Alliance Roofing, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/09/08) */
Mrs. [redacted] called and spoke to our receptionist about having us go out and look at her gutter / downspout issues. Owner agreed to our minimum service call and the service request was made. On the day in question we called her and told her we...

were going to be out later that day and she said that it was fine. Before arrival we called again and she did not answer and we went to the home. Mr. [redacted] was unaware of exactly what his wife wanted done but directed us to a issue in the back that was overflowing. The tech found that a back gutter / trough was full of leaves and he cleaned the area. He then went to go look at the area that he believed Mrs. [redacted] had wanted us to look at. The area in question was inside of a soffit and the pipe inside that area was leaking. The tech would not be able to access this area without taking off the soffit and then we may not be able to make the repair to the pipe. He suggested that the owner contact a plumber to be able to deal with this better.
Mrs. [redacted] was made aware of and agreed to the minimum service call. She is complaining that she told our phone receptionist the issue and that she should have been able to diagnose the problem site unseen over the phone. We are not able to diagnose anything without being able to see the problem.
Mrs. [redacted] called the office upon getting her invoice and verbally assaulted one of the ladies in the office. [redacted] responded to her in a letter format that although we were 100% upfront with her and did what we could do to help her we would split the service call with her. She wrote us a check for half of the service call and mailed it to us with obscenities on it and then called to inform us she had cancelled that very same check.
She is clearly unstable and we have turned this over to our collection company for further collections.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2015/09/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
1. I did not ask Alliance Roofing to look at "gutter issues" as the roof area to be serviced does NOT have a gutter. I asked Alliance Roofing to fix a roof drain/downspout problem previously-diagnosed by another roofing company. The specific problem to be fixed was to route the roof drain INTO the downspoutthe roof drain was incorrectly installed OVER the downspout which would allow water to leak into the soffit. I discussed the scope of this project, including two possible solutionsinstall a smaller roof drain or install larger downspoutin detail with the receptionist and was assured this was a problem Alliance Roofing could fix.
2. On the day of the service call, Alliance Roofing did NOT call me. After not hearing from them for over a week, I called them to find out when they were putting us on the schedule. The receptionist said they were trying to add us to the schedule that afternoon if they had time. I told her to call me before coming because I had an afternoon appointment. The receptionist could not give an estimate of what time I might expect a call. Their repairman called at 1:52 p.m. while I was en route to my 2:00 p.m. appointment. Since my phone was turned off, he left a voicemail message. I did not return his call to confirm an appointment. Obviously, when I returned home, I was surprised and shocked to learn that a repairman had shown up, that he had spent a few minutes on the roof, that he could not fix the problem, that he said we would need to hire a plumber and that Alliance Roofing would be sending an invoice for $265.00.
3. Yes, it's true my husband did not know what needed to be fixedthat's why I needed to be home when the repairman showed up. My husband was told we would receive an invoice for $265.00 whether the repairman worked on the roof or not so my husband directed the repairman to the problem area.
4. Of course the problem was inside the soffit. That's exactly what I asked Alliance to do was to fix the roof drain/downspout problem inside the soffit. As noted above, the receptionist and I discussed two ways to fix the problem. I don't know how one could fix this problem without accessing the soffit. If the receptionist had any doubts that the repairman could accomplish this repair, I would expect that she would have confered with a technician to make sure Alliance Roofing was capable of fixing a problem inside a soffit. This seems like a normal expectation of a company that states they do not do estimates, that their approach is to come out and fix the problem on the spot so they don't need to make two trips.
5. No, a plumber is not required to fix this problem as the problem was diagnosed by one roofing company and ultimately fixed by a roofing company. If Alliance Roofing doesn't fix problems inside soffits, they should have declined this service call the day I explained to their receptionist exactly what I wanted them to fix. As a matter of fact, in this day and age, why didn't Alliance Roofing ask for photos of the problem if they had any doubts about their ability to repair a roof drain/downspout problem.
6. No, I didn't ask Alliance Roofing to clean leaves out of a trough for $265.00. Removing leaves was never discussed as part of the problem Alliance Roofing verbally agreed to fix. To the best of my recollection, the subject of leaves never came up in the initialphone call at all.
