Seal Tight Systems

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.It is true that the work that was actually attempted was waterproofing and a footer drain. But, we had asked for a french drain to begin with. We bought the house in May. Prior to the purchase, we had a home inspection done. The inspector advised we needed a french drain to alleviate the water drainage issue the property had. I had logged onto the site “Home Advisors” to search for a contractor. Mr. S[redacted] responded to that search with a phone call to my husband on April 18. We agreed to have him come give us an estimate. After a call from Mr. S[redacted], at 7:22 am, on April 19 we made an appointment for him to come to the house to give an estimate for a french drain. My husband met him there, explaining to him again that our home inspector suggested a french drain. According to my husband, Mr. S[redacted] assured him that we did not need a french drain, rather what we needed was to waterproof the foundation and install a footer drain. Mr. S[redacted] seemed to know what he was talking about, and persuaded my husband. The estimate was for the crawlspace waterproofing, installing a footer drain around the crawlspace foundation, drainage for the porch, garage area, and around the basement. He gave a verbal estimate of $4200. There was no written estimate. After our purchase of the house, and getting moved in, we were ready to have the work done, On June 15, Mr. S[redacted] came, with a poorly written contract, which also had a different price than was originally verbally quoted. This was brought to Mr. S[redacted]’s attention. He had originally quoted $4200, but contract quoted $4700. He agreed to honor the verbal quote so we gave him a $2200 downpayment. He came back on June 19 to start the work, but he told us his accountant had told him he “had” to charge $4400. We agreed to this price adjustment.The alleged additional work was a result of my husband asking if it made more sense to place the perforated drain piping away from the house rather than up against the house, since the walls at the garage had not been coated with the waterproofing. Mr. S[redacted] proceeded to do that. At no time was there discussion of any additional charges. He dug an approximately 1 foot deep trench and placed a perforated pipe at the walkway. No additional gravel was ever delivered.On June 20 Mr. S[redacted] asked for $2000 more, before he could continue the work. After installation of the piping and covering it with gravel and/or dirt, he said the ground needed a couple of good rains and some settling. At this point in the job, our yard was a mess. By this time, Mr. S[redacted] had proved difficult to work with and communicate with. He tends to talk over you and doesn’t seem to pay attention to what is being said to him. In fact, my husband determined it was easier to correct two problems himself rather than trying to deal with Mr. S[redacted]. Also, we began to wonder if the system was even going to correct our drainage problem. On June 24, we had our original home inspector come back for a consultation as to the effectiveness of the drainage that was installed. His recommendation was to install a swell.Mr. S[redacted] seems to indicate in his response to you that the conversation concerning the french drain occurred in one single phone call, placed to him on August 17. This is inaccurate, as the discussion for a swell/french drain was a compilation of numerous conversations during the month of July and into August. As to Mr. S[redacted]’s assertion that we asked for a french drain: what we actually asked was if he could create a swell, as recommended by the home inspector. More dirt was needed up against the house. Rather than purchasing more dirt, we asked if he could dig a swell in the back yard and use that dirt around the house.Numerous calls were made from my husband to Mr. S[redacted] during the month of July, with increasing frustration on mine and my husband’s part because of what seemed like the endless run around from Mr. S[redacted] as to when he would be coming back out to finish the job. My husband finally got Mr. S[redacted] to come on August 3 to discuss finishing up the work and to make sure we were on the same page. This is also the first time the rocks on our hillside were ever even mentioned.  My husband told him they had to be moved because we were going to be landscaping that hillside. At no time was he told that it was ok to throw them on the hillside. Also, it’s important to note that before the job began, my husband asked Mr. S[redacted] several times if his recommendation would be able to handle the water coming off the hill, and he assured him it would.  Now, ironically, he kept saying he didn’t realize our house was in the middle of a stream! He went on to say that what we needed instead was a french drain along the side of the house, running into a swell behind the house. We agreed to a $200 additional payment for this work. We also paid him the remaining balance from the original $4400 contract quote that day.On August 16, my husband called again. It was revealed in that conversation that Mr. S[redacted] does not actually own the equipment necessary for the job. He had told my husband that he’d need to coordinate our job with another one he had so that he would only have to rent a bobcat, at $500/day, one time. He had not yet secured that job, apparently, and was trying to get it set up. We realized that he had been stalling with us because of the necessity of having to rent equipment again. He said we’d need to pay the $500 rental fee if we wanted him to finish before he was able to coordinate with another, yet unsecured job. This was met with much resistance on my part because I was tired of my yard being torn up and not being able to even mow around it. This was 8 weeks after this job had started. I didn’t want to, nor did I feel we were obligated to, wait indefinitely for this job to be completed.We contacted him again the following day, the 17th, to insist that the job be completed within the week.  Mr. S[redacted] cursed at my husband at the end of their 10 minute conversation, and actually hung up on him. After this happened, my husband and I discussed the matter at length, and re-evaluated the whole situation. We concluded that, based on the already performed work, the difficulty of communication with him, as well as how he treated his workers, and now his hostility, we did not want him back on our property again. We did call him the next day. He did not take the call so a message was left by my husband, “I can’t take it anymore. You do not need to come back, we will take care of it another way.” And again, this was not a result of one phone conversation the day before, rather it was a result of the accumulation of several weeks of run around, unresponsiveness and frustration on our part at getting this job done. As to the warranty Mr. S[redacted] he says we have, we’re not even sure what it means. His contract says the description of the warranty is for “Deck supports.” Perhaps this was just an error on his part in not remembering to change a previous document he had used for another customer, and he would have honored it according to the work he had done at our house, but because of his hostility, I was unwilling to have him come back to my home. I had heard him scream at his workers (as did my neighbors), how he frustrated my husband, saw the recklessness he displayed while operating a bobcat, and the fact that we had tried repeatedly to get him back out during the month of July and well into August without success.He points out that he never spoke to me, and that is true, I fail to understand how that is relevant to our situation. My husband is the one that spoke with him each and every time, but my husband and I did discuss every conversation he had with Mr. S[redacted]. We also kept documentation that includes photos, videos, voicemails and call records that support our claims, should that be needed at any point.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
[redacted]

