ComplaintsforJFC Pros

• Initial Complaint

  10/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On June 29th we had wire transferred 75,000 to JFC pros (amount required by them to start job with a tentative start date sometime in October). After 3 different cancelations on their part for meetings about plans and when we saw an actual plan - it omitted several items we had specifically requested we decided to cancel. I checked with the building inspector to make sure no permits were pulled, and that actual work had not been started or formulated and on July 21st we canceled and requested a refund. They said this has never happened before and not sure how to handle this. After multiple emails and having to get an attorney, the attorneys and both parties agreed to receive a full refund over 4 months due on the 15th of each month starting in September in an equal amount of 18750 in the form of bank check. We received our first payment on September 26th in the form of a business check which then takes 5 business days to clear. When we did not receive our second check on October 15th, my attorney reached out to theirs, only to find out that he has retired and there is nothing more he can do. Joe C did send an email stating that he will drop off the check on Friday the 20th, again no check, and when my attorney reached out there has been no response on their end. They owe me 56, 250 and if we were to go by the agreement which I have included here there would be additional principles and interest on top of that. I have not done any reviews, and did not want to file this, but unfortunately I have no choice. Please help, I am not sure where to turn or how to proceed from here

  Business response

  10/31/2023

  "This client has signed the contract and we worked several hours creating a 3d design for the project. For our surprise a couple of weeks later he changed his mind and decided not to do the job. We explained that this would mess up our schedule and affect us financially so we needed to come up with a solution that would be fair for both of us since we had a contract signed. We offered in good faith to refund them in monthly payments that we have been making and the client agreed. We take our clients concerns seriously. We have a signed agreement outlining the refund process and payment schedule, which we are committed to following and we are making the payments. We value our clients and their satisfaction, and we are working diligently to resolve this matter as per our agreement. Although we had the right to make the client honor the contract that he signed we offered to give the money back and not charge for the design.

  Customer response

  11/07/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: refund payments are scheduled for the 15th of the month and have yet to be in a timely manner. Last month (October) I was unable to get a check until the 25th, and that required me going down to the office, because I was unable to get a response back after several attempts. I filed the BBB complaint only after several days of no response and no sign of a check. I will be happy to take the complaint down once I am refunded back in full in a timely manner that was agreed upon. Thank you 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  02/05/2024

  Although this client had a contract signed with us, and they were not entitled to get their money back since we have a contract signed, and they decided to cancel. We decided to refund the client in full. We gave their money back in good faith. This matter is resolved.

• Initial Complaint

  08/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Hired JFC Pros in December of 2021 to complete a 1 bedroom home addition. Project was delayed several times in the beginning and was not started in April of 2022. Project was finally started in January of 2023. Going by the original estimated time of completion, this project was scheduled to be finished in May-July of this year. It is now August 18 and the project is still not completed. All payments were made on time and materials were ordered as requested. Company will not give a new time line, we keep being told subcontractors and scheduled and no one shows up. Weeks will go by with nothing being done and JFC Pros will not respond to our emails/texts asking for a new time line of when the project will get done. JFC Pros has (on 2 occasions) asked for payment early, and we declined and have paid according to the contract. We need this project finished by the end of September and if JFC Pros cannot do it we expect payment back for services not provided and would like to complete the project ourselves.

  Customer response

  08/30/2023

  After original complaint was sent - the contractor reached out and outlined a 2 week plan to finish the work. Work was not done according to the plan and will not be finished according to that deadline. Days have past again with no work being done. 

  Business response

  09/05/2023

  We're truly sorry to hear about your frustration with the project's timeline. We recently made great progress on this job. One other problem was that building department took way too long to respond to inspections and this messed up our schedule big time and the client knows that that's true. We understand the importance of delivering work on time, and we take your feedback seriously.  Throughout the whole time we were actively working to address all delays. We recently hire new staff  improve our processes and communication to ensure a better experience for our clients in the future. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we appreciate your patience.
  
  Sincerely,
  JFC Pros team.

  Customer response

  09/07/2023

  Complaint:***********
  
  I am rejecting this response because we keep getting new timelines for completion and each time the date passes with the project not being completed.  An inspection has not been required for awhile now and frequently days will pass with no work being done.  We are constantly being told someone would be there and no one shows up.  Communication regarding this project and its timeline has been terrible.  A project that was supposed to take 4-6 months has now been in process for over 1 1/2 years. The last communication about a timeline that I received from Joe C (contractor) was after receiving my BBB complaint  a 2 week outline for work was given with the project being done by the end of August.  That did not happen and I have not received another updated timeline.  The only outcome that is acceptable at this point is the completion of the project.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Business response

  09/20/2023

  BBB was able to speak with the business and they plan to reach out to the customer and attempt to make a plan going forward to complete the work

