ComplaintsforAtlas Home Improvement, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  03/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We purchased Gutter Helmet from Atlas Home Improvement about 2 years ago. When we made our purchase we explained that we would be getting a new roof put on in the next few years. The salesman told us we would need Atlas Home Improvement to remove the Gutter Helmet to not void the warranty and a nominal fee of about 500 dollars based on the square footage would be charged. When calling to schedule removal we were told that we would be charge ***** dollars which is 40% of the price we paid for install. When I asked for an explanation of the price I was told that I don't deserve and explanation and none would be given. Atlas Home Improvement is now refusing to do the work putting us in a position of having to void the warranty in order to replace a worn out roof.

  

  Business response

  03/23/2022

  First of all, I am aware of this customer **************.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to his complaint.  He also wrote a 1 star review on ****** and I responded to it.  About 2 days later he deleted his review after his argument was thoroughly debunked.

  I'm sorry that ************** had a negative experience from his perspective but a lot of the things he is saying are untrue.  Both of the calls he made to Atlas have been recorded.  He called again the next morning after his original call (with ******** and already started off this call with *** with an attitude.  He was irritated that she had not already called him back even though it was still in the morning and then preceded to call *** a liar after she told him that he was on her list of people to call for the day.  So because he was not her first call he called her a liar on several occasions which was completely rude and unnecessary.  His overall demeanor on that call was very harsh and *** was upset and we ended up having to send her home for the day.  She said she had never been called a liar before.
  
  Anyway, he says that our salesperson told him it would be $500.  That is not true.  Our salespeople do not know the pricing for this, it is a totally different department ************** that handles this.  We do not pre quote this type of work or put any numbers in our original sales contracts because a lot can change over the years.  Mr. **** does not state this in his complaint (I think intentionally) but I spoke to him personally after his original calls with my staff AND I also put him in touch with the Gutter Helmet Regional Manager (from Corporate).  We both told him essentially the same thing.  I explained to ************** that it is true that our pricing for this service has gone up over the past couple of years.  Along with most companies in home improvement, we are dealing with staffing shortages.  We are currently scheduling out 3-4 months for new work.  Due to the added costs for labor as well as the pandemic and inflation/fuel we simply had no choice but to raise pricing for most of our services.  *********** he requires is what we call a Gutter Helmet "tear-off and reinstall".  This is a very common service for us as all of our Gutter Helmet customers will eventually need a new roof.  The Gutter Helmet product needs to be removed so that the roofing company does not damage it.  This process is much more complicated than a customer understands.  The product must be very carefully removed and marked.  It is like a giant puzzle and must be put back on exactly the same way.  We also then clean the product, put special paper in between the 5' aluminum sheets to keep them from scratching one another, store it at our facility and then go back to reinstall after the roofing company installs the new roof.

  So, we have a very specific formula on how we calculate this work based on the job details.  For example, second story work is more and a steep pitch or corners/end caps etc will add to the costs because it basically takes more time to do the work.  ************** was very irritated that the girls in the office could not just come up with a price for him while he was on the phone and to be candid we just do not do it that way.  They bring the paperwork to our Gutter Manager and they look at pictures of the original job and based on the complexity they use a formula to come up with the price.  This is a proprietary formula that we use internally and we do not share that with customers.  ************** told me it was ridiculous that we charged the exact same to take the Gutter Helmet off as we do to put it back on.  I explained to him that it is actually more difficult in many cases to take it off than it is to reinstall because of how we have to track the panels and **** exactly where they go.  It is really more like 60/40 with cost towards the removal but we found that concept was confusing to customers so to make it easy we just base it on 50% deposit and 50% upon completion.  Most customers are fine with this.  In fact, this is not a part of our ************ which we are used to hearing too many complaints.  Most of our previous customers love their Gutter Helmet and are very happy to have a competent company to come out and remove/reinstall so they can get their new roof and keep all their warranties in place.  I do understand that this was a little bit of an unusual situation because ************** was buying a roof within 2 years of his original installation.  That does not happen very often. 

  ************** also stated that we do not like to do this work and that we are refusing to do the work for him and are causing him to void his warranty.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  As I told ************** when I had my call with him, this is a very normal part of our business, especially with over ****** existing customers who have Gutter Helmet in SE Michigan.  They all eventually need a roof like I said previously.  I think we have already scheduled like 10 of these removal/reinstalls for Gutter Helmet this year and we do ***** per year.  The problem is not that we refuse to do the work the problem is that ************** does not like the price.  When I spoke to him he was trying to negotiate a better price with me.  I explained to him that we had set pricing for our ************ and that I was uncomfortable with him trying to get a better deal as that was not fair to the rest of our customers who pay the price quoted.  He did not like this and that is when I offered to put him in touch with the Gutter Helmet Manager.  I'm sure he told him the same thing that I did.  ************** said that he was going to call around and find someone else to do the work.  I informed him that he owns the product and he can do what he wants but that his Gutter Helmet (per manufacturer policy) must be removed/reinstalled by the original company who did the work in order to keep the Lifetime Warranty in place.  The last thing that I said to ************** is that I hoped he would change his mind and let us do the work.  He made a great investment with Gutter Helmet and as long as it is properly reinstalled by the authorized dealers (Atlas) then he will get many years of good service from the product.

