Valley Stone Works & Stucco

Review: On March 16, 2015, I called Andrey Makayev, owner, to discuss the issues with the stone work job completed at my house on September 2, 2014. The issues I shared with Mr. Makayev were the 48 cracked stones and 3 loose cap stones. At the time of my call, Mr. Makayev explained he was very busy and would not be able to set up a meeting time, but would come to see it on his own time schedule.

On April 16, 2015, I emailed Mr. Makayev to check if he had the opportunity to stop by my house and review the issues at hand. This project was very important to myself and my wife and we had saved for quite some time to afford having the work done. We to him we were looking forward to showing it off that summer with friends and family, however, in the condition the stone was in I couldn't say that we could.

I asked Mr. Makayev if he had reviewed the issues to please give me a call to discuss his plan to correct the issues. If he hasn't stopped by the house yet, to please do so in the next two weeks so we can move forward quickly so we can enjoy a beautiful patio lounge area.

On April 16, 2015, Mr. Makayev responded to my email as follows. "Hello [redacted], I apologize for the inconvenience, but I haven't been there to check it out yet. But I give you my word I will take care of it when things slow down a little bit. I am working jobs back to back and also going to school Tuesday and Thursday nights. I have contractors pushing me to hurry up to start their jobs. When I stop by, it won't be to look at it, I will have tools with me. Do you have any stone left over from the job?"

I responded on April 17, 2015 that Mr. Makayev had taken all the left over stone with him.

Since my email I have attempted three times to call Mr. Makayev to discuss the issues at hand. He has not answered his phone or any messages I have left; nor has he showed up to correct the cracked stones and loose cap stones.

Please beware of this dishonest businessman and company. We paid him $3,700 to him for a job that is cracking.Desired Settlement: We would like Mr. Makeyev to return to the job and replace all the cracked stone and refasten the loose cap stone at his expense. His Federal ID # is [redacted].

Business

Response:

Il will return this week to discuss with [redacted] ways to correct the problem.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

On March 4th, 2016, Mr. Makayev showed up at my home unannounced. My wife happened to be home. Mr. Makayev evaluated the cracked stone and tried to explain to my wife what he thought caused the stones to crack. He told my wife that the patio, that is 10 years old, has sunk along with the newly build pergola posts that the stone is wrapped around. I believe he feels that this has put pressure on the bottom of the stone to cause the cracking. His conclusion is completely off base. The patio nor the posts have sunk the least bit. The patio matches up exactly with the adjacent patio surrounding the pool. There is spacing between the bottom of the stone and the patio, exactly like it was installed. There is no pressure on the stones from the patio. Mr. Makayev contacted me that afternoon via text message. He attempted to get into the issue and I insisted he should stop by my home so he can explain his thoughts to me and we can discuss an acceptable solution in person. He stated in a text message that he was "100% confident that he was not at fault". His approach to this situation is unacceptable. I texted him and told him to let me know when he can stop by in person to discuss the issue. He replied "Ok". This was on March 4th and I have not heard back from him yet.

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

On March 12, 2016 at approximately 3:45 p.m., Mr. Makayev met me at my home to discuss the cracked stone issue at hand and come to a resolution. He started by recanting his theory that he had on March 4, 2015 that the posts and patio sunk putting pressure on the stone causing them to crack. He said that was not the reason and I agreed.He proceeded to tell me that the posts inside the stone work had twisted and caused the stone to crack. I disagreed. There is no evidence of the posts twisting. He said that he would have a building contractor come and take a look at it and get their opinion. He remarked again how this was not his fault. He just won’t take responsibility for it. I explained that we discussed and agreed on the specifics regarding wrapping the posts in wood to prepare them for his stone work. Upon arriving for the job, he inspected the wrapped posts and accepted them as meeting his expectations. I told him that if they didn’t meet his expectations, he should have said something right then. He didn’t, and proceeded with his stone work. I was trying to get him to understand that this issue is his responsibility; he is the professional of his trade and should know what surfaces are acceptable to put his stone on.He suggested a resolution that involved chiseling the cracks to enlarge them to the spacing between the stones. I told him absolutely not. This would create nearly 60 chisled gaps exposing the bare concrete of the stone. It would look horrible.I showed him where a cap stone on the fire pit had cracked through from only burning once. It had also discolored all the cap stone edges about 2 inches. I asked him if he had used heat or fire resistant cap stones and he responded “no, no one uses that for a fire pit.” I asked, “Why wouldn’t you, it gets very hot at the inside edges and the stone will crack like the one did.” He really didn’t have an answer. He did however admit that the issue was “on him” and he would replace the cap stone. I told him again that all four cap stones needed replaced with heat resistant stones or they will continue to crack. He didn’t respond.Today, March 14, 2015, I texted him and basically told him that I didn’t think it would benefit the situation if he got a contractor to come take a look at it because it would probably be a friend of his. I also reminded him that the cap stones for the fire pit need replaced with heat resistant ones. He responded that he was no longer getting a contractor, but wanted to get a stone representative to come and look at it. He said the stone rep. would clear it up for me. He also stated in his text that I should stop slandering his name publicly.As I said on the phone, Mr. Makayev does not want to take responsibility of his faulty work. He is very defensive and denies any wrong doing. At this point, unless he suddenly accepts responsibility, my wife and I don’t want him back at our home. We would only be interested in a monetary agreement so we can get another stone contractor to come in and fix the issues. If he wants to send the stone representative to our home to evaluate if the stone is defective, the representative can contact me directly to schedule a time and day.Best regards,[redacted]

Business

Response:

I have arranged for a representative from [redacted] to visit [redacted]'s home on April 6 to examine the stones for defects.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find it acceptable to be the next step. I will wait to hear from the stone rep what his findings are. Regardless of the findings, my expectation is that the contractor accepts responsibility in replacing the cracked stones.

Regards,