Good-Honey Bears Child Development Center I

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/04/11) */
ON 3/23/16 KLINES READY ROOTER SVC WAS CALLED OUT TO XXXXX [redacted] ELKHART,IN. XXXXX BY A ONE [redacted], WE WERE ASKED TO CABLE 2 MAIN LINES FOR THE ABIVE NAMED CUSTOMER, ALL WORK WAS PERFORMED AND SHE WAS ASKED TO GO INTO THE BASEMENT...

TO APPROVE THE CLEAN UP AT WHICH TIME SHE DID APPROVE AND THEN SIGNED THE PAPERWORK. SHE WAS NOT HAPPY ABOUT THE AMOUNT BUT SHE DID PAY THE INVOICE. ABOUT 3 HOURS LATER WE RECIEVED A CALL FROM HER TO SAY THAT HER BASEMENT WAS FLOODED SHE SAID THE SUMP PUMP WAS NOT PLUGGED IN. SHE SENT US PICTURES OF THE SUMP PUMP PIT BEING FULL AND WATER ON THE CEMENT FLOOR AND SOME RUGS AND CARPET REMNENTS. THE TECHNICIAN SAID HE WAS SURE HE HAD PLUGGED IT BACK UP HE HAD NEVER FORGOT TO DO THAT IN THE 20 YEARS HED BEEN DOING THIS.HE OFFERED OVER THE PHONE TO COME TO HER HOUSE AND HELP CLEAN UP, BUT WAS TOLD NO THAT HER CHILDREN WERE HELPING.HE WAS ALSO CURSED AT AND TOLD TO RIP UP THE CHECK. HE EXPLAINED THAT THE CHECK HAD ALREADY BEEN DEPOSITED, IT WAS NOT CASHED BY OUR COMPANY THAT DAY. WE ARE NOT ABLE TO DO THAT WITH CHECKS MADE TO THE COMPANY. WE WERE GOING TO WORK WITH HER ABOUT A REFUND. WE WERE INTENDING ON REFUNDING ALL OF HER MONEY. SHE BECAME VERY AGITATED AND WANTED ONLY CASH AS SHE THOUGHT OUR CHECK WAS BAD. SHE CLAIMS THAT THERE WERE RUINED CLOTHES, SHOES, AND NEVER SAID A WORD ABOUT ANY RUGS, WE TOLD HER WE WOULD REFUND HER MONEY AS SOON AS WE KNEW HER CHECK CLEARED THE BANK. ON 3/24/16 I CALLED MY BANK AND THEY SAID WE WOULD NOT GET A RESPONSE AS TO IF THE CHECK CLEARED. ONLY IF IT DID NOT, SO AFTER BEING THREATENED TO STOP PAYMENT ON THE CHECK I EXPLAINED TO HER THAT WE NEEDED TO WAIT TO MAKE SURE IT DID IN FACT CLEAR. MY BANK ADVISED ME TO WAIT 3 - 5 BUSINESS DAYS TO JUST CONFIRM.ON 3/30/16 I RECIEVED MESSAGE DEMANDING HER MONEY. THE TECH WHO WAS AT HER HOUSE CALLED TO SET UP A TIME TO COME BY TO BRING HER THE CHECK, SHE WAS NOT AVAILABLE TIL FRIDAY 4-1-16 SHE SAID BETWEEN 9-12. THE TECH WAS AT HER RESIDENCE ON THAT DAY AT 10:30 AM AND SHE WAS NOT HOME HE PHONED HER AND SHE WAS IN ANOTHER CITY AT THE TIME DEALING WITH PERSONAL BUSINESS SHE DEMANDED HE COME THERE AND BRING HER CASH. HE THEN EXPLAINED HE NEEDED TO GO INTO THE BASEMENT TO SEE THE DAMAGE. SHE SAID HE DIDNT NEED TO GO IN AND THE WATER WAS GONE. SHE ALSO STATED THAT SOME OF THE CLOTHES WERE WASHED AND OK AND SOME WERE RUINEDBUT SHE HAD THROWN THOSE AND A PAIR OF SHOES AWAY SO THERE WAS NOTHING TO SHOW HIM. HE ASKED IF SHE TOOK PHOTOS OF THE DAMAGED PROPERTY AND SHE SAID NO. SHE ALSO LATER LEFT ANOTHER MESSAGE LETTING US KNOW THAT HER BOYFRIEND WAS A COP AND HE WAS THERE HELPING HER CLEAN UP ALSO. HER STORY HAD CHANGED SEVERAL TIMES SO WE WERE UNSURE OF HER INTENTIONS OTHER THAN TO JUST GET A REFUND. I DO HAVE ALL OF THE DATES AND TIMES WE EITHER MADE CALLS OR RECIEVED CALLS FROM HER THERE WAS NOT A 10 DAY GAP BETWEEN COMMUNICATIONS. I ALSO RECIEVED A CALL FROM ANOTHER BUSINESS SAYING THAT SHE CALLED AND COMPLAINED ABOUT US TO HIM. HE WANTED TO KNOW OUR SIDE OF THE STORY SO HE COULD COMPARE IT TO HERS. HE STATED HE THOUGHT HER STORY WAS A LITTLE FISHY WHEN HE SPOKE WITH HER.DUE TO HER NEVER BEING AVAILABLE AND NOT HAVING ANY PICTURES TO SHOW US OF THE DAMAGED ITEMS, WHICH [redacted] DOLLARS WAS NOT THE AMOUNT WE WERE TOLD THAT WAS DAMAGED. AND THE CONSTANT THREATES OF GOING TO COURT WE DECIDED TO NOT REFUND THE MONEY FOR THE WORK PERFORMED. we also told her to do what she felt necessary. she informed the other business she called that she was not taking us to court because she just didn't have the time and didn't want to deal with it.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2016/04/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Attached to this response is a file containing:
Page1: copy of the pink invoice slip
Page2: copy of my check that was cashed on the on the same day of service; March 23
Page3: copy of my bank statement with the check cleared on March 24
Pages 4-9: copies of screen shots from text conversations with [redacted] - service tech and owner of Kline's Roter Rooter Services
Pages 10-12: full size pictures of the water damage
Page 12: a text screen shot from [redacted] wife of [redacted]
Page 13: a copy of the business card given to me
from [redacted]
Their response is not acceptable for the following reasons:
1. The service technician and owner, [redacted] came to my house on March 23 by himself. He did not have another worker with him so he employed my help by having me run up and down stairs several times, yelling out to him to let him know if his cable was in the right lines, and running into both of the bathrooms to test lines while he was trying to push the cable through.
