of telling all your friends of the horror story you have lived through, no matter HOW they "fix it."


If the company does not both fix the roof and repair the additional damage at no cost, I would also contact the Better Business Bureau in both your home state and the home state of the big corporation and lodge a complaint.

Does this company have a corporate headquarters somewhere where you could write or call to lodge a complaint? Not saying it would do any good, but you never know.



GroupW -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/1/2008 5:16:49 PM)

If you paid via credit card, you may be able to avail yourself of some of the protections that cards offer - dispute the bill as services paid for / not rendered. You should be able to get your money back in a few weeks or so. That doesn't help a whole lot - you'd still have to shell out bucks in the meantime to get the roof fixed and pay for the additional damage on top of that. Still, it's an alternative and something you could possibly use as leverage.



IonMoon -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/2/2008 4:36:55 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: creationtalk
Does this company have a corporate headquarters somewhere where you could write or call to lodge a complaint? Not saying it would do any good, but you never know.


Yes. That is who my dh called the other day. The regional manager called him back today and was very apologetic. He said he was on his way to the store and they would be calling us. They called within about 5 minutes of that conversation!

He was very apologetic and said the first thing he wants to do is get a roof on our house ASAP. Then he will work something out with us. My dh suggested that we pay for the materials and they cover the labor and he apparently did not laugh at that suggestion (which is what I would have expected!).

Unfortunately what they said was the contractor can't come today because he is on a job, but said he would be here Monday.

What really bugs me is... when did this "other job" (and the 2-3 others that he has supposedly been on) get scheduled? Before ours? If not, then ours should have been done first; if so, then they should have told us they were booked! And we were told a few weeks ago we were the "next on the list"...

We don't want to cancel, because then we will have to go on someone else's waiting list [:@] & they do seem to be responding.

We thought about having my nephew-in-law do the work, but he is not insured and that makes us uncomfortable.

Tara P



creationtalk -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/3/2008 9:18:08 AM)

quote:

Unfortunately what they said was the contractor can't come today because he is on a job, but said he would be here Monday.

What really bugs me is... when did this "other job" (and the 2-3 others that he has supposedly been on) get scheduled? Before ours? If not, then ours should have been done first; if so, then they should have told us they were booked! And we were told a few weeks ago we were the "next on the list"...


At a guess, I would say that your job "fell through the cracks"--was somehow filed under completed, but never was (because they turned it over to a contractor, even though you didn't think his timing was acceptable). So they are doing damage control here...they don't want to pull the contractor off this current job because that would make 2 customers mad...you are already majorly tic'd off, so there isn't much they can do about that. Also the "current job" may be one that the contractor got through his own business and he's not willing to sacrifice his customer for a subcontracted customer



IonMoon -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/3/2008 9:25:11 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: creationtalk

At a guess, I would say that your job "fell through the cracks"--was somehow filed under completed, but never was (because they turned it over to a contractor, even though you didn't think his timing was acceptable).


Nope, because we talked to them weekly.

quote:


So they are doing damage control here...they don't want to pull the contractor off this current job because that would make 2 customers mad...you are already majorly tic'd off, so there isn't much they can do about that. Also the "current job" may be one that the contractor got through his own business and
he's not willing to sacrifice his customer for a subcontracted customer


I assume that is the case. They told us in the beginning that they have several contractors so that won't be a problem. They supposedly have tried finding another contractor that mets their requirements and could get the job done sooner... but of course at this time of year, that is a challenge (which is why we contracted with them in March!).

They have only recently begun offering installtion services (at least in my area), so I think it might just be that they got in over their heads.

And they don't seem to have one person who is in charge of a particular account, so unless you call them, they don't have anyone following up. They put you on the list... the contractor gets to you when he feels like it... (which they assume would be quickly).

Tara P



IonMoon -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/8/2008 5:24:56 PM)

Well... the roofers came today, finally! My dh said everything looks good, except they didn't put the gutters on, because they said that it would take more work than they thought as there is nothing to attach it to.

They also allowed him to return the leftover shingles, which they typically do not do. They also had to lay board in areas they didn't expect. I don't know if this was overlooked when they did the estimate or if it was due to damage from waiting so long, but they aren't charging us for it, either way.

My dh got a call from the regional manager within a hour of the work being finished and he said he will look into the gutter issue. AND they are going to refund the entire cost of labor! Which I think was more than satisfactory.

So since we are happy with the resolution, I will say it was Lowes.

