---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Craig T [redacted] Date: Mon, Oct 24, at 10:PMSubject: Complaint Response # [redacted] To: ***@cleveland.Revdex.com.orgHello ***,This email is in response to claim# [redacted] .We apologize for neglecting to renew our NWFA membership in time and for making it seem as though we are misleading customersCraig T [redacted] has been a member of NWFA in the past and has taken training courses at their headquarters in StLouis, MOMemberships are renewed every year in July and, as business owners whose primary busy season is the summer, membership renewal was not high on the list and was forgottenAs of October 24, we have just renewed our membership, feel free to call and confirm this with NWFAThank you,Craig T [redacted] Hazelwood Floors, [email protected]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below [redacted] 11:AM (hours ago)to me Dear [redacted] ,I am responding to MsT [redacted] 's reply to my complaint against Hazelwood Floors.MsT [redacted] stated that she has been "dealing" with e since July, While that is an accurate statement, she, and Hazelwood Floors are refusing to "deal" with the installation problems caused by their company When I met with Craig T [redacted] at my home last year we discussed the flooring options Craig presented me with different flooring photos within my budget I chose the bamboo flooring at $per square foot for the material I was never informed of the brand name or the manufacturer of the flooring Craig merely told me that the price He claimed it was at cost When researching bamboo flooring at that time I checked [redacted] pricing and discovered that THEIR flooring was $per square foot I believed that Craig was purchasing the flooring from another company Regardless, the flooring was pretty and that is what I chose I have since discovered that the flooring was made by Morning Star and purchased from [redacted] for $per square foot, not $as the T [redacted] s have stated I recently purchased the flooring needed for repairs and obtained a copy of the original receipt This is just one of the many lies that the T [redacted] s have told In Craig's original quote he NEVER suggested transition strips for the project Had I been informed that they were needed per the manufacturer's instructions I would have considered them at the time of the initial consultation The center island was removed per my request to have the flooring installed underneath However, Craig NEVER brought it to my attention that this too was not recommended by the manufacturer I would have complied with the manufacturer Approximately days prior to installation Craig brought the materials to my residence and placed them on my kitchen floor The flooring was stacked in it's original packaging and the plastic was not removed.The first day of installation Craig and two of his employees were present The remainder of the project was completed by his two employees and Craig was not present The floor looked beautiful upon completion A few days later, we had a party at our home and discovered that the toilet in the first floor bathroom had leaked into the basement into my sons bedroom The toilet had been removed during the floor project by Craig's employee and replaced improperly by his employee There was minimal damage to some basement ceiling tiles and I was able to bleach the area in the basement Craig responded promptly and had a p [redacted] fix the toilet Approximately one month later I discovered a very large gap in the flooring near the bathroom Craig came out to inspect the problem At that time he informed me that he would have to remove the flooring in the hall, bathroom and pantry to correct the large gap At NO TIME did he state that transition strips were needed to prevent further gapping I suggested strips be placed in the bathroom and pantry doorways at that time However, it was later decided that I would caulk the gap and Craig would complete the mud room at cost Craig again stated that the flooring was $per square foot when it was only $per square foot Craig brought the flooring to my residence and installed it the same day He did not let it acclimate and it was still in the plastic wrap In fact, the last partial box of flooring is STILL in the plastic in my closet Craig did not have two employees install this in two days as he has stated He did it by himself in half a day.In January, I spoke with Craig and Christine T [redacted] on the phone This was a three way conversation Craig had already been advised that there were now numerous gaps in the floor Craig did not come out to inspect the problems I was advised by the T [redacted] s to have an independent consultant inspect the floor The T [redacted] 's provided me with the information to Independent Consultants They suggested I wait until May to have the consultant inspect the flooring due to the climate I did as suggested and paid $ The inspection report was forwarded to the T [redacted] s, however, they still refuse to take ownership of the installation problems They indicated that they contacted local inspector....however, no inspector has come to my house on behalf of the T [redacted] s And until I reviewed Christine's response to this complaint, I had no knowledge that the independent consultant was referred to them by ** I have given the T [redacted] s the opportunity to fix the floor They refuse I have requested a refund for the cost to repair the floor They refuse to refund I have had two estimates to make the repairs and have purchased the transition strips and additional flooring needed The labor and supplies total $ The other estimate was significantly higher I spent $on my floors There are gaps throughout I spent an additional $for a consultant and another $on materials The T [redacted] s have refused to warranty their work and continue to blame the manufacturerI merely want my floors gap free I have hired a company to repair the problem and will be moving forward in the next few weeks The flooring is acclimating to my house per the manufacturer's recommendation If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.Respectfully, [redacted]
