The Steamers

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
First of all you were contracted to do three jobs in my home, not four. Demolition, renovation, and minor electrical. I bought all materials myself and hired you guys for labor only! Your so called electrician a had no license nor was he skilled in the electrical business. The plumbing issue was caused by your tech as he ruined new drywall that was replaced in my bathroom. So to say you're surprised is unbelievable. You were fully aware of every situation when it occurred. All payments were made to your company in full and on time and in cash. And to think you will be paid for job that your technician did not complete well that's ludicrous! The job was suppose to take less time than it did because your company did not pat your tech causing him to leave the work site twice. This is the real reason the job did not get complete on time or correctly. Again, there was never an issue with me paying you the issue was that you couldn't and didn't pat your technician that had nothing to do with me.. It was your office manager who told me not to play the $500 balance because of the plumbing and electrical issues caused in my by your technicians. So, again to say your surprised is absolutely ludicrous.And yes I was angry because you became very unprofessional when you stop taking my calls and text messages. I was that it would be taken care of and you didn't keep your word. Unacceptable! I was willing to pat to have all work completed in my home correctly. No matter what!  Please just have some integrity when it comes to working people's homes.  
Regards,
[redacted]

We have Tried to repeatedly work with you, even reducing balances so that you could hire someone of your choosing to rectify any issues that had occurred.. to no avail.  You were pleased with our work until the last job, and we explained the issue with the electrical, so did our licensed electrician.  This is why we then waived the remaining balance so you would have the funds to find another of your choosing, without being asked to do so.  The box was not damaged in the storm but was so terribly old it could not support the new electrical lines.  We are sorry for all that you went through during this natural disaster, and have tried to help you in any way we could.

We're really surprised to hear this!  Our records indicate we were hired by you on 4 separate occasions, beginning September 6th, with the final hire date on October 4th.  We did demolition, restoration, electrical and plumbing.  We had no issues or complaints until the last...

job.  You have/had a very old breaker, which made it impossible to connect one of the light fixtures in the kitchen.  Our electrician told you that he needed to special order a part, at which point you became angry, and refused to allow him or anyone from our company back into your home.  You had a $500 balance due with us when this happened, which we waived so that you could hire an electrician of your choice.Additionally, we made arrangements with you to make payments.  When those payments were due, you were not able to give us money on time.  Each time we called, we were asked to wait, always to the following Monday or Friday, because you had not received money from your insurance company.  We never reported you to collections, or adversely affected your credit.  At one point, we received a call from your insurance company to ensure that you had been making payments to us.  Within 2-3 days of getting this call, your payments to us suddenly became reliable, and we had no further issues collecting payment.In conclusion, our work and service prompted you to hire us for 4 consecutive projects.  When you expressed any dissatisfaction, we waived enough of your balance (without being asked) to allow you to hire the professional of your choice.  We waited patiently for your first payments, footing the bill for initial materials and contractor costs without complaint, until your insurance company had to ensure that proper payment was being made.  We treated you with the utmost respect for your situation and the devastation you suffered.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:At this point you haven't made any attempt or offer to recify this situation. Upon this complaints re-opening, Mrs. Cruz provided you with documents from two local AC companies as well as from my home owners insurance. All of these documents are part of this claim and they are readily available to you.Call me racist Continue to pretend that I am "out of an area" or that you all should be entitled to keep my money after damaging our home and not providing the service that was paid forContinue to pass insults with me back and forth with this complaint process Continue to pretend like any of this has been professional or ethical; All you are doing is giving me more data to show the judge in court at this point.Thank you.Oh, by the way, the attorney general's office called Monday. I guess I'm not the first of your clients to call their office. Surprise, surprise.
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted], Hope this finds you well.  I would like to extend my sincerest apologies for your negative experience the other day during the redo of your residence.  This is never our intent, so again I apologize for what had happened and would like a chance to explain and try and rectify...

