Custom Curbs

On October 1, 2014, I paid Custom Curbs a $3000.00 cash deposit for a custom patio and curbing installation. I discussed all work with [redacted], the business owner several months prior to starting the project. He was hard to reach and constantly delayed the job. I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he seemed legit. I paid another $3000.00 cash near completion of the project. A fire pit was part of the original project but was never completed. I had to complete it myself. The patio collects water due to poor drainage and leaves mud puddles. The curbing provided has cracked not even 3 months after completion. I've called, left voice mails, sent messages on their [redacted] page, and have sent text messages to the owner and his wife (co-owner) with no response. December 22, 2014 was the last text I received from the owner and I was assured that someone would be out to fix the patio. The clear coat used for the patio and curbing was also spilled on my driveway and left to harden. I have tried cleaning it but nothing has worked so far. I left a message concerning the cracked curbing and the clear coat on their [redacted] page but it has since been deleted. I have searched reviews about this business after my bad experience and found that another customer had similar problems after spending $14,000.00! I just want things fixed the right way.Product_Or_Service: Custom curbing and patio installation.Desired SettlementI would like the patio to drain the standing water properly and for my curbing to be repaired or replaced. I would also appreciate a proper removal of the clear coat that was spilled on my driveway.Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted], ownerContact Phone:[redacted]Contact Email: [redacted]After taking this job on, we learned we were the 3rd curbing co. To work for him. The 1st company was bad to deal with homeowner says. Curb company #2 told him "I don't think,I,can make you happy". Had we found this out prior, we wouldn't have taken,the job on. Never have we heard of clear coat on his concrete until now (recently). He stood over me and my guys every minute & he had no complaints then. After week #1 of grading & 1st stage of concrete poured we did get a 3k draw. The original estimate had no concrete to be poured around the a/c unit. He added that on & yes we charged for,it. The a/c unit does emit water or have condensation. We found this out AFTER we poured concrete because it took longer to dry. We have pictures that homeowner himself sent to,us showing the water runoff going further away from the unit after he wet the concrete with his waterhose to show us,his,problem. We are happy to email said pictures and you will see plenty of grade/fall for any condensation run off. Stamped concrete has endentions therefore will hold water, dirt etc compared to smooth unstamped concrete. We put extra, more than normal, fall around this a/c because of that. The water is coming off so slow- it,isn't going to run or fly right off the concrete because it takes time to build up. Also, the water hose was leaking per the pics he sent (right beside a/c unit). regarding his "crack" in his curbing: we cut expansion joints to try & prevent this. However we do,not guarantee against non-cracking. Its on the back of our invoices/estimates. Concrete does crack. A car could've ran over it. We have seen no pictures of said crack. This is also something New we are finding out about. Regarding the fire pit: original estimate called for,2 layers of block & a cap block (3 layers total). he changed his mind during this process from a wood burning pit,to a stainless insert (gas log set) we made a recommendation of what to get but he got what he wanted. He took care of this himself. There was a 3-4 week wait on the logs approx. The logs set on top of pit we built. He wanted an,additional row of block to cover up his gas insert so he SHORTED us $350 off the original estimate to try and force us to come back and install a 4th row (out of,our pocket)after his insert came in at our expense. We did not. He installed himself. By the time we were finishing up this job, he was there every minute, holding up my guys & holding up the process. The last day, I, [redacted], personally finished up the job making sure he was satisfied because of how difficult he had been the entire process. Homeowner gave nothing But praise, even the neighbor came over & commented how great it looked. Repeating, this is stamped concrete. We have to make indentions with the stamp. This particular customer was so difficult to deal with the entire time from on the job to calling and,texting all hours, We are not,going back. He obviously continues to find problems. So there is no satisfying him. If we had known then what we know now, from what others told us, We wouldn't have worked for him. After starting this project the following people warned us of,him: his neighbor from previous neighborhood, builder, realtor, landscaper, and 2 other curb installers. Regarding delays: 1- weather was a major player in the timeline 2- the a/c unit had to be moved 3- he was So difficult from the start we contemplated walking away and not,doing the job. Final note: when we started this job we did not stop. We finished in a week & half. The a/c man won't touch the a/c unit (problem) so he's blaming,us. If it was an issue with the concrete, why did he contact the a/c unit guy 1st? Regarding the clear coat, why didn't he bring it to our attention when we put it on? He was standing over me & my guys the entire time. If it looked so bad, do you think we would've posted it on our business ** page? Why did he "like" our pictures on ** If he didn't like our work? We do big,& small jobs. In 14 years of being in business, we've had 2 complaints. Before The economy went downward we had 13 builders at once. We put out 170 houses per year. Plus our existing homeowner work. We downsized our business with the economy the way it was about 3 years ago. So I am on the job doing manual labor with My guys. My phone rings non stop and I,can not be but one person. So when we were doing this job, this homeowner calls every day, all hours of day & night then turns around and texts, turns around and calls my wife then text my wife, no I am not going back. How is it that he can complain & use our names personally and business & this form says,we can not mention his? He has gone to our ** business page and left lengthy paragraphs of his growing complaints and messaged my wife personally on **. We have had to ban him from our page and block him from contacting my wife. Even