ComplaintsforMerrell Home Improvement, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  12/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We paid to begin a 7x9 primary bathroom remodel back in Oct 2021. They said they would begin demolition within 2 months. By ***, we still hadnt heard from anyone about a start date. Ive never experienced communication that was so lacking. We kept calling and they kept stringing us along about when theyd begin. They finally started mid March. A 6 week job stretched to 4 mos. Counter choice fell through because they didnt secure it. Wrong plumbing, drain clogs daily. Receptionist would respond appropriately, but there was no follow through, no quality control, no inspections. The quality of their finished work is first time DIYer at best. None of the walls, ceiling, or board and baton surfaces were primed or sanded, so all the mud work shows through the poor paint job. The black paint on the board and baton began peeling within weeks. The edges of the wood were never sanded. Unbelievably, the board and baton isnt even evenly spaced throughout, and some walls dont have any board and baton. Very visible brush strokes show the bare wood beneath. Door trim was never painted. They failed to place a baseboard, and another was only painted halfway. They got black paint on our new vanity and covered it up with the wrong color. There are rings of discoloration on the ceiling. Paint was spilled all over the tile work and not wiped up in a timely manner, turning our black grout a light grey. Flat ceiling paint is all over our shower tiles at the ceiling. Im a travel nurse and was on contract in ********** when the bathroom was finally done. When I returned, I was shocked by the poor quality and immediately contacted Merrell to get it fixed. That was in September. They are stringing us along again, saying theyre going to get it *********** away. They have sent 3 people over to look at it, but no one to actually fix anything. They all see the poor quality, but Merrell has failed at every step to resolve. A $23K shouldnt look DIY. I just want it finished.

  Business response

  02/17/2023

   Our Customer was refunded the entire contract amount to have her bathroom completely replaced because she was not happy with the final product. Unfortunately, the workforce is still experiencing many delays and shortages in our industry and we regret that our customer had a negative experience with us. 

• Initial Complaint

  08/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Signed contract with Merrell on April 11, 2022. ***** ********* was the sales rep. Contract said 8 to 9 weeks for completion. Gave ***** a deposit of $2780.00. This was for a carport. This is 08/30/2022 and still no carport. I have made numertous calls to Merrell, and depending on who I speak to I get a different excuse. I have been told so many reasons, when I call I roll up my pants leg. Was told last Friday by **** I would see installers on Monday, this is Monday no installers. Today they blamed in on Codes needing additional paperwork from them. I asked how long have you been doing this and don't know what paperwork Codes needs. When you call their office the last words you hear is I will call you back. I have been told on 3 separate occassions the installers will be there. They did dig two holes for install, but no install. Wish I could tell you how the install went, but I haven't seen them yet. I do have two big holes but NO CARPORT.

  Business response

  09/29/2022

  Consumer Response /* (2010, 13, 2022/09/28) */ I met with codes today and they told me the delay has been their fault. Merrell has done everything they have asked. The fault has been with planning and codes. I would like to withdraw the complaint against Merrell.

• Initial Complaint

  11/09/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We've been plagued with problems from the moment we signed the contract in Nov '19 for Merrell to build us a sunroom. We've had roof & skylight leaking since mid-2020. They've repaired it 6 times. The last "repair" made it exponentially worse. Water coming in not just around the skylights but now in new cracks in the ceiling. We called to immediately report and Merrell's employee agreed verbally & in writing to a complete replacement of the roof, interior ceiling & insulation plus an electrical inspection. They replaced the roof but did not complete any flashing. They started the ceiling demo then said they weren't going to do anything except "patch" the ceiling holes where the skylights had been. Their employee told us that we had agreed at signing they had done the job as contracted. The contracted job wasn't to have 6 major leaks in less than a year. The roof & skylights were initially installed wrong. We requested Merrell remedy their faulty construction & provide what we contracted for. Merrell refused to fix their errors in full. Every contractor we've called to fix Merrell's issues has confirmed problems with the initial roof & skylight installation & new roofing work Merrell completed in Sept. '21. We are no longer willing for Merrell to make any repairs they agreed to based on their history of defective work. We gave them multiple opportunities across 13 months to do so. We're seeking Merrell to reimburse us $6,874.32 + 20% it has cost us in money, time, & undue burden to have competent contractors repair Merrell's faulty & defective work. Add'l documents with detailed notation of the numerous issues experienced throughout construction are available. Merrell records all phone calls. Sunroom was completed 4 months later than contracted (though we did receive the contracted discount for the delay). Essentially, Merrell Home Improvement charged us $51,250.46 to build us a very delayed & defective sunroom that we now have to spend additional funds to repair.

