ComplaintsforAssured Basements

• Initial Complaint

  15/02/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  * I contacted Assured Basements based on a door to door flyer mentioning free Estimates * We booked an appointment and Mike came in to discuss in October 2021 * He told about 2 standard pre-packaged template solutions with & without a bathroom (Approx. 67K) * I mentioned the leaks in our basement and he said that he will send someone who will give a better estimate * I was told not to worry about the estimate even though I mentioned the concern of how to proceed without it * In order to proceed with the estimate I was asked to sign the contract (when he took a deposit of CAD 2000/- from my *********** so that he can send someone to give a better estimate. * Since they sounded like a legitimate professional company - I made the payment to keep the ball rolling, since I intended to get my basement work done. * Next day 2 people (Ryan and colleague) came and I got some rough numbers for the leaks in our basement that was unaffordable (Approx. additional 20K) * Even at this point the amount was not clear because they said they had to send in a leaks specialist for clearer numbers - it could be more or less * We didn't settle on whether we needed a bedroom or a bathroom or not. The leaks were our biggest concern at this point. * Ryan said to sleep on it and let them know if we wanted a bathroom or not and meanwhile he will send someone to assess the leaks for an estimate * The very same day we discussed at home and realized this was way beyond what was discussed initially and decided not to proceed * We let them know the same evening that we will not proceed * Meanwhile they have taken my money for which I did not avail any services. They claim this is a non-refundable deposit which was never mentioned at any point. How can a registered company take money for a service that was decided and communicated immediately as not required?

  Business response

  08/04/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/02/16) */ Contact Name and Title: Ryan D. Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX Contact Email: ****@***************.ca In response to this complaint. On the 7th of October, ***** ******, signed a contract to obtain services from Assured Basements. He received a contract, a detailed breakdown of items & a schedule of payments. He also received a sketch of what the basement would look like. He accepted the agreement, the terms and conditions and proceeded to pay the non-refundable deposit using his credit card. On the 12th of October, our building team then attended his basement where he wanted to discuss making some changes to his initial drawing. Time was spent designing a new plan for him. At that moment there were cracks noticed in his foundation. Which could cause a potential leak and damage his newly built basement. Mr. ****** was instructed to attend to these cracks because they could damage the basement. He was provided with multiple options including crack fillers, interior Waterproofing and exterior Waterproofing. He asked for recommendations and we recommended him a couple of waterproofing companies to assist him in stopping the leaks in his basement. He chose not to proceed with any of these options and instead ask for a refund. He was reminded that the deposit was non-refundable, since we had incurred costs with our sales team, building team and our credit card processor, however we could apply the payment if he wanted to wait and do the basement in the future. He then proceeded to contact the credit card provider and request a refund. The credit card provider reviewed the signed contract with our team and decided not to process the refund. We further maintain all the documentation from his initial call notes, to the contract to the revised plan for your review. Be that as it may, we are always here to treat our customers with the utmost fairness and respect. However, in no means are we going to incur costs on their behalf. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/02/23) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. I am quite surprised that Mr. Ryan D. mentioned that cracks were suddenly noticed on October 12th, when this was discussed as a major concern right from the very first conversation we had with Assured Basements. On Oct 12th Ryan D. and his colleague came and discussed options regarding including a bedroom or not. Some numbers were given to us ranging from 18K to 80K to fix the cracks. At no point did we arrive at any conclusion about the final pricing, or about moving forward. It would be impossible for us to top up this amount to fix the cracks. This caused us to reconsider and we let Ryan D. know that we will not proceed with this project the very same day. We were never told about the deposit being non-refundable. The reason I paid the deposit is since Mike said their process of bringing in staff to assess will move forward only when the deposit is paid. At no point did we arrive at a final price point or decide a date to start the work. How can anyone start a renovation project without knowing the estimate? Assured Basements advertises free estimates and I don't have an estimate based on which I could make an informed decision. How can I possibly proceed with this type of information?

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