Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  10/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  In 2020 we were looking for a solution to the issues we were having on our pool deck. After talking with several contractors, we met with Mike and showed him our concerns and he assured us that his epoxy system would work. He explained that the damaged cool deck that was on the concrete would be sanded down leveled so the epoxy would bond – we would never have a problem again. He touted his experience, the superiority of the products he uses, and the "Lifetime Warranty". We repeatedly asked it would withstand the snow and harsh winter conditions, explained how we cover the pool and if there was anything we needed to be concerned about. He kept assuring us that it would be fine – there would be no issues! And he would stand behind his work – again “lifetime” warranty. Contract was signed on 12/20/20 and gave him a check for $2,500, with the work to begin in the spring of 2021. It was August when he finally completed the work. We understand he was having issues in his personal life and his wife's health was impacting him, so we did everything possible to work with him. We opened the swimming pool in May 2023 (18 months after the installation), and noticed the epoxy surface around the pool had started to chip extensively. We reached out to Mike and he promised he would come by and take a look and fix it. There were numerous phone calls/messages, including sending photos of the spots. In 4/2024, we began to reach out again. He promised he would be by in June. From that point on, the emails and messages become increasingly hostile. Our latest attempts on 8/30 and 9/6, 9/12 and 10/5 were not acknowledged. At this point, no other contractor will touch the work – they will not repair or replace the finish. Our only option is to have all of the pool decking removed and new concrete installed --- a complicated, extensive/expensive job -- exactly what we wanted to avoid and the reason we contracted with Mike/DCE Polymer.

• Initial Complaint

  04/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 9/9/22 I had work performed for a refinished epoxy garage floor. The amount paid was $3,000. The business name is DCE Polymer. The garage floor never dried as it was supposed to, and over the winter soaked up dirt and grime, and never came clean when it was washed. After initially complaining of the issues, he flatly told me he was finished for the season and to call him in the spring. On 4/11/23 I called the contractor, Mr. Michael P*******, who would not take any responsibility for the end result. He claims I never let the floor dry properly, which wasn't the case. He refuses to make good on his product. His product information lists a life-time warranty. I am including the product information and a photo of how my floor looks now after trying to clean it with the recommended cleaner, ****** *****. Please look into this and let me know how to proceed. I am not sure how to reach the company of the product he uses in order to remedy the issue. Thank you.

  Business response

  05/05/2023

  BBB spoke the business and the following was relayed:I'm gonna tell you what happened.  I told this guy, "don't walk on the floor until it's dry!!"  He called me back the next day, less than 24 hours after we did the job and I told him not to walk on the floor, and he says to me "my feet are sticking to the floor."  I told him "Get Off The Floor!!"  Then this guy put cleaning solution on the floor to get the dirt off from where he walked on it and that's why the floor turned all brown on him!  It is HIS fault!  I tell all my customers, don't walk on the floor until it's dry.  Most understand that's common sense.  I told this guy, give it a thumb test before you walk on it.  He didn't listen and walked on the floor while it was still wet and then put cleaning solution, which mixed with the dirt on the floor before it was even dry!!  Again, he did all of this less than 24 hours after we did the job!  It was still wet!  The dirt and the cleaning stuff he used mixed together on the wet floor and turned it brown, that's why his floor looks like that!  I told him, don't walk on the floor until it's dry, give it a couple days and do a thumb test before you walk on it.  And give it 4-5 days before you drive on it.  I've never had a customer not understand that before.  It is HIS FAULT!  Now he wants me to come back and redo the job for free!?  No way!! Absolutely not, I am NOT doing that.  