  Business response

  12/09/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2021/12/09) */ Mr. and Mrs. ******* called in and told me that their room was leaking. They send me a video on my phone that only showed Mr. ******* draining a pillow of water. The video did not show any leaks. This video could be of Mr. ******* doing this to a pillow he soaked himself. However, I did tell them that I would be willing to send a crew there and find the leak and to flash where needed. Mrs. ******* told me that she would settle for nothing less a whole new ceiling, new insulation, new roof, and new flashing. I told her that we would replace what was needed but if the whole thing was not needed, we would not be replacing that. She told me that she would not take anything less then what she said. Again, I told her if it was not damaged there would be no need to replace it. She told me "What if it is damaged in 20 years because it got wet" To which I replied, "what if in 20 years a storm rips off your roof playing the what if game will get us nowhere". She then stated that one of our workers told her we had to replace it all or it would not be right. When asked who said that she could not tell me who it was. She told me that she was talked into skylight that she never wanted, and I asked her if she reviewed the contract before she signed. She stated yes. I asked her if the skylights were in the contract, she stated yes. I asked her if she signed the contract, she stated yes. I then told her then per contract she wanted the skylights. She told me the skylight were leaking before. Having reviewed the contract at this point int time, I seen where the skylights had been removed. The agreement here was that Merrell Home Improvement would remove the skylights for her, I believe this was done free of charge. But that the inside hole left from the skylight reveals were up to the ******* family to repair. They again agreed to this. I asked Mrs. ******* this and she agreed to that. I told her then per the new agreement we had done what we said we would do. She then stated she was not happy with the work from the start. I asked her if after the work was finished did she sign the form that stated she was happy and that the job was done to her satisfaction, she stated yes. I told her then we had fulfilled the contract at that point as well. She told me she had leaks in the roof. I told her again, I would be happy to send the truck that morning, in fact I had the whole team ready to go that day. She told me that she works for a lawyer and if I didn't do what she wanted she would sue us. I told her at this point I do not feel that I should keep this talk going and that I am sorry she felt that way. Later her husband called me and in a very combative manner told me that I would be dealing with him, that he also works for a lawyer, and I would have to answer for everything that was wrong with the room, and the treatment of his wife. I told him that I could no longer speak to them as Mrs. ******* stated no more than an hour ago, they were going to sue. Mr. ******* told me that he was in fact going to the lawyers office that moment and we would be hearing from them very soon. I was still willing to fix the leak in their roof. We are not willing to refund their money plus 20% or any thing of the like. The simple fact is that Mr. and Mrs. ******* signed off on the job, when they brought up the skylights, the company removed them, then they wanted the ceiling, roof, insulation, flooring replaced. And when I told them we could not replace anything that was not damaged, we were told they would not take anything less than what they demanded, or we would be sued. I can not allow Mr. and Mrs. ******* to bully myself, any employee of this company, or the company as a whole in any manner. I am sorry they feel we did not do a good job, but every thing we did to fix this was met with no's. And again we finished the job with a signed agreement that the ******* Family was happy Business Response /* (4000, 27, 2022/03/30) */ Our Company takes high priority in our Customer's satisfaction, and strive to remedy any complaint that may arise. We provided our Customer high-quality services, and made every reasonable effort to make our Customer happy. We are unable to make any changes to our previous responses. Consumer Response /* (3000, 33, 2021/12/20) */ We do not want this case closed & are seeking the BBB's assistance in resolving this dispute. 90% of Shane T*******'s response is factually incorrect. Not only do we have dozens of pages of emails & notes proving what we said is accurate, but if Merrell truly does record all their phone calls as their recording states when you call their office, then there is audio proof that what he's claiming is factually incorrect. Shane does not know any of the history of our issues, he was NOT our project manager, he was not a part of our project at ANY time during construction or after completion, nor has he ever even been to our property. Moreover, to the contrary of his statements, Shane was NOT who we spoke to when we first reached out about the most recent leaking & damage - it was several weeks after we had spoken & emailed with other Merrell employees before he became involved. We asked Shane several times during the phone calls to speak to the owner, Curtis M******. We were always told it "wasn't possible" or that "he's a very busy man." It's unusual to us that the owner is making no effort to work with us to resolve the issues we've had due to his company's faulty & defective work. We sent more than just one video of the leaks. We have photographically documented every leak for MONTHS, & have provided these photos/videos every time we've asked to have the leaking issues fixed over the last year. We are attaching a FEW of them to this complaint - there are many more. We sent them photos/videos of water dripping from cracks in the