Craig T*** AttachmentsJul (days ago)to me Hi ***,I received a letter in the mail about a complaint from a previous customerI apologize for the delay in my response as we were out of town last weekWe have been dealing with this customer since last
July (2015)Before the project began for ***, we first had to find the flooring that she would approveWe offered numerous options but all were out of her price range, for example she specifically wanted Brazilian Cherry but she did not want to spend the moneyWe informed her via text message of the prices and that the Brazilian Cherry was very good quality, thus the higher price, but she needed cheaper optionsOur suppliers do not offer any product that was in her pice range so we had to find a cheaper routeThe cheaper supplier we went through was *** Liquidators, we sent her dozens of prices and options to choose fromWe gave the material to her at cost in order to help make the project more affordable for her ($3.49/sq ft which included the bamboo flooring as well as top quality underlayment)Before we ordered the material, we had to confirm with *** if she wanted us to order/install any transition piecesShe did not want any installed and therefore we did not order anyThere was also an island in the kitchen that they requested to be moved so the floors could be installed underneath it as *** requestedThe floor was installed in July and everything went very smoothly until she notified us in September that boards near the bathroom were starting to have a gapWe all thought it was due to the toilet leaking (which we fixed)We offered to fix the gaps by either relaying the floor in that area or by installing transition piecesShe did not want transition pieces installed because, in her own words, "they would look stupid"She then asked us to install an entirely new room with the same floor free of charge to make up for the gapping in the hall/bathroom area, which we finally agreed to do at costWe charged her $3.49/sq ft again for the material only and we charged her $for laborIt took of our foremen days to installThe install was done at the end of November of *** sent Craig a text in January saying the more gaps were appearing all over the floorsWe contacted a local inspector by the name of *** *** who stated the following in an email: "Floating solid floors (including strand bamboo can shrink significantly under conditionsA 5" wide board can shrink approx1/of an inch across the width with each 1% MC...under optimal conditions that is 3-4% seasonallyif the floor was feet long (widthwise direction)...that could result in a total seasonal shrinkage of an inch or more! if there is not central humidification, even worse!" Since it was January, we did not want to bother with the floors because of the natural way that floors expand and contractWe decided to wait to revisit the floors in May after the cold season was over to see if the gaps fixed themselvesIt was then that *** hired the Inspect Solutions (who *** *** referred us to) who provided the report that has been attachedThe findings from the inspector show that the gapping was caused by things: Lack of transition pieces and An island being installed on the floorWe completely understand that it is our responsibility as the professionals to advise our customers on what is needed for any given job, and in this case the customer was adamant on not wanting transition piecesOverall, this project did have issues with the toilet leaking that we fixed immediately because we admitted faultHowever, we fully support our original statement to *** that the flooring is a manufacturing issueThe boards are supposed to be 5" wide exactlyI went up to *** *** myself last week (June 2016) to re-measure the boards they have in their show room and they did in fact measure 5" wideHowever, the inspector clearly states in his report that he measured the boards as being between 4" 28/32-4" 29/If every single board was originally 5" wide and shrank to those widths that were measured, that would create massive gaps in the floorYou can read information regarding *** *** shrinking Peking Antique Strand Bamboo floors all over the internetThere are lawsuits that are being filed against them for this exact floor for this exact shrinking issueWe informed *** that it would be wise to contact someone regarding those lawsuits and getting involved, but instead she has chosen to blame us for the issue at hand. Please let me know if you have any questions or need to confirm any detailsI am happy to help and get this complaint taken care ofWe pride ourselves in our perfect star reviews, it is very unfortunate that *** has chosen to blame us for the issues at hand because it is tarnishing our excellent reputationWe have always fixed every issue that has occurred for any of our clients as a result of our own mistakesThank you!Christine T***Hazelwood Floors, [email protected]
Revdex.com:
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,
[redacted]
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Craig T[redacted] <[email protected]>Date: Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 10:03 PMSubject: Complaint Response # [redacted]To: [redacted]@cleveland.Revdex.com.orgHello [redacted],This email is in response to claim# [redacted].We apologize for neglecting to renew our NWFA...
