I will reply per paragraph (P) as warranted:
Pl: I did not use my truck, as it was out of
service due a transmission failureMy backup plow/person is a police officer
with the city of Anderson and also owns the truck that was usedI rode with
him and as the blade controls are on a joystick and cable, I was able to
operate the plow as he drove, & as I was aware of the new stone, mentioned
such to the driverThe drive was plowed on one side of a two-lane drive due to
parked autos in one laneI did mistakenly plow a driveway that was not requested,
realizing so only when I went to the door at a later time to collect $for
the serviceI got the phone call mixed up for another elderly lady some six
blocks awayIt is very easily done as the many phone calls & the hectic
weather that comes upon us when these snowfalls occurAt this point, I beg to
differ that this particular snow event was not in fact the worst of the season,
and it can be verified by weather history records! I apologized for my error
& she paid nothing for the service and readily accepted my mistakeTo
further clarify that snow event; she lives on the end of a dead end street
& we plowed the street into & out of her drive which benefited other
neighbors as well, but that is common with snow plowing work & oftentimes I
go the extra effort to do a favor & good jobIt is not a common practice to go to each door following a phone call to
verify the job, as for one, oftentimes it is the middle of the night or early
mornings, and secondly, the heavy snowfall makes it impractical and time consuming
when there are many folks waiting for you to get to their homes, some in need
of food, getting to work and health precautions, among many reasonsMost folks are overjoyed to get their
drives passable, even when they pay for the service! Rather than being grateful
for a free service, this lady found problems!
P2: Concerning the photo of the 'pile' of
stone: don't be fooled, the photo is misleading, as the photo is actually a
small amount of stone that stuck to the snow as it rolled in front of the blade
and remained on the surface of a pile
of snowThe stone in the foreground/below the snow is the level drive and not
part of the 'pile'Once the snow melted,
the stone (as evident in a photo I
provided in my first response), amounted to a very small rift, perhaps the
height of a parking bumper; not even a wheelbarrow loadNow back to the original work done before winter concerning the
placement of stone and her multitude of complaints for the $job:
P(coat): She had her drive widened by
others and that area needed a stone base to startThe $quote was for the
materials & work that it would have taken to do the entire drive properly,
including the larger (#4) stone and mechanically compacting it before placing
the topping stone (#8)But she did not want to spend that amount: it was not due to her not knowing the kind
of work I did (Kindly note that another contractor she had previously hired
referred me to her)She desired/opted for a lower cost while stating that
the car nearest the house did not need to be moved since the drive was fine
where it was parked(I recall her answer specifically because I questioned if
the car would start (there was a second car parked behind it) and if it could
be moved off the drive area to do the ($700) work.) Therefore I could reduce
the amount stone and work in the area only where there was previous/new
excavation where the base layer of (larger #4) stone was neededConsequently
less stone with no mechanical compaction included, made less time/work,
therefore keeping within her desirable (required) budgetIncidentally, I
explained that the driveway/topping stone (#stone) would not work for a base
in the newly excavated area as it is expected to settle into the ground
Additionally, the approaching season(s) would help in bedding the base as it
was trafficked over and she could apply the #stone in the spring on the
entire drive to be more aesthetically pleasingP(cont): as for the 'mud' depicted in photo: this is common
occurrence with ALL stone driveways
and cannot be prevented with precipitation, freezing & thawing(see snow
in (her) photo) This is precisely why folks install concrete or asphalt due to these typical maintenance issuesIn her
particular case, the entire driveway was not covered with stone, but only the
newly widened area and this area could not be expected to settle uniformly with
traffic & weather conditions, especially so with no mechanical compaction
P7: I'm confused with this
comment/complaint! Simply, there were two quarry
tickets and she wrote one check for $to pay for two loads
of stone delivered and leveled with a backhoeMy only reply/comment would be
that for that sum: two loads of stone (+/- tons total) with delivery charge
& backhoe used to grade it out, was more
than reasonable when required to stay within her demanded budgetP8: I have no idea as to the implication that the
second load of stone was not entirely used on her job Any concern of this
nature should have been brought to point at the time, but not now, months laterI may recall
the stone was loaded near the end of day when the quarry was near closing for the second load,
notwithstanding the quarry ticket was time stamped when it was scaled and the
travel time (minutes) could have easily been calculated that it was
delivered directly to her job...all I can testify is that for me to have
