Aquaguard Waterproofing Corporation

Review: I signed a contract with Aquaguard on 3/13/13 for basement waterproofing along with a Notice of Cancellation that acknowledged our right to cancel the contract up to 3/16/13. I submitted the signed Notice of Cancellation on 3/15/13 to Aquaguard via fax (I have receipt of fax) and verified their receipt of the cancellation notice via phone. An employee of Aquaguard visited my residence on 3/16/13 to void and initial the contract (I have the voided contract). I have contacted Aquaguard four times since then about receiving the credit for our down payment to our credit card. It is now 31 days after the cancellation of the contract and we have not received that credit of $3898.Desired Settlement: Credit our deposit of $3898 to our credit card immediately.

Business

Response:

We have processed a credit on the customer's card for the total amount requested. I emailed the customer a receipt showing the credit.

Thank you.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: Inspector [redacted] came to our home at 5:00 on Sunday July 21 to give us a free estimate for installing drains and 2 sump pumps in our basement. We signed a contract with Aquaguard, which included a rescind clause that stated we had 72 hours to cancel our contract, verbally, and to receive a full refund for our deposit of $500.00. The deposit check was for the amount of $500.00 and was posted dated for July 26, to further ensure that the company would not cash the check until we took 72 hours to make a final decision. The check, however, was deposited first thing Monday morning, July 22 at [redacted] in [redacted] MD. The inspector "forgot" to leave a copy of the contract with us when he left that evening. So we have no record of the transaction.

When I called and requested to speak with a manager, I was put through to accounting's voicemail. When I called back I was told that accounting was out for the day. My husband and I called repeatedly at which point we were told that the manager, **. [redacted], was not available.

At 9:50AM the inspector, [redacted] returned my call and apologized for depositing the check. He said that he would deliver a refund in the form of the check at the end of the day Friday. When asked why we could not receive a refund before Friday, all he said was sorry and hung up.Desired Settlement: We would like our $500.00 deposit back asap.

Business

Response:

There was a miscommunication with customer's deposit check. It was deposited Monday, July 22, 2013. We have since spoken with the customer & are processing a refund check Friday, July 26, 2013. We are hand delivering the refund check to the customer on Friday, July 26th.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: Aquaguard was contracted to repair/replace foundation pipes. This included replacing foundation pipes, installing a sump pump and rain barrel. The barrel was installed too close to the house. The barrel overflows and water flows down on the patio causing the same problem the were contracted to repair.Desired Settlement: A refund of $9,000.00

Business

Response:

We contacted customer today & have scheduled a service appointment for tomorrow, Tuesday, 12/17/13.

Customer is requesting additional work that goes against county permit regulations. We are working with customer to come to a mutual agreement/resolution.

Thank you,

Consumer

Response:

From deleted complaint [redacted]:

A complaint was filed with Revdex.com on December 11, 2013 for completion of construction on a foundation project they had started on September 28, 2013. This is to inform Revdex.com the construction was completed on December 17, 2013. Thank you so much for your intervention.

Review: I signed a contract with the company on September 2, 2012 to fix a water leak on the basement wall facing the front of the house at [redacted]. In the contract it was promised that the work will be done in 1-4 days. The sale person assured that the repair would fix the water leak problem in the basement and offered 10 year warranty. However, the work did not begin for about 2 weeks and it did not finish for about a month. The work was done by subcontractors. I don't believe the proper permits were pulled. No quality check was performed by the company.

Shortly after the initial repair, the basement leaked again when it rained. I contacted immediately to get it remediated. However, it took over 50 phone calls and about 2 months to finally get them to come out fix the issue. Unfortunately, they sent the same group of subcontractor guys who did incorrectly in the first place. They just dug up part of the area and put another sump pump. Again, no quality check was performed by the company.

On Jun 7, 2013, it rained a bit, and it is leaked again. Once again, I contacted the company immediately to get it fixed. Sadly, the person did not seem to be that concerned and said she would send someone next week. On June 10, 2013, it rained a bit and leaked. On June 12, I made over 5 phone calls to make an appointment for them to come out and do repair. I was able to talk with the receptionist only and she said that the person who does scheduling was busy. I still have not heard back with any kind of proposal to remediate the issue. I am so concerned now. What if Aquaguard drags for 2 months again? What if it rains and leaks again? Is there mold issue? I have an infant baby at home. Why was this not done right in the first time and second time around? Does this company have competent experienced personnel?Desired Settlement: 1. Either a) redo the waterproofing from outside within 5 days from receiving this notice and fix the water leak (ensure that proper permits are pulled and the company perform quality assurance before finishing up) or b) reimburse the full cost of the contract plus 3% interest from September 2, 2012,