  Customer response

  05/09/2023

                 My garage floor was installed by DCE Polymers on 9/9/22, and it took a long time to dry.  He left me instructions to not walk on the floor for 24-48 hours, and after four days I called him to let him know that is was not drying as it was supposed to.  He told me that he was done for the season and to call him back in the spring.                 I went out of town after the seventh day and returned a week later.  It was two weeks in total that I drove a car into the garage.  Later the winter weather got the floor very dirty from road salt and areas of the floor started to come apart.  He was extremely rude and virtually screaming to me that I shouldn’t have walked on it. He falsely claims that I used a cleaner on it before it dried, which I didn’t do.                Please see the below timeline of the events.  9/9/22                  Garage floor refinished by DCE Polimers, Inc, Mike P*******.9/13/22               Tested floor which seemed sticky.  Called Mike P******* to check on why floor was taking so long to dry.  I was advised to wait longer before walking on it or moving anything back.9/15/22               Contacted Mr. P******* to ask why floor was taking so long to dry.  He said to give it more time with cooler weather and recent rain.  He told me he was finished working for the year, and if any problems to call him in the spring.9/16/22               (one week since completion) Moved a large table to the garage and left town for seven days.9/23/22               Returned home with floor dry and finished loading items into garage.  Parked car in garage.4/11/23               Called Mike P******* and left message to call me.  Over the winter dirt and road salt from the winter was embedded in floor.  Cleaned floor with ****** **** and water as per instructions from P*******.4/14/23               Again called him and left message.  I texted him photos of the floor showing dirt stains and missing material in several areas of floor.4/15/23               Mike called me and was screaming at me that I destroyed the floor by walking on it.  I explained that the areas ruined were around the car tracks on right side of garage.  He claims I jumped the gun moving things back and he was not going to come back and fix it.  He continued to scream at me on the phone and didn’t want to hear that I did not do anything wrong. 

  Business response

  05/10/2023

  I am want to be very clear to this and say this : HE IS AN ABSOLUTE LIAR , I SWEAR ON IT. He called me the exact day after the floor was installed and he told me his feet were sticking to the floor. It doesn't matter if the floor takes 1 day or 3 days to dry, we write a care sheet that explains this to every customer, and I am letting him know that his is lying to you guys, and I swear on it. THERE IS NO WAY THAT WOULD HAPPEN TO A FLOOR UNLESS HE WALKED OR DROVE ON IT WHILE IT WAS TACKY.  Call The distribution center and ask them, they are not going to lie for me. If you walk or drive on the floor while its drying all the wet material in the middle of the sealer will surface and will take more days to dry. What he did was he drove on the floor the weight of the car tires embedded into the half dry sealer and make the middle of the coating where it's wet come up.to the top of the floor, when he realized what he did, he tried to clean the dirt of the floor and mixed it with wet sealer , THATS WHY THE FLOOR IS BROWN ON THE UPPER HALF...WHY DIDNT IT HAPPEN TO THE WHOLE FLOOR????AGAIN HE TOLD ME HE WALK WALKING ON THE FLOOR AND HIS FEET WERE STICKING TO IT. ILL BE HAPPY TO COME FIX IT BUT HE WILL PAY FOR THE MATERIAL AND REMOVAL OF THE EXISTING COATING.  I DO NOT LIE AND OR PUT BAD SEALER DOWN, IF THE SEALER WAS BAD IT WOULDNT BE BROWN IT WOULD BE YELLOW, ASK AND DISTRIBUTION CENTER. I TOLD HIM TO CALL ME NEXT YEAR IF HE PURCHASES THE MATERIAL AND PAYS TO HAVE IT REMOVED. I WILL NOT ARGUE ABOUT THIS ANY MORE , IF HE IS NOT MAN EMOUGH TO ADMIT TO HIS MISTAKES AND INSTEAD ACT LIKE THIS WAS MY FAULT THEN I WILL NOT HELP HIM AT ALL, HE CALLED AND TOLD ME HE WAS ON THE FLOOR AND IT WASNT COLD THE FLOOR WAS LAYED IN SEPTEMBER. CALL THE DISTRIBUTOR. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO HONOR THE WARRANTY. I WILL ALWAYS BE HAPP TO HELP A CUSTOMER WHEN NEEDED BUT I REFUSE TO HELP SOMEONE WHO IS TRYING TO BLAME ME , WHEN HE DID NOT FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.IF THE CUSTOMER WANTS,JUST TO PROVE HE IS LYING I WILL BE HAPPY TO PAY FOR A LIE DETECTOR TEST AND IF I AM LYING I WILL PAY FOR THE WHOLE FLOOR.  THANK YOU. 