  Please reach out to me if you wish to listen to any of the phone recordings or if you have any other questions

  Thank you

  ***********************

  Atlas Home Improvement, Owner
  ************

   

   

   

   

  Customer response

  03/24/2022

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your rejection of the business's response. 
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of why I am rejecting this response appear below:
  
  The response from the business is full of lies. I have not deleted my ****** review and would be happy to share it. If the company would share the recordings they made you would hear their operations manager tell me they do not want me as a customer and to this day no one has told me any different. There are several other instances of lies throughout the response but to be honest it just seems ***** to point them all out. Unfortunately Atlas is approaching this matter as an argument that they must win. I only am asking for fair treatment.
  
  I was put in the unfortunate position by this business's lack of response to me, and not knowing if they would honor the contract at all for tear off and re-install that I had to move forward with replacing my roof. I was notified by the roofing company that they would only be able to honor the estimate given if I had the work done by the end of March, otherwise due to cost of fuel and manufacturing the job would go up about 30%. I appreciated them letting me know and treating me like a reasonable person who can understand the cost of business. The decision I had to make was that I would have to spend ***** dollars for gutter helmet removal, in Atlas response they stated they were booking 3 to 4 months out which means I would have paid an additional ***** dollars for the roof. In total due to Atlas lack of response to me, and in ability to keep employees I would have paid an additional ***** dollars or go with a new product at a cost of ***** dollars
  
  I do not think it is unfair to say that the only way to reconcile is for Atlas to refund me partially for the original purchase since I no longer have their product due to their slow response time and never confirming that they would indeed have me as a customer. 

   

   
  Regards,
  
  *******************

• Initial Complaint

  12/03/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I called Atlas because they were advertising 50% off the price. I signed a contract on March 3, 2021, with Atlas Home Improvement. I was told that because of the ***** it was going to take some time for the material to be shipped in and designed and the work would not get started until sometime in July of 2021. I started paying on the loan in April of 2021. Made my payments of time every month. On July 26, 2021, one of the installers by the name of **** got started on the project. On that same day I started a NEW JOB so that I could pay the loan off as soon as I could. My son changed his work shift so that Atlas would complete the job in TWO (2) ***S PER ATLAS ON THE *** OF SIGNING THE CONTRACT. **** explained to my son and I that he didn't need anybody to work with him. He said he can do it himself and that he would rather work alone anyway. So, he got started and I went out the door to my NEW JOB. On the second day **** could not complete the job because he was having a problem measuring the strip that goes down along the walls and the tub. So, Atlas sent another worker by the name of *******************. Atlas should have sent him in the beginning because this man knew what to do, although the job took a little bit longer. I call that a BREACH OF CONTRACT. It was suppose to take only two days, instead it took a week. Because the job took longer and my son could only take the two days off, I called into my job two days in a row to let them know I couldn't come to work because of the contract work that was going on. Because I just started this job I was on a 30-day probation and they had to let me go. Meanwhile, another week goes by and I get a call from ***** stating that Atlas need me to sign a form so that he can get paid. Well, that didn't make any sense to me so I called Atlas and spoke to ******* I asked her what was this form all about that ***** was trying to get me to sign. She said it's so that Atlas can get paid. I signed it and my payment DOUBLED.

  

  Business response

  12/14/2021

  I am sorry but this is not accurate. We would never charge a customer more than that is on the contract. The amount the customer signed on the contract is what the customer paid. We did not double charge the customer. Our contracts also do not advise on a time frame to get a job done. We do the best we can on each job done timely but we are at mercy of the job, etc. We would have been done on day two but the customer asked us to leave on day two as "she had to eat at a certain time". Customer asked us to come back to finish the job on the third day in the evening when she got back from work, which we did. We take pride in not disturbing our customers schedules the best we can. We will come on weekends when needed if they are unable during the week. Construction is not always black and white and you have no idea what you will find when you tear out existing areas. We also do not approve of anyone but an employee doing the work. It was very nice of the customer to offer to help but that is against company policy. Sounds like the customer is happy with the finished product.

  Customer response

  12/18/2021

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your rejection of the business's response. 
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of why I am rejecting this response appear below:
  
  [You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution. Please type details here:]

    I  LOST my JOB because of their irresponsibility.  They sent the wrong employee name **** on the first day, couldn't measure the striping for the wall and around the tub.  They sent another employee by the name of ******************* which took more than two days to complete the contract.  Atlas is lying about my having to go and get something to eat which made them come back another day.  My son switched shifts with his job to accommodate Atlas and myself because I had started a new JOB with *********, ***** that Monday.  I went to work so that I  wouldn't have to  take me forever to pay the loan off with the little income I receive monthly which is Social Security.  But, because Atlas screwed up everything, they want to put the blame on me.

  My job was located at ************** Jesuit ******* Academy, My bosses name was Mr. ************************* **************.  I was working in the dietary department the first day Atlas sent **** to my home to start working.  ********** is located in ******* on ************. at Wyoming.  It's and all BOYS SCHOOL. 

  I'm not the one who did the scheduling, they did.  I took on this job based on what they said to me.  I HATE LIARS!!!!!  ******************* is the employee who completed the job but it took more time for him to complete. 

   

   

  Regards,
  
  Indius *******

*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. ↩