partially used the stone elsewhere, it would have had to be hand shoveled off
my truck due to the fact that when my particular truck bed is raised, the load
shifts to the tailgate and the weight will not allow it to be lowered until it
is near emptyAlso, the load would be very noticeably at the end (tailgate) of
the bed, and as my truck has an extended, longer bed, would be even more
evidentI am at a loss for any other comment/reply concerning this
preposterous part of her complaintP9: I stand by my first reply & comments of her attitude and very
callous comment in her self-induced frustration of my truck being down for
transmission repairs, as well as her demanding my attention within hours,
etcA closing
note: I had anticipated that my first reply to the Revdex.com of
the original complaint would satisfy any questions with my explanation(s) and
intentions to rectify sameAbsolutely NO complaints in my years doing business should speak for itself
I am not implying that another contractor has volunteered comment in this
instance particularly, but I have found a consensus that it is frustrating that
the confidentiality of a client making a complaint trumps a contractor from reporting
likewise that there
are some clients that should be avoidedPeople, such as this person in the
complaint, can never be satisfied and I should have listened to my gut instinct
when she shared with me problems she'd had with previous contractors and their
work75% of my business comes from
'word of mouth' and recommendations (as this was) from many clients (often
repeat clients) and many have explicitly voiced complete satisfaction,
confidence & trustI've experienced clients even tipping over and above my
billed quote, which satisfies my mind, thank youMy reputation will stand the
scrutiny should any of my clients glean this circumstance and I'm confident if
passed along to others will be interpreted & stand to reason that there are
those who can never be satisfiedIn
conclusion, this matter has gone far beyond ridiculous, and I do not intend to
devote
any more
time or correspondence in this matter & this will be the last, so let the
chips fall where they may...she likely will have to have the last word and I
graciously accept thatSincerely,
I Remain,
Rick * ***
DBA Earth Works
Alexandria Indiana
When Rick came to my door to collect for plowing, he drove his truck about 5-feet onto my driveway, lowered his blade, and drove up one side of my two lane drive, which raked up the stone you can see in the photographs providedHe should have come to my door and verified that I did or did not want my drive plowed before he did -anything-He did notHis inability to keep his customers straight and his lack of courtesy in taking the time to walk the few steps to my door first to make sure I did want my driveway plowed is appallingHe apparently likes to exaggerate since that was not the worst snowfall of the season
In the photographs provided you can see the stacked stone, which is as high as the top of a snow plow bladeThere isn't any snow among the stone, just snow on top
Rick stated I continuously tried to bargain him down on the priceThat did not happenWhat did happen was this: He stopped by to give me a copy of the work to be doneIt was over $I wasn't willing to spend that much money when I didn't know what kind of work he didThe price was lowered because I chose to remove some of the work listedThat is not "bargaining him down"He also did not say he couldn't drop his price any farther nor in any other words in reference to his price
The only agreement we had was I wanted my two driveways totally covered with stone so that I wasn't walking in mud any longerAs you can see from two of the attached photographs, I still have this issueHe told me that two loads of #stone would cover both my drivewaysHe did not offer any sample sizes so I had no way of knowing what size #was - but the stone size isn't part of the this complaint
He mentioned my one car sets on solid groundThat is incorrectEvery time I drove that car, I walked in mud to get to itFor the winter, I parked the other car that I drove more frequently close to the street because of the mud everywhereThe mud I told him I wanted covered completelyThe mud he tried to assured me wouldn't be there when he was finished with the jobThe mud that was still there after the job was 'completed' as you can see in the photographs attachedYou can clearly see the muddy foot prints, which is the area that I was assured wouldn't be there when he was finishedPlease note these photographs were taken after he 'completed' the work
He also told me if I had someone come and plow my drive to caution them of the new stoneWhile I appreciate his advice, I had already told him several times that I never have my driveway plowedHe went on to mention that he was very careful of such things as scooping up stone when he plowedObviously not cautious enough or I wouldn't have this issue now
When I called him about his 'plowing' that had scraped up the newly laid gravel, he said he would come over on SaturdayHe refused to give me a time or any valid reason for not rectifying his mistake other than it was supposed to rainI don't think that's a valid reason for not correcting a mistake or giving me a definite timeI'm nearly always gone on Saturday and I needed at least a ballpark time so I could rearrange my schedule.