membership in time and for making it seem as though we are misleading customers. Craig T[redacted] has been a member of NWFA in the past and has taken training courses at their headquarters in St. Louis, MO. Memberships are renewed every year in July and, as business owners whose primary busy season is the summer, membership renewal was not high on the to-do list and was forgotten. As of October 24, 2016 we have just renewed our membership, feel free to call and confirm this with NWFA. Thank you,Craig T[redacted]Hazelwood Floors, [email protected]
Craig T[redacted]Jul 22 (4 days ago)to me Hi [redacted],We received [redacted]'s response today (7/16/16) and here is our response:I have received [redacted]’s latest response and I will be addressing all of her comments.First, allow me to explain my comments regarding giving her the flooring material at cost. [redacted] does indeed charge $2.49/sq ft for the Peking Antique Bamboo flooring. We did in fact charge her $3.49/sq ft for the flooring. What [redacted] failed to realize is that underlayment was also factored into the price we gave her. The remaining balance was used for gas as well as the time it took for us drive from Avon Lake to pick up the materials from [redacted] in North Olmsted and take it to her home in Grafton. [redacted] paid $7,703.85 for her project (not $8500).The final comment we have regarding the transition strips is this: Craig has been in the hardwood flooring industry for over 13 years. He specifically remembers [redacted] stating that putting transition strips in the doorways “would look stupid." We are standing by his word here because unfortunately there is no email/text/voicemail where we, or [redacted], mention transition strips. Many conversations in this industry are done via phone call or in person and we lose out on any sort of proof that could have been provided. This is very unfortunate for us as we always recommend them to our customers who have an open concept home. Looking back of course I wish I included transition strips quotes in the estimate I provided, but transition strips are all custom work that require you to figure out a custom price. Therefore, since she said she did not want them I was not going to waste time getting prices. If a customer does not want them installed, we cannot force them to have transition pieces installed. Regarding the acclimation of the flooring, as stated above we have been in this industry a long time. Craig has installed dozens upon dozens of floors without letting it acclimate longer than 5 days and they turn out absolutely perfect. Although manufacturers state that they'd like the product to be acclimated at least 2 weeks and the floor needs to be in a single lair all laid out across the floor, there are some instances where it's impossible to follow due to timelines. That is also where manufacturers try to get out of giving you warranties for their products, especially [redacted] Liquidators. Industry standard for acclimation is 72 hours, Craig has worked for 4 other hardwood flooring companies in Cleveland in the past 13 years and that has been the common practice among all of them. Giving 5 days is more than enough time when comparing to the industry standard of 3 days. Moving on, [redacted] does not keep a large stock of material and after ordering the material a month in advance, we received it a few days in advance of the project start date. We have never had issues with floors not being acclimated properly before, and we still believe that we haven't now. The flooring purchased from [redacted] was made cheaply and has manufacturing issues and we stand by that. Had we known there were lawsuits and issues with any of their flooring, we would not have purchased material from them for [redacted]'s project and we have not purchased from them since. When Craig returned to install the mud room, he and our employee Charles were present for 2 days. I have Charles' time card to prove it. It is always easy to forget when and how long things took when you are trying to remember something that happened 8 months ago.Regarding the inspection, the local [redacted] certified inspector we found was going to charge $800 to do the inspection. I provided the information to [redacted] for the cheaper inspection company which was the $395. Going into the inspection, I knew that Inspect Solutions was the company [redacted] recommended and there are references in the lawsuits against the [redacted] that the Peking Antique Bamboo flooring is shrinking but the inspection companies keep claiming that it is an installation issue. You can easily find all of the lawsuits and complaints from people regarding this exact flooring by using a google search. Additionally, the inspection report clearly states that the floor has shrunk. The boards that are at [redacted] stores on display are exactly 5” wide, they were 5” wide when they were installed, and should remain 5” wide. The inspection report clearly states that every single board has shrunk at least 1/16th of an inch. If every board has shrunk 1/16th of an inch then there should be many large gaps across the floor. A shrinking board is not an installation issue, it is a manufacturing issue. This is the same issue that dozens, if not hundreds, of people are having with this exact product. Once we received the inspection report, we immediately saw that the boards indeed shrink and recommended to [redacted] that she get involved with one of the many class action lawsuits that are currently underway against [redacted] for this exact issue. Our last comment regarding this complaint is this: We tried to provide [redacted] with our very best service at a MUCH lower than standard price since she was referred to us by a happy customer (her sister). We do what our customers tell us to do in the end. Furthermore, we can only make recommendations - we cannot force our customers to purchase any materials (i.e, transition