the situation. First, the office must take full responsibility on the miscommunication that happened about payment between the technician and yourself.  The office attendant that took your information and had the responsibility in updating your account did not put the payment arrangements agreed upon within the messages of the account.  So unbeknownst to the technician, he was reacting without the proper information.  That does not in any way give him license to appear aggressive, and indeed was not his intent.  There had been an incident earlier in the week with an account that influenced his reaction with you, and when he stopped the door from closing it was to make sure that you heard what he had said so that he would not be reprimanded from management.  And to be frank, sometimes the cultural/language barrier can sometimes carry over in ways not intended.  He wishes also to extend his apologies after it was explained to him how this reaction was not what should have happened and has been reprimanded and has been written up. Now I have gone over your ORIGINAL paper invoice and compared to the invoice emailed to you by a new office assistant and there were 2 massive mistakes on the digital invoice.  You were not overcharged, the digital invoice was wrong, whereas the paper one is correct.  So I completely understand that you thought you were overcharged.  I would like to break it down for you.  Valpak specials: $75.00 and $85.00 = $160.00.  The main unit deep cleaning (removal mold, animal fur, debris): $489.00, mold control (killer) for main unit and ventilation system:  $469.00, sanitization (prohibits) of main unit and ventilation system:  $429.00, and coil cleaned and treated: $329.00.  Total: $2030.77 with 25 percent off came to your total of $1523.00. This deep discount and extended 3 year warranty with a free inspection and sanitization in 2 years are included.   Sanitization and Mold control are two entirely different services.  One is to clean and sterilize the system and the other is an inhibitor.  Hence, the two different pricings, I hope that helps clarify things in that regard.  I would really appreciate if you could call the office so we could discuss your remaining balance and to help rectify any issues.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

Dear Mr. [redacted], This is a response to your complaint registered with the Revdex.com.  I understand that our response to the series of mishaps was not satisfactory to you.  That response being $300.00 being deducted from the remaining balance of $689.19 still owed to us, which...