during the job he took it upon himself to call my employees directly. We do not intend on returning. Originally I did tell him I would go by & look at the problem with the a/c unit NEXT TIME I WAS IN THAT AREA DOING A JOB. We normally do everything in our power to satisfy customers. Even if it means we loose money. But We will not tolerate any more of his harassment. The Revdex.com is more than welcome to look at our ** page : Custom Curbs, out of Goldsboro, NC. You will see the amount of work we do and the amount of perfection that is required to make homes look the way they look when we are done. We do not take from anyone. They know up front what it will cost. This homeowner acts as though he paid an astronomical amount of money and the job wasn't complete. If it were not complete we wouldn't have post pictures of the work on our business ** page. Those pictures have been deleted since due to this situation. This man harassed us and we want him to never contact myself or my wife again. Thank you. As a matter of fact, we would appreciate someone from the Revdex.com to contact us regarding This complaint. Consumer Response Company claims they were the third curbing company. I only had one other estimate for curbing and it did not include the patio work I was quoted from Custom Curbs. The other company I mentioned to him about not doing good work was never contacted for this project for that very reason. That company was used for a different project at a different home and left the curbing with obvious black streaks and flat spots in their curbing. I mentioned all this prior to the start of this job because I wanted to make sure Custom Curbs was confident in getting the job done right. Not only did the owner assure me that it would be done right, he also insulted the other company by saying they didn't know what they were doing. He bad mouthed every company I mentioned to him to make his sound like the best. He really had me convinced that he was. It didn't take long to figure out that his work was good but his customer service wasn't. He delayed the start date a few times. Weather delayed things a few times but he mostly complained about personal problems at home and at his farm as being the reason for delays. He told me that he works with contractors mainly and made it seem like he was doing me a favor to work for a homeowner. The clear coat was mentioned in messages prior to contacting the Revdex.com but the business refuses to return any form of contact. I wasn't too worried about the clear coat because I thought it would come out of the driveway. Clear coat was also sprayed on a fairly large amount of decorative rock for my rock garden. They suggested that I just turn it over and it would be fine. It could have easily been avoided. I was often told that things would be "fine" if I would just give it time. One thing was the color of the curbing. Custom Curbs said it would get darker or lighter after drying but it just ended up looking chalky. As for the fire pit, I never asked for a wood burning pit. The concrete was even poured for a gas line from the start. I never shorted them of any money for any reason. I was told that a "cap stone" would be installed but the owner never picked any up. He suggested that I should get it myself. He even told me where to pick it up and said he would just forget about the $300 since I would be finishing things myself. After all the excuses, I was okay with that and agreed to finish the fire pit. I later found out that the "cap stones" were not available. I had to settle on a different design. I never once asked for anything for free but I did expect to get what was promised. About the a/c, it does have condensation, (which is normal) that pools around the unit but it runs toward the house and puddles there because of the valley created by the uneven concrete. It never drains but eventually evaporates. The hose does not leak and is not the cause. I was told that a joint would be cut soon by the owner of Custom Curbs to help the water drain. He never mentioned "next time he had a job in my area", just that he or one of his workers would be out to fix it. That never happened. I was asked to pour water on the spot to show it pooling by the owner's wife. They suggested I call the a/c guy to slant my a/c unit because it would be easier than fixing the concrete. Owner claims I held up his workers. I never slowed down the project and always made sure to stay out of the way. The only thing that slowed us down was the owner not returning calls for me or his employees. I did contact the owner, his wife, and one of his employees because the owner rarely answered his phone. Even his wife and employee agreed that it was hard to get him to answer the phone because he would often leave it in his truck. It would take days to get a response for a simple text or voice mail. My last straw in contacting the company was by [redacted]. I sent a message to the company page with no response and it was deleted. I then sent a message to the owner's wife/co-owner to ask if they were still in business. She ignored it and blocked me from sending her any messages after that. The cracked curbing has never been driven on. It is extremely close to my home and you would literally hit the house if you ever "ran over it". I have not sent pictures because none have been requested and all my contacts are ignored. It would be a waste of my time. It cracked just a few months after the job was done. The "joints" may be designed to help with cracking but no joint was placed in a large section and that is the one that cracked. It goes all the way through. The owner mentioned he would check things out when he is working in my direction but passes my neighborhood often and never stops by. He mentions the "praise" I gave. I did say it looked good for what I could see. It was dark by the time he left and some "curing time" was to be expected per the owner. Things started to look a lot different after they dried out. My neighbor liked what he saw and wanted an estimate for work too but he couldn't get the owner to return his calls. That didn't surprise me at all. He actually had to call a different company because it had been weeks with no response from Custom Curbs. Owner claims "harassment". How is it "harassment" when you call a place, that you pay to do a job, just to get them to fix something that went wrong with their product? If I call and you don't return my call for days, I will call again. Custom Curbs screens their calls so they don't have to go back and make things right. That is the definition of ripping people off!