Belks Brothers Remodeling

A shower was repaired in our house. The tile work was acceptable, however the crew broke the diverter valve in the shower valve tub assembly. The broken diverter valve was reported and they reluctantly came back to examine what happened. They made me feel like my credibility was in question, but I assured them it was not broken before the re-tile work was done. They returned a few days later with a new diverter valve and appeared to have difficulty installing it. It does not work. Showers are impossible there because the water only comes out in a dribble. We paid them for the job and now that they already have our payment, they have a new "attitude." I called after returning home one morning after being out of town at 9 am. No one returned my call, so I called again at about 4 pm. I received a call back around 5:30 pm on 9/25 and asked what the problem was. After telling him our shower was inoperative he said that "that was above his pay grade." They were not returning to make the repair functional. They have in effect washed their hands of the situation.Desired SettlementI would like a settlement that would match the cost of having a plumber repair the damage to our diverter valve for replacement coverage of parts and labor.Business Response Firstly, the customer clearly states in his "complaint" that the job we were hired to perform was Acceptable! We have been in business just over six years and have performed work for hundreds of customers and have maintained a "Straight A" perfromance record with all customer reviews posted to Angie's List. This response is a first for us. Mr. H[redacted] came to us as a referral from his sister-in-law. We have performed well over a thousand dollars of work for her over the past years with no complaints. We have no ill feelings towards this customer as we think they are nice people, however his initial reponse is a bit skewed.The times and dates reported are not exact. The part in question here is the diverter "stem" not the diverter "valve." "Reluctantly came back" and "returned a few days later" and "washed their hands of the situation" is simply a falicy. Our office calls are recorded and dated. Our customer called our office on Septemebr 24th (not 25th, ironically, the same day customer filed complaint). He called at 9:48a.m. and later at 3:19pm. His call was returned at 4:07pm (not 5:30). We have a same day response policy. That policy was abided by in this situation.After the agreed upon tile work was completed, we(the owners) went to inspect the finished product and to finalize the cosmetics of the project by re-installing the shower head, and the hot/cold & diverter decorative handles. We and our installers had zero dealings with the interior guts of the shower valve, which consists of the hot/cold stems & diverter stem.After installing the handles and checking them for functionality, we found that the diverter handle was not turning properly. Upon further inspection and extracting the plastic diverter stem, we found it was quite "chalky" and brittle (this is common with old or unused components) Based upon the shape and size of the stem, it was at least 15-20 years old. The stem was split around the circumference at the back half. We immediately alerted the customers of the situation. The customer stated that the shower had been sitting idle and unused for months because of the previous tile problem, but that it worked before. As with an unused car, valves, gaskets etc, will deteriorate and crack if unused. Happenstance? We firmly and vehemently negate the assertion that our installers broke the back of an unexposed platic stem that is encased inside a solid brass sleeve while installing tile on a wall. It is simply not logical.We could understand if the front exposed tip that handle attaches to got broken during tile installation, however that was not the case. However, in good faith (and not an admission of any wrong doing) we told the customers that we would replace the the old stem for them with a new stem at no charge. That is exactly what we did. We located a new stem at a local plumbing supply house on Summer Avenue. We picked up the stem the following morning at 9:30am and arrived at the customers house by 10:00am. on September 18th. This was 18 hours later and the following morning, NOT "several day's later".The customers were informed to turn the diverter slowly upon each use as to avoid a recurring situation. The customer was shown that the shower was working properly before our departure and they paid us for the job.1 week later is when we received the complaint. We have contacted two local Master Plumbers and asked their opinion of the situation. They were both in total aggreement that due to the age of the stem, it probably dry-rotted and its structural integrity became compromised. We were informed that replacing a tub/shower diverter stem should take no more than 1 man hour plus the cost of the part. The stem we purchased on September 17th cost $12.07.The cost of a master plumber ranges from $80-$120 per hour. With that, the repair should total on the low side of around $90-$95 and $125-$135 on the high side.Again, in good faith, and not an admission of any wrong doing, we are sending the customers a company check (#[redacted]) in the amount of $150.00 to use towards a plumber of their choosing.