  Customer response

  09/26/2023

  Complaint:************
  
  I am rejecting this response because the only acceptable response is a clear plan of completion or the project being completed.  The only information that I have been given is vague timelines of when work will get done and inevitably that work does not get done.  I am beyond frustrated that this project has taken this long and because we are 4 days away from the date I was given that this project would be done and already, 2 days have past this week with no workers working on anything.  This addition is for my mother, who will be moving from *********** and we are trying to get here before the winter.  JFC Pros is aware of this and is aware that she has already spent last winter in *********** because of project delays.  It seems as though there is no urgency to get this project done.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Customer response

  10/02/2023

  I have attached a copy of the email I sent to our contractor at JFC Pros on Friday, September 29th 2023 at 3:21pm.  To date (12:04pm on Monday, October 2nd, 2023) I have not received a response.  I am completely frustrated with how long this project is taking and every deadline/completion date that I'm given passes with the project still not being done.  After first contacting the BBB in early-mid August, the response I received from Joe at JFC pros was an outline of all the work that was going to get done and be ready for final inspections in 2 weeks.  That was on August 17 - It is now October 2nd and the only things from his list that was completed was the first coat of painting, the doors with some of the trim, the cabinet and counter installation and the tile work. We are still waiting on electrical, decks, plumbing, appliance installation, painting/trim.

  Customer response

  10/25/2023

  As an update - project was not completed by the end of September. We were then told it would be finished by the end of October. It is now October 25th and it does not look like that will happen. 

  Business response

  02/05/2024

  We waited to finish the project before responding. We waited a couple months to make sure everything was in good working order before we could give our side of the story. When this client contacted us to build a new In-law apartment more than two years ago, everything was different. The prices of materials were a lot lower. It was easy to find good help and the pandemic was not yet affecting businesses too much. The first problem we had was getting the building permits. The town of Oxford building department and zoning board required so much paperwork to get this design approved. It was so painful and time consuming we had to provide in total over 300 pages worth of documents. It took us several months going back-and-forth with all departments to get this approved although we worked several weeks to get the permits. We never charged the client any extra for all the intense administrative work. Had we not done all of this extra work the client would probably have had to spend a good amount of money with a lawyer to get these permits (including multiple special permits). 
  During this time, prices of construction materials and labor started going through the roof because of the pandemic. Gas prices went up. The pandemic got worse, and a lot of more people started getting sick. 
  When we finally got the permits, we started working on the foundation in the month of January. Normally you would never find a foundation company to do foundation work that time of the year.  Our foundation company worked in severe weather conditions to make sure the client is happy.
  After that, some things started going back to normal, but the entire construction field including our company still experienced significant material delays and a shortage of workers. People didn’t want to go back to work because they were getting paid to stay home. All of these problems started causing a cash flow problem for us because it delayed work thereby delaying projects and delaying the receipt of payments. 
  In the end, there was an allowance clause in the contract where it said: If material or service costs are greater than the allowances the client must pay for the difference. This allows for customers to make choices to chose more expensive material and pay the difference if that is what they want (for example luxury tiles and countertops, etc). The cost of the materials and labor for the items which had allowances exceeded the allowances by $24,000. In good faith we offered to split the cost of the overage and only charged half of the overage giving a $12,000 discount. 
  The job cost for this project ended in a total loss of more than $60,000. The fact that we finished this job and we’re still in business is a miracle. All we could do is learn from our mistakes. In the end the client is left with a beautiful apartment worth more than $350,000 and they only paid about $230,000 total. We told them this would take 6 to 9 months, and it took a total of 10 months. It took longer than we predicted, and we apologize for that. 
  

  Customer response

  02/12/2024

  Initial contract was signed in December of 2021, BBB was contacted late summer 2023 as a last resort due to lack of communication from JFC Pros regarding a foreseeable end date to the project and several deadlines coming and going.

  The type of contract we entered into with JFC Pros makes the contractor responsible to keep their client informed of price adjustments regularly throughout the process.  We were informed via email of a change in price once and at that time due to other items being under budget, we were told it would be a "wash".  Nothing further was communicated to us about materials/labor going over budget until the end of the project.

  The apology issued above is appreciated but underwhelming.  The project is completed and while there are still questions left unanswered, we are compelled to end this dispute and end any working relationship with JFC Pros and move on.

