ComplaintsforApple Remodeling LLC

• Initial Complaint

  04/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Apple remodeling replaced our entire roof October 2022, 5mos. ago. On April 5, 2023, there was heavy rain and winds (not a tornado) as a result shingle started coming off side of the roof. Now today 4-28-23, it is raining and the wind is blowing, normal weather for Delaware and the roof IS LEAKING. What kind of workmanship was done if the roof can't stand up to rain and wind; what is going to happen when it snows. I contacted Phillip and sent pictures to no avail, no response to phone calls or text messages to resolve this issue; have not taken the time to come out and inspect the problem. We paid cash for this job and should not have the shingle, the shed rack, and leaking after only 5mos. Poor Customer Service and what appears to be shoddy workmanship.

  

  Business response

  05/10/2023

  While we sympathize and understand that this is a frustrating and unfortunate circumstance, we maintain the stance that this is not due to workmanship. Instead as previously stated in our communication with the customer, this issue is a direct result of a tornado affecting Delaware and surrounding areas. It is possible that it is a manufactures defect, if so the customers warranty registration ID # is 4537129 however, we strongly feel that this is more than likely an “act of god” that will fall under the homeowners home insurance policy for wind and storm damages caused by “acts of god” such as heavy winds resulting from tornadoes or storms thereof.

  Customer response

  05/15/2023

  Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint and have determined that this does not resolve my  issue.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. **In order for the bureau to continue to assist you, you MUST provide your view on the matter or your complaint will be closed as answered. There was No Tornado in this immediate area.  While there was heavy rain and wind, it did not in any way constitute a tornado.  This is a mobile home community; no homes structure was affected by the weather.  The roof is only 5mos old and cannot withstand heavy rain, then this was a waste of money. The contactor has not even come out and inspected the area.  I did contact GAF warranty and he has not responded to it as well.  This appears that the contactor is passing the buck and not living up to his sale pitch.  Having someone else fix the roof was definitely void my warranty and that would pose another issue down the road, if I ever have another problem.  I just want the shingle and shed rack replaced/fixed, and I am done with this contactor.  Regards, Complaint ID: 19997017    

  

  Business response

  06/07/2023

  A single shingle blowing off of the home as a result of the April 1st storm here in Delaware does not in any way constitute that the entire roof (which is still in tact) was a “waste of money” it further proves our point that it was installed expertly and correctly in the first place. 
  
  
  If this was a workmanship issue in any way then at the first sign of any wind or rain there would have been shingles blowing off and leaks happening (which isn’t the case).
  
  
  Our records indicate that we have also spoken to GAF about this several times and we informed them of the same thing. That while this is an unfortunate event it is an “act of god” and therefore not due to our workmanship and not very likely a faulty product which needs a warranty claim. This was our original supposition that we had informed our customer of and we maintain that stance.
  
  
  It is clear that the customer does not want to acknowledge that the events that took place that day are unusual to say the least. It is also clear that the customer doesn’t want to pay for the service of our company to fix the problem that incurred as a result of the “act of god” and instead prefers to place blame on our company and threaten our company for this problem they have, instead of taking a step back and seeing things from our perspective. We can only surmise that this is because they have a deductible that would end up costing more than fixing the actual problem itself. 
  
  
  To be absolutely clear roofs will leak if shingles are missing from them and that is why you don’t just flash a roof without shingles and hope for it to be leak free. It is a system designed to work in synchrony with each of the other components of the system. 
  
  
  We empathize with the situation but in no way take responsibility for the original act of god which caused this problem to occur. It is clearly negligence on their part not to take action to fix this because it is their home and their investment and it appears that it is them who is passing the buck rather than seeing things how they truly are. 
  
  
  As a company we have zero unresolved complaints in our company history for a reason and always take responsibility for our mistakes. We always feel it’s important to ask ourselves “what is the right thing to do here” in any situation and in this situation we don’t feel it is fair for us to be blamed for an “act of god”, a “storm”. 
  
  
  As a company we have not once been offered any amount of money to fix the problem over there. 
  
  
  Frankly, had our customer approached our company properly to begin with and asked us for a favor and taken a step back to realize that we properly installed their roof to begin with but aren’t actually responsible for things such as acts of god, (which we clearly state in our presentation), instead of threatening us, we would likely have done them the favor of fixing it at no charge, however that is not what happened and unfortunately we are at no obligation to take on the responsibility now. 
  
  
  We understand this must be frustrating but if we were to take on every single act of god that ever occurred that wouldn’t be good for business. We are happy to fix their issue for them but we will have to charge them for our company time and service as we would anyone else. 
  
  
  They are also under no obligation to use us again since they seem unhappy and are welcome to have another professional roofing company fix the issue for them as well. Doing so in no way voids their warranty if that’s what they are worried about because from our understanding only a single shingle is missing. As long as they hire another certified roofing company through GAF they should know what they are doing and it shouldn’t affect anything we’ve done or the products we’ve installed.
  
