Academy Sealers, Inc

From: <[email protected]>
font-size: small; font-family: arial;">Date: Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 7:04 PMSubject: Re: cid [redacted] / Academy Sealers, Inc.To: [redacted] <[redacted]>Dear [redacted],Per your request I am responding to your email and voice mail at my office from this morning to notify you that with respect to my complaint which I filed against Academy Sealers - [redacted], VA, that they have fully and satisfactorily resolved the issues addressed in my complaint.  The company finally held true to their agreement and I wish to withdraw or close this matter.  Thank you for your attention to this matter.  Regards.  [redacted]

We recently relocated to Virginia from Florida (where our driveway was pavers/concrete not asphalt), so we were told by a neighbor that we needed to regularly seal our driveway. Unfortunately, we were also mis-advised by the same neighbor that Academy Sealers was the "only game in town". There are actually quite a few companies that offer asphalt sealing, I would strongly suggest you seek any of those out rather than using Academy Sealers. I contacted Academy Sealers for a driveway sealing quote via the email from on their website. The quickly sent someone out for a quote (which was $90 since my driveway has relatively no issues -- no cracks, stains, etc.). Academy Sealers set the scheduling date for 10/18/2016. My driveway faces west with only minor (maybe 3-5%) shading up by the garage doors. Otherwise, it has full afternoon sun, which is the heat of the day, and the temperatures were in the mid to high 80's. When the crew finally arrived after 1:00pm, I watched them apply the sealant. They basically dumped a very thin substance that looked like watered down ashes. I knew then that there was no way this was going to dry black, and definitely not shiny. On their website, they have photos of deep, dark, shiny black driveways as an example of their work. It was a very sloppy job, and I am completely unimpressed with the material they used. Some edges of the driveway have no sealant and others have sealant overflowing into the grass. They left the sealant pooled in several areas of the driveway (I uploaded photos), so there was maybe 1/2" of sealant, which never dried, even after 5 days. Then it rained, and because these areas still were not dry and the sealant is so thin, the sealant in those areas washed away in the rain, leaving our driveway looking blotchy, and pitted. I immediately contacted Academy Sealers via email. The person who contacted me back (Nils W[redacted] who lists his title as "Manager") was initially very courteous, and agreed to come out and look at the driveway and then address the situation further. After viewing my driveway, Mr. W[redacted] sent an email admitting that it was a problem, admitting that it looked bad, stated that they stand behind their work and product, and they would reseal the driveway for free. Admittedly it's a generous and appropriate resolution, but this initial courtesy quickly vanished when I complained about the part where he also stated that they would not reseal it until the Spring of 2017. I told him that he needs to refund my money then, because I already paid him in full to correctly seal my driveway, they did not do that, it looks horrible, and now they're telling me that it's going to look that way for at least six months, all while they still keep my $90. Mr. W[redacted] immediately turned very defensive, blaming the horrible results on everything except his team and the materials -- the weather, The Weather Channel, the season, the direction my driveway faces, even me requesting the job when I did. I didn't make the appointment -- he did. And if it wasn't good enough weather or a warm enough time of the year (season), then he should have never scheduled the driveway to be sealed. Mr. W[redacted] then quickly turned from defensive to flat out rude, including claiming I was "ranting", that I was "extremely irrational", "angry", that I "greatly misinterpreted" the photos on their website, that I need to "take a deep breath and calm down", and ultimately saying that I (his customer) "have one of the poorest sense of the situations (he has) ever seen." So this is the "customer support" you can expect if something goes wrong with Academy Sealers sealing your driveway. I really do not understand how I could have "greatly misinterpreted" the photos on their website. The photos on their website clearly depict shiny, dark black driveways, and no where on their website does it say that these photos are of wet driveways. It's simply blatant, unethical, false advertising. Mr. W[redacted] will explain to you that ALL driveway sealants dry flat black (his is actually dull gray, but whatever...). Most of my neighbors (wisely) use a competitor, H&H Paving, for sealing their driveways. Even once their driveways are completely dry, they are shiny, dark black -- basically identical to the photos depicted on the Academy Sealers website. H&H Paving can do it, but apparently (even despite their advertising with photos) Academy Sealers cannot. Finally, only after threatening to turn the matter over to my son, who is an Assistant State Attorney, Mr. W[redacted] agreed to refund my money, but he will not fix my driveway now or ever. Horrible work and horrible customer service. I strongly recommend using anyone else or even doing it yourself rather than hiring Academy Sealers.