As to his stating I was almost screaming I have an ongoing medical condition that makes it impossible to raise my voiceMedical and witness statements can be provided if needed
It is obvious to me that Rick has a problem verifying his information because the check, #***, that he mentioned was written on November 13, in the amount of $I did not write two checks as he statesI wrote ONE for the work that was doneI will be glad to provide a photocopy if requestedI do not appreciate his attempt to make me appear combative or unorganizedHis attempts to cover his poor workmanship and work ethics by redirecting the blame onto me is obviousIt was not me that failed to verify the address and improperly plowed a driveway, resulting in damage
As for the quarry, it doesn't have anything to do with this problemThey did their job as witnessed by the scale tickets mentionedI'm well aware that weight can varyI'm not concerned about the loading of the stoneI have never suspected the quarry of cheating meHowever, I have no way of knowing that Rick didn't have another job site that needed stone and some of the stone I paid for went thereI only know it didn't get to my houseI stood at the door and watched him pour the second load which covered a much smaller area than the first load of stoneThe first load covered approximately seven times more than the second loadThe second load was also poured onto more solid ground than that initial load
I did call Rick and complain about him tearing up my driveway with his bladeI did not demand anything from him but did ask him to come out and fix the damage, and I certainly didn't give him a timeline as Rick states(hours) I also don't say things such as "or else"The same with "well, good!"I do however, take any problems to the proper place and let it play outI don't threaten peopleAll I wanted was for him to fix his mistake with some courtesy and promptness, which he refused to doAll I got from him was rudeness and aggression as if the gravel now piled up in my driveway was my fault
I waited several months because of the snow that has seemed unending this yearI don't see how the time involved is an issue as the damage is clearly visible even after that much time.
Also, it was extremely difficult to locate any mailing address for this complaint
I also have multiple other photos of the damagePlease let me know if you need more proof.
*** ***
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
After struggling through almost four pages of irrelevant nonsense, I notice one thing; Mr*** refuses to acknowledge his mistakesA high quality business person would have immediately corrected those mistakes without question or placing blameHe has done neitherI would like to see documentation of the work he did, including a date stamped scale ticket for both loads and the signed work order for the completed jobWithout this factual proof, Mr*** can say he has done things he didn't doMy photographs stand as proof of both his unfinished job and damage he did to the stone he had already put downIt is immaterial whose equipment was used as it was his company that did the damage and left the job incompleteI still feel a refund is in order
Regards,
*** ***
I will reply per paragraph (P) as warranted:
Pl: I did not use my truck, as it was out of
service due a transmission failureMy backup plow/person is a police officer
with the city of Anderson and also owns the truck that was usedI rode with
him and as the blade controls are on a joystick and cable, I was able to
operate the plow as he drove, & as I was aware of the new stone, mentioned
such to the driverThe drive was plowed on one side of a two-lane drive due to
parked autos in one laneI did mistakenly plow a driveway that was not requested,
realizing so only when I went to the door at a later time to collect $for
the serviceI got the phone call mixed up for another elderly lady some six
blocks awayIt is very easily done as the many phone calls & the hectic
weather that comes upon us when these snowfalls occurAt this point, I beg to
differ that this particular snow event was not in fact the worst of the season,
and it can be verified by weather history records! I apologized for my error
& she paid nothing for the service and readily accepted my mistakeTo
further clarify that snow event; she lives on the end of a dead end street
& we plowed the street into & out of her drive which benefited other
neighbors as well, but that is common with snow plowing work & oftentimes I
go the extra effort to do a favor & good jobIt is not a common practice to go to each door following a phone call to
verify the job, as for one, oftentimes it is the middle of the night or early
mornings, and secondly, the heavy snowfall makes it impractical and time consuming
when there are many folks waiting for you to get to their homes, some in need
of food, getting to work and health precautions, among many reasonsMost folks are overjoyed to get their
drives passable, even when they pay for the service! Rather than being grateful
for a free service, this lady found problems!
