Basements 4 Less

Review: Contractor is not responsive & non reachable. Doesn't return calls or texts. No progress in work for the past 4 weeks and he has collected more than 65% of the total contract payment!Desired Settlement: Prompt delivery of services for which the payment has been made

Review: I signed a contract with [redacted] the owner of Basements 4 less on January 16th of 2013. The completion of this project was to take 3 to 4 months, we are now going on over a year and a half with no end in site. He completed approximately 85% of the work, but will not return to finish the remainder, nor return my calls for a meeting. In addition to the interior basement, he hired a mason to build basement stair out the rear of the house, however he never installed the railings and fencing we agreed upon because the mason will not return. This has left an extremely dangerous ten foot deep concrete pit in the back of my home for kids to fall into. [redacted] had a falling out with the mason a year ago and refuses to hire another mason to complete this portion of the work. He has also failed to complete the interior portion of the project which has several items that need to be addressed. If this project can not be addressed promptly I will be taking legal action very soon.Desired Settlement: I need [redacted] to finish the interior by the week of 7/7. I also need him to hire a mason to complete the masonry for the stairs and install the railings and fencing he said he would order. If this can not be done in a timely manner, I need a refund that will cover the cost to have this work completed.

Review: I underwent to contract In the month of March last year to complete my basement. I paid 2/3rd of money by month of April. This guy did not complete the work till November. He dragged the work forever. He showed up to the work only with some kind of threatening. Finally we reached to the stage where there was a time of next installment(1/6th of the original contract). At the time of payment I made him sign the paperwork to complete with in three weeks. He agreed to this. Also in agreement there was a failure clause. It was like upon failure to complete I shall have a choice to go to my contractor and complete the work and he will pay the money. He did not complete the work till month of February, 2014. Finally I spent more money to complete the remaining work.

Also the responsible person were never reachable. He will not answer the phone calls and it was a nightmare to deal with this guy.Desired Settlement: Ideally I would like the refund of my last 1/6th of payment. Because I spent almost that money to complete my basement.

Business

Response:

We have been trying to reach [redacted] as well as my electrician to complete the work. We couldnt reach him to schedule.There is still an open balance on this job and we have no idea where we stand with this customer.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: He was committed to complete last year we had a written agreement (with clause if he did not finish in time he will pay the cost to complete the remaining work). This year February, I already sent a letter saying I am finishing the work by myself. Even after that they never bothered to call me. Once complain is filed here they only started calling to complete the work. They owe me the money I spend to complete the remaining work (@$2250)

Regards,

Business

Response:

There is still a balance of that amount.There shouldnt be any money owed at this time.

Review: [redacted] owner of Basements4Less of Robbinsville, NJ demanded a 50% deposit up front and then performed little and haphazard work. He also continued to demand monthly installments. After 12 weeks, none of the walls were completed. When asked to perform under the basement contract, all we ever got was excuses, minor work, and incorrectly constructed framing. He pays none of the sub-contractors (electrical and plumbing). I ended up finishing the basement myself by paying the subs out of my pocket. [redacted] refused to perform or return the monies we paid him for labor and materials never provided by him as per the contract. According to the township construction inspectors, he has bilked dozens of other unwary homeowners. NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH [redacted]Desired Settlement: Our damages are return of the deposit monies, monthly installments, and extra materials that we paid him for but were never provided by him. This amount totals about $13,500. I have sued [redacted], CLJ Basements, and Basements4Less under NJ's Consumer Fraud Act which entitles me to triple our damages plus costs and attorney fees.

Review: We contracted Basements 4 Less/CLJ Home Improvements to finish our basement in Nov 2012, they have been extremely unreliable with services. They have been paid almost in full(95%) and they have not completed the work after over 20 months now. The original completion time was 3-4 months on the contract. The owner [redacted] does not respond to repeated messages to schedule work. There is no intention or desire to complete the work. The workers do not finish what they are asked to do. All scheduling has to be done by [redacted] and he just does not respond at all. It has also resulted in increased allergies and overall sickness for all of us due to construction debris. We would like to have our money refunded so we can get the work done by a more reputed contractor. We would also want to complain about this business with other agencies so there is more awareness about this contractor and the ill intentions of harassing his customers. We have friends that have contracted with [redacted] and he has violated every contract and resulted in same kind of frustrations and outrage. Unfortunately we came to know about him after it was too late and we had paid a significant amount of money. He also took advance of 100% for an extension build out in Nov 2013 and he never started the work. I eventually gave the work to another contractor. I have not received my money back on the extension build out yet. So there is a lot of frustration, anger, outrage and need to agitate and we are looking up to Revdex.com to help in a way that pressurizes this business to do the right thing, which is honor commitments, be responsive, be honest, do the right thing for its customers.Desired Settlement: Cash refund so work can be completed by a reputed contractor.