2. Hire a mold specialist to check for molds in the basement. If there are any molds, hire a specialist to clean it up. If we have to stay out, pay for temporary housing,

3. Reimburse for loss of rental income from the basement unit totalling $6,600 ($2,200 per month for 3 months), and

4. Reimburse for damages to personal property totalling $850

Business

Response:

We performed service work (reinstalled the job) on Saturday, June 22, 2013. I received this complaint today, Monday June 24, 2013. I believe customer's concerns regarding the work have all been addressed.

Regarding the other issues - the contract states that the job would be installed around September 2, 2012. The estimated time to install job would be 1-4 days. Customer needed an exterior outlet for the sump pump. We contracted this out because we are not licensed electricians. When we called after the initial installation customer stated that he was satisfied with the work. Customer called 10/30/12 (a very heavy rain period) and our Service Manager, [redacted], responded the same day. We have policy of calling our customers back within 24 hours. We try to respond within the hour unless we are receiving heavy call volumes during heavy rain periods. Our chief inspector went out 6/12/13 and gave me a solution of excavating which was performed Saturday 6/22/13. All this work was perfomed for free.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because it did not address any of the concerns. The rework did not fix the problem. It has been leaking every time it rained since the rework was completed. I don't think proper permits were pulled. I believe what the chief inspector said was not what was actually done. Again, no quality assurance when the work was actually being performed.

I signed a contract on June 1 and the permit was applied with the city on July 9!!! I had to call many times regarding the permit. I have read many poor reviews about their work being subcontracted out but the company ensures me they do not. I will be closely watching while they do all work. I will post a separate review of all work once done. Do not hire if you have a serious water problem. They are slow!!!!!!

Review: My basement has a water leak which is wetting the carpet at the wall underneath the front of my home whenever there is a heavy rain. I contacted Aquaguard Waterproofing Company (the Company) in early September 2013 to have them assess what was causing the water to seep into the house. They sent their representative named [redacted] ([redacted]) [redacted] to my home on September 4, 2013. He surveyed / inspected the basement which is a finished basement with drywall covering the concrete walls and carpeting on the concrete floor slab. Based on his inspection **. [redacted], who represented to us that he was an expert in evaluating the type of leak we had, and which he stated he has seen many times, he explained to my wife and I that our problem was that the hydrostatic water pressure was causing water to seep through the foundation floor where the concrete walls meet the foundation floor slab. He represented to us that in order to stop the water from leaking into the basement, the only two options were; 1) to dig up the dirt outside the house, than cover the outside wall with a rubber type coating and then cover the coating with protective membrane sheet, or 2) install a water management system of perforated tubing inside the flooring of the basement and drill weep hole at the bottom of the concrete walls to catch the water seeping in through the footing where the wall meets floor, and direct the water through the tubing to drain into the sump pit.

**. [redacted] gave us a price for option (1) one of $30,000. The price given for option (2) two was $10,230 including the county required permits. **. [redacted] also guaranteed us that based on his experience and expertise and the many years he has seen this same type of problem, that the water management system (option 2) would solve our water leaking problem. We signed a contract with Aquaquard Waterproofing Company that same day for option (2) two and paid a deposit of $3,230.

The work was started and completed over a four day period in the end of September. The work consisted of cutting out the drywall and wood studs about 18 inches up from the floor around three sides of my basement, chopping up the concrete floor, installing the tubing and a sump pump, drilling weep holes in the walls and then pouring cement to close the flooring.

Within a week of the completion of the work, there was a heavy rain and the water leak happened again in the same area in the front wall of the house. I cut out the drywall myself all the way up the wall (as opposed to the already exposed 18 inches on the bottom, and saw that the water was leaking into the house from the top of the concrete wall where the wall met the wood framing of the home directly underneath where the front door of the home is.

I took video recordings of the water dripping down the wall as well as still pictures as evidence that the leak into my home was not coming from the bottom where the wall meets the concrete slab floor, but was coming from the top of the wall.

