ComplaintsforTotal Seal Basement Waterproofing

• Initial Complaint

  07/18/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased my house on 06/25/24 knowing that it came with a 5 year transferrable warranty from Total Seal Basement Waterproofing for repair on a basement wall. Within two weeks of my taking ownership the repaired wall began to leak which created a river of water flowing on my basement floor. I contacted Marty B***** 0n that day 07/12/24, he verbally said not to worry, and that he would come out on 07/15/24 to assess the situation. He showed up and explained to me that this wall was repaired twice, once by a previous company and then him, and that he will not be responsible for anyone else's work. I inquired further because he repaired the wall and he should honor the warranty; he refused multiple times explaining that he has done 1000s of jobs like this, and that I am the only one that has ever had an issue.

  Business response

  08/26/2024

  Please review the included texts which I apologize but could not send in order.  They go 2,6,5,1,3,7,4.  That is their order chronologically.    Included in those texts were the pics she submitted as evidence.  If I could please direct you to them and as you'll see there are two different colors on the wall.  The gray (on the left) is our work.  The lighter, yellow-ish color directly next to it is someone else's work done prior, perhaps several years ago.  So there are two issues there and we were hired to fix the one to the left of whatever (I have 0 idea what's behind what they did) was done previously.  The texts I included show verbatim that upon being told there was an issue I returned to the residence while it was raining and there wasn't any water entering at that time.  With no water entering and my work appearing to not show any obvious places of entry I asked the lady (I have no idea who **** is i only spoke and met with a woman) to please keep an eye on it and place a hand on the wall upon seeing leakage to ascertain whereabouts it was coming from.  She proceeded to send me pics of water at the base and showed zero interest in doing what I asked and as you can see from the pics...there is NO way I can remotely determine where it's coming from.  She then said (as shown in the texts), "I should do the just and fair thing" and "fix the wall that I repaired."  Again, there are OBVIOUSLY two different jobs done here and I don't feel it's "just and fair" for us to repair someone else's work at our cost.  I was there when it was raining and there was nothing.  My work was tight to the wall, unblemished and showed no signs of entry.  The other didn't either hence my asking her to simply look and feel where it was coming in which as per her words "the wall is leaking with a river."  If it's leaking that badly (which honestly the pics do NOT show, that's a tiny puddle compared to jobs I've been on over the last 15 years of doing this where I've been ankle deep throughout the basement.)  The size of the leak isn't relevant as if it's a small or big puddle if it's our work it gets immediately repaired.  With her not willing to help me out I offered to take apart both jobs, and make them into one cohesive repair at a discount (I was going to split the difference in an attempt to both fix whatever is wrong and to placate her) which I guarantee NO other company would offer and then the whole thing would be officially under the scope of our work and then of course fully guaranteed.  She said she'd consider it, but also saying that since there is nothing on the invoice that mentions the other work that I should just do it at my own loss accompanied by a question of how long I've been doing this.  I replied in detail once again offering a 'significant' discount or if it was pinpointed to be my work, no charge and I'd take it apart and do it again.  I've actually never had an issue rise to this level as I'm sure you're aware as we're NOWHERE on your radar for having been 'complained' about previously.  We don't advertise as ALL of our business is word of mouth and has been thru 3 owners covering 30 years of business.  This is a rare issue where our work is thought to be faulty.  Has it happened in the past, sure.  Have we ALWAYS jumped on it, fixed it and never heard back from the customer?  Absolutely.  The lady (again, I do NOT know any **** and have NEVER even spoken to a man regarding this) was borderline adversarial from the start.  Aside from the talking we exchanged while I was there ALL correspondence was done via text and you now have copies of those as well.  You'll please take note that SHE did NOT include the texts in her filing and there is a reason for that just like there's a reason I save ALL correspondence with customers.  The next contact was your letter.  I would like to both remedy this AND keep our name spotless as it has been since day !. What we will not do is take the blame AND repair the work of another company on our dime. I hope this thoroughly explains our side and the ENTIRE story and that you'll see no evidence of wrongdoing.  I will happily answer any inquiries you may have and I hope this will be the conclusion of this matter.Sincerely,Marty B*****Sales/PartnerTotal Seal Waterproofing