pieces) if they don't want them or cannot afford them. We are a small business and do not offer warranties; however, we always fix our mistakes when we are at fault on our own integrity. We still stand by any of our previous jobs because we know we do good work. It has been almost 1 year since [redacted]'s flooring was installed, it is nearly impossible to remember every conversation and detail. What we do know is that we gave it our best and tried to bend over backwards to make [redacted], and all of our customers, happy with the work we provide. It's unfortunate that this project has been plagued with issues because of a cheap product. Ever since [redacted] informed us that the flooring started to shrink, we have refused to install any [redacted] flooring and will never be purchasing from them again. Thank you,Christine T[redacted]Hazelwood Floors, [email protected]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[redacted] <[email protected]>11:56 AM (2 hours ago)to me Dear [redacted],I am responding to Ms. T[redacted]'s reply to my complaint against Hazelwood Floors.Ms. T[redacted] stated that she has been "dealing" with e since July, 2015. While that is an accurate statement, she, and Hazelwood Floors are refusing to "deal" with the installation problems caused by their company. When I met with Craig T[redacted] at my home last year we discussed the flooring options. Craig presented me with 6 different flooring photos within my budget. I chose the bamboo flooring at $3.49 per square foot for the material. I was never informed of the brand name or the manufacturer of the flooring. Craig merely told me that the price. He claimed it was at cost. When researching bamboo flooring at that time I checked [redacted] pricing and discovered that THEIR flooring was $2.49 per square foot. I believed that Craig was purchasing the flooring from another company. Regardless, the flooring was pretty and that is what I chose. I have since discovered that the flooring was made by Morning Star and purchased from [redacted] for $2.49 per square foot, not $3.49 as the T[redacted]s have stated. I recently purchased the flooring needed for repairs and obtained a copy of the original receipt. This is just one of the many lies that the T[redacted]s have told. In Craig's original quote he NEVER suggested transition strips for the project. Had I been informed that they were needed per the manufacturer's instructions I would have considered them at the time of the initial consultation. The center island was removed per my request to have the flooring installed underneath. However, Craig NEVER brought it to my attention that this too was not recommended by the manufacturer. I would have complied with the manufacturer. Approximately 5 days prior to installation Craig brought the materials to my residence and placed them on my kitchen floor. The flooring was stacked in it's original packaging and the plastic was not removed.The first day of installation Craig and two of his employees were present. The remainder of the project was completed by his two employees and Craig was not present. The floor looked beautiful upon completion. A few days later, we had a party at our home and discovered that the toilet in the first floor bathroom had leaked into the basement into my sons bedroom. The toilet had been removed during the floor project by Craig's employee and replaced improperly by his employee. There was minimal damage to some basement ceiling tiles and I was able to bleach the area in the basement. Craig responded promptly and had a p[redacted] fix the toilet. Approximately one month later I discovered a very large gap in the flooring near the bathroom. Craig came out to inspect the problem. At that time he informed me that he would have to remove the flooring in the hall, bathroom and pantry to correct the large gap. At NO TIME did he state that transition strips were needed to prevent further gapping. I suggested strips be placed in the bathroom and pantry doorways at that time. However, it was later decided that I would caulk the gap and Craig would complete the mud room at cost. Craig again stated that the flooring was $3.49 per square foot when it was only $2.49 per square foot. Craig brought the flooring to my residence and installed it the same day. He did not let it acclimate and it was still in the plastic wrap. In fact, the last partial box of flooring is STILL in the plastic in my closet. Craig did not have two employees install this in two days as he has stated. He did it by himself in half a day.In January, 2016 I spoke with Craig and Christine T[redacted] on the phone. This was a three way conversation. Craig had already been advised that there were now numerous gaps in the floor. Craig did not come out to inspect the problems. I was advised by the T[redacted]s to have an independent consultant inspect the floor. The T[redacted]'s provided me with the information to Independent Consultants. They suggested I wait until May to have the consultant inspect the flooring due to the climate. I did as suggested and paid $395. The inspection report was forwarded to the T[redacted]s, however, they still refuse to take ownership of the installation problems. They indicated that they contacted local inspector....however, no inspector has come to my house on behalf of the T[redacted]s. And until I reviewed Christine's response to this complaint, I had no knowledge that the independent consultant was referred to them by **. I have given the T[redacted]s the opportunity to fix the floor. They refuse. I have requested a refund for the cost to repair the floor. They refuse to refund. I have had two estimates to make the repairs and have purchased the transition strips and additional flooring needed. The labor and supplies total $3400. The other estimate was significantly higher. I spent $8500 on my floors. There are 20 gaps throughout. I spent an additional $395 for a consultant and another $600 on materials. The T[redacted]s have refused to warranty their work and continue to blame the manufacturer. I merely want my floors gap free. I have hired a company to repair the problem and will be moving forward in the next few weeks. The flooring is acclimating to my house per the manufacturer's recommendation. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.Respectfully,[redacted]