Review: CLJ or Basements 4 Less, run by [redacted] Johnston of Robinsville, NJ has not lived up to their contract. This contract was signed in June of 2013. We are still waiting for our finished basement. After reading the previous complaints, I am not surprised to find that [redacted] is using the same tactics with his other clients. We also do not get return phone calls (he does not answer). On occasion I receive an answer to my detailed texts with an OK or I'll let you know. I'm lucky to get an answer to one of my questions. His crew does not show up on the days we are promised. When they do show up it is after 1PM and more like 2PM. His framer quits at 3:30PM. You can't do much work in 2 hours every several weeks. The crews that show up bad mouth the boss and tell me this happens to all of his clients. I have basically been the GC on this job. [redacted] has done a poor job throughout and I would highly recommend staying far away from using his services. We have the same problems as other complaint-ants; several failed township inspections, bath vent that is not being hooked up, paid 70% of the job (he came around and even called when payment was due) until we stopped advance paying.Desired Settlement: Our desired outcome is to have this job 100% completed by the end of May 2014. When we originally signed the contract we were told that it would only take a few weeks and that the delays would be because of township inspections as it may take them time to get them done. Well, the town has come out withing 24 hours of requesting them.

Business

Response:

We are currently in the process of sheetrocking and spackling the basement.Once that is complete we will install the doors and trim.It is our intention to finish this job as quickly as possible for [redacted].I have been extemely shorthanded lately and working on rectifying the situation as quickly as possible.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

On Thursday May 22, 2014 [redacted] of CLF (Basements For Less) responded to this complaint and stated that he was working on the sheet rock and was working to resolve this as soon as he could.

Ironically, on May 22, 2014 the contractor was a no show. This was his 2nd no show in the last 3 appointments that he confirmed. I have taken time off form work to be here to meet with this contractor and he has repeatedly not shown up for said appointments.

They have been working on the framing and sheet rock since December 2013. That is 6 months. Unacceptable.

Last week the Township of Jackson, NJ filed a notice of violation and order to terminate which was sent to the contractor via certified mail.

If you are reading this, do not use this contractor.

Regards,

Review: I signed a contract for a basement to be finished on 3/10/2011. We put a down payment of $4200 by check. We later decided not to get our basement finished and asked CLJ Home Improvement for our deposit back. At first they were hesitant to refund our money, but after looking over the contract we signed and reading about NJ laws regarding contractors and disclosures that are required on a contract, CLJ started to pay back our deposits in payments. We have received a total of 4 payments of $500 so far. I have tried numerous times to contact and discuss when the remainder of our deposit will arrive. I have not received anything since late spring of 2013. They still have an outstanding balance of $2200 owed to us for services never done.Desired Settlement: I would like to recoup the rest of my deposit. We have been more than patient with this company

Business

Response:

This customer received a portion of his deposit back but I had deducted money for the permit process.

Review: We have signed the contract to finish our basement by paying an initial deposit of $8500. The contractor literally rushed us in signing the contract without even letting us think much by promising that he has high reputation in the community, he will finish with high quality, cant get the same price if we dont sign in 2 hours from the time of his arrival etc. Our first month payment of $708.33 which is when the contractor sent his staff for first time to do a couple hours initial set up. And after repetitive follow ups thru phone calls and text messages they showed up again after 2 months for an hour. Every time the contractor ([redacted]) tells something and that never happens. [redacted] is completely irresponsible and care less for the jobs he signs up. I did have a final meeting with him with all my concerns and he mentions he is short of resources and he will continue looking for resources and finish up the job which doesnt build any confidence. And he says, I will go bankrupt and what can you do, you can talk to your attorneys and at this point I dont care about anything, which is a big shock. We finally told, we are not interested in his services anymore and asked to just return both payments back. He mentioned he has to calculate the services done so far and the material and get back to us with the cost information which he hasn't yet. As usual, even after repetitive messages he didn't respond. This contractor put us in so much of mental pressure and stress and having paid at total of $9208.33 it hurts us even more financially. I do have all my communications (both text messages and emails) if its needed as a witness. In going thru some online reviews, I did notice that there are lot of other people who suffered with the services from Basements 4 less owned by [redacted].Desired Settlement: We would like to get our money back in the form of creditable check (not something that would be returned) and be done with it, so we dont have this on going mental stress.

