ComplaintsforOne Of A Kind Carpenter, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  09/23/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  A total of $3,244 was paid for various work performed my home. This included removal of carpeting in living room and dining room area, preparing the floor for installation of vinyl flooring, removal of three crack tiles in kitchen area and preparing the subfloor for preparation of three new tiles. The contractor has a 2-year written warranty. Preparation for vinyl floor was not done properly as there are pockets of air underneath. Contractor failed to level out floor prior to installation vinyl flooring. Kitchen towels have cracked again due to the fact the contractor failed to apply a membrane which is a well-known fact when tiles are cracked avoiding this again. There have been numerous attempts for a good faith upon myself for the contractor to correct these issues. The last attempt was September 5th when the contractor visited my location and he told me he would get back to me. I am still waiting this is the reason for my file of complaint.

  

  Business response

  10/27/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/09/26) */ Contact Name and Title: P.Dale H*****, Bus. Mngr. Contact Phone: 407-900-9108 Contact Email: [email protected] One Of A Kind Carpenter, Inc. is very sorry that our client has felt the need to post this disappointing review and issue on the BBB of Central Florida. This is just as upsetting to us as it is to Mr. *. We value our clients as they are the life blood of our 36-year-old successful award-winning business with a stellar reputation, our work ethic is above reproach. We appreciate the frustration Mr. ** has been feeling but we followed the manufactures instructions for installation of the "Client Provided" flooring materials. We removed his carpet and found no reason to level his sub floor. We installed "Lock and Lay, backed Vinyl "Floating" planks. We also removed and replaced 3 broken tiles with client provided tiles, which were builder grade inexpensive materials. We used a top quality Pro Lite bonding thin set to be sure the tile would stay in place. Had we used a "membrane" as our client stated was common practice, (we do not often use this process with good reason), the Pro Lite would not have supported the height required to make these tiles level with the rest of the floor. We have reached out to the manufactures and have not heard back to date. We have been waiting so that we could speak with the manufacturer on his behalf as a courtesy. We certainly apologize for not communicating our efforts as of yet, we have become shorthanded as is the case with many companies at this time in history. We are overwhelmed dealing with the owner working not only 50 hours a week in the field but also managing our contracts, dealing with stocking jobs, and trying to keep our free estimate appointment schedule as not to lose any more revenue due to the fallout from COVIDE 19 destabilizing the way we normally do business. This complaint has come over a year since installation. We were unable to discern any clicking/popping sound at the time of our assessment of this issue. The tiles in the kitchen, same tiles cracked that were replaced, this should not have occurred, and we feel that there is an issue with the not only the tile but something with the foundation or sub structure. We have been in business for 36 years and do not shirk our warranty, ever. We have performed our due diligence on this client's behalf but cannot be held responsible for such occurrences as this, it is simply unlikely to be a "Labor" issue. These things happen more than not with flooring, dependent on the quality of material provided by client, the foundation of the structure, the swelling and shrinking of materials in Florida's volatile weather and temperatures and then there is the care of the space by the client, we have no idea how these materials are treated by our clients once we complete our projects. We always try to go on good faith that our clients properly maintain their homes and new completed project areas even more so. Our client even showed us a very noticeable foundation crack outside of his unit and we told him he should inform his HOA. One Of A Kind Carpenter, Inc. proudly honors our warranty of 2 years with regard to our labor. In our 36 years we have only had a couple of dozen call backs and 50% of those were issues like this, "out of our control". This issue simply does not warrant a refund, these are two isolated areas that have nothing to do with installation labor. If there is anything further that we can do to satisfy our client we will make every effort, otherwise, we consider this issue closed. We wish Mr. *. all the best and blessings in the future. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/10/04) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Every attempt to contact the contractor has been dealt with excuses. As you can see from the response. I will be posting on Google review so that other potential customers can avoid this same situation I have been dealing with for months. As stated they claim to offer a 2 year warranty, yet the popping for the vinyl flooring which is under 2 years is being bypassed. Just a cost savings. Dale my initial contact even bragged at first how much sales they made per year, over $1,000,000 I could of went with a lower priced contactor yet I went for the higher end here for the 2 year " warranty" which is not being upheld. The membrane that should have been installed underneath the cracked kitchen tiles initially is a well-known fact. If it is too high that is for the contractor to figure out not me. Leveling should have been done in the low areas in the living room and dining room to avoid the popping that I have from the get-go. It is inaccurate from the statement from the contractor it was mentioned right away to an employee