Carpet Value Center LTD

Review: My wife and I have purchased laminate flooring and carpet from Flooring America. During the sales process, we have told the person who measured our house that our floors squeak in some places. We also pointed this out to the installer when he dropped off materials 2 days prior to the installation. Both times the response was, "we will use screws to tighten the sub floor". No one has said that we would need to put a layer of plywood throughout the house to fix the problem. When the installer showed up to do the job, first thing he checked was the spacing of the joists and he determined that they are too far apart. He told us that unless we put a layer of plywood on top of existing sub floor throughout the house, Flooring America would not guarantee the installation. About an hour later, site manager has contacted my wife and told her that the cost of plywood and labor will be $2000, and he again confirmed that "lifetime warranty" offered by Flooring America will not be honored unless we agreed to install the plywood. He also insisted that she make a decision on the spot because the installers were already at the house doing nothing waiting for the plywood issue to get resolved. Basically, Flooring America pressured my wife into saying "yes". Upon obtaining verbal agreement from my wife, the installers proceeded with the flooring installation. However, Change Order form was not sent to us until after the floor was installed, which is a violation of the signed contract terms, - “Any alteration or deviation from above specifications involving extra costs will be executed only upon written orders…” Neither my wife nor I had signed the Change Order form.

We feel that Flooring America knew ahead of time that we will need plywood but, in the hopes of making extra money off of us, did not disclose the issue to us before we signed the contract. In fact, when we expressed our displeasure to [redacted], the salesperson who sold us the floor, he said that the plywood was installed to prevent the laminate flooring from caving in and that with the type of floor we purchased "caving in" was highly unlikely. After all plywood installation was unnecessary. Also, [redacted], the sales person, threatened to send our account to collection agency. Two weeks later, he called to tell us that their attorney has put a lien on our house. We have never received a bill from Flooring America for the plywood installation or any communication from their attorney.Desired Settlement: Threatening calls from Flooring America should stop. $2000 for plywood installation should be waived.

Business

Response:

The day of the installation which was February 25th a phone call was made by the installers to myself about the subfloor conditions at the [redacted] home. The installers stated that the floor joist in the home were 24” on center and the plywood was flexing between that space. This was determined an issue by our installers. There are multiple reasons that the floor could squeak, faulty installation of the previous floor, loose fasteners in the subfloor to hold down plywood, faulty framing, or broken structural framing. Per our contract, under “Preparing Your Home” for your new flooring section, we state that “We are unable see your subfloor when measuring for you installation. If there is a rotten, weak or uneven subfloor after the removal of your existing flooring, there will be additional charges to correct any problems that we were unable to see before your floor was removed.”

After the installer informed me of the issues, I asked to speak to the customer. They advised me that no one was home and that the husband left them his wife’s phone number to deal with her. I gave her a call and explained the situation. There were two options I discussed with her. The first was the additional layer of plywood. I explained how this helps the issues that were found by re-enforcing it. The second option would be to proceed with the installation without fixing the issue but this option would result in any issues that stem from the subfloor deficiencies would not be covered by our warranty and she would need to sign a waiver stating that she understood and agreed to this. [redacted] was also allowed to take time to think about what she wanted to do but I did inform here that I would have to stop the job until her decision was made. She stated “No I would like to have this fixed.”

Our original price was $2400 for material and labor and we negotiated down and agreed to $2000. Once this was decided I advised her that our sales rep [redacted] would be sending the change order shortly (it was sent to her within a hour of our last conversation) that will need to be signed and emailed or faxed back. She agreed to this request. I contacted [redacted] with the information and he emailed her a change order within an hour of our conversation. I kept the job going in good faith that the client would do as they promised. I was wrong to do this since they have since refused to pay for services rendered.

From: [redacted]

Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 11:55 AM

To: '[redacted]

Subject: Change order breakdown

I have attached the change order to your project. As you can see the costs exceed what you are paying. I hate that this is necessary, but we want to make sure you have a correct and quality install.

Thanks

Flooring Consultant

Flooring America/FA Design Build

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Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: