PB&J Construction & Handyman Service, LLC

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Hi [redacted],My apologies ahead of time for coming to you and continuing to beat this proverbial horse. I have still not received the $900 refund offered and accepted from PB&J, or any follow up or scheduled commitment for almost a month after accepting their offer. This company has still not followed through on their stated position, even with revisiting and accepting their offer through the complaint process.Thank you for your patience,-[redacted]

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Hi [redacted], We have still not received the refund from PB&J, as given in their position statement of 25 August. I am requesting an update and a timeline as to when this can be expected.Thank you,-[redacted]

I only feel the need to respond once to [redacted]. As I stated, I apologize about the time it has taken for you to receive a partial deposit payment back. You continue to make assumptions and make up lies about who we are and how we run our business. We originally gave you an estimate in the middle of last year (2016) and your wife ( [redacted]) stated that you guys were not going to move forward due to funds. Her and Pete had briefly talked about a possible payment plan. Never was anything promised or guaranteed. When your wife called this year to move forward with the project, our policy was 1/2 down and remaining 1/2 on completion. So, OBVIOUSLY that is what I asked for to start the project. After that, you had asked us to do a detailed up-scaling for the drawing on things you wanted to change. THAT TAKES TIME. So, we had asked for a 10% deposit to guarantee you were having us do the job and not going to back out after the drawing was done. Out of nowhere, we get a message from you, WHO WE HAVE NEVER MET OR EVEN SPOKE TO, basically saying we were lying and all kinds of nonsense. Demanding things from us. I asked for your phone number and you refused. You have been causing nothing but issues, which I believe you did because you wanted to get out of your project. You accused Pete of lying about his business and what he does. Basically saying we were possibly trying to do things incorrect? All because he stated he did work in Frederick instead of Firestone ( or vice versa, I don't really remember what town you are in) which was a complete mistake.Then you started in. I have to say, its very hard to try and deal with someone you have 1)never met or heard of and 2) refuses to give a phone number. You think we are trying to steal your money or something? Which is absolutely ridiculous. (Which are most of your accusations about us) We have built an amazing clientele over the last several years who would say nothing but amazing things about our work and practices. You said that you would take no more and no less than $150 for the drawing. If we charged you more, you would seek outside sources to handle this. What we did I feel is worth more than your $150. Which is why I haven't refunded your deposit yet. Since the original email,l you have pretty much made demands and tried to make it your way and exactly what you want. We don't feel the need to respond anymore to his non-sense. He will get a refund, and WE determine what we charge. NOT YOU. I am pretty sure all you are trying to do at this point is get your way and spread a bunch of lies about us. Continue to do or say whatever you please (making your assumptions on our character and business practices ) As I stated, I truly apologize that you have not received your deposit back in the time originally stated. But that is all I feel the need to apologize for. With the email above, I think anyone would respond the way I did.

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On 7/3 I was contacted via email by Jackie S[redacted]. This is her response to me RE the Revdex.com complaint:"Pete will evaluate...