we are now amending to a zero balance.   We would like to again extend free services of fixing the ceiling, free carpet cleaning, and upholstery cleaning.   Unfortunately, that is all that we can offer at this time.  We still are looking into the occurrences on the days in which our technician was at your residence, which there were several questionable accusations that are being investigated.  After we have thoroughly looked into the matters, then we can discuss if there will be any further recompense.  Sincerely, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Whom It May Concern, There were no necessary omission to my original complaint, nor were there "racial slurs" or anything that can be characterized as "colorful behavior" of any sort. I'll go ahead and respond to your response point by point. First, when purchasing a Living Social "deal", their website asks you to type in your zip code. I did so (76542). You can only purchase a voucher such as I did if you are within the service area and Livingsocial.com said that I was. When I first called to schedule the appointment your secretary said I should have to pay an additional fee of $50's for being "out of the area." I explained to her just as I just did to you that if I was out of the area then the website should have never have sold the voucher to me. I was not going to pay any additional fees for you all to come out-- especially one that was more than the cost of the voucher! At one point, your employee said our home was only one mile out of the service area, and later in the call she changed it to five miles out of the area. Regardlesss, I explained that it's not my responsibility-- if I was out of the network then LS shouldn't have sold the voucher and said that I WAS in the area. At that time your employee decided she would rather complete the transaction and booked my appointment agreeing to no additional charge. I would not have booked or agreed to any additional fees. The first scheduled appointment your company cancelled when I called to confirm that you were coming after you had missed the time window given to me. Your company then rescheduled for October 6th after originally no-showing for that first appointment. This appointment was just three days before the expiration date on the Living Social voucher but your company said not to worry about it. You claim in your response that your "technicians" would be gone an entire day, which is in no way true. For the service scheduled for October 6th I was told I was scheduled as the last appointment of the day and that this technician would be at my home between 5-6pm. It wasn't until 7pm that I had a text message from [redacted] saying he was on his way. He did not arrive to our home until nearly 8pm. [redacted] explained that he worked a full day and also had a call in Georgetown before he came to my house. Additionally, I have proof of the text messages from him. Looking back, cleaning AC vents probably shouldn't be done in the dark. [redacted] was only in our home for probably 20 minutes. He came in and asked to go straight into our attic. He didn't at any point even see our AC unit. He was in the attic probably 5 minutes, came down, asked to borrow my cell phone, went back up another 5 minutes and came down. When he came down he showed me 5 images that he took with my cell phone. In the images, he opened up my plenum box (by using a knife and cutting into the moisture sealant). The images were of the opened box and the duct work and of dust. He told me that what I was seeing was mold. Then he told me he couldn't clean the AC Vents with mold being there and wrote me a quote (attached) for $900's. Attached is the written quote he gave me for $900's which also notes that this voucher will be honored regardless if it is past the expiration date. What I have found from my insurance agency and from the two local reputable companies who have come out is that what [redacted] did was more than a "mistake." Any real AC technician would look inside a plenum box using a scope and NOT by causing damage to a plenum box. A plenum box is never supposed to be pried open. My plenum box, per my insurance, has a side where it was pried open that has been damaged, it can't just be re-sealed. In addition, there are holes in my duct work that need repairing. Everything needs to be resealed. In the short time in my attic [redacted] caused $1500 in damage while trying to convince me that we had a mold problem. A true AC technician would know the difference between mold and dust AND before quoting anyone for repairs doing a mold test is standard procedure. [redacted] both verbally said we had mold and wrote the quote saying such. He came to do vent cleaning, which he did not do. [redacted] told me he could repair everything that same night, at 8pm on October 6th if I gave him $600-$900's. Wouldn't you agree that this isn't standard or an example of legitimacy? Won't you agree that using a scope to see inside a plenum box should have been the right way?  First you said [redacted] was your best tech and then you say that you want to send a "senior tech." It sure sounds like you are simply making up jobs and titles. In addition to this Revdex.com.org response, I have also received an email, also attached, from someone signing [redacted], though it is clear by the way you write that the person responding to the Revdex.com.org complaints and the person who wrote the email signed [redacted] are the same. That email is also attached. This was not a mistake- this damage was intentional and I refuse to let your company back into my home for any reason.Your attempts to intimidate me and demand entry back into my home will continue to be refused. I don't have any sort of responsibility to allow you back into my home, and in fact have been advised by both my insurance and the Austin police to NOT allow that. It was an absolute lie to say we had mold when we did not and I do not trust your company one bit. The last information in your email I may as well respond to. "[redacted]" is someone who has only called me by phone. I said before and I will say again that he has a thick Indian accent. This is a description of him which is about the only description I can give after having only spoken to him by phone. There is absolutely on racial slur associated with that description no matter how you have tried to manipulate the description. I would be interested to know your companies EIN number as well as [redacted]'s licensing information. I do not believe that he is an AC technician. 
Regards,
[redacted]

I spoke with [redacted] about the issues with her unit, and asked her to revise her Revdex.com Complaint due to the inconsistency of facts being: We had 2 professionals at [redacted]'* residence, [redacted] and then [redacted]... both were from OUR company and after [redacted] left, her unit was working according to message...

and recount from customer to [redacted].  I have uploaded some pictures of before on how dirty her ducts were, though I do not have room for after photos, but will make another document for our records and [redacted]'s.  I have also uploaded the contract that was signed agreeing to services and payment plan.The Steamers understands your frustration, and will work to compensate for the day without heat.  The Disputed amount is the entire balance, and that we can not do.  The Technicians that cleaned your home were there for an entire day to get your ducts. plenum, and unit clean and sanitized.  I have called the customer to discuss what else besides the already discounted costs and free electrostatic filters that we already gave her.

Greetings Ms. [redacted], I hope this finds you well.  I sincerely apologize about the negative experience that you have had with our company, though I find it necessary to explain certain omissions that were not a part of your complaint.  First, the difficulty with appointment scheduling was...