7. No, I did not ask or expect the phone receptionist to diagnose the problem over the phone. I explained to the receptionist that the problem had already been diagnosed by a roofing company. At that point, it seems totally reasonable to me to expect that the receptionist would confer with a technician to see if the problem I described was one they could fix. She expressed no hesitation about the ability of Alliance Roofing to do the work I described. She explained in detail that the company did not do estimates for jobs, that they show up, perform the requested task and stay until it's finished. She explained how many hours work the initial fee covered and what the rate would be if the job took longer that the minimum rate. She suggested two repairmen might be sent to work on our project and explained that the advantage of two men vs. one is that they could get the job done faster. The conversation with the receptionist did not sound like they would be "adding us on at the end of the day if they had time." At no time, did she indicate that they would attempt to do work on our roof without my being present. Nor did I get the impression that if they just showed up, we would be asked to pay $265.00 whether they could perform the agreed upon job or not.
8. Yes, I returned a call to Alliance after we received the invoice. I started the conversation by saying, "there are 3 reasons now 4 that we will not be paying the bill." I had barely started my explanation when I was rudely interrupted by the lady on the phone. She didn't want to hear a word I said. I had to argue with her to explain why I thought their invoice was not merited. I am now left with the impression Alliance Roofing would have left a bill in door if no one was home and we would still be having this conversation.
9. Yes, I hung up on the lady. Yes, I called the lady an obscenity. It's true that I was very, very frustrated trying to explain to a lady who would not listen why I didn't think we owed $265.00 for their "minimum service charge." Yes, I should have ended the call after the first minute the conversation began. Misunderstandings happen. I was and still am dumb-founded that this company is not interested in hearing feedback about the way they conduct their business. The one-sided response above conveniently omits the fact that I called back a few minutes after hanging up and apologized for the name I called the lady. I, on the other hand, received no apology from Alliance Roofing. No one called me to say, "wow, this is not how our company does business and we apologize that you had such a negative experience."
10. Not only was I not listened to and not respected as a customer, there appears to have been no procedure in place to take notes, to learn about customer expecations, nor to validate the verbal transactions that took place. Not once did the lady say, "I'll talk to the receptionist to validate what your expectations where and get back to you." I had to speak forcefully to just get a word in edgewise. I don't see how anyone could make any sense of what we was trying to be accomplished during that phone call as it was two people talking over each other the whole time. Frankly, after learning that the call was recorded, I believe I was set up so Alliance Roofing could extract the highly agitated reaction from me that they did. They wanted an abusive response so they could use that as leverage as noted above to get payment for their "minimum service call." Except for the initial call where I thought the receptionist and I were on the same page about exactly what was to be fixed on our roof, nothing else about doing business with Alliance Roofing has been what I would call of a professional nature.
11. As the call with the lady escalated and Alliance Roofing threatened to send the bill to collections, I indicated I would take whatever steps were necessary to not pay this bill, including filing a claim with the Revdex.com, submitting negative reviews on social media, telling the friend who referred Alliance to us what a horrible experience this has been and if necessary, hiring a lawyer. The lady taunted that these were "idle threats" and "saber-rattling." My response was, "so you're calling me a liar." She threatened if I posted negative reviews that Alliance Roofing would pursue slander charges against me. Interesting, too, that the only reason Alliance was willing to cut their "minimum service call" in half, was out of "respect" for the business they receive from the company that referred us to them. In trying to figure out how this encounter with Alliance Roofing went so terribly wrong, I can only surmise that my call was out of the ordinary for most service calls that Alliance Roofing receives. How many people who call in, know exactly what their roof problem is, suggest ways it can be fixed and have a precise expectation of what business is being verbally contracted? I did not give Alliance Roofing permission to come to our house on an unconfirmed appointment to look at our roof, tell us we needed to hire a plumber and charge us $265.00. In addition to being insulted by being insinuated to be liar, I have now been declared "unstable."
12. No, the response above is more of the same and does nothing to move this case toward closure.I would like the invoice dismissed and to receive an apology from Alliance Roofing.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 16, 2015/09/22) */
We have already responded to this owner and to the Revdex.com. This has been turned over to collections and she can speak to them directly.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 18, 2015/09/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
For the Revdex.com, I would like to confirm that, yes, a collection notice for $132.00 was received from a collection agency. I turned the notice over to an attorney and further communication with Alliance Roofing will go through the attorney. I will update the Revdex.com on the final outcome of this frustrating encounter with Alliance Roofing. Thank you for providing an avenue to report unacceptable business practices such as what has been reported here.