J.R. Anderson - Concrete & Hardscape Solutions

USE EXTREME CAUTION IN ANY DEALINGS WITH THIS COMPANY OR ITS OWNER, JIM A [redacted] ! We found out the hard way that Jim A [redacted] is totally unreliable, never does what he promises, refuses to communicate to give status reports or answer questions His word means nothing; you simply can not trust this man to do what he says he will do PLEASE READ MORE DETAILS BELOW to see how we arrived at these conclusions and realized that we were dealing with someone who was not willing or able to deal with us in a professional and ethical mannerWe began searching for a stamped concrete company in the Richmond area in February to help us design and install a small backyard patio We met with A [redacted] 's estimator on several occasions and found him to be very helpful and responsive We decided to accept his quote for our work and signed paperwork on February 18, The quote/contract for our job did not contain a "start" date nor a "completion by" date The estimator told us that before we could get put on the company's work schedule we would need to make an up front deposit in the amount of 1/of the total estimated job...in our case, $3, We gave him our check for this amount on March 18, to secure a spot on A [redacted] 's schedule Weeks went by with no contact from anyone at J.RA [redacted] , Inc I began to phone their office to find out where we were on the work schedule and to request a start date for our job Jim A [redacted] was never in the office when I called Each time, however, I left messages with MrA [redacted] 's office manager, Melinda, to please have Jim call us to discuss the status of our project ALL OF MY PHONE CALLS WENT UNRETURNED On April 22, 2016, since there had been no proactive communication from anyone at JRA [redacted] , Incand because Jim A [redacted] would not return my phone calls, I told Melinda that if I did not hear from Jim that day we were going to contact our attorney Jim did not call, but he and three men simply showed up at our home around 2:p.mon that Friday afternoon to start on our job Even though we had been waiting for over a month for the work to begin, I cautioned Jim about starting so late that day as storms had been forecasted all week Jim assured me he was following the weather and they would be able to complete all the prep work that afternoon Unfortunately, he was wrong Heavy rain forced work to stop in about hours We had over 1/2" of rain that day and our back yard was a huge mud hole When Jim left the house, he promised he and the crew would be back either on Saturday or Sunday to complete the necessary work for concrete to pour on Monday HE DID NOT SHOW UP ON EITHER DAY HE DID NOT CALL US TO RESCHEDULE The pour was delayed, but did finally happen within approximately days The concrete was sealed shortly thereafter Unfortunately, the job could not be completed at that time because there was a delay in getting the stone we had selected for the sitting wall We never really knew what happened --- we had picked out the stone on March 5---it was now May Jim blamed his estimator for placing an incorrect order Jim blamed the supplier for entering his order incorrectly and the manufacturer for a delay in shipping We began another long period of no communication forthcoming from Jim A [redacted] or anyone from his company We were frustrated and worried every day We simply did not know what to do to get Jim to finish our job On June 29, 2016, I made one last phone call to Jim's office I told Melinda that if Jim did not contact me that day we were meeting with our attorney and would pursue any and all actions necessary to revoke our contract and sue him to get all our money back Jim showed up at our house in the mid afternoon Before we would let Jim start work, we asked to meet with him in our home office We had a very frank discussion about how much worry he had caused us; how disrespectful and negligent we believed him to be in never once returning a phone call nor ever proactively communicating with us throughout the period of April through June 29, We mainly took exception to there being ANY excuse for a small job like ours that was supposed to have been completed within three days to have taken nearly four months Jim agreed with everything we said He apologized profusely He assured me that he would not leave today until our job was completed I then said we needed to discuss the money He agreed, and said he had planned to offer us a discount to try to make up for all the inconvenience and worry he had caused us throughout this job He said, "In fact, I'm going to let you tell me how much the discount should be." At that point, I told Jim we did not want to pay him another dime Jim agreed to this and said he would waive our remaining balance He told us he would go back to his office and draw up a statement or send us a copy of the original estimate marked, PAID IN FULL Jim said he did not want us to have any lingering bad feelings Or course, this is not what MrA [redacted] did...instead, on August 3, 2016, MrA [redacted] sent us a "DEMAND FOR PAYMENT" letter in which he threatened to take us to [redacted] to sue us if we did not pay the total due within days from the date of his letter We consulted our attorney, we filed a complaint with the Contractor's Board, but ultimately, we decided to send him our check We simply didn't want to subject ourselves to any more of Jim A [redacted] 's disreputable treatment