Air Capital Instruments

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2015/07/28) */
Contact Name and Title: *** ***
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: ***@hitechtermite.com
Hi Tech Termite of the Bay Area strives to create an environment of open communication and customer service to ensure that
our customers are satisfiedOur industry is one that is overseen and governed by the Structural Pest Control BoardThat board sets the rules and regulations for the industryThey also require that all employees are licensed in accordance to their rules and regulationsThat being said, some customers misunderstand the extend of liability and the standards that all termite companies are held to by the board
A wood destroying organism report (often referred to as a termite report) requires the licensed inspector to identify fungus, dry rot, carpenter ants, carpenter bees, wood boring beetles, termites, and any damage that may have been caused by these infestations or infectionsThese are known as Section I itemsInspectors are also required to note Section II items which are items that can attract or lead to any Section I itemThis may include, but not be limited to plumbing leaks, cracks in the exterior siding/stucco/brick, loose or missing grout, etcThe "structure" defined by the board is the home and anything that is physically attached to the homeWe are required to bid items that fall into our scope of workOther items may be referred to a professionalThe report also states that the owner is not required to use our company for such repairs
In this particular circumstance, the customer paid $for an escrow inspection (which I'm willing to refund 100%)Different loans require different standards in order to fundMost people refinance their home in order to take money out for home improvementsUnfortunately VA loans require a Section I and Section II clearance before the loan can fundSome people are shocked by the news that they have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars before they can refinance their home
After speaking with the inspector, he informed me that he was very polite and tried to engage the customer in conversationShe responded by asking him to talk to her boyfriend who would be handling everythingThe inspector informed the owners boyfriend that there were various findings of fungus/dry rot throughout the eavesHe also informed the customer that there was a small termite damaged portion of the fence that was physically attached to the homeSince the home was not a wood framed structure, the inspector found no reason to charge for termite treatmentInstead he recommended removing and replacing the damaged wood to resolve the issue and save the customer moneyHe went through all the findings with the owners boyfriend, gave him his card and asked him to contact him if there were any questions or concernsNo call was ever made to the inspector
The report was sent to the customer within business hoursWithin hours of the report being sent, Hi-Tech Termite received a poor review onlineAs the owner of the company I tried to reach out to her via phoneShe immediately got defensive and started yelling and disrespecting meMy goal was to simply explain to her what I've explained above, but she didn't give me the opportunity
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 13, 2015/08/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I appreciate the owner's lengthy response to my complaint, however it's apparent that he did not listen to me or my concerns and he also did not address the main issue of the complaintThe main issue was the difference in the verbal report that the tech gave us vswhat the tech put down in the written reportThe owner tried to justify his tech's actions and I did listen to what he had to sayThe owner replied to most of my questions with: "well you have to fix these items anyway" and disregarded my concern about the oral vs written reportAs I've stated before, I have no issues with fixing any items, it's the fact that the tech told us one thing, and then wrote down another in the reportWe gave the verbal report to our lender so we could finish our loan process(Also, the report was sent directly to our loan officer, and was not sent to us as the owner claims.) My husband (not my boyfriend - again owner not listening!) spoke with the loan officer who questioned why we had a different written report vsthe verbal report we gave her the same day the tech was hereThat's how we found out there was a difference in the reports and it held up the loan significantlyBecause we could not trust what the tech wrote, we do have to hire another company to come in and do the reportThe owner really did not listen to me or what the issues were as he was too busy telling me "you don't understand" or "you have to fix it anyway" and he wonders why I was so upsetHad the owner simply stated something like: "It seems there was miscommunication between you and my tech, I apologize if that caused you any inconvenience," I would have withdrawn my complaintInstead he called and argued with me and still did not address the main issueLastly, on a positive note, when I asked for a refund, he agreed and sent it within a week
Final Business Response /* (4000, 17, 2015/09/01) */
I apologize that there was an obvious disconnect between what the inspector said verbally and what was put on the report*** is a state licensed inspector who is required to identify all items within the definition of his expertiseThe fact that ***'s report didn't reflect what you were told is simply bad communication on our endWe train our inspectors to go over the findings with the homeowner during the inspection so that potential questions and/or concerns can be addressed at that timeI've spoken with *** about being more detailed and direct with his explanation so that we can grow as a companySometimes complaints like this end up being a great tool to learn and improve
I sincerely do my best to make sure that my customers are happy with our servicesWhen they are not, I try to resolve the issueWhen it was clear that Mrs*** was not happy and did not want to do business with Hi Tech Termite of the Bay Area, I felt that it was only fair to refund the money for the reportI wish her luck with the new company that she has chosen and I sincerely hope that she accepts my apology
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 20, 2015/09/02) */
9/2/email from consumer
Hi ***,
This is OK to closeI've moved on with life
Thanks for all your help with everything
:

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/16) */
Hi-Tech Termite Control of the Bay Area has been in business since 2002 with excellent standings. We are well aware of potential damage that can occur during a treatment (fumigation) process. We are transparent with our customers in telling...