ceiling, dripping from the skylights, covering the floor, collecting in buckets & towels, etc. We can prove we sent all these by email to which Tamara replied to & indicated she viewed, & to which we both emailed & texted to Shane when he claimed over the phone he'd never seen them. By the time Shane got involved, the skylights had already been removed & the roof replaced (though the flashing was still incomplete) - not that he told us he'd be willing to send a crew to find the leak & repair it. While Shane did keep arguing if there was no damage they weren't going to replace things, we also provided ongoing photos/videos showing water leaking from cracks in the ceiling as well as from the ceiling fan. An undamaged ceiling does not do this. We asked for replacement of issues they proved incompetent to repair due to their poor workmanship when initially building the room. The leaking issues had nothing to do with normal aging. Shane blatantly lied when he said that he asked my wife which of their workers said they'd replace everything & she couldn't tell him. She read the email to him over the phone that Tamara wrote to us (that Shane was copied on in its entirety). This email says the company would be replacing the roof, flashing, insulation, & ceiling & would inspect electrical & replace, if needed. Further, she was able to tell him that when Mike came out the first day & started demo on the ceiling that he was told to measure because the entire ceiling would need to come down & needed to be replaced. We know exactly who all from Merrell told us about the work they would do. We have learned from multiple other companies that 1) the skylights were installed incorrectly & 2) our roof doesn't have a pitch suitable for skylights & they should never have installed them to begin with. We may have signed a contract to include skylights, but we did not know ******* had no idea how to correctly install them. We believed we were contracting with them for quality work, not defective work. Neither of us ever said we worked "for" a lawyer, but that we'd be contacting our attorney since ******* refused to do what they said they'd do by (1) not making right THEIR workmanship mistakes & (2) not honoring what they put IN WRITING to us regarding what was necessary to permanently fix the leaking issues that had gone on for over a year & 6-7 times. How many repairs are necessary before they correctly fix it? Adding some more caulk & flashing didn't fix it the first 6 times. Why would it work now? My wife explained they were not upholding their end of the contract as they did faulty & defective work. Factually, we were NEVER told that repairing the skylight holes in the ceiling would be our responsibility & we certainly NEVER agreed to that (anywhere - in writing or via phone). We were told IN WRITING the opposite: that Merrell would do all that work to make it right. There was NEVER any new "agreement" he references re: the skylight removal or repair of issues caused by removing the skylights (in the roofing, flashing, or ceiling). Nor did we "sign off" on our happiness as we were not, because there were two giant holes in our ceiling they refused to fix per what they'd already agreed to do IN WRITING. We NEVER asked for the flooring to be replaced. At ANY time. The flooring was never even a topic of conversation in our emails & phone calls. We never said 'no' to any PERMANENT resolution, only 'no' to the 7th time of them coming out to attempt to caulk & flash more around the skylights (before they were removed), as they'd already done multiple times & the ROOM KEPT LEAKING. Why would we continue to accept that as a resolution when they clearly didn't do it right the first 6 times? His last statement is ridiculous. "We finished the job with a signed agreement that the ******* Family was happy." At the time we signed upon construction completion, the leaking issue had been temporarily "repaired" but CONTINUED TO LEAK afterwards. Again, that's what the workmanship warranty (that they are refusing to honor) is for. THEIR faulty workmanship, including utilizing completely different repair crews every time someone came to try & fix the leaking, led to the multiple & on-going leaking issues. My wife was assertive - she was never combative. Neither of us have been a bully. Threatening to sue is not being a bully - we wanted them to understand how serious this situation is that they did faulty & defective work (not the work we paid them for) that have now cost us thousands to correctly fix. We did argue with Shane when he became involved for the sole purpose of deciding Merrell was not going to honor what had already been agreed to in writing. If anyone is a bully, it's the company of Merrell, as they do not competently fix their mistakes or stand behind their craftsmanship. They did half the work, then suddenly refused to finish, forcing us to spend thousands hiring other companies to fix their faulty & defective work. We held up our end of the contract by paying them $51,250.46. They did NOT hold up their end of the contract as they did faulty & defective work. They refused to CORRECTLY redo the work multiple times during the workmanship warranty - even after finally agreeing verbally & in writing to do so. This led us to have to pay an additional $6,874.32 to other companies to repair Merrell's faulty work. We should be refunded this amount from what we paid Merrell for the sunroom because Merrell did not do what we contracted with & paid them to do, nor would they stand by their work & make appropriate/permanent repairs to eliminate the problems. We asked for an additional 20% of the repair cost for the time & burden they have caused us in months of lost utilization of the sunroom itself, along with needing to seek other companies to make correct repairs since Merrell does not stand behind their work.

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