• Initial Complaint

  07/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  JFC Pros took $210,000 of a $240,000 contract and completed only the framing. They have not finished the drainage, the floors, the walls, the electrical or the plumbing. Nothing is connected from the addition to the main house. Everything that has been completed is not plumb. The door frames and garage door frames are all crooked. As they have refused to finish the job, it is impossible to fully lock the home. They have not connected the addition to the main house or the plumbing or electrical. They agreed to $7500 towards a heat pump and we have installed and paid for this but they have not issued the credit. They have simply left with less than 20% of the contract remaining. Their failure to put the windows centered with the top of the new roof leaves things looking crooked. They had us order a door well before it was due and then their own siding contractors said they had scratched it. They have not installed the bath fixtures they asked us to purchase early so they might install. They left dangerous rusty nails all over our yard (not just the construction site) making it impossible for our children to get their bikes into and out of the home. They damaged our electrical to the outside and have not fixed meaning no holiday lights or Halloween lights and (as I leave at 6 am for work) a dangerous darkness when I leave. They refuse to address any of the above and just ignore entrities to finish the work or to meet on site regarding the poor workmanship. NONE of the workers speak English and refuse to speak Spanish though they understand (all speak Portuguese). None can read our architect's plans. He switched the head person midway through the project to someone unfamiliar with any of the history. He tells all workers he has had to change the plans multiple times as we ran out of money which is categorically untrue--the plans are from our architect and he is angry we will not change them to make it easier for Joe C.

  Business response

  08/15/2023

  This review is very uncharitable and not representative of this project nor our company at all. At the time of this review the stated payments made are inaccurate and were behind. The amount of work stated to be done/left over suggested that the majority of the job hadnt been done when in fact over 75% of the work had been done at the time. In construction, payment is not made throughout a project after work is done, but rather before, to finance a project to its completion (except for the last payment which is minimal to ensure the job is done to the clients satisfaction).
  In regards to the door and garage door frames being crooked,this was never mentioned to us before this comment. We have since evaluated this and found this to be untrue.
  In regards to stopping the work, the client told us not to go to her house anymore. If a client removes the authorization for us to be on their property, we are not legally allowed to go there. We had to get the client to give a new written authorization to continue the job, which we have already obtained and have started work again.  
  As far as the HVAC Unit is concerned, the HVAC Unit was in our contract to install and it is in our contract that no one is allowed to do any work while we have an open permit on the property. Instead, the client hired someone else to install this unit and expected us to pay for it. We are not responsible for this unit nor the work performed, but if it passes inspection we have no problem deducting the money for this work/unit from the final payment up to the stated allowance (stated in the contract) despite the breach of contract in this area.
  As far as the windows not being centered with the top of the new roof and looking crooked, we build according to the plans provided to us by the clients architect. If the client didn't like the position of these windows they should have taken it up with the architect when the drawings were made. We are required to build to the architectural drawings provided.
  We had never received any of the complaints about doors being ordered too early and being scratched, about bath fixtures being ordered early, nails in the yard, damage to outside electrical until this post was made. The door was not scratched when installed and we are not sure who scratched it since there were many people in that area (including non-construction personnel)it could have been anyone. It is stated in our contract due to the dangerous nature of a construction site that NO ONE other than the construction personnel should be in that area during the entire project (unless accompanied by construction personnel to review work). So the family (especially the children) should not be using the area as it is a construction site. This is standard procedure in construction to protect people from getting injured. As far as the outdoor electrical goes, it wasn't damaged, but rather it was disconnected for the time being to allow for the work to be done and will be reconnected as soon as it is safe to reconnect (which is this week). About the rusty nails, we clean the job site daily and recently went over everything to make sure there were no nails on the ground. We use a magnetic tool to collect the nails. However as stated, no one is supposed to be in the construction area during the construction project to prevent any issues with encountering construction materials which can be a hazard.
  As far as the workers not speaking English, we always have a bilingual project manager working on the project. The employees are instructed not to converse with the clients about project changes and issues but rather to alert the project manager if the client has a concern. This is for many reasons like we have had some clients ask our employees to do things that are not in the contract, interrupting the non-managerial employees takes them away from completing their work on time, and because the non-managerial employees are often not aware of the entire scope of the project but rather just their assignments so they are not equipped to answer most of the clients questions. It is the project managers job to handle all the details of the project. As far as switching the head person (the project manager) this may happen due to a change of who is best to lead a project or just due to personnel changes. In this case our project manager decided to leave the company for personal reasons so we assigned another project manager. This project manager has over 30 years experience in construction and has no problem getting up to speed on a project. As far as saying no one can read the architects plans that is not true. Joe, our licensed CSL, and both of the project managers could both read the plans. The last line about complaining about changing plans and the client running out of money is not true either. We have never said such things and would never say such things. We have no issue using the plans from an architect that we have not hired and have done so on many jobs. 

