ComplaintsforHubbert Realty

• Initial Complaint

  05/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We sold a home in Willard and purchased a home in Bolivar using **** ********. When we purchased the Bolivar home, we were told by **** that we had a one-year home warranty. We turned in different items to the said contactor with the policy for needed repairs in the home and we have been lied to, ignored, and pushed back since May 2022; well within the one-year warranty when we originally requested for the repairs. After asking **** for help, we discovered that the said one year home warranty was only a verbal agreement and we have nothing to fall back on for the needed repairs to our home. We received a text from the contractor that indicates the repairs we requested would be repaired because we requested them before the one year was up. It has been an ongoing issue with this contractor to the point where he no longer responds to our attempts at contacting, has threatened to pull us off the "repair" list, and has continually produced excuses for why the repairs aren't being done. (Have text string going back to May 11th, 2022) After researching this contractor, we believe he has multiple cases against him for violations and bad repair work. I would like to speak with you on submitting an ethics complaint against our realtor for not protecting us as the buyer and obtaining a written agreement and not actively telling us that it was not a written agreement only after we needed repairs and purchased the home. We do not feel as though our realtor was acting in our best interest. Our floor is caving in, splitting, warping, and falling apart. We have no way of falling back to a warranty to be able to fight the contractor for these repairs and we have no way of confirming the agreement beyond what we were told by ****. We do not think he protected us as buyers in the way he should have by obtaining a written agreement or contract of the warranty.

  Business response

  05/24/2023

  **** is an agent for our company, and he is very attentive to his clients and their needs.   

  The warranty in which the client keeps referring to was a verbal agreement he has for his work on any projects he works on.   This was warranty was only brought to the knowledge of the client and **** after the house was closed on.   (Contractor did work for seller of the house this person purchased.)  The contractor has responded to several of her requests for repairs, and fixed serveral issues the client had.   The contractor did say that he had issues with ordering materials and getting them to complete some of the repairs due to Covid and the supply chain issues that he had to deal with.   One item in particular was an issue with flooring.   He installed for the seller, vinyl plank flooring.   One of the clients request for repairs was for him to come and fix the new flooring.   The client skidded heavy item of furniture over the spot and chipped one of the planks and also separated several other planks.  The Contractor found out that the flooring used was discontinued and could not obtain a new plank to replace the chipped plank.  He ordered a caulk style filler that has recently was shipped to him.   He is still planning on completing this repair.   

  In talking with the contractor, he was called out to fix other items.  One of the calls was for the HVAC system not cooling.   The unit was installed in the wintertime, and so when heat hit in 2021 the unit needed additional coolant.   He was later called out for the unit not cooling properly, but this time the outside unit was filled with dog hair and unit was knocked off it's base.   The client had built a dog pen around the outside Heatpump unit, and the large dog had apparently created this repair issue.   The contractor cleaned the hair out of the cooling grates, had to sweat the copper line that was broken from the shifting of the unit.    Another repair was for a strip of countertop that was knocked off the client, and contractor repaired it.   

  This client has made many requests for items to be repaired that was not fault of the quality of workmanship.   According to **** this is the first time he has heard from the client about repairs.    **** was aware of the first request to fix the HVAC system.    

  The client appears to be disgruntled about her circumstances, in which client is not happy about not getting attention and has now drug our company and our reputation into her problems.   I am sorry for this situation but due to client's neglience in the matter we cannot help her.     She did have the property inspected by an independent home inspection company.   A list of repairs at the time of inspection was presented to seller, who had this contractor fix all the repairs on the list.   

  Customer response

  05/24/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The issues with the flooring have nothing to do with furniture.  We informed contractor of flooring issues on multiple occasions prior to us even having furniture in locations where flooring has chipped, sunken in, separated, and needs repaired. In one area, there has yet to be any type of furniture and yet it is sinking in and cracking. Contractor has said that we had to wait for humidity to go down in our home, we purchased a dehumidifier to speed up the process.  Since we have been waiting we have continued to have issues with the floor and the issues are spreading in areas where there are no furniture. We have yet to be informed or contacted by him on status of repairs.  My most recent attempt being last week. We have had zero communication with this contractor to even know at this time what we are waiting on. 

