Customer ReviewsforTop Dog Marine Construction Corp

I hired Top Dog Marine Construction in February to build a seawall in my backyard at my home. There have been several delays in work since then, and as of right now, I have only an exemption letter and several large poles in my yard, which are killing my grass and are a nuisance to mow around. Top Dog Marine told my husband on 09 November that they had a truck going to get supplies, but as of *************************************************** any estimate on when they will be ready. My desired outcome is for Top Dog to finish this job, within the next six months, which I think is more than fair. We need this seawall because our backyard is sinking due to erosion (we live on the water). Additionally, we have no fence now (my husband took it down in January, as Top Dog Marine told him to do), meaning that alligators can crawl up into our yard (which has actually happened). We have paid the initial deposit of ten percent, which amounts to $4,075. However, during these past ten months, ******** communications have been sparse and infrequent: we typically dont get updates until we ask for them. If theres a delay, Top Dog does not contact us to let us know. We make ourselves highly available to Top Dog, and they have multiple ways to contact us.

Several factors, all out of our control, contributed to the delay in work on this project. Permitting took four months. Once the permit was in, tides were excessively high and precluded start of the seawall; and also affected many of our other jobs. Materials for this job were secured immediately upon receipt of deposit but were recalled by the manufacturer just prior to starting the job. Top Dog became aware of this recall when scheduling materials for delivery, and the customer was notified immediately. An alternate color, just a slightly different shade than originally selected, was offered as an alternate (which would have allowed the work to begin on the project) but no response to this offer was received by the customer. The massive supply chain delays brought on by COVID are impacting the construction industry no less than every other industry in the ** right now. It will take time and result in more delays to wait on the recalled materials to be available again. This was all explained to the customer. There is no excess of supplies and materials in todays market and this impacts everyone, not just this customer. Recall of material is not something I have control over. However, the customer for this job should consider themselves extremely fortunate that these delays all occurred because they resulted in the recall of material prior to it being used for their seawall. The manufacturer obviously felt the material to be faulty for it to be recalled, which means had it been used for the construction of the seawall, the wall would have likely failed. I warranty my work, not materials. Therefore, faulty materials installed on a job would have likely lead to the homeowner having to engage in litigation with the manufacturer for repairs or replacement when the seawall failed. Again, the customer should feel grateful that delays, still none of which were my fault, lead to the recall of faulty material that could have otherwise been installed on their project.My contracts all clearly state that damage to landscaping, including grass, is expected with marine construction projects. However, the area this customer is complaining about is within the footprint of the back-fill area, so this damaged grass is a non-issue in the long run as it all would be part of the project and backfilled with dirt upon completion of the project - again... all clearly stated in the contract.Top Dog has communicated with this customer as necessary to discuss delays caused by permitting, tide levels and material recalls and shortages. Having not started the project, there is no need for any communication beyond what has taken place; however, we have always responded when the customer reached out to us. Top Dog was made aware of the customer's dissatisfaction with us through a one star ****** review, to which we also responded and offered the customer the option to terminate the contract - which has now been done. It is unfortunate when consumers do not understand the nature of businesses in which they engage to do work for them. Due to consumer ignorance, hard working, honest, qualified, and experienced businesses suffer damage to their reputation and earning potential. With the exception of this customer, Top Dog has never received less than a five star review. Many of Top Dog's customers come from referrals of extremely satisfied customers. Some people, unfortunately, are just impossible to please. We do thank you for the opportunity to respond to this complaint and share our side of what happened on this project.

