Asphalt Preservation Company, Inc

We began the water restoration and mold mitigation process on September 1, 2016.  We were communicating with the customer’s insurance adjuster continually throughout this process to ensure that we were on the same page as far as the scope of work that needed to be done.  On September 8,...

2016 the water dehumidification, mold mitigation, and demolition was completed.  On September 10th the mitigation estimate was emailed to the customer’s insurance adjuster.  The mitigation estimate was approved on September 13th and we began working with the adjuster to agree upon scope of work for the repairs.  We do have a company policy that we do not start any repairs until the mitigation has been paid for in full.  We did not receive a payment from the customer until November 9, 2016.  The time spent waiting for a payment from the customer did cause a delay in the project.  The customer had some tile work that needed to be done in her bathroom.  She was notified up front that the tile installers were booked six weeks out.  This did cause a delay in the project, but she was notified about this upfront.  In the meantime, we did have other subcontractors in working on her hardwood floors, drywall, painting, and trim.  There was a one week period during this time that the painter stepped away from this project to finish up a couple other jobs.  The one week that the painter was not at this customer’s home did not delay this project’s completion.  With insurance work, we have to try to reuse as much of the undamaged pre-existing items as possible.  If for some reason, we run into an issue we can go back to the insurance company with the facts for approval to replace an item that cannot be reused.  We do not want to do work that is not approved by the insurance company and stick the customer with a large bill.  This was the case with the customer’s shower surround.  With the new tile installation, the elevations changed and the existing shower surround could not be re-installed.  We had to schedule for a glass company to come and measure the shower and order a new, custom shower stall.  There was a three-week waiting period for the custom shower stall to arrive – another unavoidable delay in the project.  This again was communicated to the customer.   We finished the project to this point and final payment was released from the customer’s insurance company on January 31, 2017.  The customer’s mortgage company was on the insurance payment and required an inspection.  During the inspection, it was found the subcontractor we hired to repair the hardwood floors did not refinish the flooring in the pantry closet.  We agreed that this should have been done.  We had the company return to the customer’s home and refinish the flooring in this area.  The inspector also noticed a loose tape line on drywall, this was found in an area where we did not replace drywall.  None the less, in the interest of customer satisfaction we agreed to touch it up for the customer.  The inspector also thought that the baseboard in the family room should have been replaced.  Unfortunately, those baseboards were not affected by this water damage.  It did have some pre-existing damage from previous water damages in the home, but the insurance company will not pay to replace items that were not damaged by the current claim.  We notified the customer that we would be happy to replace the baseboard, but we would have to charge the customer to do so.  The customer agreed to paying extra for the replacement of the baseboard.  We did purchase and stain the baseboards for replacement, but have not returned to install them until we receive payment for the work we did previously, as we are still owed thousands of dollars.  We emailed the customer’s work email a few times on February 27th. We had sent and received emails to and from this email address many times before.  We let her know our subcontractor was having trouble reaching her by phone, to schedule the extra drywall and painting tape line repair that we agreed to fix.  The customer acknowledged having phone trouble.  We also requested a payment as her invoice was approaching 30 days past due and the only work left was the tiny bit of drywall and painting.  She replied to all of these emails and never once told us not to email her at work.  She said that she was waiting on the last check from her mortgage company, but would send what she had gotten so far.  She set up a bill pay of $10,000.  We emailed her again on April 6th letting her know that we have tried calling her, but her phone still seems to be having issues.  We asked her to call us regarding her past due balance.  This was the first time in months of communication that the customer asked us not to email her at work.  She said that she would call us.  She emailed shortly after from her personal email and asked an updated invoice of all charges and payments.  We sent her a statement to reflect all of the charges and payments.  On April 18th, we did assess financial charges.  We had not heard from the customer since our emails on April 6th.  The customer signed paperwork at the start of the project agreeing to pay us upon receipt of payment from her insurance company.  The customer also agreed to interest and finance charges on accounts over 30 days past due.  We were more than patient with this customer before assessing interest charges.  The customer emailed us on April 21st.  She was very upset about the interest charges.  It was in this email that she also complained about our lack of urgency to complete her project because she was living elsewhere.  As I have previously explained the delays in the project were not because she was choosing to live somewhere else, but caused by scheduling of the tile subcontractor and ordering a shower surround.  This was communicated to the customer during the project.  She also brought up the mortgage inspection, but those items were addressed and fixed in February.  She said she “will have payment in full of amount due that was in my estimation, nothing more.”  We received a payment for $3,000 on April 25th. We emailed her personal email on May 10th.  She did not respond; therefore, we did call her at work on May 15th.  She was on another line, so we did not leave a message.  We have done nothing to embarrass her.  She emailed us from her work email account (the one we are not supposed to use to communicate with her).  In this email, she told us not to call her at work.  We can only utilize mail, no phone calls or email.  At this point she said that she was filing a complaint with the Revdex.com as well as “harassment at her work place”. To date the customer owes us a balance of $4,248.14.  This includes a finance charge of $265.16.  We did not charge a penny more than what was agreed upon by her insurance company.  The money that was released by her insurance company plus her deductible of $1,500 will cover all of our charges.  In her complaint to the Revdex.com, the customer states that the project took longer because she was not living in the home.  Again, this is simply not true.  Furthermore, she did not have to be out of her home the whole time, she chose to be. She also brings up her mortgage inspection, and we have already addressed all of those items.  We are hardly harassing this person, but we have tried to communicate with this person.  We would like to get this resolved.  Unfortunately, the customer has not made it a priority to communicate with us.  She would respond by phone or email during the project, but now that we have moved to collecting money she does not want to communicate with us.  She mentions that she was inconvenienced so that we could work on other jobs.  The only evidence I have of this is when the painter was not there for the one week as mentioned previously, but it did not hold up her project in any way, shape, or form.  She did request additional work.  We have not yet, been paid in full for the previous invoice and therefore have not started any new projects.  We also have not charged the customer for any additional work.  She mentioned that her home was left a mess.  This is the first time we are hearing about this.  We had a crew of two people cleaning her home on December 9, 2016 after much of the work had occurred.  We were back again with a crew of three people for a final clean on December 21st.  At this point, all of the work had been completed except we were waiting for the shower surround, which would not cause a mess to install.  We have our own vacuums and always use them, so I will have to dispute the statement that we used her vacuum.  This is the first we are hearing about batteries taken out of smoke detectors as well.  We had no reason to remove the batteries from the smoke detectors.  We really do try to address our customer’s concerns when they are brought to our attention.  Unfortunately, these issues were not brought to our attention until today, through the Revdex.com, months after the project’s completion.  During the course of the project the customer did ask questions and address her concerns with us.  We always responded to her questions and concerns throughout, and we have many emails to show as evidence to back up this statement, if needed.  If she did have such an issue, she certainly knew that she could have contacted us.  We would have addressed her concerns immediately, not months later when she doesn’t want to pay her bill.