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Craig T [redacted] Date: Mon, Oct 24, at 10:PMSubject: Complaint Response # [redacted] To: ***@cleveland.Revdex.com.orgHello ***,This email is in response to claim# [redacted] .We apologize for neglecting to renew our NWFA membership in time and for making it seem as though we are misleading customersCraig T [redacted] has been a member of NWFA in the past and has taken training courses at their headquarters in StLouis, MOMemberships are renewed every year in July and, as business owners whose primary busy season is the summer, membership renewal was not high on the list and was forgottenAs of October 24, we have just renewed our membership, feel free to call and confirm this with NWFAThank you,Craig T [redacted] Hazelwood Floors, [email protected]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below [redacted] 11:AM (hours ago)to me Dear [redacted] ,I am responding to MsT [redacted] 's reply to my complaint against Hazelwood Floors.MsT [redacted] stated that she has been "dealing" with e since July, While that is an accurate statement, she, and Hazelwood Floors are refusing to "deal" with the installation problems caused by their company When I met with Craig T [redacted] at my home last year we discussed the flooring options Craig presented me with different flooring photos within my budget I chose the bamboo flooring at $per square foot for the material I was never informed of the brand name or the manufacturer of the flooring Craig merely told me that the price He claimed it was at cost When researching bamboo flooring at that time I checked [redacted] pricing and discovered that THEIR flooring was $per square foot I believed that Craig was purchasing the flooring from another company Regardless, the flooring was pretty and that is what I chose I have since discovered that the flooring was made by Morning Star and purchased from [redacted] for $per square foot, not $as the T [redacted] s have stated I recently purchased the flooring needed for repairs and obtained a copy of the original receipt This is just one of the many lies that the T [redacted] s have told In Craig's original quote he NEVER suggested transition strips for the project Had I been informed that they were needed per the manufacturer's instructions I would have considered them at the time of the initial consultation The center island was removed per my request to have the flooring installed underneath However, Craig NEVER brought it to my attention that this too was not recommended by the manufacturer I would have complied with the manufacturer Approximately days prior to installation Craig brought the materials to my residence and placed them on my kitchen floor The flooring was stacked in it's original packaging and the plastic was not removed.The first day of installation Craig and two of his employees were present The remainder of the project was completed by his two employees and Craig was not present The floor looked beautiful upon completion A few days later, we had a party at our home and discovered that the toilet in the first floor bathroom had leaked into the basement into my sons bedroom The toilet had been removed during the floor project by Craig's employee and replaced improperly by his employee There was minimal damage to some basement ceiling tiles and I was able to bleach the area in the basement Craig responded promptly and had a p [redacted] fix the toilet Approximately one month later I discovered a very large gap in the flooring near the bathroom Craig came out to inspect the problem At that time he informed me that he would have to remove the flooring in the hall, bathroom and pantry to correct the large gap At NO TIME did he state that transition strips were needed to prevent further gapping I suggested strips be placed in the bathroom and pantry doorways at that time However, it was later decided that I would caulk the gap and Craig would complete the mud room at cost Craig again stated that the flooring was $per square foot when it was only $per square foot Craig brought the flooring to my residence and installed it the same day He did not let it acclimate and it was still in the plastic wrap In fact, the last partial box of flooring is STILL in the plastic in my closet Craig did not have two employees install this in two days as he has stated He did it by himself in half a day.In January, I spoke with Craig and Christine T [redacted] on the phone This was a three way conversation Craig had already been advised that there were now numerous gaps in the floor Craig did not come out to inspect the problems I was advised by the T [redacted] s to have an independent consultant inspect the floor The T [redacted] 's provided me with the information to Independent Consultants They suggested I wait until May to have the consultant inspect the flooring due to the climate I did as suggested and paid $ The inspection report was forwarded to the T [redacted] s, however, they still refuse to take ownership of the installation problems They indicated that they contacted local inspector....however, no inspector has come to my house on behalf of the T [redacted] s And until I reviewed Christine's response to this complaint, I had no knowledge that the independent consultant was referred to them by ** I have given the T [redacted] s the opportunity to fix the floor They refuse I have requested a refund for the cost to repair the floor They refuse to refund I have had two estimates to make the repairs and have purchased the transition strips and additional flooring needed The labor and supplies total $ The other estimate was significantly higher I spent $on my floors There are gaps throughout I spent an additional $for a consultant and another $on materials The T [redacted] s have refused to warranty their work and continue to blame the manufacturerI merely want my floors gap free I have hired a company to repair the problem and will be moving forward in the next few weeks The flooring is acclimating to my house per the manufacturer's recommendation If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.Respectfully, [redacted]