P2: Concerning the photo of the 'pile' of
stone: don't be fooled, the photo is misleading, as the photo is actually a
small amount of stone that stuck to the snow as it rolled in front of the blade
and remained on the surface of a pile
of snowThe stone in the foreground/below the snow is the level drive and not
part of the 'pile'Once the snow melted,
the stone (as evident in a photo I
provided in my first response), amounted to a very small rift, perhaps the
height of a parking bumper; not even a wheelbarrow loadNow back to the original work done before winter concerning the
placement of stone and her multitude of complaints for the $job:
P(coat): She had her drive widened by
others and that area needed a stone base to startThe $quote was for the
materials & work that it would have taken to do the entire drive properly,
including the larger (#4) stone and mechanically compacting it before placing
the topping stone (#8)But she did not want to spend that amount: it was not due to her not knowing the kind
of work I did (Kindly note that another contractor she had previously hired
referred me to her)She desired/opted for a lower cost while stating that
the car nearest the house did not need to be moved since the drive was fine
where it was parked(I recall her answer specifically because I questioned if
the car would start (there was a second car parked behind it) and if it could
be moved off the drive area to do the ($700) work.) Therefore I could reduce
the amount stone and work in the area only where there was previous/new
excavation where the base layer of (larger #4) stone was neededConsequently
less stone with no mechanical compaction included, made less time/work,
therefore keeping within her desirable (required) budgetIncidentally, I
explained that the driveway/topping stone (#stone) would not work for a base
in the newly excavated area as it is expected to settle into the ground
Additionally, the approaching season(s) would help in bedding the base as it
was trafficked over and she could apply the #stone in the spring on the
entire drive to be more aesthetically pleasingP(cont): as for the 'mud' depicted in photo: this is common
occurrence with ALL stone driveways
and cannot be prevented with precipitation, freezing & thawing(see snow
in (her) photo) This is precisely why folks install concrete or asphalt due to these typical maintenance issuesIn her
particular case, the entire driveway was not covered with stone, but only the
newly widened area and this area could not be expected to settle uniformly with
traffic & weather conditions, especially so with no mechanical compaction
P7: I'm confused with this
comment/complaint! Simply, there were two quarry
tickets and she wrote one check for $to pay for two loads
of stone delivered and leveled with a backhoeMy only reply/comment would be
that for that sum: two loads of stone (+/- tons total) with delivery charge
& backhoe used to grade it out, was more
than reasonable when required to stay within her demanded budgetP8: I have no idea as to the implication that the
second load of stone was not entirely used on her job Any concern of this
nature should have been brought to point at the time, but not now, months laterI may recall
the stone was loaded near the end of day when the quarry was near closing for the second load,
notwithstanding the quarry ticket was time stamped when it was scaled and the
travel time (minutes) could have easily been calculated that it was
delivered directly to her job...all I can testify is that for me to have
partially used the stone elsewhere, it would have had to be hand shoveled off
my truck due to the fact that when my particular truck bed is raised, the load
shifts to the tailgate and the weight will not allow it to be lowered until it
is near emptyAlso, the load would be very noticeably at the end (tailgate) of
the bed, and as my truck has an extended, longer bed, would be even more
evidentI am at a loss for any other comment/reply concerning this
preposterous part of her complaintP9: I stand by my first reply & comments of her attitude and very
callous comment in her self-induced frustration of my truck being down for
transmission repairs, as well as her demanding my attention within hours,
etcA closing
note: I had anticipated that my first reply to the Revdex.com of
the original complaint would satisfy any questions with my explanation(s) and
intentions to rectify sameAbsolutely NO complaints in my years doing business should speak for itself
I am not implying that another contractor has volunteered comment in this
instance particularly, but I have found a consensus that it is frustrating that
the confidentiality of a client making a complaint trumps a contractor from reporting
likewise that there
are some clients that should be avoidedPeople, such as this person in the
complaint, can never be satisfied and I should have listened to my gut instinct
when she shared with me problems she'd had with previous contractors and their
work75% of my business comes from
'word of mouth' and recommendations (as this was) from many clients (often
repeat clients) and many have explicitly voiced complete satisfaction,
confidence & trustI've experienced clients even tipping over and above my
billed quote, which satisfies my mind, thank youMy reputation will stand the
scrutiny should any of my clients glean this circumstance and I'm confident if
passed along to others will be interpreted & stand to reason that there are
those who can never be satisfiedIn
conclusion, this matter has gone far beyond ridiculous, and I do not intend to
devote
any more
time or correspondence in this matter & this will be the last, so let the
chips fall where they may...she likely will have to have the last word and I
graciously accept thatSincerely,
I Remain,
Rick * ***
DBA Earth Works
Alexandria Indiana
