Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  10/28/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Driveway, they tried to fix,2nd ***e ,called not getting any resonse

  Business response

  10/29/2024

  Contrary to what our customer states, I did respond with an email to the customer which addressed his concerns about the installation of asphalt under his carport. We did not fix it twice there was the initial installation and a correction to try to please the customer.

  He said that we had a three inch slope on the new asphalt from one edge to the other under the carport, which he said was unacceptable. We basically copied the asphalt level that was there before. There's a mark on the roof supports and wall which indicates where the top of the previous surface was and we matched those marks. In addition, the drop from one side to the other is approximately 2%, which is well within industry standards.

  I'm curious why our customer is concerned about water drainage when there should be no rain under a carport.

  We have asked our customer to quit calling and harassing our employees, or leaving cuss filled rants on our voice mail.

  I will not state anything further since our customer is threatening legal action.

  This is my company's 49th year in business and we certainly didn't get to this point with poor quality work.

  ***** *******, President

  Vandalia Blacktop & Sealcoating, Inc.

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Customer response

  11/01/2024

  Original drivway,approx, 5 feet from house. Driveway topcapet in ninety,y extended to house.  Vandalia removed driveway,  5ft, 2inches thickfrom house,thereafter 4 inches removed across.vandalia did not replace 2inches of fill underneath carport prior to relaying driveway, that threw pitch across  driveway,  and compromised  drainage.  Owner stated that  teammembers stated there pour did not come back up to carport support original marks. Vandalia recapped 2 additional  inches which brought  up to carportsupport lines, but raised up further on house. Recapping  did nothing. Same pitch followed original paving

  Business response

  11/04/2024

   

  What I stated in the first communication is that the drop from the wall to the opposite side was approx. 3" (per the customers communication to VB), which is not excessive. If it is needed, I will obtain the necessary information from a well know asphalt supplier and they are also are a large construction company, which includes paving. 

  Respectfully, ***** ******* 

  Customer response

  11/06/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ********  ,as I stated, original driveway,  under original topcaped driveway equals,4 inches total. 2inches extended towards house. Previous  picture shown prior to vb, initial  driveway  pour. Why did vb not fill 2inches of aggravate to maintain original pitch of driveway.  In addition there was a fire on tophill behind house. Water runoff came down entering driveway  and puddle to neighbors  backyard and flooded there backyard,  instead of running down to street. I checked  with  a level driveway  is pitched  backwards instead of to street. 

  Business response

  11/08/2024

   

  Per my superintendent of paving, he inspected the surface installed after our second installation. He noted that the surface matched the marks on the supports and wall, which were there prior to any work we completed. Due to the lack of gravel that you mentioned we did install 4" of asphalt, but if we did have gravel there, it would have been 2" of gravel and 2" of asphalt, which equals 4" also. However, I will go out personally to inspect the job. My only request is that I have permission to inspect the driveway without the customer being there. The customer has been very rude to our entire staff such as leaving cuss laden messages on our voicemail and to our receptionist. I don't want to risk any confrontations with the customer. If the new surface marks are matching the marks made by the previous asphalt surface, we have not changed the drainage at all.

  I'll be available any***e next week on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday after 12:00 noon either day.

  Customer response

  11/14/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ********      this is not fair towards me, my terms, if it would not be out of the way. Could *** **** meet with me so I can explain why driveway  ended up the way it has. There after I will give you, **** *. Permission to inspect driveway  without my presence  this sounds fair. He was there at initial  driveway removal, he seen that when carport support was damaged, I did not cuss, or get upset. I am a civil  person. 

  Business response

  11/14/2024

   

  *** and I will visit the customers house to inspect the job, but I still don't want the customer to be there. The voice recording and language used talking our employees makes me question whether he's civil or not. Once again, I want to avoid a confrontation. 

  I looked at all the previous posts and the customer has never mentioned anything about damage to your posts. However, I talked to *** **** and he said some damage occurred. Our customer looked through his garage and found a replacement part that we took to a company who cut it exactly as the previous was. Per what *** said the customer was happy with our repairs. Since *** said you were satisfied with the repair and you have never mentioned it in the previous communications, it's strange that's it's brought up now.

  As previously stated, next year will be my 50th year in business. Vandalia Blacktop & Sealcoating Inc. didn't get this far if we didn't take care of our customers. 

  I can be at the customers house any***e next week when the customer is away from his home. All he has to do is state the date and ***e we can be there.

