Soft Step Carpet Distributor

I am emailing you address the concerns in the complaint filed with the Revdex.com on May 26th by *** ***.Michele's first concern is that Soft Step Carpet/Dustin Y*** "operates his business by asking the customer to pay the installer by cash so no tax is applied or paid by the installer." My response to her statement is as follows:My installer is a subcontractor, not employed by Soft Step Carpet or myself as a Sales manager for the company. Therefore, he (the installer) is responsible for his own taxes and withholding. *** Sales Tax is NOT required for labor of carpet installation, therefore it was not part of her bill from the installer.It is the responsibility of a customer to determine if s/he would like to the installer, as s/he would with any service provided by a subcontractorFurthermore, *** law does not require a if the bill is under $*** *** labor/installation bill was $500.Michele's second concern suggests that she withheld payment to Soft Step Carpet/Dustin Y*** on her own accord because she felt "the work was completed so poorly and there is so much damage to my home."According to the contact signed by the Ittels' stated that payment is due upon DELIVERY or INSTALLATION of the carpet. Michele Ittel violated this contact by not paying within these terms. Michele Ittel only made final payment AFTER she received a certified letter from our attorney. Michele's third concern is about the quality of the work, that it "was completed so poorly and there is so much damage to my home."Work "completed so poorly":The installer/subcontractor for Dustin Y***, Soft Step Carpet is a professional craftsman with almost years of flooring experience. He cares about his work and is very courteous on every job. Michele contacted us/Dustin Y*** about a few carpet seams that she felt were not up to standard or/that they were done incorrectly, or that there were too many seams in her carpet.The installer and Dustin Y*** went back out to the house within days of installation and inspected the seams, determining that there were seams that they would gladly fix. The seams fixed were the following: Doorways where old/existing carpet touched the newly installed carpet. seam in the bedroom where Michele felt the seam was incorrectIt is the policy of Soft Step Carpet to meet the needs of the customer, so this seam was fixed, however, it was not determined to be "incorrect" at the initial instal. Once the seams were repaired, Michele Ittel shook the carpet installer's hand and thanked him for the work. There was no mention of any damage to the home to the installer or to Dustin Y***. At this time, Michele was in violation of her contract, as she still had not paid for this flooring."Damage to my home":After the installer left her home the day he fixed her carpet seams, Michele Ittel, messaged me/ Dustin Y*** and provided a photo of a scuff on a wall, on the paint, and a photo of scratches on wood steps.As for the scuff on the wall, it was possible that it occurred as a result of the installer and Jeff (Michele's husband) were carrying the carpet up the steps for installation. However, the carpet was wrapped in plastic. It is unlikely to have occurred, but Soft Step Carpet took responsibility for that.Michele Ittel was notified in the certified letter that she would be given a $discount on her (overdue) final payment, for any damage that Soft Step or the installer may have caused. Michele accepted the $discount on her final payment, and submitted her payment to the lawyer (final bill minus $100)As for the "scratches" on the wood steps, there is no way that carpet could have created these, as they are more like "gouges." Carpet wrapped in plastic carried over the steps could not have in no way caused this damage. Although Soft Step Carpet/ Dustin Y*** does not believe that the "scratches" on the wood are at all, by any means, the fault of or direct result of any action by the installer or Soft Step Carpet, Dustin Y*** did offer the $discount (as mentioned above). Michele's fourth concern is that "the installer put in many more seams than factory standard and some remain very visible."Unfortunately, as with any carpet installation, seams are requiredThere are no carpet rolls that fit perfectly in a home without being cut, particularly in hallwaysAdditionally, there are seams any time new carpet "meets" old carpet (that was not replaced). Prior to selling Michele Ittel