them that there will be damage on the roof. The customer in question happens to have the highest risk for damage. It's a clay tile roof that it very brittle. It also has a pitch on it that makes it impossible for boards to be laid on top of the tiles for protection.
The roof waiver was discussed prior to the fumigation and the customer was well informed. The customer signed the roof waiver, making this a binding contract that Hi-Tech Termite and Mega-Fume are not responsible for damage to the roof.
After the tent came off the home the customer contacted Hi-Tech Termite and expressed concerns. Even though we had no legal obligation, we agreed to provide the labor to fix the roof if the customer provided the tiles. We have email records of all of this communication. The customer bought about 50 tiles and we paid for the labor. During the repairs, more tiles were found to be broken. The customer asked us to pay for the tiles and the labor. We explained that we would not be willing to pay for the tiles, but we would pay once again for the labor to repair the tiles. The customer once again agreed and the repairs were made.
After the job was completed, the customer attempted to change the details of the agreement and used online reviews as leverage to bully Hi-Tech Termite into covers costs that were clearly not agreed upon. The customer left a review on Yelp, and we responded. The customer contacted the Diamond Certified company and they backed our contract. Now the customer is once again attempting to use online reviews to get something that was not agreed upon up front.
We feel that we have gone above and beyond to accommodate the customer where other companies would not. At this point it's not about the money, it's the principle that the customer agreed to terms and then attempted to use online reviews to bully us into paying for more than what was agreed upon.
.....I've attached the signed roof waiver and supporting documents for review.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/23) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I do not agree the response from Hi-Tech Termite Control company and they said that "the customer agreed to terms and then attempted to use online reviews to bully us into paying for more than what was agreed upon".
First, I don't think I changed the agreement between both sides, because the signed roof waiver before fumigation was based on the minimum damage, and also the agreement to repair the roof was based on small amount of broken tiles. It is NOT fair when major damages were happened and the customer still needed to pay lots of money for repairing. One thing was exceed both sides expectation was the amount of damaged tiles. In fact, finally the total over 80 tiles were broken. But the amount was gradually discovered. When I reported the damage to Hi-Tech Termite Control, I gave a low estimate on the amount of the broken roof tiles (less than 30 tiles) because I didn't climb on the roof to count and just estimate the damages from the ground. Based on the low amount broken tiles, I agreed that they sent their people (but not the professional roofer) as labor to fix the roof and I paid for the material fee. In September, their workers came but found more tiles broken, and they need to come again to finish the repairing. I felt that the Hi-Tech Termite Control was not happy with the 2nd labor. But this was not my fault; their subcontractor (MegaFume) made big and bad damages on my roof during fumigation and they should take full responsibility. That's the reason I asked for reimburse. And, I just asked for $200 reimburse for material fee. $200 is the half amount of what I paid for purchasing material. I asked only half amount, because I appreciated their workers' repairing works.