2. Per my attached document-They DID cash my check on the same day that services were performed on March 23. Their response about cashing it the same day is absolutely false.
3. My children and my friend, who is a police officer, helped me clean up what I could on Wednesday night but it was around 11p so I had to take the next day off of work to finish cleaning it.
4. I did become agitated with the situation because they promised to bring me either my check or a refund check back by March 24.
Instead, [redacted] wife, called me on that day and refused to give me money back until I returned her pink invoice slip. First she said she couldn't read her own copies, which is why she said that she needed mine. The pink copy was the last sheet on the carbon copy so that didn't make sense to me but I told her that I would make a copy for her to have if she wanted. She got slightly irritated and said she would have to call me back. When she did call back she said that she had just had lunch with her accountant and the accountant needed the actual pink copy back. I refused saying that the pink invoice was my copy and it proved that services were performed. I told her that it sounded like a very odd request and that it didn't seem like good business practices to request a customer's invoice copy. She hung up on me. I waited an hour or so and called her back, I left a voice mail stating that we both needed to be calm and get this handled.
When she returned my call I decided I should ask for a cashiers check because, from my perspective, it sounded like Kline's was trying to not refund my money even though they admitted on the phone, the night of the flooding, that the service technician must have forgotten to plug in the sump pump.
5. [redacted] told me that as soon as my check cleared they would give me a check and promised they would contact me.
6. I waited 9 days for them to contact me so I called them.
March 23 was the day my check was deposited. I waited until Mar 30 to call and leave a voice mail. Once I received a call back from [redacted] he said wanted to meet me at my house on Apr 1 between 9-12p. I told him that was good for me but unfortunately my brother passed [redacted] and I had to take care of family issues. However I did speak to [redacted] on the phone around 10:30a on April 1.
7. When I spoke to [redacted] on the phone on Apr 1, he said he wanted to come into my house to see the damage. I told him about my brother passing and that there was no more visible damage. I said that I had cleaned it all up and thrown away the items that were damaged. At first he said he wasn't going to give me a refund check until he came into my house to see for himself. I had to repeat myself again and that is when he said that he thought that I was lying about the water damage. He said he was not going to refund my money. I reiterated that I was not asking for compensation for the time I missed work on March 24 to to clean up my basement. I didn't want money for the items that were damaged and thrown away. I just wanted to get the money back that I paid him because it was HIS fault that he forgot to plug in my sump pump. He hung up on me.
8. I called the owner of the septic business [redacted] that had recommended Kline's Roter Rooter. I specifically stated that the only reason was so that he could talk to Kline's with the hopes of understanding what kind of business Kline's ran and then determine whether he wanted to still recommend Kline's to his own customers. I said that I was highly disappointed and concerned about the fact that they wanted their pink service invoice back from me and at the point when I refused was when Kline's got mean with me. The septic business said that sounded very odd and didn't see a reason as to why they would want the invoice back from me. He said he would call Kline's to follow up.
I take exception to the statement that Kline's makes in their response which states that I was never available and that my call to the septic business sounded "fishy". Absolutely false.
9. I am not asking for money to cover the damaged items that got thrown away. I'm not asking for the money that I lost from missing a day of work to clean up the flooding. I am not asking for compensation for the time I spent cleaning it up either.
If I had more time and money, I would take Kline's to court for the money I gave them and for those factors that I just listed.
I am a single mother, I work full time, and go to college full time. I simply want Kline's to take care of their mistake, do the right thing, and give me back the [redacted] that I gave them.