D. L. Barker Paving

This customer contacted me a few months ago about paving his rental property and his parents driveways ( He called separate times.)Then he called me on 7/7/about grass coming through both driveway. On 7/8/I first went to check the driveway at address *** *** *** (the parents)
I did find a few blades of grass coming up in a crack between the brick wall and the asphaltI removed the grass and spread weed killer to kill it out.I then went to the rental property at *** *** *** and was surprised to found there was a lot of grass coming through this drivewayI also found that the renters had taken bags of potting soil with miracle grow, cut a square in the bag, placed it ON the driveway and planted what appeared to be vegetables in themI removed the grass, spread the weed killer and contacted the costumer.With new driveways, sometimes the heat of the asphalt creates a hot bed and the grass germinates coming through the asphaltWith some weed killer and a heating torch it can be killed out with no further issuesThis is NOT a sign of "thin" asphalt.I will be happy to apply a seal coat, if *** *** ** wishes to pay for the materialsHowever, nothing can been done until we are confident all of the grass has been killed out.I do not believe I am responsible for the poor care giving to the driveway located on *** *** *** I do however believe that with the removal of the garden, several weed killing treatments and a seal coat this driveway will prove to be a great product.Regards,*** ***D.LBarker paving

Review: company repaired driveway and dumped old asphalt in bushes along driveway.The material was spread over a thirty by 10 foot area and measured approximately 100lbs. of material.company has been called at least five times over a period of one month, with the promise that they would come and remove the old asphalt.Needless to say, they have never returned to remove the material.I have since picked up as much of the waste as possible and have pictures to substantiate my complaint.I have done a fair amount of business with Mr.Barker in the last two years and would have expected a follow through with what he told me would happento eliminate the problem.Desired Settlement: Mr. Barker needs to learn that when he tells someone he's going to something, that it happens in a timely fashion and not leave the customer dissatisfied with the final results.I would think that word of mouth is one of the keys in the paving business and bad tastes left with the customer does not bode well for additional business.

Business

Response:

I am sadden to see this clients complaint.

When I prepare a driveway for repair, I must remove any lose items. After removing all lose items, we then blow off the smaller partials. While my men where blowing off those partials, the old driveway began to blow off into the bushes. I was unaware that this had occurred until Mr. [redacted] contacted me between the dates of July 9 and July 13. I'm not sure exactly which day it because I was out of town attending a wedding. Upon my returning home, my mother had to have surgery. Because of the circumstance, I did delay in responding to this costumer., however I believed that I had built a good relationship with him and he would be understanding of my delay.

It has not been a practice of my company to postpone response when a customer calls with a complaint. We handle those very quickly. I am a small business and rely on costumer referrals. Because I am a small business, I personal handle EVERY complaint. Therefore I could not just send someone out. I certainly did plan to return to remove the lose partials and Mr. [redacted] had not already removed them, I would take care of that immediately. At this point, all I can do is say I am sorry.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

The response to my complaint is really moot at this point. I contacted him many times over a period of a month to no avail and I ended up cleaning up the problem area

myself.

His continuous reaction of "I'll take care of it immediately" was accepted on face value until nothing took place to remove the excess material thrown into the bushes.. And yes, I did think we had a reasonable relationship until this happened. A man's word is only as good as his actions.

What ever good work was done by his company has certainly been undone by his lack of follow through when there is a problem.

I realize that there is nothing to be done now, but my complaint against Barker Paving stands.

Thank you.

Review: This company applied a chip and tar covering to my driveway in Dec 2013. It was guaranteed for 1 year. Unfortunately in one section, it started to pit and bunch up making a very bumpy ride. Since that time it has deteriorated further with an additional section effected.. I started calling in April of 2014 requesting it be repaired. I followed up with 4 or 5 calls. Each call was returned with assurances that the company would take care of it. It still has not been repaired.Desired Settlement: I would like the effected parts of the driveway repaired with additional chip and tar.

Business

Response:

I am writing a response to the complaint ID [redacted] that was submitted by [redacted] on 1/20/2015. Mr. [redacted] did in fact contact me concerning some areas of his tar and chip driveway that he stated had "washed away". I did go and assess the driveway and found areas where the ground had apparently sunk. I made several attempts to contact Mr. [redacted] to see if we could come up with a solution to his sinking driveway but unfortunately we kept playing phone tag. I had all intention of trying to fix this problem for this customer until he left me a very nasty message telling me that I had tar and chipped his driveway all wrong and that it was my fault it had sank. I am an honest man and I take pride in my customers being a hundred percent satisfied however. I cannot control the earth sinking under his driveway. When I arrived to install his tar and chip driveway, there where ruts in it. It appeared that the stone had just washed away. The product he purchased cannot just wash away. I will be happy to repair those areas however I believe his driveway may be sitting on a cavern or tunnel that is causing the ground to sink. I will not be able to complete the repair before March. The tar cannot be purchased before then. I will contact the supplier and get an exact date on when it will be available while I am awaiting on your response so I can give you a more exact date on when I can return to complete the repairs. Please let me know if there is anything further I can do to resolve this issue. Thank You,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to contact me for a repair date. If the repairs are made, I will consider this complaint resolved, although not in a timely manor. Please leave this complaint open until repairs are made.

Regards,