On Fri, Oct 20, 2017 at 9:46 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:To begin with, we were not hired to install a french drain. The french drain came at a later date that will be explained.We were hired to waterproof and install drain tile for the foundation. Which was done with additional work at the...

request of the husband. An additional 85 feet at 3 ft deep of excavation, an additional 100 feet of perforated drain tile was purchased and installed and an additional 9 tons of gravel. All at my expense and time, no additional charges to the homeowner. After the job was completed, after a heavy rain the husband called to say that there was a little bit of a leak. Me and a laborer went out and hand dug the area of the leak, located the problem corrected it and replaced the dirt. The next heavy rain the husband called and said that it worked, no leak. As far as any damages...the gutter had a small dent which we were able to push out and the husband looked at it and okayed it. The fence was not damaged but a section had to be removed for the excavation and the outside spigot was damaged and I did a temporary fix on it. I fully intend to put the fence back and replace the spigot.As to her claim that I threw concrete in unacceptable places on the property, not true. Her husband told us where to put the debris that resulted from the excavation and that is where we put it. Then the husband called and said there was a area between his yard and the neighbors that had water ponding could a yard drain (French drain) be put in. I said yes but not for free. He would have to pay, he came across like it should be free. He then said okay let me know when you plan to come. I told him at that time I would take care of the fence and spigot at the time. He said okay. The next day he left a message saying No, don't come out I'll have someone else do it. If they chose to hire someone to replace the spigot and put the fence section back up that was at their own discretion and they did not give me the opportunity to do so. She said in her letter to you that the drain I placed wasn't working. They have a warranty and should have called, I will do everything I can to correct any problem that is in direct relation to the work that I performed. But in not calling to say that there was a problem I don't have the opportunity to correct it. There will be no refund of any type. At no time from beginning to end did I speak with the wife, I dealt only with the husband. Again Seal Tight Systems was never hired to install a yard drain of any type.Nor was I actually contracted to do all of the additional work but I did it at no extra expense to the homeowner.Thank youPhil S[redacted]Seal Tight Systems