Sherwood Flooring

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2015/10/13) */
As stated, the flooring was not purchased from us, we delivered the product and installed that product.
This installation was begun on Monday, November 25th, 2013. The total amount invoiced for the flooring was 3300.00 which was paid in full,...

along with a signed document stating we were complete the installation and the customer was satisfied with the work. They actually wrote that we did a great job! They also signed a document stating:
" It is important to ensure your humidity levels are within the 35-50% range. This can be controlled with the use of humidifiers (during the dry seasons) and dehumidifiers/air conditioners (during the humid seasons)."
This customer did not keep their humidity within this range, which is what has caused the flooring to gap.
The manufacturer, the distributor, the store and the installer, have no control what a customer has done with their product once the job is complete. [redacted]
The flooring was fully acclimatized, I have our safety sheets filled in and signed by each installer and admin proving so. We follow the guidelines of The National Wood Flooring Association.
This customer also signed off on our checklist, that goes through each step of the installation, explaining how things will be done. One of those lines being:
"All installations are done to Sherwood Flooring specifications"
These specifications include the knowledge of the NWFA, a journeyman carpenter, the Alberta Floor Covering Association, and of course all building codes/regulations. All of these were followed during this installation.
The relevant environment is out of our control. All we can do is explain to our customers, and have them sign off on all of these forms to ensure they are ready to take care of their new flooring. This customer chose to ignore our advice, and after signing off they allowed the humidity levels to drop much too low. We did 6 site visits, all trying to help solve the problem. The initial site visit when we were notified of the issue, was noted that the humidity levels were so low the floor was sure to fail (which is what has happened here). Sometimes, all the floor needs is the humidity levels raised, and it will expand back to normal (with a few boards maybe needing to be replaced).
I have had my own NWFA certified inspector (independent of Sherwood Flooring and [redacted] - a complete third party) evaluate the situation and come to the same conclusion as I.
I know this is not an installation related issue, and since the customer did not purchase his flooring from us, I cannot contact the manufacturer to see if a rep can come out and assess for himself. If we believed on any level that this was installation related, this would have been re-installed back in 2013.
We have all signed (by this customer) and documented proof that we followed our procedure exact. The checklist, completion/satisfaction form, and our take care form have all been signed in this case.
Again, in closing: we cannot control the environment in which the customer has their home. We can do the most amazing job in the world, but if the humidity/temperature is not controlled inside the guidelines that were signed off on, there is only so much we can do. We have tried everything. The next step would be for this customer to contact their manufacturer and see what they could mention.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 9, 2015/10/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The floor was not properly acclimatized. This is according to a paid inspection by a NWFA Certified Wood Floor Inspector. His conclusion was that the issue with the floor is installation related.
Again, Sherwood Flooring is supposed to be the expert and in so, I relied on their guidance with regards to the installation timeline. They did not test humidity before and after installation to see if wood would be fully acclimatized.
The statement that we did not keep our humidity in range is false. When Sherwood Flooring first came to investigate the gaps in the floor, they left a digital humidity reader in our house that would be checked at a later date to see what our humidity was at. It read low as they say. But as it turns out the digital reader they left was faulty / broken. (we figured this out when after increasing the humidity in the house TO well over 40% and Sherwood Floorings reader was still reading low humidity. We knew at this point it was not working) I personally purchased two additional digital readers (different brands) to prove this. Both new digital readers read mid 40ies during my experiment with humidity. Bill Toma, the owner of Sherwood Flooring, was made aware of this. He then started shifting blame towards the floor manufacturer claiming some sort of issue with the wood.
Sherwood Flooring also talks about a 3rd party inspector coming to same conclusion as them... they never had an inspector come to my house and inspect the floor. I had two inspectors come to my house to inspect the floor and both came to the same conclusion... that Sherwood Flooring did not properly acclimate the wood.
Sherwood Flooring continues to divert blame to the wood manufacturer when in fact it is them that is to blame. They have given me the run around for 1 1/2 years now and it is time for them to do right by their customer.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2015/11/16) */
It has been two years now, and we have explained the documented, and signed forms we have from this client now multiple times. Legal action has been threatened multiple times, yet no action has been taken. I have provided my lawyers information more than once. Again the forms this client signed off on were:
- A complete checklist stating Sherwood Flooring would install to Sherwood Flooring standards.It also stated we acclimate flooring for 48 hours.
- The job is complete
- The customer is satisfied with the job completed
- The customer will take care of their floor as explained to them and stated in the document
- The customer will maintain humidity and temperature levels in their home at all times (as per the levels on the form)
He also signed off on:
"Cracks are not covered by install warranty" "We would be happy to inspect any cracks and advise you how to proceed."
Other things on this form are such as " Never let water stand on the floor for any length of time. This will cause swelling/bubbling"
If we felt this was our fault, from an expert opinion, we would not have let this go on for 2 years. I can provide names and numbers of clients whom had issues with their flooring, we took the blame, and they were provided an entire new floor. If it is our fault, we take full responsibility and fix the problem. However, again, we do not feel this filed complaint has anything to do with our company, we did (and have signed off on everything that we did) exactly what we were hired to do.