Driveways By Us

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the offer 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.
[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
Regards,
[redacted]Per our conversation:0n 4/22/14 Diveways by US wrote me an estimate to pave my driveway.  The estimate includes, as can be seen in the contract, "Grade with motor grader to proper grade".  When the contractor showed up at my house to complete the job, he refused the job, citing that the grade is down toward the garage entrance and would cause water to flow into the garage.  This statement is true as the drive way sits.The contractor's representative and I talked about that at the time of the estimate and he assured me that they would grade it away from the garage, in effect reducing the hump in the middle of my driveway.  Now he is making claim that there was some sort of agreement that I would have the "Prep work" done prior to their arrival.  This was never discussed.We are at an impasse.  They will not do the job they bid.  I will not pay a contractor who is obviously dishonest and has even attempted to mislead the Revdex.com by claiming an agreement to do prep work that never existed as can be seen in his contract.  I would like to inform future consumers that this contractor is dishonest.As a military member who is new to the area, Revdex.com reports are one of the only ways I have to discern which contractors are honest and which are not.Respectfully,
[redacted]

I just had my thirty year-old driveway demolished and repaved by Driveways By Us and had a fabulous experience. My initial contact and the person who led me through the whole process was Andy E[redacted], who was knowledgeable, courteous, punctual and professional. I could tell from my first interaction with him that he would make sure all my needs were addressed.
When seven trucks (with every piece of equipment imaginable) arrived and workers began buzzing around, like a finely-tuned machine, I realized I had nothing to worry about. The whole process took only three hours! Amazing - and the driveway looks wonderful. I would give my highest recommendation and compliments for a job well-done.

Review: I called the company many weeks ago and got an estimate to have my driveway paved. They came out and gave a very good estimate. I took the guy across the street and down the street and introduced him to my neighbors who he then also wrote estimates for. We, the neighborhood decided to all go with this one contractor to save money as he gave us a group discount. We waited weeks for them to come as they were waiting for us to get some concrete work done before they would do the driveways. They showed up after the concrete was done, just as agreed. When the owner drove by to look at the jobs, he told the workers, not to do my driveway. Reason: there was a small amount of grading that would need to be done in order to get the water to run off. The estimate was too low to pay for the grading that they had to do. So they low balled the estimate and then decided not to take the job, after I had earned them another job with my neighbors. The driveway had not changed from the day they wrote the estimate. I must now wait 8 weeks for another contractor, who I could have been waiting on in the first place to show up and pave my driveway.Desired Settlement: I would just like to inform others that this company writes low ball estimates and then tries to either get more money from you on the day of the job or just leaves the job undone and you having to go out and get a new contractor waiting on them all over again.

Business

Response:

The reason why the job was never completed was because prior to booking a date to pave the driveway there was prep work to be done. Concrete work was being in the neighborhood and this particular driveway needed a drain in front of the garage. When we arrived on site to pave the driveway this was discussed with the home owner about the prep work required to be done and it was not up to our companies standards there for we could not guarantee the work to be done and our company could not be responsible with out proper prep work. Rather than have a problem with warranties or an unsatisfied customer we declined to do the job because the home owner did not have the proper prep work done on site.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer 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.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

Regards,

Per our conversation:

0n 4/22/14 Diveways by US wrote me an estimate to pave my driveway. The estimate includes, as can be seen in the contract, "Grade with motor grader to proper grade". When the contractor showed up at my house to complete the job, he refused the job, citing that the grade is down toward the garage entrance and would cause water to flow into the garage. This statement is true as the drive way sits.

The contractor's representative and I talked about that at the time of the estimate and he assured me that they would grade it away from the garage, in effect reducing the hump in the middle of my driveway. Now he is making claim that there was some sort of agreement that I would have the "Prep work" done prior to their arrival. This was never discussed.