due to you being outside the service area, which by right carries a service fee and voids the vouchers carried by living social or groupon.  But after the colorful behavior that ensued when that information was conveyed, we submitted the point.  So in order to make it feasible for our technicians to be gone the entire day and to make you happy, we had to schedule another in your zone for the same day.  That took time due to the fact we typically do not service your area. Second, we sent one of our best technicians to service your area that day, “[redacted]”, and he looked within your system and indeed found contaminants that did look like mold.  Once you said you were getting a second opinion he agreed that you absolutely should get tested, and he also gave you estimate on deep cleaning with or without a UV light… Those estimates were not an absolute that you had mold by any means, but in case it was, to give you options.  This is another reason [redacted] agreed you needed to get it tested, because as a responsible technician, if it was mold, he would have had to take extra special precaution when dealing with a contaminant like mold.  (aspirators, ventilation balloons, plastic vent covers, etc)  We need the receipts of those that you hired to look at your system with their estimates and your insurance adjusters write up, please, this way we can look into it ourselves as well. Third, we have tried repeatedly to send one of our senior techs there to look at the system, and if it does need to be repaired, to do just that.  But unfortunately there has been one reason or another to cancel our attempts at checking the ventilation system.  Not to mention how incredibly racist it is to say that the “manager who has a thick Indian accent and is calling himself "[redacted]."”  And you are misinformed, [redacted] is the owners nickname, and that was unbeknownst to [redacted] works out of another satellite office and was not privy to this information).Fourth, due to your rejection of service and the distance it took out to Killeen, we will not be refunding your living social voucher.  Our minimum service charge is $49.00, which your voucher will cover due to this instance. Again, we will extend the offer of sending a senior technician out there to rectify any issues we may find, however; we would like copies of the estimates from the other companies and a copy of the write up from your insurance adjuster,  after that we can discuss any issues and possible reparations.

Greetings [redacted],  We are so sorry for our mistake with the deposit and will fix it immediately as well as the insufficient funds fees.  One of the office team will be dropping off a check at your home today... We are terribly sorry for this mix up and will rectify it immediately!...

Again, we apologize, but we will make sure you will have your money for the holidays.  Will be calling to set arrangements.  The Steamers

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
At this point you haven't made any attempt or offer to recify this situation. Upon this complaints re-opening, Mrs. Cruz provided you with documents from two local AC companies as well as from my home owners insurance. All of these documents are part of this claim and they are readily available to you.
Call me racist 
Continue to pretend that I am "out of an area" or that you all should be entitled to keep my money after damaging our home and not providing the service that was paid for
Continue to pass insults with me back and forth with this complaint process 
Continue to pretend like any of this has been professional or ethical; All you are doing is giving me more data to show the judge in court at this point.
Thank you.
Oh, by the way, the attorney general's office called Monday. I guess I'm not the first of your clients to call their office. Surprise, surprise.
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted], Hope this finds you well.  I would like to extend my sincerest apologies for your negative experience the other day during the redo of your residence.  This is never our intent, so again I apologize for what had happened and would like a chance to explain and try...

and rectify the situation. First, the office must take full responsibility on the miscommunication that happened about payment between the technician and yourself.  The office attendant that took your information and had the responsibility in updating your account did not put the payment arrangements agreed upon within the messages of the account.  So unbeknownst to the technician, he was reacting without the proper information.  That does not in any way give him license to appear aggressive, and indeed was not his intent.  There had been an incident earlier in the week with an account that influenced his reaction with you, and when he stopped the door from closing it was to make sure that you heard what he had said so that he would not be reprimanded from management.  And to be frank, sometimes the cultural/language barrier can sometimes carry over in ways not intended.  He wishes also to extend his apologies after it was explained to him how this reaction was not what should have happened and has been reprimanded and has been written up. Now I have gone over your ORIGINAL paper invoice and compared to the invoice emailed to you by a new office assistant and there were 2 massive mistakes on the digital invoice.  You were not overcharged, the digital invoice was wrong, whereas the paper one is correct.  So I completely understand that you thought you were overcharged.  I would like to break it down for you.  Valpak specials: $75.00 and $85.00 = $160.00.  The main unit deep cleaning (removal mold, animal fur, debris): $489.00, mold control (killer) for main unit and ventilation system:  $469.00, sanitization (prohibits) of main unit and ventilation system:  $429.00, and coil cleaned and treated: $329.00.  Total: $2030.77 with 25 percent off came to your total of $1523.00. This deep discount and extended 3 year warranty with a free inspection and sanitization in 2 years are included.   Sanitization and Mold control are two entirely different services.  One is to clean and sterilize the system and the other is an inhibitor.  Hence, the two different pricings, I hope that helps clarify things in that regard.  I would really appreciate if you could call the office so we could discuss your remaining balance and to help rectify any issues.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