any carpet, I/ Dustin Y*** discussed these seams specifically with her and her husband. It was noted that there would be seams at the doorways, since they were not replacing all of their carpet in the house. Additionally, I also told the Ittel's that there would be seams where new carpet "meets" old carpet, because of the unprofessional installation of the existing carpet in the bedrooms, completed by Michele Ittel's brother (He installed the previous carpet incorrectly. This was clearly pointed out PRIOR to her purchasing any carpet or signing the sales contract.)Michele felt the seam in the bedroom was done incorrectlyAlthough it was not done incorrectly, the installer re-seamed it within days of installation (as mentioned earlier in this email).Michele mentions, "factory standard" in reference to seams. "Factory standard" for seams is that the carpet backing is touching and that it is tightAll seams are visible, and there are not loose fibers coming out of the seams. It was determined by me/Dustin Y***, with over years in the carpet industry, and the installer, with almost years in the carpet industry, that the seams in their carpet are above "factory standard" and of excellent craftsmanship. There are seams, but these seams are necessary and required. Michele's fifth concern is that she has "contacted Dustin to return and fix these damages and he has not responded."In response, to Michele's concerns, I did respond in the form of sending the installer to fix her seams within days of installation, as well as visiting their home myself to address her concerns.In response to her concerns about the damages, I sent her a certified letter, offering her a $discount on her bill, which she accepted.Upon receipt of the certified letter, Michele was notified that any further communication about this matter should be handled via my attorney's office. It should also be noted: Michele Ittel was instructed to communicate through my attorney because she was contacting me via text message and phone calls at inappropriate hours, particularly 1:52am. Additionally, Michele posted slanderous statements about me in my other profession as a Police Officer on her social media account. Documentation of her inappropriate behavior and comments, as well as social media slander are available upon request. Michele's sixth concern is about our year warranty on the installation.At this time, we responded, fixed the issue, and the Ittel's were happy. Michele stated that she was going to contact a 3rd party to "figure out how to proceed." Unfortunately, we cannot honor a warranty on our work if a 3rd party has "proceeded" with it. (i.eour warranty on installation is not valid on work done by others we have not contracted to install for us).In closing, I appreciate the opportunity given to me by the Revdex.com to respond to her complaints. We have tried diligently to meet her requests, however, at this time, we feel we have given her complete resolution.Attached is a copy of the certified letter from my attorney. Please keep me apprised of the situation and let me know if you need any further information. Sincerely,Dustin Y***Sales Manager Soft Step Carpet & Flooringhttp://www.softstepcarpetflooring.blogspot.com Cell: ***

Dear Revdex.com,This issue is because of a customer who did not like to have seams in her carpet even after it was explained to her that seams had to be part of the project due to the sizeThe Sales rep Dustin went out to home home times and sent installers over to address all of her concerns just
days after it was installed orginallyCustomer would not pay her bill and did not start complaining untill weeks after when we had to have our attorney contact her to lien the property for paymentWe then again tried to fix all issue that could be fixed (which quite frankly were very picky issues) and offered jher a discount to show her we didnt want her to be unhappyMany of her friends whom we also worked with on projects in theier home called us to let us know that she was being unreasonableWe have made every attempt to make this customer happy