  
  Based on our records it seems that the customer is under the impression that we did shoddy work and is unhappy with us in which case, we can’t for the life of us seem to understand why they would want us back out in the first place, unless it’s because they realize that the other 99.9% of their 3100 square ft roof along with their 4 brand new velux skylights are working perfectly fine. 
  
  
  Furthermore, there is no need for us to go out there. Our office is located in Wilmington Delaware and we always do a final inspection and walk through before we are even paid. 
  
  
  This is because as a company we do all of our work no money down at all, which means we don’t accept a single penny from any homeowner on any job until the work is done to substantial completion which means finished and done to the customers liking and per the work order agreement before we are paid.
  
  
  On this particular project our records indicate that we were paid with a check, not cash as the customer had claimed and although the customer was approved for super prime financing through our lending partners they declined to provide the proper documentation to the finance company. The stipulation from the finance company was simple proof of homeownership because the customer lives in a mobile home. The customer then decided that they would rather pay with a check instead of financing the roof and skylights because they didn’t feel comfortable with the requirements and stipulations that the finance company had asked for (which were all standard procedure for a mobile home). We bring that up because this wasn’t some back door deal made with cash like the customer is claiming. It was a standard work order and upwards of 95% of all of the projects we complete and install are financed. 
  
  
  Our original work order agreement even stated that we were to only replace 2000 sq ft of the roof. The floor plan however, of the home is much larger than 2000 square feet. Which we assume the customers were fully aware of since they built an addition. For the roof replacement to even be a total of 2000 sq ft the floor plan of the home would have had to have been less than 2000 square feet and the roof would have had to be flat. Which it wasn’t, the roof had a pitch as all shingle roofs do. We later realized that an addition had been built onto the home at some point and sometimes when there is an addition built on a home the satellite software which is 99.9% accurate will use old imagery and give incorrect measurements, which had happened here and ended up costing our company several thousands of dollars. Despite that we accepted full responsibility for the mistake and in the end paid for it when we didn’t charge our customers for the additional work, materials or additional delays it caused our company and finished the roof the next day. We felt bad about it and we realized that we had failed to communicate during the job why it took us an additional day to complete. That mistake required us to make an adjustment from 2000 sq ft to 3100 sq ft when we were 11 squares short on material and we feel like we did the right thing, and took responsibility when we paid for it, and apologized.  At the end of the day we realize it’s our responsibility to communicate those types of things to our customers during the job and we failed to do that. 
  
  
  After all it is a part of our promise and the first of our 3 core values that we have here at Apple Remodeling. Our core tenets are executing and implementing great communication before, during, and after a job is done, only employing highly trained and skilled factory certified installers, and only using top quality products that are time tested and will truly last. We fell short on our first promise and we have no problem admitting when we fall short.  After all we are only human and at the end of the day we just want our customers to be happy. 
  
  
  We do our best to try and accomplish that outcome every single time, but sometimes, even we fall short or we don’t share the same perspective as a customer which is the case here. 
  
  
  Nonetheless, the EF-3 tornado that hit Sussex  county on April 1st was the second ever to hit the state and the first since 1961. The winds from this particular EF-3 tornado reached upwards of 140mph and the surrounding areas were affected by wind, heavy rain and storms. This is believed to be the strongest tornado and storm on record to ever hit Sussex county and while the customers weren’t directly hit with the tornado the Doppler radar shows that they were affected by the storm. The customer even admits to this so we don’t really understand what the problem or misunderstanding is here. 
  A simple google search will show that this was not “typical weather” for anyone in our state that day which is when the act of god occurred. Furthermore it doesn’t have to be a direct hit from a tornado, it could be straight line winds, a downburst or a storm. 
  
  
  The important thing here to take into account is that this wasn’t caused by shoddy work. (The rest of the roof is absolutely fine) and this wasn’t because we used bad products or the products were faulty either because again (the rest of the roof is fine). 
  
  
  Our third core tenet is that as a company we only use and install the best products and our second core tenet is that we maintain that our roof mechanics are certified and trained installers.  
  
  
  We have a partnership with GAF and are recognized in the top 5% of roofing companies in North America because of this. 
  
  
  This unfortunately happened because there was a severe storm that did damage to our state, our neighbors, our community and even took a man’s life and it is not something that happens every day around here. 
  
  
  No one is responsible for this happening and fortunately this is why people have homeowners insurance and what it is really designed for. 
  
  
  We’re not underwriters for the insurance company but some friendly and professional advice from our experience with insurance companies is that the longer a homeowner lets something like this go and doesn’t do anything about it, the more damage that is done, and the higher risk they become to insure because the insurance company will view inaction as negligence. Even if they plan to reimburse a homeowner for storm damage, that is something that can take a while and it is the responsibility of the homeowner to come out of pocket and fix their home as quickly as possible. 
  
  
  At the end of the day it may not be fair but it is the responsibility of the homeowner to protect their assets and no one else’s.  
  
  
  Our point in saying all of this is that we feel that we have gone above and beyond for these customers and we feel at this point that they are trying to take advantage of us as a company and have us fix issues that are not covered under the scope of our original work order or our responsibility to begin with. 

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