Russell Roofing Company Inc.

May 29, Dear MrGregory,This letter is in response to a complaint by *** *** which was assigned and ID number of ***.First of all, the letter is sent to *** ***, Russell Roofing Company, Inc.*** *** does not own that company it
was sold in Our “impany name is ***, LC dba Russell's Roofing CompanyYes we do have the same address and the same phone number, but we are not the same company.When we purchased the company from the heirs of Mr& MrsRussell, we did not assume any of their debts, monies, prior warranties, or suchWe started from scratchWe applied for new licenses, new EIN number, and other things we would need to open the business.We did tell people when they called in that Russell's Roofing Co., Incwas sold but that we would try to give them the service as before but that we would have to charge, everyone has been fine with that because several people already knew that the old company had changed ownership.As for *** ***, yes she did call in and ask for us to come look at her roofOur estimator did go to her houseWe did find her contract which was in an archive file by luckAfter our estimator looked at the proposal and checked it against the work that was done, the prior company did everything that was in the proposalOur estimator contacted the shingle representative and they made plans to go to her houseAfter investigation, it was concluded that the shingles was put on correctlyThe question came up about ventilationWe told her we would put the vents in but we would have to charge because we were a new company and could not do it for FREEHer roof was put on in 2007; it had a two year workmanship warranty (which had already expired)The time lapse in this was seven yearsWe feel that there should have been evidence before that two year warranty would have been up and she could have contacted the prior owners.We received a letter from the Attorney General's Office out of Charleston, WV awhile back and I will be enclosing the correspondence to youThere is a copy of our license, her proposal from prior company, and other documents.We do not feel that this is a legitimate complaint against our company and should not be held against usThe people who put her roof on did not even stay with the new company ownersI have highlighted a couple comments in her letter with a responseWe can give you references of our customers that can tell you we go beyond to make sure they are satisfied with our work.Should you have any questions, please feel to contact us again.Sincerely yours,

Review: I had a new roof installed on my home 6 years ago assuming it was being done by a reputable company. A few months ago I realized there was an issue with the roof because of signs of leakage on my walls, and leakage spots showing through on the ceiling of my one bedroom that has an attic. The rest of the home has vaulted ceilings and also show signs of leakage running down the ceiling. Also, inside the attic space above the one bedroom, there is a fairly large amount of mold growing on the plywood, mostly accumulating from the peak area of the roof down. Assuming the roof was leaking, I contacted Russell Roofing in [redacted], VA. The estimator of the business had agreed to come out and investigate the issue to see what was causing the problem. The day he arrived, he had taken a look at the attic and went onto the roof with my fiancé to look around. He then proceeded to say that he wasn't sure what was going on, that the roof looked fine, and the problem was a mystery to him. He then said that he would have to have the [redacted] shingle representative come out on another visit to further look into the problem and see if he could help them out. Not only with what the problem was, but also with the cost of repair. So, about 2 weeks later, the estimator from Russell Roofing said he was coming out in two days. When the day had came, it was snowing and they were unable to get onto the roof to inspect the shingles or any kind of damage outside on the roof itself. Though the weather was inclement, they still came out, which turned out to be useless since the [redacted] representative needed to see the shingle, but the [redacted] representative agreed to take a look at the attic and why mold might be growing in there. The [redacted] representative said that it was due to some sort of ventilation issue. After the second visit, the estimator from Russell Roofing and the [redacted] representative had agreed to come out yet another time to be able to actually get onto the roof and inspect it. After yet another 2 weeks, and countless amounts of phone calls to the estimator and the Russell Roofing office, I finally get a phone call back from the estimator at Russell Roofing saying they would be out the following week on a Thursday. When the day arrived, my fiancé had a very reputable licensed and insured contractor in West Virginia, who builds homes, to come out and take a look at my roof. He stepped back on the hill behind my house and took a look and said he already saw my problem. I had soffits on all sides of my home for air intake vents, but no air exhaust vents on the roof to let all the air coming into the roof out. Upon further investigation, he also pointed out an area of the roof called the drip edge where the felt under the shingle should be over it, not under it, and it had been installed with the felt under it. Therefore, he said, instead of the water running over the felt and properly diverting the water, it was getting trapped under the drip edge, which could cause ice dams and damage. Also, there was an area where the flashing on the chimney flu I have had been covered over with shingle and caulked on a couple seams between the shingle, where it should be exposed on the one side to allow the water to divert onto the shingle and off the roof. When the estimator at Russell Roofing and the [redacted] representative arrived, my fiancé had both get onto the roof with him and inspect it while the other licensed contractor was listening in. After the [redacted] representative spot checked several shingles and areas of the roof, he told him there was no defect in the shingle and that my problem had to do with no ventilation being installed on my home (ridge vent, turtle vent, gable vent, etc...). He said since the shingles were not defective, there was nothing he could do to help me. The Russell Roofing estimator then proceeded to say that he still didn't see an issue with the installation. Then once the other licensed contractor had pointed out the issues with the roof, especially the fact that we had intake vents and no exhaust vent, the Russell Roofing estimator showed signs of stress and said, "Well if your roof was like that before, then we put it back on the same way", which doesn't seems very professional. Basically saying if you go to fix a crooked door, you put it back on crooked because that's the way it was before? Either way, once the other licensed contractor my fiancé had come to our home left, the Russell Roofing estimator suddenly snapped and asked my fiancé what he wanted him to do. If he wanted a exhaust vent installed and he thought it would help the issue, he'd do it. My fiancé then told the Russell Roofing estimator that he wanted to set up a meeting with the owner of the company and talk about what we could do to solve the issue. Two weeks go by, and still no phone call. So I started to try to contact the Russell Roofing estimator via cell phone number and through their office, with no response. Finally by halfway through the third week, I get a phone call back after stopping in at the Russell Roofing office and calling them, trying to get an answer. The Russell Roofing estimator said that the president (owner) of the company only agreed to have a ridge vent installed but we would have to pay for labor. I informed the estimator that it was not enough, and that there was extensive damage resulting from the improperly installed roof, that he had been there to see. Once I had gotten a hold of the Russell Roofing owner, she had said that since they were a new company (though with the same location, same phone numbers, same name) that they were not obligated to resolve our issue. Though the first few initial phone calls, we asked for a copy of our contract and they said they didn't have it. Then a few days later during another phone call, they said they had found our contract, and that it was in an old filing cabinet that was left behind when the business was bought. There just seems to be a lot of odd statements and misrepresentation of factual information about our roof that it seems they are trying to evade our problem. Not only that, but a letter was sent to me from the Russell Roofing estimator stating he wanted me to agree that if they came out and took some shingle off to inspect the roof, that if they found no problem we would have to pay for material and labor, and also to agree to all the statements in the letter, including him saying that our contract was 100% satisfied and that they were not obligated for resolving the issue since the company had acquired new ownership. It's just been a long drawn out process for the severity of the issue. I have mold growing in my home as a result of the improper installation (which my 3-year old son, my fiancé, and I could be breathing in), my roof's plywood is nearly disintegrated, the boards on my ceiling are starting to sag in spots, and brownish-black liquid dripping down my ceiling and walls. I need to resolve this problem as quick as I can, and Russell Roofing is showing no sign of taking responsibility for it.Desired Settlement: I would like for the company to accept responsibility for the unacceptable work that had been done to my home, and to cover all costs for repair (including exterior and interior damages) that are a direct result of the improperly installed roof.