Second, I do NOT use online review to bully Hi-Tech Termite Control company. For the roof damages, first I contacted Hi-Tech Termite Control but they said it was my risk. Then, on Sept.10, I wrote a one-star review on yelp.com. Here is the review: "9/10/2015 Just warning: if you want fumigation service but also want to protect your roof please don't ask this company. In August 2015, they did fumigation and sub-termite control services for my house. Their free inspection was good and the inspector worked hard. However, they hired unprofessional people to do the fumigation (climbing on your roof and cover the whole house and release gas to kill pest). Before the fumigation, they asked you to sign a form to waive their responsibility if the roof was damaged during fumigation and they told you that they would do their utmost to ensure damage is kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, the fume person was not professional and didn't prepare any material such as a board on the roof to protect your tiles. He just stepped on the clay tiles and broke the tiles, then told you that your tiles were so fragile. After fumigation, many clay tiles on my roof (at least 10 pieces) were broken. They said they would minimize the damage in the waiver form but during working they didn't. In a word, because you signed the waiver form, it looked like they did not care how many tiles were damaged on customer's roof." I just wrote down my experiences and this is NOT a review with intent to bully the company.
For the reimburse (the $200), I wrote a few of email to them, they kept to refuse and then I wrote an email to Diamond Certified for mediation, and I did not put any online review on Diamondcertified.org. After this mediation, they still refused any amount of reimburse, even later they gave a comment on yelp and said that "(I) try to take advantage of a company that goes above and beyond and use online reviews as leverage". So I contacted with Revdex.com.org to complain.
Hi-Tech Termite Control said they has been in business since 2002 with excellent standings, I trusted them and believed their 5 star reviews on yelp.com and paid money for their service; but now I don't understand why they said the customer to bully them by using online reviews.
The facts related to Hi-Tech Termite Control service are:
Fact 1. Before fume, they didn't discuss with me about the possible "severe" damage of the roof. They only sent the roof waiver and let me sign.
Fact 2. In the roof waiver they said that they "will do our utmost to ensure damage is kept to a minimum". Based on the trust of their service quality, I signed the waiver. This was my first time to do the fumigation service and my family actually didn't have any experiences and ideas about roof damages during fumigation before.
Fact 3. During the fumigation process, the worker from MegaFume did NOT make any efforts to protect my roof. The professional fume company should put some boards or other things on the roof to protect tiles, but this time MegaFume workers didn't do services professionally, and they just stepped on the clay tiles and broke them, then told me that the tiles were so fragile.
Fact 4. Over 80 roof clay tiles on my roof were damaged during fumigation. It was major damages on my roof, not the minimum, and it was against Hi-Tech Termite Control's promise in the wavier that they would ensure minimum damage.
The facts relevant to their customer services after fumigation are:
Fact a. At beginning I thought there were about less than 30 tiles broken, because I didn't climb on the roof to count the exact amount of the broken tiles and just estimated with my eyes from ground.
Fact b. In August, I sent email to report the roof damages, Hi-Tech Termite Control replied that "but that is the risk that you took upon moving forward with the fumigation".
Fact c. On Sept. 10, I wrote a review on yelp.com. Then I received an email from Hi-Tech Termite Control and they said that "If you provide the tiles, I will provide the labor to install them (up to 50 tiles). If you have extra stored somewhere, then it won't cost you a dime. If you need to buy them, then the cost will be minimal to you". It looked like a good solution. I thought there were small amount tiles broken and my family could afford the material cost. So, I agreed that they sent the labor to fix.
Fact d. When they repaired the roof in September, Hi-Tech Termite Control workers found that actually many more tiles were broken during fumigation. Since more damages were found, they sent one more labor again in October.
Fact e. I purchased 82 tiles for repairing. Total paid amount are $401.8. I sent invoices to Hi-Tech Termite Control. And I asked for $200 reimburse. They refused. I sent a few of emails to Hi-Tech Termite Control but they still refused. In the last email I told them I would go to the third party to help us to resolve the disagreement. They said one word "understood". On Oct.23, I sent an email to Diamond Certified to look for mediation. And Hi tech termite still refused any reimburse.
Fact g. In November, I found Hi-Tech Termite Control wrote comments on yelp.com after my review, and they said that "some people will try to take advantage of a company that goes above and beyond and use online reviews as leverage". I am not happy with their comments. So I filled out the online complain form in Revdex.com.org.
I am dissatisfied with the response from Hi-Tech Termite Control.