Hence, as represented by the Company’s expert, **. [redacted] that the leak was being caused by hydrostatic pressure forcing water to seep through the concrete footing where the wall meets the floor, the leak actually was not caused by that. And the work that I was guaranteed would solve my water leak problem was never needed and my water leak still remains. When I contacted the company to let them know that water was still leaking into my home, they sent one of their supervisors / foreman named [redacted] to my home on October 12, 2013. [redacted] used my water hose on the outside of the house and sprayed water at the bottom of front door of my home where the wood door framing was rotting away. Within 5 minutes the water started leaking into the basement at the same spots as when the heavy rains occurred. [redacted] informed me that I would need to get a new door frame and door and it appeared to him that this was the cause of the leak. He stated that he would inform the Company and they would contact me. After not hearing back from the company I called **. [redacted] on October 15, 2013 to inquire about what the Company was going to do to resolve my problem that still exists. **. [redacted] said he’d get back to me by the next day. In the evening of October 16, 2013 after getting no response from the Company, I contacted my credit card company to ask they put a dispute hold on the payments which now included the remaining $7,000 of the contract balance. On October 31, 2013, I received a call from someone named [redacted] who stated that she was with the Aquaguard Company and her role was as a liaison between the sales department and management. She asked if I was satisfied with the work. I informed her that I was very unsatisfied, that the leak still existed and that no one from the company was responding to my calls to resolve my leak. She apologized for the Company and said she would look into the matter and get back to me.

On November 15, 2013 I received a letter from the dispute department of my credit card company stating that Aquaguard responded to their dispute inquiry by sending a signed copy of the contract and saying that the Company installed a working system. That same day, November 15, 2013, I contacted [redacted] and she apologized for never getting back to me and said she would have the company president look into my case the next business day.

It is now November 19, 2013 and I have yet to hear from the Company as to how they plan to solve my problem that still exists.

In the mean time, I’ve had to order a new door and frame which I am waiting to arrive and be installed at a cost of $3,500. In addition, I have gotten several estimates from drywall repairers and the repair to the wall and studs that the Company cut out to do work that was never needed will cost me another $2,500. Therefore, I will need to spend $6,000, of which $3,500 is to actual fix the problem that the Company misdiagnosed, and another $2,500 to repair the unnecessary damage they made and to put my basement back to the way it was before this aggravating situation.Desired Settlement: As much as I think that not only should the Aquaguard Company not be charging me for work that was never needed, and did not solve my water leak problem, and should also reimburse me for the $2,500 I will have to spend for the repair to the basement walls, I just want the Company to not expect me to pay the $10,230 and nullify the contract and settle this as I don’t believe I should owe them any payment.

I hope that the Company will settle this complaint and drop the request for any payment. However, if they will not, then I would like to invoke paragraph #24 of the contract which states “Any dispute arising under this agreement shall be settled by arbitration” and have this matter settled through arbitration.

Thank you,

Business

Response:

Customer contacted us because he was having excessive seepage in his basement. He already had a waterproofing system - installed by the builder. We took out that system & installed 110 feet of our system. We also repaired a crack in the wall.

Customer contacted us after installation because he was still having seepage. We performed service work as part of our warranty. We had to reparge the wall crack. We also confirmed with the customer that the door had to be replaced. There was evidence of water seepage coming from the door frame & it was rotted.

We acknowlege that we may have missed the problem with the door area, however, there were additional problems that needed to be repaired. We did not misdiagnose those problems. It has been our experience that builder's systems do not work over time & we have to constantly replace them. Also, the crack we repaired was located on a different wall - not on the wall where the door is located.

We are willing to help customer but will not refund the full contract price. Customer now has a new waterproofing system in his basement which is superior to his previous builder's system & we repaired an additional crack in the wall. We incurred costs to do this. Customer has a warranty for this work which we will honor if there are any future problems with our system.

Customer states he is upset with the costs to repair drywall. For our system to be installed properly we have to cut the drywall & wall studs. If we didn't do this our system would not work. Customers are informed of this during the time of inspection & it is on our contract agreement.

We regret that this situation has escalated to a complaint & apologize for any inconveniences to the customer. Again, we are willing to help in some way but will not offer a full contract refund.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Review: 9809252I am rejecting this response because:

In regards to Aquaguard’s response received by me on 12-6-13 to my 11-19-13 complaint, this will address each of Aquaguard’s statements. I am having seepage from the front of my house. That was the problem for which I contacted Aquaguard to assess. The crack that Aquaguard is referring to in their 1st paragraph is on the side wall of the house and never showed any signs of seepage inside of the house, however Aquaguard’s so called expert, [redacted], informed me that “ I eventually may” have a leak from this area and they did patch that area. However, once again I would like to reiterate, that the area where there is seepage into my home is from the front of the house and that is what I contacted Aquaguard to assess. Furthermore, the waterproofing system-installed by the builder is something that is done for all new construction houses, not something special that my home builder installed.

