Re: Acclaimed Plumbing Services DO NOT USE
Date: August 19, 2013 04:17PM
Complaint Summary
Complaint Type: Consumer to Business Complaint
Nature of complaint: A failure to honor a contract or agreement
Problem description:
On 3 July 2013, a severe storm blew the flashing off our townhome roof, and we had water leaking in. Our insurance company (Empire Fire and Marine) told us to call someone for an emergency repair. The severity of the problem was such that we had no time to spare; we went 'alphabetically' and called Acclaimed Services, since their Yellow Pages ad stated emergency responses were possible. A man came, went up the ladder, used some 2x4s, a tarp, and nails to cover the hole. He then charge us $1450.00 for the half hours work!!!!!!!! However, as my wife and I both started to exclaim in upset, he explained to us that we would need a new roof, and that the $1450.00 WOULD GO towards the total re-roofing cost; he also put this in writing. However, when I called the business later to talk to the roofer, Mike (last name not clear), he stated that "...the $1450.00 offer should not have been made, and he would not subtract that much from his roofing bid of $5700.00. He said he would take off a 'little', but WOULD NOT SPECIFY how much that was". It could have been nothing, $20.00, or $300.00; the point is, he had no intention, and stated so, of honoring what my wife and I were given both verbally AND in writing on the service form. It was only later, when we looked up Acclaimed Services on the BBB site, that we learned of their poor rating and read many of the negative reviews. We are going with Davis Roofing (A+ BBB rating), whose roofing bid was ~$4000.00 total for the same work! Not only did Acclaimed Services not intend to honor what my wife and I considered a contractual agreement, his bid was almost $1700.00 higher than a reputable roofer. I think "Mike" purposely had no intention of honoring it, since his company had just made a very easy $1450.00. I called Acclaimed Services today (8/19/2013), asking for Nolene King, who had been listed as a company officer manager, and was told "she no longer works here". The phone respondent, who had a heavy accent and whose name I could not obtain, stated that he would have some higher up "call me back". I am not holding out much hope.
Desired Outcome:
Given that when Davis roofing came out and examined our roof and said that the tarp, 2x4s, and work would only be a $150.00 job had Davis Roofing done it, I think we should receive a partial refund. The man who came out and charged us a huge amount for a relatively small repair and told us it would go towards a roofing job may have been sincere (he was in fact a very nice fellow), but "Mike" at Acclaimed Services was, in our opinion, acting fraudulently and was totally a horses patoot, attitude wise, on 7/30/2013 when we communicated and he sent me an email. We would be happy with a partial refund of, say, $725.00, half the amount we were conned into spending. It should be added we were not told in advance that the bill would be $1450.00 for a small repair job, or we would not have done it; we'd have called someone else.