  On the ac repair, he failed to report to you that it was due to his failure to ensure that the coolant was filled.  He informed us that new units are shipped out with out being full of coolant and because of this, it had to be filled which was the issue for it not cooling. We have since had to have a separate contractor come out and repair the unit because he failed to fix a leak on the unit. 

  We were NOT made aware the warranty was a spoken agreement until August 2022 via messenger with ****.  At that time I asked if he had access to the documents for the warranty where I was then informed it was a verbal agreement.  Until that time, we were under the impression a document was produced. We feel as though we were not adequately informed of this until after we sold and began having issues. 

  
  Sincerely,
  ***** ********

  Customer response

  05/24/2023

  In response to the BBB communication, it appears as though we are both being told differing things from the contractor.

  
  

  In your response you mentioned that the contractor said we had furniture causing the flooring issues and that we were splitting the planks. I don’t know how one would go about splitting planks, but this is not accurate. When he came out the first time, we mentioned to him that there were several areas in the flooring that were splitting, cracking, sinking, and separating. He told us that was due to the humidity levels and everything settling. We took him at his word and purchased a dehumidifier to help with humidity levels and hoped the floor would go back to normal. This is not the case. We have waves throughout the front area of the home where the floor is unlevel, cracking, splitting, separating, and sinking. When the contractor came out a year ago, he mentioned all that was needed was a leveling compound. We did not have any expectations or demand of a full replacement of planks or new flooring. We were under the impression that he would have that readily available once we got humidity down. Once we had the humidity levels lowered, we asked the contractor when he would be available to come out and place the leveling compound, that is when he started on producing reasons why it would be a waiting period. He told us on multiple occasions that items have shipped, not shipped, were labeled to ship, were received, were not received, and finally to stop contacting as he doesn’t have to fix the floor. I have tried contacting him and have yet to receive any response. The reasoning he supplied you, were not the reasons that were supplied to us.

  
  

  This contractor has only come out twice. Once for repairing the corner of the countertop that we have had to repair on multiple occasions due to not having the proper glue or installation. We fixed this ourselves because we had the ability to do so, and it wasn’t worth the effort to have the contractor come out and fix glue. At this time, we showed him the floor issues. The second time he came out was because of the AC. He informed us that it wasn’t cooling because his workers didn’t fill the coolant as is needed with new units. He informed us that when the units are made, they are kept in a warehouse until sold. From there they aren’t filled to help with shipping and weight. He told us that once filled, we should be good to go. Since then, we have had to have a separate contractor come out and refill the unit and fix leaks and installation issues.

  
  

  We didn’t build a dog pen around the unit; we installed a fence around the entirety of our yard. The air unit is on the right, the dogs stay to the left. We know this because of the tracks that are permanent in the yard from where the dogs stay and spend most of their time, not near the unit.

  
  

  The root issue is that the contractor has promised repairs going back over a year. We were under the impression that there was a written warranty in place which is why I reached out to **** asking for access to that document. He told us at that time that it was a verbal warranty. When I informed him of the issues, we were having with the contractor at that time his response was, “Ugh, I’m so sorry.”

  
  

  I am not seeking attention nor are the issues due to our own negligence. We take great pride in our home and simply want to enjoy our home without people tripping as they walk around because of the floor being so unlevel and falling apart you can’t walk. There are areas of the floor where entire planks are splitting in half and cracking because of how unlevel the underlayment is. Areas with no furniture, areas that have little to no traffic, and areas that don’t make sense for us to sit there and pull planks apart.

  
  

  You are more than welcome to stop by and see the areas that are of concern.

  Business response

  05/24/2023

  In response to the rejection and complaint.