• Initial Complaint

  08/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  My husband and I had an epoxy floor put over the basement floor of our home. It cost nearly $4000. It took much longer than expected, but that wasn't an issue. The husband and wife team worked hard. But a few weeks after the floor was done, the new layer started to flake off in pieces. The epoxy chips were not coming off, what was failing was that concrete layer that was just underneath the chips and on top of the existing basement floor. It was chalky, white, and dusty, and spalled off in pieces. We are wondering if it was when mixing that concrete-type material, which was done outside in the cold, that started the problem. The mixed material sat in buckets for a long time in the cold while the wife was on her phone. It is possible that the material was no longer at its prime when applied to the floor. DCE was contacted but because of a health issue in the family and because of COVID we were asked over and over to please wait some time before a visit could be made to inspect the peeling floor. We waited a very long time without any contact from DCE Polymer, so I reached out again. Each time we were shocked to be met with vulgar language, false accusations, incorrect assumptions, and threats. The whole exchange was very strange and very anxiety-inducing. My hands would shake and my heart would skip around just seeing another text from this guy. We just wanted our floor repaired per the lifetime warranty advertised on the website. With every question we would ask, DCE would come back with a silly response like "open the floor." When asked what that means, he would not explain. Or, "it should have been tested" but he won't tell us what test to use. They never once even came to see the problem! Given the vulgar language and threats, I would prefer to not have this business back in my home. I would like a refund so I can have another company repair the work. Estimates received indicate the entire new coating will have to be removed back down to the original floor.

  Business response

  08/22/2022

  I would be happy to respond to this no problem ,I went and did a floor for Mr. And Mrs ***** when I arrived there the floor was in bad shape and  I explained to Mr and Mrs. ***** that the floor needed to be opened up with expansion joints because of the cracking on the floor and I did a moisture test a d the floor was hold some moisture so I wanted to see if we cut a small joint across the middle what would happen , he refused and said no he didn't want to do that. 

  I also noticed he was storing chemical in the next room and saw there was harsh chemicals in the basement , I asked him what they were and he said he was an engineer of some kind. What he didn't tell me is the he was running forge in the basement and moved it out to the garage before I came , how I know this is when I was working there I heard noises and walked out to the garage and seen him working and spilling oils as he did in the basement .

  If he would have told me that he was doing this I probably would have done a chemical test to the floor to see what kind of chemicals were in it. 

  At that point I told him that seeing the stains down there now makes sense because what I thought were water marks were chemical burns on the floor. At that point I told him that since he did not want to open the floor up and didn't tell me about doing this I could only give him a 1 year warranty in which I have in text message that he admitted to. The floor failed and what I told them was I would be happy to come out and look at the floor but I want a test done before I do , they refused to do so, they also harassed me and told me I was working when u wasn't and had other people call me acting like they were interested in jobs to see if would take the bait. 

  there was covid going at the time and I was behind 17 contracts due to this but before I was coming out to do anything I asked them to get the floor tested because there Was no other material that would have lasted and ut would have failed again if installed. 

  they went and hired a new contractor to do the floor and refused to listen more then a few times when I asked them to do certain things to the floor or to have it tested due to Mr. ***** LYING AND NOT TELLING ME THERE WAS HARSH CHEMICAL BURNS ON THE FLOOR. 

  I TRIED TO WORK WOTH THEM MORE THEN A FEW TIMES BUT BECAUSE IF THIS THEY DID NOT WANT TO DO SO. 

   

  Customer response

  08/23/2022

  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.
  
  Regards,
  
  **** *****
  

  Yes the floor was in bad shape – he didn’t know the floor was cracked because the floor was covered in old tiles. He only discovered the original concrete floor was cracked after he removed all the tile and ground off the glue. We actually agreed to extra charges because of all the glue and work to remove it. 
  
  The home owner and DCE Polymer did discuss expansion joints prior to the work being done. The original floor went in when the house was built in the twenties. Mr. *****, a structural engineer, with extensive experience in concrete explained that Expansion/contraction joints were not needed because the concrete was old enough that motion hasn’t occurred in decades.  Contraction and expansion of such old concrete was no longer occurring. Additionally, at this time NO CRACKS have telegraphed through the epoxy topping. If expansion/contractions was an issue, cracks would be observed.
  
  
  If a moisture test was actually done, he showed us no evidence. Additionally, when we asked him about a moisture test DCE Polymer was unable to tell us where or how to get one or what one might even be called for this situation.
  