We are at an impasse. They will not do the job they bid. I will not pay a contractor who is obviously dishonest and has even attempted to mislead the Revdex.com by claiming an agreement to do prep work that never existed as can be seen in his contract. I would like to inform future consumers that this contractor is dishonest.

As a military member who is new to the area, Revdex.com reports are one of the only ways I have to discern which contractors are honest and which are not.

Respectfully,

Business

Response:

Upon arrive the business did not do this job, there was an estimate not a contract. The grate they recommended would have just been a benefit to the customer so that a heave rain would not flood his garage. However, once they got there and spoke with the customer they elected not to do the job because of the way the home owner spoke to the business. No money was exchanged and the business was no longer comfortable to work for this home owner due to his manners and way of speaking to the the workers on site.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer 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.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

Regards,

I have received another message through you from the contractor. In the message, he states "upon arrive the business did not do this job, there was an estimate not a contract." I guess this would summarize my complaint.

This contractors word, is not his contract. In fact, the document on legal sized paper with the company logo and information, an explicit explanation of the work to be done and under what conditions, signed and dated by the company representative, showing a claim to guarantee the work and under what conditions this guarantee is valid, and stating a cancellation fee if the customer cancels for any reason within the last three days of the work being scheduled, is also "not a contract." Consumer beware! With this contractor, THERE IS NO CONTRACT!

You see, If I had cancelled on that day, according to the signed document that they provided to me at the time an agreement to do the work was made, I would have to buy the materials that they set aside for my job. However, he shows up and cancels the time of the work and that is acceptable?

The claim that they decided not to do the work because of my manners is laughable. They decided not to do the work hours before I showed up at the sight.

The very reason I was upset was the way they denied the job and the fact they would not do the work they had contracted to do and the contractor himself refused to talk to me about it. I was upset long after they denied the job, so that cannot possibly be the reason for not doing the job. Last time he responded to this claim it was because "prep work had not been completed" When I disproved that with the contract that they wrote, it is now because of how I talk to them.

How many more excuses will be hear. We had a contract to do work on a driveway which he had already walked on and seen. He showed up and refused to do the work, demanding I have expensive prep work done for them. I am now upset with him, and he is upset with me.

I would not dream of trying to exercise this contract now. That would almost certainly end in water standing in my garage. I would just like to file my complaint so others will know about this contractor and move on.

Review: I contracted with Driveways By Us Twice. The first driveway they installed for us was in King George County which we had no problems with. The second driveway was installed at our current residence in May of 2012. Between the two we paid $12,500. At the time of installation one of the owners sons told us that if there were any problems to call them. During the winter of 2013 we began noticing considerable asphalt cracking and sinking in some areas. Since then, it has been getting worse with every rain event.In July 2014 I tried to contact them Via telephone and left messages both times with my call back number. It is apparent that They are not interested in resolving my problem. They advertise that they "build driveways like highways". This is obviously not true.Desired Settlement: We would like for Driveways By Us to repair the cracked and sunken areas of the driveway at no additional cost to us. Any quality business would stand behind their work.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com spoke with [redacted] from the company and she stated that the driveway has been completed redone for the consumer.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the offer 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 perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: [redacted].