Review: I hired [redacted] (owner of both [redacted] and Clj Home Improvements Inc) last August to finish my basement. I put 50% downpayment and continuously paid him $500+ monthly. But until late December 2013, after paid him more than 70% of total contract price, only less than 20% of job was done by[redacted].

Basically he only send his people to my house maximum once every week. Very often way longer than that. And his team rarely do a good job that can be passed by inspectors. I had to stay at home to wait for inspectors to come several times to get one step approved.

It's very hard to get any response from him no matter how much I tried to reach to him.

So after waiting for more than 4 months, I complaint to him end of last year and wanted to cancel the project and get money back. He came in to my house, promised to finish everything for me in 2 months.

Now it's been three months, still not much progress was made. Again, he's continuously dragging my project.

My basements has been like a mess for 8 months. My two kids couldn't play down, my plan to setup home gym, home office got hold, my parties got cancelled, etc. I'm desperate

whenever I saw the situation!

My request is to cancel the contract and get my money back. I'm willing to pay him $2000 to what he did and request him return $6900 back to me.

[redacted] promised to finish my job. But since he already got his second chance in Jan, I will never consider using him. Just get my money back, so I won't have to sue him.Desired Settlement: Get $6900 of $8900 I paid him back and move on.

Review: Contract signed in January 2013 to finish basement. Business failed to provide completion date on contract. Company began work in February 2013 and although homeowner repeatedly asked for a full schedule of work to be done and completion date contractor ignored requests. Work still incomplete .. Contractor finally gave a comet ion date of September 15, 2013 but has failed to honor that. No insurance certificate was ever provided. Work is started but never fully completed. For example fan for bath was required to be vented outside, after failed inspection a flexible hose was installed but still not vented to outside. Part of moulding, doors and trim installed but doors and trim still missing, plumbing incomplete. Electric incomplete etc. workmanship is poor. Damaged homeowner supplied vanity by cutting out Back of cabinet. Homeowner had specified that no continuing work was to be completed unless she was physically present.Desired Settlement: And billing adjustment. All work to be completed to customer satisfaction. Correct damaged, missing items within 30 days. Contractor has had more than 7 months to finish job. Provide homeowner with written schedule during times that she is available. Contractor had ample time particularly over the summer when owner was home and available 7 days per week. Contractor has caused damage to alarm system, personal property etc. failed to clean up after every visit and performed in an unethical manner.

Business

Response:

I am responding to complaint [redacted], at [redacted]. We have addressed Mrs[redacted] issues she is in Final inspection stage. Mxs [redacted] will be scheduling this and will get back to us when the inspections occur. On the day of or after inspections Mrs [redacted] will provide us a final punch list so we can close her job.

Review: We hired Basement 4 less also under the name of CLJ Home Improvements Inc in April, 2014. [redacted] took 50% down payment on the day of signing the contract. [redacted] showed up to layout the frame track in June and hit us with two additional doors costs, which he demanded us to pay him upfront. He didn’t mention that electrical box and water control area need doors during estimate or signing time.

Although he started the job in June, he said we owe him two monthly payments, May and June. It was not mentioned in the contract at all. He took the check, worked less than 2 hours on that day, and disappeared for 2 weeks. He showed up 2 weeks later and worked on the wall frame for about 6 hours but didn’t finish the framing citing not enough raw materials to finish up the work. He asked extra money for the doors but didn’t bring material for door frame and others. Because of his performance, we asked him to sign the contract based on what he told us on the day he picked up another check. He signed the contract that complete work will be done by July 30, 2014. We also told him that we will make full payment when he finishes the job by July 30, 2014.

Although he didn’t finish framing, he said it’s time for electrician. Electrician gave us appointment and cancelled at last minute citing that framing needs to be done first. After many text messages and phone calls , [redacted] said he wanted to work on July 4, holiday, but cancelled the appointment at the last minute again and reschedule. One crew showed up and finished wall framing on Sunday. After repeated text messages sent to him asking when he will do the work will respond with vague answers like “will call you tonight” or “waiting to hear back from electrician” or “will follow up with electrician.” At this point, it seems like he is not coming to work again. He has already collected over 77% of total payment of the project and showed up a total of 3 times and worked a total of 2 + 6 + 2 = 9 hrs.Desired Settlement: 20 days including the weekends have left. He said he will finish the job within 20 days, but the project is still in baby stage and inspections need to be done. Yet, he has not given us when to show up again. We’d like to get either refund of our money or finish the job before July 30, 2014 as he promised.