Import Auto Experts, LLC

I am responding to a letter that I received from your office on
12.8000001907349px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The letter was a customer complaint about a project that was completed by a company that I was part owner of (past tense since it is no longer operating). I am aware of this project as I was the manager that helped get this project to a place where Ms. [redacted] told me that she was very happy when the minor repairs were completed.  This is what she has referred to in the complaint when she said. "I emailed my contractor on, & in response was contacted by his manager, & the repairs were finally taken care of." The timeline and the work that she describes prior to this date, although I will concede didn't go perfectly, was not out of the ordinary when you are dealing with a project like this.  What Ms. [redacted] didn't explain in the complaint was that when we removed the existing siding, we found there to be a major carpenter ant issue that we brought up to her.  She then proceeded to hire a friend of hers to make the repairs because she claimed that we were too expensive. At that time, we made the decision to remove our crews from the project to work on another project until she had the final repairs done to the carpenter ant area.  We did that because we would have been complete with the remaining part of the house before the repairs were done. She agreed to that at the time so I don't understand why she is bringing that up as an issue at this time. Nonetheless, the siding was completed, Ms. [redacted] told me that she was happy with the project, and we closed the file. Ms. [redacted] then brought up that there was leaking in the basement. The leaks were not coming from our work as we explained to here but she kept on insisting that it was with no proof of that being the case.  There was not broken siding at the time of completion. If there was she surly would have brought it up and we would have seen it.  If the siding is broken and/or the siding seems are opening up, then I would suggest that she contact the manufacturer as that may be a manufacturer defect in the product. It has nothing to due with installation.
Since December of 2013 I was not an active partner of the company. My business partner was the active partner of the company and was running the company. In May of 2014 he notified me that he was walking away from the company and filing bankruptcy.This forced the company to shut down. Springer has not been doing business anywhere since that time. The company does not have any employees and does not have any way to follow-up on these types of claims. I am sorry for that but Ms. [redacted] knows that the entire story that she has told is not completely true. Again, when all final punch list items were completed, she made it very clear that she was happy with the project. In fact, she asked if we would come back to do some more work on her fascia later in the year. Furthermore, asking to be reimbursed for the entire amount that she paid for the project is ridiculous just like some of the claims she is making in this complaint. I wish her nothing but the best and am sorry that she feels like she didn't get the job that she expected.

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.
The initial information about the siding job done at my home February-April 2013 was included at the recommendation of the Revdex.com.
 
I mentioned the carpenter ant/ water damage in my initial complaint. The damage was limited to an area around 1 window, affecting structural boards to an old window that was no longer part of the house. Contrary to the report by the business, I was not offered a quote (over the phone, via email or in person) from my contractor, [redacted], my contact person at the time. I found my own contractor after eventually being informed about the extent of the damage. I was told the crew would be back when the repair work was done. I was aware they were going to a different job, and I wasn’t keen on the idea as initial delays were due to the crew working in Cn Rapids.  I was concerned I would have a difficult time getting them back to my house, but I really didn’t have a choice in the matter.  
 
March 1, 2013 and the days thereafter
 
Repair work was completed. There were excuses as to why the crew wasn’t coming back.  Two days, no crew showed up because of bad weather, which is understandable.  Many days I received no information, although I was told on March 8th that the crew would be out on March 11th. In that period of time, I received approval from my contractor to remove the dumpster, so that I could have a parking spot in my driveway for the duration of the winter. It was arranged that the crew would haul away their trash for the duration of the job. On March 11th there was no crew as my foreman was out of the state, and the contractor stated they wouldn’t work without him. 
 
March 12-13, 2013
 
 The crew showed up at my house to work on the final side, without a foreman. I had a couple conversations that day with [redacted].  He was trying to tell me they weren’t going to replace trim above my door (the other door and windows all had new trim). March 13th it was very cold outside. I sent out an email [redacted] clarifying that the crew was not going to be there touching up paint/ caulk in the weather.  I told him I had put the paint back outside when I left for work (as the crew had me doing throughout the job), and also covered up the supplies the night before, as the crew had left them uncovered. The windows had been trimmed out, but no paint had been put on the cut ends of the boards. I inquired as to how this was going to be done, as not all the ends were visible. I asked about new trim above the door, as it appeared it was still old trim on my door. I mentioned siders’ edge and quarter round that had not been placed; also the lamps were still off the house.  
 
That evening when I returned home from work, it was poorly done.  The issues were highlighted in my initial complaint. [redacted] became involved in the project, sending me an email the following day that said “frankly I have seen some of the pictures of the work that was performed, and I am not real happy with the workmanship on these things either.”   The next day he and the crew arrived at my house. [redacted] was polite; it was obvious he was not pleased with some of the work, and everything I had to go through to get that far. He told me my job was brought to his attention by a new gal in the office, who questioned why my job had been open for so long. [redacted] is correct, when things were done, I was happy with how things look. I looked at the house through lay persons’ eyes, not contractors. 
 
November of 2013 
 
I called [redacted] in regards to a nail coming through the channel for one of my double hung windows, prompting them to come out and remove the trim and nail, and replace the trim. 
 