This was kind of why we went with them, because had we signed straight with this contractor and he was giving us the run around, it would have been even worse. This way, though we still had some hassle- they dealt with the contractor and they took the loss.

I think we will feel comfortable contracting with them again in the future.

I am so relieved this is over with! Well, I should wait until it rains before I say that [sm=cowboy.gif]

Tara P



bzirk -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/9/2008 5:07:00 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God

Wow, Tara, I wish we were closer--my husband could have that fixed for you in no time. [&:] We had a similar thing happen with Home Depot over a carpet installation. They finally gave us a cash refund on the carpet itself, but not on the labor. They dragged their feet for months on it, and we were not satisfied at all. If I were in your shoes I'd call a smaller company and get a quote, and try and get your money back. In the meantime, can you put a tarp over your roof?


My neighbor across the street had a very similar situation to Tara's except it was siding. They started the process, and then didn't come back for weeks with no explanation. They also did not do the job correctly, and my neighbors had to threaten Home Depot with a lawsuit, and now they are settling.

Tara,

I'm sorry that happened to you. I've often wondered if these big box hardware stores pull this stuff pretty often, and the people who don't fight back just get left. Over the years, it seems I've known of many situations like the one your described. So glad things worked out for you.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/9/2008 8:09:39 PM)

quote:

I've often wondered if these big box hardware stores pull this stuff pretty often, and the people who don't fight back just get left.

I think they do. I'd much rather go with an independant contractor or a smaller store for installation. We had another carpet done by Carpetland USA and they did an outstanding job. We ordered the carpet on a Saturday morning, and the guy came in early and met us at the store before they were even open, and by the next Wednesday the carpet was completely installed. He did it all in one day and did a beautiful job with it. The same guy who sold us the carpet even came out and did the measuring. It was a little more expensive, but worth the price.



PrincessDonna -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/9/2008 9:20:56 PM)

I wonder if the contractors don't take the job as seriously when they are being paid by Home Depot or Lowe's as if you were a "regular" customer. I personally would rather hire a handyman (if I wasn't already married to one[;)]) than pay for installation through a big box hardware store. Those are the last people I would trust to keep their word, unfortunately, because they HAVE the money to lose and don't always care what you think of them.

I'm glad you got your roof finally and are satisfied with their fix.



mommyto1 -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/9/2008 9:29:52 PM)

I believe I have heard that Lowe's is drastically understaffing their stores because of the downturn in the economy. Your story, then, isn't surprising. We can probably expect more of this kind of service as people get laid off from their jobs - or independent contractors try to group their jobs together to save on gas. Pity the people who have to drive big pickups for their jobs these days.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/10/2008 8:25:40 AM)

quote:

I wonder if the contractors don't take the job as seriously when they are being paid by Home Depot or Lowe's as if you were a "regular" customer.


I actually don't blame the contractor as much as I blame the store, at least in our case with our first carpet. On the day our installation was supposed to have taken place, the contractor drove out to the store to pick up the carpet and it wasn't ready for him. He waited around for awhile and finally left because he had other jobs to do. We had moved all of our furniture out of the livingroom and ended up having to move it all back because the contractor called and said he wouldn't be able to to install it that day after all. It was two months before it was done.



bzirk -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/10/2008 3:11:08 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God

quote:

I've often wondered if these big box hardware stores pull this stuff pretty often, and the people who don't fight back just get left.

I think they do. I'd much rather go with an independant contractor or a smaller store for installation. We had another carpet done by Carpetland USA and they did an outstanding job. We ordered the carpet on a Saturday morning, and the guy came in early and met us at the store before they were even open, and by the next Wednesday the carpet was completely installed. He did it all in one day and did a beautiful job with it. The same guy who sold us the carpet even came out and did the measuring. It was a little more expensive, but worth the price.


I'd much rather hire an independent as well. We thought about going with Home Depot on some work around here, but I've heard so many bad things about the process (not the least of which is my neighbors) that we got an independent contractor even though it was more.

edited for clarity:

somehow my brain wasn't working when I wrote this post. That seems to happen a lot these days. [:)]



PrincessDonna -> RE: Compensation for bad service... (7/10/2008 3:26:35 PM)

quote:

I actually don't blame the contractor as much as I blame the store,


I see it kind of the same as highway workers who are independent contractors who won the bid for a state job. They know they will be paid and paid well (usually twice what they normally make!), so they make sure to take their sweet time getting the job done. It's the same kind of concept. The state job won't do anything to their independent work, no matter how long it takes them to get it done. If they mess around on an independent job, they're likely to lose business from it.



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