Thomas' Stock Pond and Lake Construction

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 dispute.
Please enter your reason(s) for rejecting the business response below.
Regards,
[redacted]
Given yet another opportunity to refute the facts of the claim, [redacted] has failed to address his substantial misrepresentation of project completion. He will not even articulate what work he did complete on our contract (e.g. “I completed a 2 acre pond at 12 foot depth on [redacted]’s property on October 19th, 2015), as doing so could be used against him in legal proceedings.As of this date I am unaware of any legal proceedings brought forward by either party, as it remains my hope that [redacted] will reconsider completing the project once he realizes the valuable role that the Revdex.com provides in allowing disenfranchised customers to report unethical or inept businesses and business owners. If [redacted] has filed a lawsuit, I have received no notice, but look forward to any court reviewing the factual evidence provided by my counsel and me, and complete lack thereof by [redacted], in determining judgment. My understanding is that the Revdex.com has no role in arbitration or mediation of the claims, but simply an organization that assess valid claims against a business and if such claims have merit, publish that data to protect future consumers from similar experiences.My claims of contract breach, and the evidence supporting them, are straight forward and thus far not contested with any evidence from [redacted]. I contracted for two ponds with total surface acreage of 2.6 acres, and received 2 ponds totaling less than 1.3 acres (as well as depth substantially shallower than contracted). Beyond the contract, [redacted] has provided zero evidence to support his claims of $10,000 of extra work. It isn’t just that the first time I ever heard of such extra’s was in [redacted]’s initial response to my Revdex.com petition, but that any value of such extra work has been assessed by [redacted] alone. Regardless, I would never have sacrificed the contracted acreage and depth for the unanticipated and unspecified “extras” claimed by [redacted]. Legal action at this point is premature, as it is impossible for me to project the value of my claims (the incomplete work) without hiring and paying for other professionals to come complete the job, which could take 90-180 days or more. However, what is clear from all the evidence thus far provided is that [redacted] failed to deliver to the contracted terms. My hope is that anyone else entering into agreement with him for such work know the risks, and also are able to use my experience in including verification and validation of contract work during construction and before final payment (e.g. surface area to be measured using Planimeter app). They also can view the ongoing exchange and responses of [redacted], as filed with the Revdex.com, to understand how his business operates, and the kind of customer service they can expect.I cannot see how any further claim/counter-claim as coordinated by the Revdex.com can change the underlying facts in this case, which is that [redacted] is in substantial breach of our contract.

I stand by my initial response.  We completed the work. We owed $ 6200 for work completed, and also performed additional work for a VALUE OF $ 10,000 EXTRA This customer currently has more than $ 40,000 in improvements and has paid approximately $ 25,000 for them.  Since this disagreement is part of a legal/court case,  The Revdex.com has no role in its resolution or mediation.   As always we have responded to each and every correspondence or communication from this customer. To do so further is to go in circles.

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 dispute
Please enter your reason(s) for rejecting the business response below
Regards,
[redacted]
I was disappointed, though not surprised, to see that [redacted] failed to address any of the specific contract breaches in his
response to my complaintIn so doing, one can only assume that he recognizes his
work fell short of the contractual requirement, yet believes he should be paid
in full anyway
To be clear, I entered into a contract with [redacted]
that required almost no negotiationBased on my basic desires for size and
depth to keep consistent with my wildlife management plan, I deferred to his
expertise on the means, materials, timing and even discounts for early
commitment[redacted]'s reputation was in fact one of the reasons I was
comfortable deferring to him as much as I didAt the end of the day, getting a
pond that supports bass fishing, attracts ducks and allows for family
recreation, was and continues to be, my primary objective
Unfortunately, by any possible measurement, [redacted]
came up substantially short of meeting contracted pond sizes (surface area and
depth)If any evidence can be provided contrary to this, I would humbly
complete payment on the outstanding balance and apologize for any confusion (an
offer I have repeatedly made to [redacted])I, like so many other of [redacted]'s previous clients, relied almost exclusively on his experience and
expertiseThroughout the project, it seemed that the total pond dimensions
were not coming close to those tagged by spray-painting trees the first day [redacted] made his proposalFortunately for me, I found a smart phone app
(Planimeter) that made it easy to walk around an area, upload GPS coordinates,
and calculate the area surveyedFor a $investment, I could confirm for
myself that my acre pond came in at less than acre, and my 3/(.6) acre
pond registered at acres – over 50% less than the contracted total, and well
below a margin of errorEven if the ponds had been deep enough (they were
not), I still do not have ponds to support my wildlife management plan
As for the myriad of extras (over $10,worth) that [redacted] indicates were provided, one only has to check news reports to know
Hurricane Patricia (in the South Pacific) did not exist the last day [redacted] spent on the land (October 19th, 2015)Suggesting gratis
work in preparation for an event that could not be predicted at the time (the
storm was not even classified as a Tropical Depression until October 20th)
is clearly an attempt to distract from the reality that [redacted] failed
to deliver the ponds that were contractedThe idea he could do $10,worth
of extra work in a few days with a skid steer is equally unbelievable
At no point did [redacted] raise any concerns with being
able to fully meet the terms of the contractHe never discussed problems that
might prevent his completion, nor land characteristics that would require a
change or renegotiation to the initial contractHad he suggested that the
unspecified "extras" would compromise the final size of the ponds, I would have
politely declinedMeeting pond sizes was always my primary objective
It is my opinion that through events within his control, [redacted] was unable to obtain the appropriate equipment to properly complete
the jobWhile no expert in moving vast volumes of earth, I do know that
attempting to complete two separate pond projects in three trips over the course
of total days with a CX130C Excavator, a medium-sized Bulldozer, and a Kubota
SVLcompact skid steer (none onsite simultaneously) resulted in compromises
to pond sizes and depthsRather than initiate conversation about challenges or
problems during the project, [redacted] insisted the final result would
meet the size and depth requirements
While there were certainly other portions of the overall
contracted project left incomplete (see my initial claim), failure to deliver
on the ponds is my biggest concernBecause the ponds are now completely full,
the work required to expand the ponds means that hiring any other contractor to
complete the job will likely cost me well above the amount [redacted] feels
he is owed
My hope in filing this complaint is that [redacted]
reconsiders the work necessary to complete the projectI have made every
attempt (phone, email, certified letter and UPS) to resolve the concernsPresenting
my concerns while he was still on the job, his
response was always that the project was not completeFollowing his last day
onsite, his response is that he is done and deserves to be paidIf he is
unwilling to return and complete the job, I will pursue all means appropriate
to recover my losses and see the project completedI also hope that others who
considering employing [redacted] or his company include explicit language
in contracts to measure final pond dimensions (perhaps even using Planimeter) to
ensure they get what they pay forGiven total payments made to date exceed 80% of the contract, and [redacted]
delivered less than 50% of the total surface area contracted, not to mention
the other undelivered items, it is [redacted] that owes me, rather than the
other way around