Business

Response:

May 29, 2014Dear Mr. Gregory,This letter is in response to a complaint by [redacted] which was assigned and ID number of [redacted].First of all, the letter is sent to [redacted], Russell Roofing Company, Inc.[redacted] does not own that company it was sold in 2011. Our “impany name is [redacted], LC dba Russell's Roofing Company. Yes we do have the same address and the same phone number, but we are not the same company.When we purchased the company from the heirs of Mr. & Mrs. Russell, we did not assume any of their debts, monies, prior warranties, or such. We started from scratch. We applied for new licenses, new EIN number, and other things we would need to open the business.We did tell people when they called in that Russell's Roofing Co., Inc. was sold but that we would try to give them the service as before but that we would have to charge, everyone has been fine with that because several people already knew that the old company had changed ownership.As for [redacted], yes she did call in and ask for us to come look at her roof. Our estimator did go to her house. We did find her contract which was in an archive file by luck. After our estimator looked at the proposal and checked it against the work that was done, the prior company did everything that was in the proposal. Our estimator contacted the shingle representative and they made plans to go to her house. After investigation, it was concluded that the shingles was put on correctly. The question came up about ventilation. We told her we would put the vents in but we would have to charge because we were a new company and could not do it for FREE. Her roof was put on in 2007; it had a two year workmanship warranty (which had already expired). The time lapse in this was seven years. We feel that there should have been evidence before that two year warranty would have been up and she could have contacted the prior owners.We received a letter from the Attorney General's Office out of Charleston, WV awhile back and I will be enclosing the correspondence to you. There is a copy of our license, her proposal from prior company, and other documents.We do not feel that this is a legitimate complaint against our company and should not be held against us. The people who put her roof on did not even stay with the new company owners. I have highlighted a couple comments in her letter with a response. We can give you references of our customers that can tell you we go beyond to make sure they are satisfied with our work.Should you have any questions, please feel to contact us again.Sincerely yours,