Craig T*** AttachmentsJul (days ago)to me Hi ***,I received a letter in the mail about a complaint from a previous customerI apologize for the delay in my response as we were out of town last weekWe have been dealing with this customer since last
July (2015)Before the project began for ***, we first had to find the flooring that she would approveWe offered numerous options but all were out of her price range, for example she specifically wanted Brazilian Cherry but she did not want to spend the moneyWe informed her via text message of the prices and that the Brazilian Cherry was very good quality, thus the higher price, but she needed cheaper optionsOur suppliers do not offer any product that was in her pice range so we had to find a cheaper routeThe cheaper supplier we went through was *** Liquidators, we sent her dozens of prices and options to choose fromWe gave the material to her at cost in order to help make the project more affordable for her ($3.49/sq ft which included the bamboo flooring as well as top quality underlayment)Before we ordered the material, we had to confirm with *** if she wanted us to order/install any transition piecesShe did not want any installed and therefore we did not order anyThere was also an island in the kitchen that they requested to be moved so the floors could be installed underneath it as *** requestedThe floor was installed in July and everything went very smoothly until she notified us in September that boards near the bathroom were starting to have a gapWe all thought it was due to the toilet leaking (which we fixed)We offered to fix the gaps by either relaying the floor in that area or by installing transition piecesShe did not want transition pieces installed because, in her own words, "they would look stupid"She then asked us to install an entirely new room with the same floor free of charge to make up for the gapping in the hall/bathroom area, which we finally agreed to do at costWe charged her $3.49/sq ft again for the material only and we charged her $for laborIt took of our foremen days to installThe install was done at the end of November of *** sent Craig a text in January saying the more gaps were appearing all over the floorsWe contacted a local inspector by the name of *** *** who stated the following in an email: "Floating solid floors (including strand bamboo can shrink significantly under conditionsA 5" wide board can shrink approx1/of an inch across the width with each 1% MC...under optimal conditions that is 3-4% seasonallyif the floor was feet long (widthwise direction)...that could result in a total seasonal shrinkage of an inch or more! if there is not central humidification, even worse!" Since it was January, we did not want to bother with the floors because of the natural way that floors expand and contractWe decided to wait to revisit the floors in May after the cold season was over to see if the gaps fixed themselvesIt was then that *** hired the Inspect Solutions (who *** *** referred us to) who provided the report that has been attachedThe findings from the inspector show that the gapping was caused by things: Lack of transition pieces and An island being installed on the floorWe completely understand that it is our responsibility as the professionals to advise our customers on what is needed for any given job, and in this case the customer was adamant on not wanting transition piecesOverall, this project did have issues with the toilet leaking that we fixed immediately because we admitted faultHowever, we fully support our original statement to *** that the flooring is a manufacturing issueThe boards are supposed to be 5" wide exactlyI went up to *** *** myself last week (June 2016) to re-measure the boards they have in their show room and they did in fact measure 5" wideHowever, the inspector clearly states in his report that he measured the boards as being between 4" 28/32-4" 29/If every single board was originally 5" wide and shrank to those widths that were measured, that would create massive gaps in the floorYou can read information regarding *** *** shrinking Peking Antique Strand Bamboo floors all over the internetThere are lawsuits that are being filed against them for this exact floor for this exact shrinking issueWe informed *** that it would be wise to contact someone regarding those lawsuits and getting involved, but instead she has chosen to blame us for the issue at hand. Please let me know if you have any questions or need to confirm any detailsI am happy to help and get this complaint taken care ofWe pride ourselves in our perfect star reviews, it is very unfortunate that *** has chosen to blame us for the issues at hand because it is tarnishing our excellent reputationWe have always fixed every issue that has occurred for any of our clients as a result of our own mistakesThank you!Christine T***Hazelwood Floors, [email protected]
Revdex.com:
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,
[redacted]
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Craig T[redacted] <[email protected]>Date: Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 10:03 PMSubject: Complaint Response # [redacted]To: [redacted]@cleveland.Revdex.com.orgHello [redacted],This email is in response to claim# [redacted].We apologize for neglecting to renew our NWFA...