When Rick came to my door to collect for plowing, he drove his truck about 5-feet onto my driveway, lowered his blade, and drove up one side of my two lane drive, which raked up the stone you can see in the photographs providedHe should have come to my door and verified that I did or did not want my drive plowed before he did -anything-He did notHis inability to keep his customers straight and his lack of courtesy in taking the time to walk the few steps to my door first to make sure I did want my driveway plowed is appallingHe apparently likes to exaggerate since that was not the worst snowfall of the season
In the photographs provided you can see the stacked stone, which is as high as the top of a snow plow bladeThere isn't any snow among the stone, just snow on top
Rick stated I continuously tried to bargain him down on the priceThat did not happenWhat did happen was this: He stopped by to give me a copy of the work to be doneIt was over $I wasn't willing to spend that much money when I didn't know what kind of work he didThe price was lowered because I chose to remove some of the work listedThat is not "bargaining him down"He also did not say he couldn't drop his price any farther nor in any other words in reference to his price
The only agreement we had was I wanted my two driveways totally covered with stone so that I wasn't walking in mud any longerAs you can see from two of the attached photographs, I still have this issueHe told me that two loads of #stone would cover both my drivewaysHe did not offer any sample sizes so I had no way of knowing what size #was - but the stone size isn't part of the this complaint
He mentioned my one car sets on solid groundThat is incorrectEvery time I drove that car, I walked in mud to get to itFor the winter, I parked the other car that I drove more frequently close to the street because of the mud everywhereThe mud I told him I wanted covered completelyThe mud he tried to assured me wouldn't be there when he was finished with the jobThe mud that was still there after the job was 'completed' as you can see in the photographs attachedYou can clearly see the muddy foot prints, which is the area that I was assured wouldn't be there when he was finishedPlease note these photographs were taken after he 'completed' the work
He also told me if I had someone come and plow my drive to caution them of the new stoneWhile I appreciate his advice, I had already told him several times that I never have my driveway plowedHe went on to mention that he was very careful of such things as scooping up stone when he plowedObviously not cautious enough or I wouldn't have this issue now
When I called him about his 'plowing' that had scraped up the newly laid gravel, he said he would come over on SaturdayHe refused to give me a time or any valid reason for not rectifying his mistake other than it was supposed to rainI don't think that's a valid reason for not correcting a mistake or giving me a definite timeI'm nearly always gone on Saturday and I needed at least a ballpark time so I could rearrange my schedule.
As to his stating I was almost screaming I have an ongoing medical condition that makes it impossible to raise my voiceMedical and witness statements can be provided if needed
It is obvious to me that Rick has a problem verifying his information because the check, #***, that he mentioned was written on November 13, in the amount of $I did not write two checks as he statesI wrote ONE for the work that was doneI will be glad to provide a photocopy if requestedI do not appreciate his attempt to make me appear combative or unorganizedHis attempts to cover his poor workmanship and work ethics by redirecting the blame onto me is obviousIt was not me that failed to verify the address and improperly plowed a driveway, resulting in damage
As for the quarry, it doesn't have anything to do with this problemThey did their job as witnessed by the scale tickets mentionedI'm well aware that weight can varyI'm not concerned about the loading of the stoneI have never suspected the quarry of cheating meHowever, I have no way of knowing that Rick didn't have another job site that needed stone and some of the stone I paid for went thereI only know it didn't get to my houseI stood at the door and watched him pour the second load which covered a much smaller area than the first load of stoneThe first load covered approximately seven times more than the second loadThe second load was also poured onto more solid ground than that initial load
I did call Rick and complain about him tearing up my driveway with his bladeI did not demand anything from him but did ask him to come out and fix the damage, and I certainly didn't give him a timeline as Rick states(hours) I also don't say things such as "or else"The same with "well, good!"I do however, take any problems to the proper place and let it play outI don't threaten peopleAll I wanted was for him to fix his mistake with some courtesy and promptness, which he refused to doAll I got from him was rudeness and aggression as if the gravel now piled up in my driveway was my fault
I waited several months because of the snow that has seemed unending this yearI don't see how the time involved is an issue as the damage is clearly visible even after that much time.
Also, it was extremely difficult to locate any mailing address for this complaint
I also have multiple other photos of the damagePlease let me know if you need more proof.
*** ***
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
After struggling through almost four pages of irrelevant nonsense, I notice one thing; Mr*** refuses to acknowledge his mistakesA high quality business person would have immediately corrected those mistakes without question or placing blameHe has done neitherI would like to see documentation of the work he did, including a date stamped scale ticket for both loads and the signed work order for the completed jobWithout this factual proof, Mr*** can say he has done things he didn't doMy photographs stand as proof of both his unfinished job and damage he did to the stone he had already put downIt is immaterial whose equipment was used as it was his company that did the damage and left the job incompleteI still feel a refund is in order
Regards,
*** ***