In regards to the permit, I would like to add that this permit was only obtained AFTER we, the customer, insisted on it. Top Dog ********************** stated that we did not need one because the work being done was a repair, not a new bulkhead. This conversation with Top Dog Marine took place BEFORE we signed the contract. We, the customer, disagreed, and insisted on either a permit or an exemption, to protect us in the future and to prove that the bulkhead was installed properly and legally. We were notified in April that materials were available for our project, but refused to allow work to start until the permitting process was completed. Top Dog Marine did actually not start on the permit until sometime in May, and it took until August for the permit to be approved. As far as the recall on materials, my husband contacted the company that he believed to be the manufacturer, ***************************. Of note, our contract lists ESP 6.5 vinyl sheet pile, and a ****** search generated ***************************. My husband did ask Top Dog Marine for information on the supplier, and Top Dog Marine stated that the company was named Everlast Plastics, which, according to ******, does not exist. My husbands search did generate a plastic lumber company in ************ called Everlast Plastic Lumber, which my husband attempted to contact, but could not reach anyone. ***************************, however, is a seawall product and engineering company whose main office is located in *********, **. My husband contacted *************************** about the alleged recall, and the person to whom my husband spoke stated that *************************** had never had a product recall. Furthermore, Top Dog Marine did NOT notify us immediately about the alleged recall: my husband contacted Top Dog Marine on 25 October for a status of materials and machinery, Top Dog Marine then asked my husband to call them, and THEN told my husband about the recall. The alternate color that Top Dog Marine mentions was in fact offered to us on 02 December, however, saying that "no response to this offer was received by the customer" is a flat out LIE: my husband asked Top Dog Marine if there was enough material for each property to at least be its own color, and stated (in a text message to ******, of which we can provide screenshots), that "if they're close in color, or if there is enough to do each property in one color, I don't see an issue." Top Dog Marine said that he would take pictures of the colors of material and send them to my husband, but never did this. As far as delays due to tides, Top Dog Marine may have briefly mentioned that tides may be an issue when we first signed our contract, however, there were no further or legitimate discussions of tides (i.e. Top Dog Marine did not specify when the delays would be, or how long they would take). Of note, you can plan for tides well in advance using tide charts, so tides should not have caused any substantial delays. The damaged grass may be a non-issue, to Top Dog Marine, however, as I stated, mowing around the large poles was in fact a nuisance. Perhaps Top Dog Marine thinks this is a non-issue, but I can firmly attest that mowing ones lawn in the ******* heat is hard enough as it is, and I did not need extra obstacles in my yard to mow around. Top Dog Marine should NOT have delivered those poles until they were ready to begin work, and I suspect that they only delivered the poles to buy themselves some time, as evidenced by the fact that the poles simply sat in my yard for two months. Of note, our neighbor stated that the poles were the wrong size: they were ten feet in length, and should have been 16 feet. I notice that Top Dog Marine does not comment on the danger of alligators in my yard, due to no fence - is that a non-issue as well? Top Dog Marine keeps saying that the issues they ran into were not their fault, which is true, but insufficient communication IS Top Dog Marines fault. Despite what Top Dog Marine thinks, you do not get to take someones money for a project, and then take as long as you feel like taking, without sufficiently communicating that there will be delays. You DO owe the customer updates, especially with a project of this scale and cost. Top Dog Marines statement that we always responded when the customer reached out to us is a LIE: there have been several occasions when my husband had to contact Top Dog Marine repeatedly. I can prove this as well, with screenshots of text messages, and with the aforementioned written timeline. Also, to date, Top Dog Marine has never answered any of my communications (I have emailed them and sent ******** messages, and never received a response), so for them to say that they always responded is simply a lie. What finally prompted me to write this complaint is that Top Dog Marine stated (in a text message to our neighbor, Claudio, of which I have screenshots) on 26 November, that materials had not been produced, and that Lead time on new orders is 26 weeks because they have to change the dies in the machine for each profile and I believe there is 8 different profiles. Your material is at the top of the list when the [sic] get to that profile. Top Dog Marines ****** on the timeline (26 weeks) led me to believe that it would be ANOTHER 26 weeks at least before our materials would even be ready. I found this comment horrifying and had reached the limits of my frustration. I submitted this BBB complaint, as well as a ****** review, because I had no earthly idea how long the project was going to take.Of note, on 06 December, Top Dog Marine came onto our property, without notifying us that they would do so, and removed the poles, without our permission. We now have an invoice from Top Dog Marine that indicates a charge for delivery and removal of these poles, which I find abhorrent, especially if the poles were in fact the wrong size. Finally, I would like to comment on the customer ignorance that Top Dog ********************** mentions: ANY ignorance on my part is direct a result of Top Dog Marines failure to communicate with me sufficiently. The best way to ensure that your customers are informed and educated is to do just that: inform and educate them.

Regarding Alligators. They can climb fences and having/not having a fence does not preclude any water creatures from entering your yard when you live on the water.The customer admits in her most recent response that all delays were NOT the fault of Top Dog and that she submitted a BBB complaint, slandering our company name, simply because she was frustrated based on assumptions she made when reading ******** communications with another customer. Reading her neighbors mail and interpreting for herself what those communications may mean for her job. THIS is what she stated prompted her to write a BBB complaint - text messages not directed to her.Communications this customer made on our ******** page were derogatory remarks, not questions. Therefore, no response was required.Our company email has been down for a while and as a small business with severe staffing shortages due to COVID, we have been unable to resolve the email issue for quite some time. The owner of the company has also had to be on site working jobs with his crews due to staffing shortages so the 15 hour days he has put in over the last year has definitely impacted his ability to routinely contact and communicate with customers whose jobs have not yet even begun.The bottom line is that this customer is unhappy that she could not get her job done in the timeline she wanted it done, and despite the reasons being out of our control, she obviously feels the need to blame and slander our company. We have sufficiently responded to all complaints, have not made any untrue statements, and believe this issue to be resolved.