your initial deposit this week and calculate the amount of time he spent on your project. I received your complaint with the Revdex.com. The  only thing that I feel an apology is needed for is the time it has taken for you to receive your partial deposit payment back. I cant say that I agree with the other things that you stated. So as for the amount of time it has taken for that, I do apologize. We have been extremely busy. Thank you."I responded directly to Jackie with what I'm about to say. This is completely unacceptable. This is the same excuse Jackie has been sending me going all the way back to when they were fired from the project. It is indeed the constant mis-leading information from her that led to the termination. It has been over 2 months. I find it very difficult to believe there was no time to address how much they wanted to charge and give me an answer within a 2 month window. I am now all but convinced PB&J Construction at best case is simply stalling and hoping this goes away, and worst case performing yet another billing change, and I will find that a scaled up drawing (we provided the design and measurements) and one visit to confirm measurements we provided will suddenly have an exorbitant price attached to it.  It was my understanding that the estimate was free, and thus not included in the billable count. I am also concerned that we were flat out lied to and instead of that money being held in an account for our project as a 10% down payment, it was instead spent immediately and this is the real reason I am having a hard time recovering my funds. This would have been really interesting when it actually came time to build and the balance was mysteriously 10% short.  The continued belligerence and lack of response from PB&J Construction is doing nothing at this time but re-enforcing this perception of their business and it's practices. As I told Jackie, I expected a quick resolution since they have had 2 months, and if I did not hear from them or receive a check within 7 days I would update the Revdex.com with this communication. I am not simply following through what I said I would do, after giving them 2 extra days because of the holiday, for a total of 9.Thank you for your assistance. If at any time you need the entirety of these email chains as supporting evidence, I am happy to provide. All else aside, it is very clear a refund was to be forthcoming, and I've been getting the same stall out of them for 2 months.Thank you for your time.-[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Thank you for getting back to me.I am pleased that PB&J finally put a number on the table to settle this manner. I would also like to remind them that I am the homeowner, they new I existed, and were more than happy to deposit a check with my name, and only my name, on it. That being said, $900 seems way off the mark to us, and also does not line up with the math presented. Starting with the claim of 9 hours on the project, at $90 an hour, that is $810 dollars. Where does the extra $90 come in to it?As they admit, this is the first mention of any kind of hourly rate.  If this is their rate, why did it take over 90 days to present it? PB&J had ample time before this complaint was filed to state such and present a bill. The $150 did not even enter into it until the Revdex.com complaint was filed, and only then because I felt it was fair to at least put something up for the work delivered (at $50/hr for 3 hours on a drawing), and not simply demand the whole deposit back. The rate could have been presented at that time instead of opting for continued belligerence. I am also interested in the breakdown of those 9 hours. This is my attempt to understand where PB&J Construction got this number:1. We were told estimates were free. Is that being charged? Per PB&J Construction's HomeAdvisor page, estimates are free. 2. When Pete came out here to measure, he was at most here for an hour and a half.3. I know how long it takes to do a drawing like that from a provided floor plan; it takes 2-3 hours.  I've been trained to do it. Jackie also told us "Ok, great! Thanks. We will get started on the drawing. Shouldn't take too long," upon receipt via email. I also only received the original scale up, never the revised that would have been required for permits. That was work never delivered and is un-billable. 4. I am surprised they are now billing for drive time. That was never mentioned before today. This is the first time I've ever heard of it using any Handyman service, or even when I did this kind of work for a living. Only work on the actual job site was billable. Even then, it only takes 30 minutes to get here from Loveland, so that's one hour of driving. Am I also paying for time stuck in traffic? We are only aware of the one visit to confirm the measurements provided, mentioned in item #2.At the most that's 5.5 hours, or at their rate $495. Where do the extra 3.5 hours come from? I am curious. We also did some research to see what other companies might charge for this same work, with the results below for creating from scratch a brand new floor plan, pulling permits, etc. This floor plan had already been created, and was being up scaled. I have attached the floor plan we sent, and what was created out of it, to this reply. Please note that they are nearly identical in content. [redacted] 
Basic labor to create floor plans with favorable site conditions. Create initial design concept. Review with client and iterate up to 2 times. Secure building permits / approval for design. Includes planning, equipment and material acquisition, area preparation and protection, setup and cleanup.9.4 hrs $596.94 or ~$63.51/hrNOTE: PB&J did not create the floor plan, initial design concept, or secure building permits. Per our conversations with the Town of Firestone, this was never even started. The above is the price for the whole deal. From [redacted]Avg cost is $77/hrThat's $423.50 to $693, for 5.5 and 9 hours respectively. This looks like the exact billing concerns I was worried about, and I don't see how 9 hours were spent on work for the house. I can get to 5.5 even accepting that drive time is being billed for, and in my opinion that is really pushing it. In light of all the above information, $495 to settle this matter seems more than fair. Please return the remaining $1,265 with all due haste. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I have reviewed the response sent back by Jackie S[redacted].  Since we have opted to share the emails I felt the record should reflect those conversations in their entirety, and not be mis-lead by only presenting the beginning email. It details the entire discussion around the payment arrangement negotiated with Pete, and Jackie's changes to it that yes, caused issues with getting payments lined up. All of that is included with the attached email chains for accuracy and clarity. 1. I fired PB&J for the reasons I stated. Starting with a whole mess of mis-leading information that instead of clarifying with an upset customer, we opted for total belligerence. Despite this, I chose  to continue to try and work with PB&J but ended up terminating them anyway because essentially the same nonsense continued. This the only handyman service I've ever had a problem like this with. Yes I did refuse to talk to Jackie on the phone, and this is why. I wanted anything said by either party in writing. So far everything that has happened proved my decision correct. 2. The project continues, without PB&J. I have found someone to work with that found the basic things I was asking for quite normal and a standard practice. The statement that I just wanted out is a total fallacy .All that has come out of this, is a 2 month drawn out battle over a deposit.3. Any mention of a price of $150 was not even mentioned until the Revdex.com complaint had been filed on 6/22. Up until that point, PB&J utterly failed to have a conversation among themselves and come up with a fair price, and had absolute time and freedom to do so.  Even the follow-up the week following 30 days still contained the stall "I need to talk to Pete". There has been ample time to do this.  I allowed PB&J 45 days to do this before any mention of $150 came in to it.  I also find it very concerning that Jackie "feels" the work done was worth more than $150. What is there to back that up and provide a hard value? Feelings are subjective and arbitrary. It also says "I feel", not "we feel" this is a clear indication you never even talked to Pete about settling this, or had any intention to. 4. We would not be here right now, and no complaint filed, if Jackie and PB&J Construction had simply did what they stated they would do over 2 months ago. This isn't on me, it's on them. Nothing that has occurred since has convinced me to change any of my statements about this company . There would have been no need for a Revdex.com complaint. All I have are empty words from PB&J I can't trust because there has been no action to back it up. Actions that were taken where contrary to what was asked despite promises it wouldn't be. I must therefore continue to speculate why something so simple is such a difficult task.  Four separate times the email thread states a refund is forthcoming, before and after the complaint. Great, where is it? Stop stalling.5. I will accept a response when I have a payment returned and/or proof it is en route.6. The drawing changes Jackie mentions were never delivered on. Only the original scale up was. In fact we were even told by PB&J that the drawing didn't need to reflect the final to pull permits, nor did they even deliver on the drawing updates prior to or during any issues. This work was never delivered, and as far as I'm concerned was never done. That leaves the drawing that was delivered, and a single visit to confirm measurements for it that has been completed work. At this time delivery of the changed drawing will not be accepted, as it was not received prior to termination.  
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Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business. I do not agree with the amount, but it is what it is. The $900 will be accepted. Please address it to me. They have my contact info from the original check. I have also requested a timeline for delivery, which I have not received. Since we are well past 120 days on this matter, I will expect to see a check for $900 no more than two weeks from now. Without that, I will continue to follow up until I receive one.
Regards,
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We had stated we are only refunding the 900. If we cantagree on that I'm not sure where to go from here. But I'm not going to doing this back-and-forth