Late April/ early May of 2014
 
I had water leaking into my basement. It was coming in at a level that coincided with the 2nd row of siding up from my foundation. I contacted [redacted], as he had told me if I ever had questions or concerns, to call. I told him I didn’t know if the leaking was related to the siding, and he offered to send someone out to take a look.  [redacted], Springer’s Quality Assurance person, came out on a rainy day, took  a look at the leaking inside the house and mentioned he would need to come back when it wasn’t raining to look further.  He put some temporary caulking above the side door, as I was experiencing leaking between the two doors. He also noticed there was no flashing over the trim along my steps on the side of the house and that the channels under the trim were cut much to narrow and needed replacing.  
 
May 5, 2014
 
[redacted] returned and re-caulked the door, placed flashing over the trim pieces along my steps, and put in new channels under the trim.  He told me to let him know if I still had issues with water leaking into the house. 
 
May 12, 2014
 
I continued to have problems and sent a text to [redacted] that included pictures showing where the water was coming into my basement. 
 
 May 20, 2014
 
I sent another text after returning from vacation and having heard nothing from anyone with the company. After a few days, we set up an appointment for May 28th 
at 0900 am.  
 
May 28, 2014
 
[redacted] called and left a message that he was cancelling the appointment because of truck troubles. He told me to call back to reschedule, or that he would call back.  I returned his call within an hour and left a message.
 
May 30, 2014
 
I received a text from [redacted] that evening stating “due to our very busy schedule, I will not be able to reschedule you anytime soon.” He did not believe the water coming into my house was a siding issue, although he suggested I spray the window and the siding surrounding it, focus on cracks along the steps, and call the window manufacturer. I was reassured that the spaces in the siding have flashing behind them, so although I could see white stripes, it was not an install issue. 
 
I was frustrated and at a loss. I felt the company was trying to get rid of me. I contacted a contractor friend, and explained the issues I was experiencing. He suggested I do deconstructive testing to try figure out what the cause of the water was. I sent out a text to [redacted] and [redacted], informing them that I had “contacted a general contractor friend, and that under his direction, I would have deconstructive testing done on my home to determine the cause of the leaking. If Springer Construction refused to investigate the cause, I would hold their insurance company liable.”   Under no circumstance was I going to hold them liable if the issues weren’t with the siding.  I simply wanted to rule out things, and get to the bottom of what was causing all the trouble.  
 
The following morning I received a text from [redacted], “we have investigated it, multiple times. We are telling you that we have found no evidence that the leaking is coming from the siding. I don’t understand what you are trying to achieve by threatening us. It seems to me that the only reasonable solution (in your mind) is to force Springer to find the problems of your house and fix them at Springer’s expense whether or not it is Springer’s fault or not. As we have said, we have looked at everything on the install and have found nothing that would cause the leaking in your home. I’m sorry if that is not acceptable to you.”
 
I did not respond to the text. I do not believe coming out once in the rain and returning to caulk the door, add flashing and re-do channels falls under investigating it multiple times. 
 
June 2014 - present
 
After the company refused to make contact with me, I started doing some research. The James Hardie installation guidelines specifically states,
 
Avoid placing butt joints directly above or below windows or above doors. Separate the joint from the opening by at least on course of siding.
There are 9 seams that are in the course of siding directly above or below a window, with one landing at the bottom corner of a window. As the butt joints fell above and below windows, aluminum flashing was used, requiring caulking. My house was sided with a ColorPlus product, and it is not recommended to caulk as the ColorPlus and caulk weather differently. Also listed in installation requirements, 
 
Place cut ends where siding meets a corner, door, window trim or other break in the wall where the joint is to be caulked. If cut ends are used in a butt joint between planks, James Hardie requires sealing all cut ends for all products. For ColorPlus products use the color matched edge coater to seal the cut end. 
In the proposal sent to me on September 26, 2012, the Hardie touch up kit was listed.  The quote I received on November 26, 2012 no longer included the Hardie touch up kit, nor do any of the receipts of supplies delivered or purchased after the product was started. (I purchased the supplies from Springer’s list, using their vendor, and was sent out to retrieve anything else that was needed). I was sent to Home Depot for paint to match the Sandstone Beige siding and to Sherwin Williams for paint to match the SmartSide trim on my house, but I was never sent anywhere to get a Hardie touch up kit. I am under the assumption, that any cut ends visible did not have edge coater to seal them at the time of installation. 
 
I do have pictures from March of 2013 that do reflect moderate contact on some of the seams at the time of installation. This excludes the aforementioned seams that fell above and below windows, and the handful that were caulked at the time of installation. 
 
July 2014
 
I sent out an email to [redacted] in regards to the nail from the trim coming into my window sill. I received no response. 
 
May 2015
 
I contacted James Hardie and filed a warranty claim, detailing gaps in the siding, seams above and below windows, no flashing on a horizontal piece of trim, a nail that is through window trim and sitting in my window sill, broken corners of siding, etc.  The response I received is that none of these issues fall under the manufacturer’s warranty.  
 
As [redacted] alluded to, he was no longer an active partner in the company as of December 2013, and that his business partner notified him he was walking away from the company and declaring bankruptcy in May 2014.  As time went on without a response from the company I made my own assumptions. The first time this was verified was in [redacted]’ response to my initial complaint.
 
Based on everything listed above, a great many boards on my house will require replacement. There is a possibility, per James Hardie, that all the siding, trim and possibly house wrap would need to be removed and replaced. 
 
Regards,
[redacted]