who is no longer employed there who clogged up my air conditioner unit. That employee told me don't worry it would level off. I am not a flooring expert I have no expertise in this and I would have no knowledge. I was sweet talked into believing them. I gave it a year figuring I would go through all four seasons and it would subside which it did not. Phone call started in March which is nearly at one year point to get the process corrected. All I was given were excuses upon excuses and non return phone calls. Anything to avoid correcting the problem. If proper prep was done we both would not be in this situation currently. I'm not asking for a full refund. I'm asking for a refund for the portion in the kitchen in the flooring so I can get a different contractor to fix this correctly. Uphold your 2-year warranty! Attach is a picture from the vinyl flooring it clearly states the floor must be level. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2021/10/07) */ We regret that Mr. * feels the way he does. The office has never boasted untruthfully, we share years of facts, and the fact is we "DO NOT" have a revue of $1M per year. These words were never spoken. The fact stated was that we started humbly as a sole proprietorship and our first three years as corporation and marketing blitzkrieg over that time yielded over $1M in sales. We simply shared some growth history about our great reputation earned due to our work ethic, craftmanship and experience. This is what was shared at the time of our initial communication. We have stated our case and believe we gave factual and concise evidence that the floor tile cracking twice in the same spot that "we did not originally install" has nothing to do with how we installed the tile for that repair. There are other circumstances at play that have nothing to do with installation. We repaired it at not charge after the first repair from the estimate. We "paid" to have Mr. **s A/C cleaned, our containment is taken seriously for the utmost convenience of our clients, and we check it each day on the site. There could have been missed areas where debris could have breached the containment, he was also told that the A/C should remain off during demo and to leave containment in place. We double check each time we are there to tac back up or reinstall which is time consuming and costly. We have never dodged or not answered his calls, that is not our way and 36 years in business proves that. Out of courtesy for Mr. *, we would offer $175.00 towards others to come and pop those tiles out and reset them in the manner he deems fit. We usually don't offer a warranty on work we did not originally do, but we did as a courtesy. This is the perfect example of why we only warranty "our" work. We encouraged him to get with his HOA about the foundation crack very near his home, we care about our clients and value our relationships with them greatly. Once again, we regret this interaction and feel as strongly about our place in it as the client does. One Of A Kind Carpenter, Inc. has made a gesture of goodwill in this response. No further reparation will be offered, and we continue to wish our client well in the future. Thank you. Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2021/10/08) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I am not sure what the " contractor" is speaking of for a first and second repair to the kitchen tile. The contractor was the only individual to replace these tiles. The amount mentioned for $175 would be sufficient to get a qualified company to perform the work that should have been originally done in the first place. Nothing is being mentioned about the floor being not level in the living room dining room area that should have been prepped properly from the get-go. Avoiding this whole situation a vinyl popping. I will leave it up to the case reviewer to determine the proper resolution only because the contractor did not mention a dollar amount to be determined for properly correcting that area. Business Response /* (4000, 14, 2021/10/15) */ This clients floor for the vinyl installation was NEVER to be leveled, we removed carpet from the main living area and a very small area of tile at front door. We did not include or insinuate that there would be leveling of the floor. It was never on the contract and the client "Accepted" our estimate. The vinyl flooring was backed with it's own underlayment. That type of flooring is called "FLOATING LOCK AND LAY". When the carpet was removed we assessed and found no reason or need to level/float the concrete sub floor. The popping issue was explained in our first response thereby, we have no further response relating to this part of the estimate which was Labor $1225.00. Even so, when the owner went to investigate the complaint of popping sounds he could not find the source of this issue and did not hear any sounds. We have responded appropriately to this clients needs and then some. Simply put: THE CONTRACT DID NOT INCLUDE ANY TYPE OF FLOOR LEVELING NOR DID IT NEED IT. The client agreed to the estimate as written. We have attached a screen shot of the the invoice which starts as the estimate which is unchanged. **We cannot be held responsible for something we did not provide services for.** We are so disappointed that our valued client is unhappy, this frustrates us as much as him. There is over 75 years of construction, remodeling and customer service experience combined here and when clients have our company provide services, watch us perform those services and do not bring up their concerns for the process until over a year later, we become shocked and upset for our reputation. The facts speak for themselves here. We cannot find a reason to repair or refund for the vinyl flooring labor costs. We are happy to discuss this if the Case Manager would like to call our office. Kindly, One Of A Kind Carpenter.

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