  Customer response

  08/27/2024

  Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.This reply is unsatisfactory, as the issue remains as previously explained.  As per my review of complaints registered with BBB, I am not the only one with an issue.  As I am not the person who hired him directly, rather assumed his guaranty of work through the purchase of this house, I would expect him to honor his guaranty of workmanship.  He was hired to repair a wall that was leaking, and he is splitting hairs at this point, and attempting to shake me down for an additional repair job at my expense, which I would never consider given his lack of professionalism and poor quality of work.  Marty is unwilling to take responsibility for his five year repair guaranty.  I would respectfully request that he does the legal and fair solution in this matter, and repair the wall at his expense per his guaranty of workmanship.  I will not pay for this nor any additional work as he suggested, as this was supposed to be done by the original job he did and guaranteed.  Does he have evidence of this split repair job he was hired to do?  My description and pictures prove that there is most definately a problem that requires his immediate attention, despite his explanation of colors of repair.  There is exterior water entering creating a river through his work - nothing is sealed tightly.    The pettiness of my not including a text exchange in my submission is irrelevant, as I've explained myself, as my phone was temporarily out of service at time of submission.  Also, note, that he is not acknowledging that I am **** and am the person he met with and am a woman.  I would also like to add that I also submitted a complaint to the NYS AG office whereby he submitted the same screenshots of a text exchange, they advised if his reply wasn't satisfactory to consider hiring a private attorney, which I am not financially prepared to do.   I am hoping through our combined efforts, Marty will honor his written guaranty of service and make the required repair at his expense, otherwise, what is the point of a written guaranty?   Regards, ********* ******

• Initial Complaint

  09/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Letter sent to Company owner Date: 9/8/2023 ***** ****** ******* ******** ***   (Total Seal Basement Waterproofing* *** ******** ***** ************** ** ***** ***** * ******** ********** **** ****** **** ***** ********* ***** *** ******** ****** ******* ******** ******** ** ***** **** *** ******: I am writing in regards to the work you performed at the two locations listed above. You tried to drill, repair and seal three basement wall cracks. The one basement crack at **** ****** **** ** ** you repaired on Jun 28, 2023. You stated you would arrive between 12 & 1pm. You didn’t show until after 2pm with no forewarning. Tenant stated you left the place a mess with dust all over the place. After the first heavy rainfall in August 2023, I texted you with a picture showing water leakage through the wall crack you repaired on Jun 28, 2023 at **** ****** **** **. You returned on Tuesday Aug 8, 2023 to add a touch of caulk as you would put it. I paid you 450 dollars in cash for this repair. On July 19, 2023 you drilled, repaired and sealed two basement wall cracks a* *** ******** ****** ******** ** ****** After the first heavy rain fall in August 2023, I had water puddling under the steps more now than ever before. I sent you a picture see attached. I also sent you a picture of the other repaired wall crack with bubbling and I pierced the one bubble and there was water in it. I paid you 650 dollars in cash for these repairs. You tried to repair three basement wall cracks and failed. It’s obvious you have not mastered the skills necessary to do these repairs if you keep having to return. I am requesting a refund for 325 dollars for the worst repair job under the steps at *** ******** ****** ******** ** and will hope the other two will hold up. I will give you 30 days to refund me before I file a claim in Town of Lewiston small claims court. SEE ATTACHED PHOTOS Sincerely ***** *

  Business response

  10/23/2023

  BBB spoke to the business and the following was relayed:  I bent over backwards for this woman.  She is lying.  I can show endless pictures, screenshots of my attempts to go out and address her issues.  She put me off for weeks and weeks and then started demanding money back and making threats.  I have evidence of all of this, including an email where she tells me that she actually poked my work , causing water to start coming through.  I have everything.  She put me off, put me off and is now demanding money that she is not owed and that is not going to happen.  As you said, this is the one and only complaint that we've ever received and it's her, not us.  My lawyer says we can see you in court. 

  Customer response

  10/24/2023

  Dear Sir, I have reviewed your response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  You stated you can show endless pictures.  Where are they?  The email that was sent to you is the same email you are reading on this complaint. The one repair patch in the picture with the bubbling you stated to me those are just air bubbles not to worry.  Yes, one was pierced to prove to you that it’s not just an air bubble.   You also stated you made several attempts to come back and do the repairs. It was made very clear to you that I do not always have access to my places. You stated in a text message to me your exact words “You will just wait to hear from me for the repairs and you will fit me in.” Well, sir I never called you back to do the stair repair.  You kept sending me text message after text message are you ready for the repairs. At this point it was time for me to call the professionals in which I did only to find out the repairs were never completed correctly the first time around. When you hire someone to do a job that they state they have years of experience doing you don’t expect that you have to keep calling them back to repair the work over again. I think I was being very fair asking for only one refund when in fact I could have asked for the full refund. Consumer beware you get what you pay for. 

*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. ↩