Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/28/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Purchased the xx36-20x49 model on May 14th 2022 and told sales person ******* that I wanted to get building delivered ASAP in order to have it assembled before the fall rains set in. ***** said if I ordered right away, the building would be shipped at end of June 2022. It reads as such on the contract: Approximate shipping date: June 2022. This order is schedule to leave our factory in June 2022. June ended with no update from Steelmaster on the building shipment. July 6th: Reached out to the ****** (Aftermarket Specialist) whom is my point of contact for anything related to the building. ****** responded via e-mail on July 6th is as follows: It looks like dispatch is a little behind on deliveries. Once they catch up The factory will contact you directly (before we are notified) approximately 1-2 weeks before the building will leave the factory and let you know the date that it will leave. July 14th: ****** left voicemail that the building is ready to be delivered any day now and wanted to know if I wanted to buy anything else to add to the shipment. July 18th: ****** sent e-mail wanting to know if I want to add anchor bolts to add to the shipment. July 22nd: ****** sent e-mail again offering ***** off the ******** price for anchor bolts if I order that day. ****** seems more interested in selling add-ons than actually getting me a ship date. I found an 1-800 number for dispatch and called it. Talked to ****** @ *** who couldn't seem to find anything regarding a ship date for my building. Could not confirm whether building was actually built. Was supposed to call me back, but didn't. July 26th: Called ****** again and left voicemail that I was following up from July 22nd & would like a callback ASAP. July 28th: ****** called (probably to sell me something), but I cut him short and said I wanted a ship date for building. Was told they overbooked shipping for June and are way behind. Said there is nothing he can do.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/31/2022

  Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/08/03) */ 08/03/22: Received call from ****** @ 8:42AM saying my building is ready to be shipped and wanted to schedule a time with me. I stopped ****** and said I can't accept shipment of this building because I don't know the specs on it. Here is a summary based on my recent complaint filed with *** (case# XXXXXXXX) on 8/2/22: On 5/13, ***** ******* verbally gave me quote for model xx36-20 with Risk Category 2 capable of supporting 70PSF snow loads for a price of ******* including shipping. I have the taped phone conversation on this. Contract shows a model xx36-20 with Risk Category 1 which is a lot less snow load & does not match snow load that ***** was adamant about needing to have. Blueprints show xx35-20 model (which doesn't match what's shown above) and has a Risk Category 1 and an inadequate roof snow load of 20psf. Based on the above, I have no idea of what I'm getting for a building? Unable to answer any of my questions, ****** forwards me to John ********** from Engineering Tech Support. **** is rather fast talking and assure of himself and basically says the Sales department ****** ******** has no business quoting numbers for snow loads and sharing building codes, etc. That task should be left to the engineers. **** brings up my building on his system and says it shows as a xx36-20 with a roof snow load of 20psf and a ground snow load of 70psf. **** also says the different model number on the blueprints is irrelevant because the building I'm getting is a xx36-20. He goes on to say the blueprint model number is different because the building isn't 36' wide (which is what the 36 means in the model number) but rather 35' 6" which is why the model number on the blueprint doesn't match. I find this very confusing. At this point I'm taking ****'s word that I'm getting at xx36-20 but I don't know for sure. In regard to snow load, **** says the county only cares about the ground snow load which is 70psf and not the roof snow load which shows as 20psf on the incorrect blueprints. The fact that ***** threw out all these other values has no meaning?? **** said to go to the county, show them the blueprints and see what they say. He said if there are issues to call him back. At 9:24AM PDT, I get a call from **** ****** who is head of National Sales ****** ********** manager). I get a very confusing reply as to why ***** ******* walked me through calculating snow loads for Risk Category 2 vs. why my building shows as Risk Category 1 on the contract. Later on, **** e-mails the following comment to me which is supposed to clarify the difference between using Risk Category 2 when calculating the load vs. listing Risk Category I on the contract. "The new ASCE 7-22 has different snow load values for each Risk Category, but DOES not have the snow load safety factor of 1.6. To get an equivalent basic snow load value you have to use the Risk Category II value since the current ASCE 7 has a snow importance factor or 1.0 for Risk Category II. If you used a different Risk Category value, you would then need to apply additional factors to it to offset the differential snow importance factors to get back to the basic snow load value, which just confuses things even more. This is why we use the value that has the snow importance factor of 1.0 (i.e. Risk Category II) and then adjust for the absence of the snow load safety factor that exists in the ASCE 7-16, but does not in the ASCE 7-22 (i.e. the 1.6). It is really just semantics to get to an equivalent basic snow load value that you can compare to our engineering resources without having to apply additional and unnecessary factors." This did not help make things less confusing. At some point **** told me to stop getting caught up in risk factors....the building I'm getting is very well built and capable of supporting snow loads in excess of 20psf. Again, I'm supposed to take his word for it!! In line with what **** said, **** suggested taking the current blueprint (the one whose model number doesn't match the model number of the building on the contract) down to my local planning department and see if they have any issues with the snow load. He said if they feel the snow load is inadequate, to send him a red line document and they will put a new snow load number on the blueprint to satisfy the requirement. OK....THIS IS VERY CONFUSING: If the planning department has issue with the current snow load on the Blueprint (which has the wrong model # on it), STEELMASTER WILL ALTER THE SNOW LOAD NUMBER ON THE BLUEPRINT TO MEET THE REQUIREMENT. **** said since the building is overbuilt, there is no need to re-engineer it.....they will just alter the snow load number on the blueprint. I asked **** that if the building is capable of supporting higher loads, then why not go with that on the Blueprints......why put down the minimum acceptable loads? ****'s answer was that is the way they do it.....not a satisfactory answer. As for my original complaint filed with the *** on shipping issues: **** said he saw no reason why my building could not have been shipped at the end of June (I have this on recording). He said there were no hold-ups from what he can see and that it should have shipped on time. Because Steelmaster held up the shipping of my building FOR NO APPARENT REASON, I have missed the window of opportunity to get this constructed before the fall rains. Since filing this complaint with the **** I've been contacted by three different Steelmaster employees all willing to answer my questions and supply me with their direct number. Before, I couldn't get in touch with anyone except ****** who is no help at all. UNFORTUNATLEY AT THIS POINT, all I'm getting is a lot of fast talk in an attempt to satisfy my questions and convince me to accept a building that will be delivered much later than what was stated on the contract with specs that are unknown for which I may never truly know the real specs. I HAVE LOST ALL confidence in Steelmaster selling and delivering me a satisfactory product. THE ONLY OUTCOME I CAN SEE IS A REFUND. Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2022/08/08) */ Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Mr. *******'s complaint. SteelMaster and the customer have reach an agreement. More to follow. Consumer Response /* (2000, 13, 2022/08/15) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Picking up where I left off from last posting. 08/09/22: At 10:45AM PDT I received an e-mail from ***** ****** @ SteelMaster with a DocuSign attachment. The e-mail said the attachment was so they can proceed with the refund and cancellation of my order. I signed and sent back to ***** at 11:21AM PDT. At 11:55AM PDT, I received two e-mailed receipts from **** ****** (Sr. Accountant) that showed a refund on my building deposit and the IBC connectors. The amounts matched what I had spent for both deposits. 08/12/22: Both refunds (building and IBC connectors) have appeared on my credit card, so at this point, I consider this matter resolved. I would like to thank the *** for their help in getting this matter resolved quickly! Your effort is very much appreciated.