Filing a complaint about a terrible carpet installation job has turned into Dustin personallyattacking the customer. This shows the depth of his character and the lack of integrity in hisbusiness wisdom. I do feel it is very unethical to pay any worker in cash as I pay taxes on all ofmy income and I prefer to only work with contractors who are completely honest with theirbusiness transactions in return. We are requesting Steven the installers contact information as we would like to send him a 1099 tax form.We also are requesting a full refund and repairs to or home to be paid in full by Soft Step Carpet.  Dustin did have his attorney send a letter requesting payment be made to his office for theamount due minus $100. This was unexpected as he had never returned to collect payment personally.Dustin was made aware that Jeff and Michele would be out of town for travel, therefore oneof the adult children signed for the registered letter. In the letter, he asked for payment to be rendered to the attorney’s office by the day the couple planned to return from vacation. Had they not returneda day early from said vacation his demand could not have been met. He never returned to collectpayment and Michele and Jeff had no business address for which to send his payment. I did asI was asked concerning making payment. The problems still remain. • THERE IS NO DOUBT THE SEAMING OF THE CARPET WAS DONE INCORRECTLY.• THERE IS NO DOUBT THE CARPET WAS PIECED AND SEAMED IN HIGH TRAFFICAREAS.• THERE ARE GREATER THAN THREE SEAMS PER ROOM OR AREA WHICH DEFINITELY EXCEEDS THE INDUSTRY STANDARD.• THE CUSTOMER IS NOT SATISFIED.• SOFT STEP CARPET HAS NOT STOOD BEHIND ITS ONE YEAR WARRANTY.• SOFT STEP CARPET REPAIRED ONLY THREE OF THE WORST AREAS IN THE CARPET BUT THERE ARE STILL MANY PROBLEM AREAS REMAINING.• MICHELE NEVER SHOOK DUSTIN’S HAND NOR THANKED HIM FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN FOR HIM LEAVING HER HOME AFTER HE REPEATEDLY YELLED ACCUSATIONS AT HER.• THE DAMAGES TO OUR HOME ARE OVER $600 IN TOTAL. THOSE DAMAGES WERE CAUSED BY THE INSTALLER’S BOOTS BECAUSE HE WAS RETURNING FROM DOING A LINOLEUM JOB AND HAD GLUE AND ROCKS WEDGED INTO THE BOTTOMS OF HIS BOOTS THAT CAUSED DAMAGE TO THE STAIRS FROM HIM CLIMING UP AND DOWN THEM REPEATEDLY.• DUSTIN NEVER DISCUSSED THE SEAMING OF THE CARPET PRIOR TO THE JOB EXCEPT IN REALTION TO THE TWO DOORWAYS WHICH STILL GOT FINISHED INCORRECTLY.• THE MAIN REASON THE INSTALLER DID SUCH A POOR JOB WAS DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE HAD A VERY DIFFICULT TIME WITH THE AMOUNT OF CARPET SOLD TO US. HE ALSO ARRIVED VERY LATE IN THE DAY TO BEGIN THE JOB AND WORKED PAST DARK INSTALLING IT.• WE WERE NEVER UNDER ANY TIME CONSTRAINTS FROM OUR END. In regards to Dustin’s allegation that Michele contacted him inappropriately, the only contact information Michele ever received was from his online solicitation on [redacted] which only lists his personal cell phone number. In fact, he operates his business solely from the back of a van outof [redacted] [redacted]. He uses the name Soft Step Carpet of [redacted], alleging it is abusiness owned and operated by his uncle and other family members per conversation withDustin. He also expressed that he works all shifts and that it I had any concerns, day or night, it wasfine to contact him via cell phone or text message. The Entire sale came about by me calling his cellphone. The text in question was me politely asking him to not order the carpet and return mydeposit as I was uncomfortable with his sales techniques and his failure to discuss how the carpet would be installed. THE DEFINITION OF SLANDER IS SOMETHING THAT DUSTIN, AS A POLICE OFFICER,SHOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH. 1. WORDS FALSELY SPOKEN THAT DAMAGE THE REPUTATION OF ANOTHER. 2. AN ABUSIVE ATTACK ON A PERSON’S CHARACTER OR GOOD NAME.3. CHARGE FALSELY OR MALICIOUS INTENT;ATTACK GOOD NAME OR REPUTATION OF SOMEONE. Stating that he is a police officer is far from the above definition, and none of my comments wereinappropriate. If he is offended then he needs not to look at the [redacted] account in question.Sincerely,[redacted]

Tamara,Soft Step Carpet namely Dustin Young operates his business by asking the customer to pay the installer by cash so no tax is applied or paid by the installer. I have paid my bill in full. I withheld payment on the final installment for sometime because the work was completed so poorly and there is so much damage to my home. The installer put in many more seams than the factory standard and some remain very visible. I have contacted Dustin to return and fix these damages and he has not responded. His installation had a one year warranty. This matter remains unresolved. Please help resolve this matter.Sincerely,[redacted]