Bought a LivingSocial voucher to have my "Whole House Air Duct and Dryer vent cleaning package with furnace inspection voucher # **SSN**652"- Now it sounded like a fantastic deal for $44.99. I made the appointment with Texas Air Solutions and was a little confused as to why a truck pulled up with the name "The Steamers" on the side of it. They came in, were very nice, explained to me that I would need to pay 25.00 per return, as those are not covered. Ok, fine...the fine print SHOULD indicate that, but, they were onsite and ready to clean. About 30 minutes later I was contacted and shown pictures indicating mold was all around my furnace area, and I need to have it cleaned and disinfecting and UV up in my attic immediately. I looked at the pictures, gave him my phone & asked that he take pictures for me to show my husband.....he did so, and they were of course poor quality/hard to see. I was really unable to tell what was what to be honest. Was then quoted "459.00 for the main unit to be sanitized...but, that the recommended service was the "Best Solution and that was "cleaning, disinfecting + UV for 750.00"......I thanked them for their time, paid my 54.00(for the 2 returns & tax).
I then called my A/C company, who services my A/C & Furnace semi annually- scheduled them to come out today 6/22/2016...and guess what.....Rex with Air Pro Inc. found no evidence of mold and said my "pics did not match up with the set up that was upstairs in the attic and the shots taken would have had to of been done after cutting into the unit"- which he found no evidence of. So, lesson learned....if it is too good to be true, chances are it is. Always pay good money, with a reputable company .i.e. Blackmon Mooring, etc. for anything that has to do with A/C and duct work...especially cleaning out air vents in the house.

Three weeks ago, I had a Groupon voucher from Living Social and called a company called The Steamers for a $40.00 service, and for that amount they promised to clean not only the dryer vent, but also the air duct system throughout the entire house. First of all the tech was not only four (4) hours late but he was also very rude when he had finally arrived and never did apologize for being late, but as soon as he started, he tried to "bait and switch" me before he even brought his equipment into the house by trying to upsell from $40.00 to $1400.00 by telling me that I have black mold in my air ducts and that I need to treat my entire house with mold control and antibacterial solution. I tried to ask him info about the procedure and to asked if he is licensed to take apart my AC unit and to spray chemicals in my house and he said yes, but when I asked him to show me his certification he started to stumble over his words and started to get mad at me. He never did show me his certification. Also he was very pushy and thought that this would be a market type sale and eventually lowered his price from $1400.00 to $760.00. I didn't like it and told him to leave. I called the office to complain but I didn't get any reasonable response from the owner. I was researching this company and found out that they are really a bunch of criminals. The name of the owner is Lior L[redacted], and he has changed his company's name many times and has hidden behind several different names like Austin Duct Services, Texas Air Duct, Master Splinter Carpet Cleaning, Extreme Cleaning, and Restoration Services. I was so stupid to believe that Mr. L[redacted] would clean my air ducts and my dryer vent for $40.00 and a simple online research would've showed that a decent air duct cleaning costs $200.00-$300.00 and a dryer vent cleaning costs $100.00-$150.00. I will never use this company again and I highly recommend for all to check before you call for service from any of Mr. L[redacted]'s companies.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Whom It May Concern,
 
There were no necessary omission to my original complaint, nor were there "racial slurs" or anything that can be characterized as "colorful behavior" of any sort. I'll go ahead and respond to your response point by point.
 
First, when purchasing a Living Social "deal", their website asks you to type in your zip code. I did so (76542). You can only purchase a voucher such as I did if you are within the service area and Livingsocial.com said that I was.
 
When I first called to schedule the appointment your secretary said I should have to pay an additional fee of $50's for being "out of the area." I explained to her just as I just did to you that if I was out of the area then the website should have never have sold the voucher to me. I was not going to pay any additional fees for you all to come out-- especially one that was more than the cost of the voucher! At one point, your employee said our home was only one mile out of the service area, and later in the call she changed it to five miles out of the area. Regardlesss, I explained that it's not my responsibility-- if I was out of the network then LS shouldn't have sold the voucher and said that I WAS in the area. At that time your employee decided she would rather complete the transaction and booked my appointment agreeing to no additional charge. I would not have booked or agreed to any additional fees.
 