  Our documentation shows that the contract (that has your signatures acknowledging) to purchase your property, shows the box checked that there was no home warranty.  There was a manufacturer's warranty on the HVAC that was installed in 2021.   The first HVAC repair was for low refrigerant - which is not covered under its warranty, and the second repair was for a ruptured copper refrigerant line, which also is not covered under the HVAC warranty.  The Contractor has apparently been willing to correct these issues even though he was not part of the sales contract.   He is not contractually involved in this transaction, only he stands behind his workmanship.   I am surprised he is still willing to help with the floor at this point. 

  From your photos, I am not an flooring expert, but could the product be your issue and not the installation.   

  This issue is not with Hubbert Realty, our contractual duties ended at closing with was November 22, 2021.   It wasn't until May 2022 that **** was contacted about your first HVAC issue.   You should feel fortunate that the contractor the seller used has been making repairs long after the date of sale.  Usually repairs are the homeowners responsibilty after you purchase a home.  The fact that you have had help trying to correct your problems by the contractor, you should be very thankful and accomodating to the contractor and his schedule. When I spoke to him this week, I am surprised he is still willing to work on your problems.

   

  Customer response

  05/25/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The contract as explained by **** at the time was that there was a home warranty. When signing the contracts that is the expectation that was set. In my message sent to **** on August 3rd, 2022; I expressed concern about the warranty and that the only thing I could find was the contract and a check mark with no home warranty. We went through the sale being told there was a home warranty, as such we were understanding it as a document was produced. When I reached out to **** on August 3rd, 2022; we were then told that there was no document in place and the warranty was a verbal warranty. During our sale this was not expressed to us appropriately, nor was it told to us until I had to seek out answers. With how quickly **** responded to my question, it seems as though he knew of this well before he shared it with us on August 3rd, 2022, when I was seeking out information.

  Again, the reasons the contractor expressed to you for his trips out are NOT what he shared with us. When he came out for the HVAC, he said it was low due to his employees not filling it up properly at the time it arrived on site. I do not recall him ever telling us about copper line needing replaced or repaired. He did not express that repair to us.

  I have record of several attempts made to the contractor as well as a record of him agreeing to the repairs alongside his reasons for it being such a waiting period. We have been extremely patient and have yet to have any communication with the contractor since February 7th, 2023, despite my attempts since. He has no issues of communicating with you about our situation however he has yet to contact us about any updates or new reasons for waiting.  

  The product was picked out by the contractor and installed by the contractor. We have had multiple contractors come out and provide quotes and their opinion of issues, it is strictly due to the installation. Nor is the issue due to negligence by us, as owners like you have mentioned in previous responses. I am afraid of cleaning my floor properly in fear of the floor getting worse.

  I would feel fortunate if our realtor protected us as buyers properly by creating some type of document about the warranty as a backing for us or giving us more information on the warranty before we continued with the sale. During our buy/sale process we expressed to **** that having a home warranty was important to us, as we were spending a large sum and wanted that protection for any needed repairs within that first year. There has been a long list of repairs needed to the home due to the contractor’s workmanship that we have chosen to fix ourselves.

  We have not had any communication with the Contractor since Feb. 7th where he expressed that I needed to stop contacting him. He has yet to make the requested repairs as he promised to complete. Our patience and understanding of the circumstances are why we have waited so long. After over a year of waiting and our floor actively caving in has strained our patience. We have looked at ripping the floor up ourselves and moving on from the situation because at this point as stated, the contractor has not communicated with us. The floor needs to be leveled, and new planks laid down. The ones that are currently installed are no longer salvageable. The issues run from the dining room, through the kitchen, a section of the living room, and through the hallway to the laundry room.

  Our complaint regarding Hubbert Realty and their agent that was used is that we don’t feel as though the “warranty” was expressed to us properly until after we needed to seek help. I view choosing a realtor as choosing someone that will be able to help with referrals, guidance, and expertise during the process, and being someone that in the future we would go to purchase or sell when the time comes. Your comment of the duties ending on November 22nd, 2021, tell us all we need to know about how Hubbert Realty views it’s clients.

  The contractor seems to only respond to your communication, can you inform him that we are needing communication from him? He has not once told us the information that you have shared in these responses. We are more than willing to figure out some sort of plan to resolve the floor caving in with the current product being out of production.
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ********

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