  Regarding the forge, there was never ever a forge in the basement. A forge for metal is basically a very hot oven and it would not be possible to run a forge in a basement. No chemicals are required for a metal forge. The chemicals in the basement are and have always only been paint stripper, bleach, car wash soap, etc. We have nothing different than any other home. We are not sure where he got an idea about strange chemicals. Nor did he bring any of this to our attention during the work. Additionally, according to his website, his epoxy floors are chemical and oil resistant, so we aren’t sure why having basic household chemicals in our basement would matter.
  Michael states that “seeing the stains down there now makes sense because what I thought were water marks were chemical burns on the floor.” There were no stains whatsoever under that vinyl floor tile. There was a layer of glue then after that was ground off, there were no stains and Mike did not tell us of any of these supposed stains. Chemicals do not burn concrete so we are not sure to what he is referencing.  
  A one-year warranty would have been discussed of course, at time of contracting, but that was not done. Even if this was true, we notified him of the flaking problem about one month after installation and that would fall well within the one year.

  
  After Mike was notified of the failing floor, he put us off several times and refused to come and look at the problem. We let it go because we trusted him and his wife was in the hospital. Then we let it go because we still trusted him but COVID happened. Then it just was him getting irate and using fould language and threatening us because we wanted him to look at the damage. Well after trying to get him to look at the problem we started to ask about a moisture test but he would not tell us what to get. We still are not sure that one exists.
  

  We never harassed him, we were polite despite his anger and foul language. We asked if he was working because one of his work trucks was in a driveway and we thought he was back to work after COVID. We NEVER had people call him for any reason whatsoever. We would never stoop to that level we always asked him directly when we had questions.
  We hired a new contractor to do the floor? No, we didn’t the floor is just as he left it. We have never lied in any circumstances, we do not lie or cheat or bait people. As we stated to him in several ways, we just wanted our floor looked at and fixed.
  
  

  Business response

  10/11/2022

  First of all as I previously stated, I requested to open up the floor and do a moisture test and the consumer would not allow me to do so.  Whatever happens after that is the liability of the consumer.  The had some time of moisture problem.  He also was doing something with some chemicals and it was all over the floor, I probably could have killed myself not knowing what is was. He stated I will not be repairing anything for this consumer and if they would like to go to court, they can. 

• Initial Complaint

  07/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed a contract with DCE Polymer, LLC on June 15th of 2018. The contract states 432 sq ft of epoxy coating to be put on our garage floor with a full warranty. Our contract also states that the owner was to install lifetime primer with sand and then install self leveling H&D concrete with 2 moisture vapor barriers (chemseal coat). I contacted the owner in June 2021 when we noticed the garage flooring was chipping and breaking apart allowing moisture to come in and caused more cracking. No return response was made from the company and or owner. As more of the floor began to separate and crack I contacted him for a second time on 4.8.22. Contact was made with Michael P*******, I informed him that I have been having issues since 2021, he informed me that "issues with your home or what goes on under the floor isn't my responsibility". He threatened me when speaking to him regarding this issue and I from that moment on I knew this company was a scam! I then contacted a separate epoxy company to see about fixing the issues and the company states that the issues that I am having would be covered under the warranty on our signed contract with DCE Polymer and that they are caused from not putting a vapor barrier down like stated in our contract.

  Business response

  07/29/2022

  Hello,
  I wanted to respond to this absolutely ridiculous statement that I threatened a customer. I would never do so and some people use this as a tool to add more power to the situation.
  I honor all of my work and will always do so, what I told this gentleman was our warranty is based on an adhesion warranty, which means if the epoxy is peeling we would be happy to come and take a look and repair it if needed.
  However ,if concrete is coming up under the coating that means his concrete is severely,damaged or has very bad moisture problems.
  We can't take responsibility for someone garage or how they take care of their property. We do honor what we put down and that we do warranty. I know that it is disappointing and it's something that people do not want to except but these are the facts.
  That being said because of gas hike and material shortages we are 2 months behind on work so if he wants us to come and look at the substraight, we would be happy to in November.
  If there is concrete coming up under the coating he will have to get a moisture test to see what the next step would be ....moisture vapor barriers do not hold down extreme moisture problems , he would need a moisture block or have it removed.

*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. ↩