With regard to Aquaguard’s 2nd paragraph, Aquaguard is once again referring to the crack on the outside of the side of my house, not the area in the front that I originally contacted them to access and which is the area with the seepage. They are correct, that it was only after I contacted them stating that the front of my house was still leaking “from the top of the wall, not the bottom where the footing is” that they confirmed that this is where the leak is from, as per their statement; “There was evidence of water seepage coming from the door frame.”

With regard to Aquarguard’s 3rd paragraph where Aquaguard states; “We acknowledge that we may have missed the problem with the door area, however, there were additional problems that needed to be repaired. We did not misdiagnose those problems.” Once again, I contacted Aquaguard because I have a leak in the front of my house, beneath the front door, not for any other reason. The fact that they noticed a crack on the side of my house on the outside, which showed no visible leaking into my house from that crack, is irrelevant to this complaint, as I did not contact them regarding any leakage on the side of my house. Aquarguard’s statement that they did not misdiagnose the problem I asked them to assess is totally false since their “expert” **. [redacted] stated and guaranteed to me that the leak in the front of my house was caused by hydrostatic water pressure causing water to seep through the foundation floor where the concrete walls meet the foundation floor slab. The “110 feet of our system” that Aquaquard installed was suppose to fix the leak being caused by the hydrostatic water pressure, however as I have already stated, this was never the problem causing the leak. Furthermore, Aquaguard is acknowledging that “We acknowledge that we may have missed the problem with the door area”. I believe this statement confirms that fact Aquaguard did in fact, misdiagnose the problem that I called them to assess and which I contracted them to fix. Aquaguard guaranteed me that the leak was being caused by the hydrostatic water pressure and that the system they installed would fix the problem and that is what I contracted them to do. Aquarguard’s statement that; “We did not misdiagnose those problems”, meaning something other than the leak cause by the front door, further supports that they did in fact misdiagnose the problem that I contacted them about.

Aquaguard statement that; “It has been our experience that builder's systems do not work over time & we have to constantly replace them”, is also irrelevant to this complaint because the leak Aquaguard acknowledges that they missed, was caused by the front door and the builder’s system has nothing to do with the cause of the leak and further supports my complaint that Aquaguard sold me a system that had nothing to do with the leakage problem I still have.

Aquaguard’s statement; “Also, the crack we repaired was located on a different wall - not on the wall where the door is located.” Is also irrelevant because once again, it does not relate to the installation of the “system” they installed and therefore further supports that the system they sold me had nothing to do with the leakage problem I have in the front of my house.

With regard to Aquarguard’s 4th paragraph that states; “Customer now has a new waterproofing system in his basement which is superior to his previous builder's system”, still does not address the fact that Aquaguard sold me a system that was suppose to fix my problem and it did not. What good is a waterproofing system that does not prevent the leak that I was guaranteed it would fix.

With regard to Aquarguard’s 4th and 6th paragraph that states; “We are willing to help customer”, I have contacted Aquaguard five times, on November 15, 19, 21, 25 and 27th requesting to speak with the management of the company and each time I spoke with their representative, **. [redacted] who during each call apologized for no one calling me back and stating to me that **. [redacted], the manager would be contacting me. As of this date, December 6, 2013, I still have yet to receive a call from **. [redacted]. As such their statement that they are willing to help the customer is once again another false statement, since it is very difficult to help the customer if they are not willing to speak with the customer.

Once again, as much as I think that not only should the Aquaguard Company not be charging me for work that was never needed, and did not solve my water leak problem, and should also reimburse me for the $2,500 I will have to spend for the repair to the basement walls, I just want the Company to not expect me to pay the $10,230 and nullify the contract and settle this as I don’t believe I should owe them any payment. If Aquaguard truly wants to settle this, they should pick up the phone and call me. They have my phone number.

I hope that the Company will settle this complaint and drop the request for any payment. However, if they will not, then I would like to invoke paragraph #24 of the contract which states “Any dispute arising under this agreement shall be settled by arbitration” and have this matter settled through arbitration.

Thank you,

Regards,[redacted]

Business

Response:

Customer wants a free system and us to pay for his other problems. He needed a system, called us with his problem, and now has buyer's remorse. AquaGuard should not give him a free system and free repairs on his house. I feel customer is being unreasonable. I will be glad to go to arbitration if customer is unwilling to come to a settlement.

Thank you for your time and help with this matter.

[redacted], CPA