membership in time and for making it seem as though we are misleading customers. Craig T[redacted] has been a member of NWFA in the past and has taken training courses at their headquarters in St. Louis, MO. Memberships are renewed every year in July and, as business owners whose primary busy season is the summer, membership renewal was not high on the to-do list and was forgotten. As of October 24, 2016 we have just renewed our membership, feel free to call and confirm this with NWFA. Thank you,Craig T[redacted]Hazelwood Floors, [email protected]
Craig T[redacted]Jul 22 (4 days ago)to me Hi [redacted],We received [redacted]'s response today (7/16/16) and here is our response:I have received [redacted]’s latest response and I will be addressing all of her comments.First, allow me to explain my comments regarding giving her the flooring material at cost. [redacted] does indeed charge $2.49/sq ft for the Peking Antique Bamboo flooring. We did in fact charge her $3.49/sq ft for the flooring. What [redacted] failed to realize is that underlayment was also factored into the price we gave her. The remaining balance was used for gas as well as the time it took for us drive from Avon Lake to pick up the materials from [redacted] in North Olmsted and take it to her home in Grafton. [redacted] paid $7,703.85 for her project (not $8500).The final comment we have regarding the transition strips is this: Craig has been in the hardwood flooring industry for over 13 years. He specifically remembers [redacted] stating that putting transition strips in the doorways “would look stupid." We are standing by his word here because unfortunately there is no email/text/voicemail where we, or [redacted], mention transition strips. Many conversations in this industry are done via phone call or in person and we lose out on any sort of proof that could have been provided. This is very unfortunate for us as we always recommend them to our customers who have an open concept home. Looking back of course I wish I included transition strips quotes in the estimate I provided, but transition strips are all custom work that require you to figure out a custom price. Therefore, since she said she did not want them I was not going to waste time getting prices. If a customer does not want them installed, we cannot force them to have transition pieces installed. Regarding the acclimation of the flooring, as stated above we have been in this industry a long time. Craig has installed dozens upon dozens of floors without letting it acclimate longer than 5 days and they turn out absolutely perfect. Although manufacturers state that they'd like the product to be acclimated at least 2 weeks and the floor needs to be in a single lair all laid out across the floor, there are some instances where it's impossible to follow due to timelines. That is also where manufacturers try to get out of giving you warranties for their products, especially [redacted] Liquidators. Industry standard for acclimation is 72 hours, Craig has worked for 4 other hardwood flooring companies in Cleveland in the past 13 years and that has been the common practice among all of them. Giving 5 days is more than enough time when comparing to the industry standard of 3 days. Moving on, [redacted] does not keep a large stock of material and after ordering the material a month in advance, we received it a few days in advance of the project start date. We have never had issues with floors not being acclimated properly before, and we still believe that we haven't now. The flooring purchased from [redacted] was made cheaply and has manufacturing issues and we stand by that. Had we known there were lawsuits and issues with any of their flooring, we would not have purchased material from them for [redacted]'s project and we have not purchased from them since. When Craig returned to install the mud room, he and our employee Charles were present for 2 days. I have Charles' time card to prove it. It is always easy to forget when and how long things took when you are trying to remember something that happened 8 months ago.Regarding the inspection, the local [redacted] certified inspector we found was going to charge $800 to do the inspection. I provided the information to [redacted] for the cheaper inspection company which was the $395. Going into the inspection, I knew that Inspect Solutions was the company [redacted] recommended and there are references in the lawsuits against the [redacted] that the Peking Antique Bamboo flooring is shrinking but the inspection companies keep claiming that it is an installation issue. You can easily find all of the lawsuits and complaints from people regarding this exact flooring by using a google search. Additionally, the inspection report clearly states that the floor has shrunk. The boards that are at [redacted] stores on display are exactly 5” wide, they were 5” wide when they were installed, and should remain 5” wide. The inspection report clearly states that every single board has shrunk at least 1/16th of an inch. If every board has shrunk 1/16th of an inch then there should be many large gaps across the floor. A shrinking board is not an installation issue, it is a manufacturing issue. This is the same issue that dozens, if not hundreds, of people are having with this exact product. Once we received the inspection report, we immediately saw that the boards indeed shrink and recommended to [redacted] that she get involved with one of the many class action lawsuits that are currently underway against [redacted] for this exact issue. Our last comment regarding this complaint is this: We tried to provide [redacted] with our very best service at a MUCH lower than standard price since she was referred to us by a happy customer (her sister). We do what our customers tell us to do in the end. Furthermore, we can only make recommendations - we cannot force our customers to purchase any materials (i.e, transition pieces) if they don't want them or cannot afford them. We are a small business and do not offer warranties; however, we always fix our mistakes when we are at fault on our own integrity. We still stand