The first scheduled appointment your company cancelled when I called to confirm that you were coming after you had missed the time window given to me. Your company then rescheduled for October 6th after originally no-showing for that first appointment. This appointment was just three days before the expiration date on the Living Social voucher but your company said not to worry about it.
 
You claim in your response that your "technicians" would be gone an entire day, which is in no way true. For the service scheduled for October 6th I was told I was scheduled as the last appointment of the day and that this technician would be at my home between 5-6pm. It wasn't until 7pm that I had a text message from [redacted] saying he was on his way. He did not arrive to our home until nearly 8pm. [redacted] explained that he worked a full day and also had a call in Georgetown before he came to my house. Additionally, I have proof of the text messages from him.
 
Looking back, cleaning AC vents probably shouldn't be done in the dark. [redacted] was only in our home for probably 20 minutes. He came in and asked to go straight into our attic. He didn't at any point even see our AC unit. He was in the attic probably 5 minutes, came down, asked to borrow my cell phone, went back up another 5 minutes and came down. When he came down he showed me 5 images that he took with my cell phone. In the images, he opened up my plenum box (by using a knife and cutting into the moisture sealant). The images were of the opened box and the duct work and of dust. He told me that what I was seeing was mold. Then he told me he couldn't clean the AC Vents with mold being there and wrote me a quote (attached) for $900's. Attached is the written quote he gave me for $900's which also notes that this voucher will be honored regardless if it is past the expiration date.
 
What I have found from my insurance agency and from the two local reputable companies who have come out is that what [redacted] did was more than a "mistake." Any real AC technician would look inside a plenum box using a scope and NOT by causing damage to a plenum box. A plenum box is never supposed to be pried open. My plenum box, per my insurance, has a side where it was pried open that has been damaged, it can't just be re-sealed. In addition, there are holes in my duct work that need repairing. Everything needs to be resealed. In the short time in my attic [redacted] caused $1500 in damage while trying to convince me that we had a mold problem.
 
A true AC technician would know the difference between mold and dust AND before quoting anyone for repairs doing a mold test is standard procedure. [redacted] both verbally said we had mold and wrote the quote saying such. He came to do vent cleaning, which he did not do. [redacted] told me he could repair everything that same night, at 8pm on October 6th if I gave him $600-$900's. Wouldn't you agree that this isn't standard or an example of legitimacy? Won't you agree that using a scope to see inside a plenum box should have been the right way? 
 
First you said [redacted] was your best tech and then you say that you want to send a "senior tech." It sure sounds like you are simply making up jobs and titles. In addition to this Revdex.com.org response, I have also received an email, also attached, from someone signing [redacted], though it is clear by the way you write that the person responding to the Revdex.com.org complaints and the person who wrote the email signed [redacted] are the same. That email is also attached.
 
This was not a mistake- this damage was intentional and I refuse to let your company back into my home for any reason.Your attempts to intimidate me and demand entry back into my home will continue to be refused. I don't have any sort of responsibility to allow you back into my home, and in fact have been advised by both my insurance and the Austin police to NOT allow that. It was an absolute lie to say we had mold when we did not and I do not trust your company one bit.
 
The last information in your email I may as well respond to. "[redacted]" is someone who has only called me by phone. I said before and I will say again that he has a thick Indian accent. This is a description of him which is about the only description I can give after having only spoken to him by phone. There is absolutely on racial slur associated with that description no matter how you have tried to manipulate the description.
 
I would be interested to know your companies EIN number as well as [redacted]'s licensing information. I do not believe that he is an AC technician. 
Regards,
[redacted]

THEY RUINED 3 ROOMS OF CARPETING - NEVER HIRE THIS COMPANY

Recently got an air duct cleaning and was very impressed with both the quality and value of the service. The employees were also very friendly and provided an excellent experience - 100% would recommend to anyone!