  Customer response

  08/15/2023

   
  Complaint:**********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  We paid him and our lawyer said not to give him another penny. We will now file with the state about his license. We have had several others come to review the work and all say the windows are not symmetrical, the roof is not according to plan and that less than 60% of the work is done, this is after several other contractors reviewed the work and the town inspectors spoke with us. ALL stated he should never have less than 33% remaining until work is completed yet we have paid $210K of $240K AND he calls and refuses to come without more of the remaining paid. He drives by but never gets out of the car. We have requested a meeting at our home for him to review the actual work but he continually refuses or comes up with excuses. He has changed the on-site manager to someone who neither understands the history nor can read the plans. Even our architect is exasperated. People should not have to contract with a lawyer to get the work done yet this is where we are. If clients are this disgruntled, there is a problem. There is a hole in the roof; there are undocumented workers; there is a refusal to have someone with whom we can speak when someone does show. For example, a handyman (he called him a carpenter but he was not licensed as such) showed up to install a pole. He installed it crooked, not plumb (carpentry 101) and when my husband told him it was not plumb. Joe C called and screamed at my husband not to talk to his workers. What recompense do we have when the work is so substandard. The garage doors are not installed so our home is not secure. The outside electricity that Joe C blew by overusing our electricity and that he put in writing that he would correct in February (which was 6 months after it blew) is still not fixed. He is a conman. He says he will come and he does not. He promised to pay for the siding to make up for his late work, and then demanded payment for the siding or he would not come. He LIES. 
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  08/23/2023

  This client came to us from a referral from a neighbor that we built an addition to him. Their friend was extremely happy with our work and recommended us to them.

  It is important to mention that we never intended to stop the work. The client asked us not to go to her house anymore and told us to stop the work. At that point they were behind in payment with us (we can prove it). The husband contacted us and we offered to go back to work and finish the work and resolve all matters peacefully with the some conditions:

  1) The client hired us to do the addition but they had plans that showed some work in the existing house (kitchen remodel). When we told them the costs of the total project they decided to hire us to do the addition only because they wouldn't be able to cover the costs of everything at once and they signed the contract to do  only do the addition and not the kitchen. After we started they kept asking our workers and subcontractors many times to perform work that was not in the contract trying to confuse us. When she told us to stop the work and later contacted us to come back and continue the work, we requested affirmation in writing that they acknowledged that kitchen work was never in the contract. They confirmed that by email and we have that in our records.

  2) Second was the bad language and aggressive behavior on their behalf. When we started the excavation we found a lot of problems with the property having too much water in the area where the addition was being built. This is considered unforeseen since we could not predict or identify the problem until we started the excavation. That was the first time that the client showed anger and started yelling at us and being disrespectful. We had recently ran in to a similar problem at a different location where we had to install a storm water management system and we immediately started looking for solutions on how we could remediate the problem. Since we had just performed similar work we told them how much the other client had to pay for the storm water management system. They reacted extremely angrily and disrespectfully once again. They never approved our change order to perform the water remediation problem and they still have a lot of problems with water at the property as you can see in the attached photos. We installed a sump pump and a perimeter drain in the inside part of the addition to remediate the water from inside and didn't charge for that in good faith. Another thing they requested was the installation of a sink in the garage and never paid for that work either.

  Our foundation subcontractor made a couple mistakes but the mistakes were fixed immediately. Although we fixed the problem they still were very rude. 

  So when the husband contacted us to restart the work we had to inform him that one of the conditions for use to restart the work was for them to maintain respectful behavior towards us and he agreed.

  3) The third condition was we made was for them to sign another property owner authorization form to authorize us to work at their property. Since the wife had asked us to stop the work we needed to make sure that we had their authorization in writing to protect ourselves.

  4) The fourth condition was we needed to get paid $5,000.00 for the framing payment and $4,500.00 for siding materials. The framing payment was supposed to be $40,000.00 but they only paid us $35,000.00 leaving a unpaid balance of $5,000.00. They made these payments recently and they are in good terms at the moment today 08-23-2023.

  5) The last condition was that they agreed and promise to delete the false review on BBB. (We can prove that to). This review can in fact compromise our company in every aspect especially financially. These accusations are all false but we don't know who will or who will not believe them. We recently contacted an attorney to see the best way to handle this situation as we never had this happened to us before.

  As of today since we restarted the work we were able to finalize the electrical and pass the rough electrical inspection, we passed the framing inspection and we have insulation schedule for this week. 08-23-23. We are hoping to finish the work and have all matters solved with this client and we are doing everything within our power to do so. We have never left a project unfinished and hope that this will not be the first.

  At JFC Pros we value our customers' satisfaction and aim to maintain a high standard of professionalism, respect and quality. If anyone have any further concerns or would like to discuss this matter in more detail, please feel free to contact us directly. We are committed to resolving any misunderstandings and ensuring a positive experience for all our customers.

   

  Thank you for choosing JFC Pros!
  *********************
  ************

*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. ↩