by any of our previous jobs because we know we do good work. It has been almost 1 year since [redacted]'s flooring was installed, it is nearly impossible to remember every conversation and detail. What we do know is that we gave it our best and tried to bend over backwards to make [redacted], and all of our customers, happy with the work we provide. It's unfortunate that this project has been plagued with issues because of a cheap product. Ever since [redacted] informed us that the flooring started to shrink, we have refused to install any [redacted] flooring and will never be purchasing from them again. Thank you,Christine T[redacted]Hazelwood Floors, [email protected]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[redacted] <[email protected]>11:56 AM (2 hours ago)to me Dear [redacted],I am responding to Ms. T[redacted]'s reply to my complaint against Hazelwood Floors.Ms. T[redacted] stated that she has been "dealing" with e since July, 2015. While that is an accurate statement, she, and Hazelwood Floors are refusing to "deal" with the installation problems caused by their company. When I met with Craig T[redacted] at my home last year we discussed the flooring options. Craig presented me with 6 different flooring photos within my budget. I chose the bamboo flooring at $3.49 per square foot for the material. I was never informed of the brand name or the manufacturer of the flooring. Craig merely told me that the price. He claimed it was at cost. When researching bamboo flooring at that time I checked [redacted] pricing and discovered that THEIR flooring was $2.49 per square foot. I believed that Craig was purchasing the flooring from another company. Regardless, the flooring was pretty and that is what I chose. I have since discovered that the flooring was made by Morning Star and purchased from [redacted] for $2.49 per square foot, not $3.49 as the T[redacted]s have stated. I recently purchased the flooring needed for repairs and obtained a copy of the original receipt. This is just one of the many lies that the T[redacted]s have told. In Craig's original quote he NEVER suggested transition strips for the project. Had I been informed that they were needed per the manufacturer's instructions I would have considered them at the time of the initial consultation. The center island was removed per my request to have the flooring installed underneath. However, Craig NEVER brought it to my attention that this too was not recommended by the manufacturer. I would have complied with the manufacturer. Approximately 5 days prior to installation Craig brought the materials to my residence and placed them on my kitchen floor. The flooring was stacked in it's original packaging and the plastic was not removed.The first day of installation Craig and two of his employees were present. The remainder of the project was completed by his two employees and Craig was not present. The floor looked beautiful upon completion. A few days later, we had a party at our home and discovered that the toilet in the first floor bathroom had leaked into the basement into my sons bedroom. The toilet had been removed during the floor project by Craig's employee and replaced improperly by his employee. There was minimal damage to some basement ceiling tiles and I was able to bleach the area in the basement. Craig responded promptly and had a p[redacted] fix the toilet. Approximately one month later I discovered a very large gap in the flooring near the bathroom. Craig came out to inspect the problem. At that time he informed me that he would have to remove the flooring in the hall, bathroom and pantry to correct the large gap. At NO TIME did he state that transition strips were needed to prevent further gapping. I suggested strips be placed in the bathroom and pantry doorways at that time. However, it was later decided that I would caulk the gap and Craig would complete the mud room at cost. Craig again stated that the flooring was $3.49 per square foot when it was only $2.49 per square foot. Craig brought the flooring to my residence and installed it the same day. He did not let it acclimate and it was still in the plastic wrap. In fact, the last partial box of flooring is STILL in the plastic in my closet. Craig did not have two employees install this in two days as he has stated. He did it by himself in half a day.In January, 2016 I spoke with Craig and Christine T[redacted] on the phone. This was a three way conversation. Craig had already been advised that there were now numerous gaps in the floor. Craig did not come out to inspect the problems. I was advised by the T[redacted]s to have an independent consultant inspect the floor. The T[redacted]'s provided me with the information to Independent Consultants. They suggested I wait until May to have the consultant inspect the flooring due to the climate. I did as suggested and paid $395. The inspection report was forwarded to the T[redacted]s, however, they still refuse to take ownership of the installation problems. They indicated that they contacted local inspector....however, no inspector has come to my house on behalf of the T[redacted]s. And until I reviewed Christine's response to this complaint, I had no knowledge that the independent consultant was referred to them by **. I have given the T[redacted]s the opportunity to fix the floor. They refuse. I have requested a refund for the cost to repair the floor. They refuse to refund. I have had two estimates to make the repairs and have purchased the transition strips and additional flooring needed. The labor and supplies total $3400. The other estimate was significantly higher. I spent $8500 on my floors. There are 20 gaps throughout. I spent an additional $395 for a consultant and another $600 on materials. The T[redacted]s have refused to warranty their work and continue to blame the manufacturer. I merely want my floors gap free. I have hired a company to repair the problem and will be moving forward in the next few weeks. The flooring is acclimating to my house per the manufacturer's recommendation. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.Respectfully,[redacted]