Regards,

Review: I hired Driveways by U.S. (DBU) to resurface my driveway in early April 2015. Before work began I shared concerns about the meeting of my driveway into a cul-de-sac which is at an elevated angle. I was guaranteed there would not be a dip at the end of my driveway where it meets a cul-de-sac. However following the work there is now a dip which has caused my vehicle to bottom out. I addressed this with DBU and was told to "change my angle of entry and exit into the driveway". I was also told that while a patchwork repair could be completed, DBU would not do it because it would make the new resurface job look bad. After face to face meetings and several phone calls the owner of DBU indicated he would not stand by his company's advertised 100% guarantee. He told me to bill him when there was damage to my vehicle. I asked for an equitable refund and was laughed at. Shortly after on 20 April I wrote a letter to DBU attempting to resolve the situation but was ignored. In the 20 April letter I used photos and measured distances citing the reason for my vehicle bottoming out. A final letter on 18 May met the same result. Over the past months I have also noted two large puddles developing during rain at the top of my driveway which did not exist before. Finally the curb which DBU placed on my driveway is not close to straight and frankly looks like amateur work.Desired Settlement: I desire DBU to honor its "100% GUARANTEE". DBU was paid to perform a service and when they did not complete it, they opted to ignore the customer. So either refund my payment for services that were not fully rendered, or fix the problem in full.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com spoke with the owner of the business who stated that the customer's house is on a very high hill at the end of a cul-de-sac and that it is a steep driveway, which accounts for the sharp slant. He stated that he did not do the original driveway, but simply re-paved the existing driveway, and the same angle was present prior to the work he did. He stated that as for the guarantee, he would correct the issue if he had done something wrong but that was not the case. He stated that he cannot change the incline of the driveway and the hill or the angle of the road, and therefore there is going to be a steep angle. He also stated that as far as the puddles mentioned in the complaint, that was something that would have showed up after the first rain when the driveway was completed in April, and was never mentioned prior to this complaint.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer and/or 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.

First off, this is all smoke, mirrors and lies from Driveways By US, which is all I have encountered from the company since their work on my driveway therefore nothing said in response at this point will resolve my complaint. Once again, Driveways By US lacks the professionalism to take responsibility. FACT 1 - Driveways by us RESURFACED my driveway. The company did not REPAVE it. FACT 2 - During the resurfacing process four inches of a sand/gravel aggregate base were laid on the pre-existing driveway starting from a point at the top of the driveway extending down to a point just before the cul-de-sac (see photo "DRIVEWAY RESURFACING BOTTOM and "DRIVEWAY RESURFACING TOP") FACT 3 - There was a six foot cut away of the original asphalt at the bottom of the driveway. FACT 4 - By laying four inches of aggregate on top of existing driveway then into a cut away surface a "lip" was created in the driveway. Adding four inches of asphalt to the entire driveway did not remove this lip but rather the lip became permanent (see photo "DRIVEWAY MEASURED"). FACT 5 - During the survey process I voiced concern over the lip that would be created and was verbally assured it would not be a problem. FACT 6 - On the day of work performance I reiterated my concern after seeing that only six feet of old driveway had been removed. Again I was told there would be no problem. FACT 7 - Had the company removed six more feet the lip in my driveway would by 12 feet from the connection to the cul-de-sac and there would be no front end scraping from my vehicle. This is basic geometry (see photo again, "DRIVEWAY MEASURED").FACT 8 - My vehicles did not scrap at the bottom of my driveway before the work performed by Driveways By US FACT 9 - I did not have a "lip" in my driveway before the work performed by Driveways By USOPINION - If my driveway was too steep then the company should have told me this would be too challenging for their capabilities in the first place. Then I would have taken my business elsewhere. However since the only option I was presented with was "there won't be any problems" and someone had paved it to begin with, I opted to let Driveways BY US have $3,500.00 of my business. DRIVEWAYS BY US FAILED TO DO THE RESURFACING JOB CORRECTLY. FACT 10 - RE: PUDDLES - Another lie. I spoke with the owner's son about the puddles four days after the job was complete. While they are indeed small, they are still low lying areas at the top of my driveway which collect puddled water. FACT 11 - I did not have these puddles in my old driveway before the work performed by Driveways BY US. These reside in the exact area where the company did another cut away of the original asphalt (unable to attach photos due to limit on web site). FACT 12 - What I have failed to mention until now is the crooked berm on my driveway which resembles a squiggly line as opposed to a high quality straight berm, (see photo, "DRIVEWAY BERM 1")BOTTOM LINE - Driveways By US did not live up to its advertised standards of quality. Since I challenged the company to stand by their guarantee, I have been countered with excuses and lies. Not once has the company accepted responsibility for its actions, lack of planning, and poor execution.

Regards,