  Customer response

  11/18/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ********, iagree u,*** inspect driveway.  This is acceptable.  Thou have the answer that eluded u.iagree that the initial  install, came up correctly  on house, but u didn't  understand not the carport support. Reason for that there were two separate driveways. The intersect line ran thru middle carport. Since driveway  was not properly  graded. It pitched it farther . I,m not trying to be an ass. I did mention this to two other vb reps,two separate  ***es. Iwas not upset with them upon, getting with them explained I know how this happened  , then replied to them it wasn't  properly  graded. Since no one understood,  that's when I got a little frustrated.  Let me know the day and ***e u will be here , and will not be around, thanks for ur cooperation 

  Business response

  11/18/2024

  I understand that you probably respected our male field workers, but that was not the case for our female office staff. Some cuss laden rants were directly communicated to our staff, and others were on our voicemail, which they also had to hear. I don't appreciate the comments and perhaps you should respect both sexes. 

  I expressed that 2-3% slope was not unusual and within industry standards.

  I will be on jury duty this week, so I'd like to stop by on Monday, November 25, at noon to inspect the job. 

   

  Customer response

  11/24/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ********, acknowledged  thank u.

  Business response

  11/25/2024

  At this point, I don't know what to do. I have offered to visit his house when he's not there, and he has rejected that request. His mistreatment and disrespectful communication with our office staff is the reason why I'd prefer that the customer not be there during the inspection. Our office staff had nothing to do with his concerns as all they do is forward it on to our job superintendent and foreman. Both said the job passed our inspection and quality protocol and typically I accept their analysis. In this instance, due to all the complaint/response occurrences, I need to inspect the job. During my first 15-20 years of operating Vandalia Blacktop, I was the foreman on the paving crew and we paved hundreds of driveways. I have developed a mindset to look at a job through the customers eyes. With that in mind, if I agree with the customer, we will redo the area of concern at no charge. Next year it will be my 50th year in business and a lot of our success is due to honoring our warranty. Hopefully, our customer will reconsider the offer.

   

  Business response

  11/26/2024

  Per the customers communication on 11/26/24, I will be inspecting the job on Dec 3rd at noon.

  Customer response

  12/02/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: confirmed , driveway will be clear for inspection.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ********

  Business response

  12/03/2024

  I will be at the customer's home at approximately noon, 12/3/24.

  Business response

  12/03/2024

  I visited the jobsite on 12/3/2024 and had the pleasure of meeting the customer's neighbor and discussing the owner's concerns.

  Based on the 15' width of the driveway (brick wall to edge of grass), the slope in that length is approximately 2%. For a comparison, the maximum slope for an ADA handicap parking stall is 2%. The intention for the HC specification is to keep the surface as flat as possible and still drain. In addition, I visually examined the area in concern and it is not how the customer described the area. It is not on an extreme slope. The grass area that the asphalt is sloped to drains towards the road.

  I have two suggestions that the customer should do. First, backfill the grass edge with topsoil, and then seed it, as this provides support for the edge (per the driveway handbook provided). Also, lengthen the drainage pipe coming from down spout and slant it towards the street. This will divert most of the rain water towards the street. 

  I don't know if this will change my mind but the customer has a video camera that points right at the area of concern. If possible, I'd like to view the driveway prepping and paving video. The office staff will email the customer with the proper email address to send the videos.

  Finally, our specifications state that we will install up to one inch of gravel for grading purposes. Due to the difficulty of fitting a bobcat in that tight area, the paving crew decided to just install it all in asphalt which was two inches thicker than the contracted thickness of two inches. The extra two inches of asphalt is the equivalent of four inches of gravel, so we went well beyond what we quoted.

  I understand our customer is upset, so in order to try to please the customer, we will offer a free sealcoat job next year once the asphalt has cured. 

  Thanks, ***** *******

  President

   

   

  Customer response

  12/09/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ********, pics show driveway prepped,and painted. Ready for paving.  Expanded Pic down driveway, u can see, light brown gravel, note none under carport, I forwarded both pics to vb hr@ marketing,  to forward to u, **** b., UNFORTUNATELY  MY CAMERA  DELETES VIDEO AFTER ***E.

  Business response

  12/10/2024

   

  Previously, I mentioned that the written contract states that "we will add up to one inch of gravel where necessary."  In the carport picture, close to the wall, the area didn't need gravel as that would have increased the slope from the wall to the grass (exactly what he didn't want). The area on opposite side, around the roof supports, did need gravel. Due to the difficultly of bringing gravel into a tight area, we used an extra two inches of asphalt instead of gravel, which accomplishes the purpose and provides more structure. The finished product surface has approximately a 2% slope, which could be used for installing handicapped parking spaces.  

  If needed, I can get the customer additional information to support my position, such as from our material supplier or pavement associations. 

   

• Initial Complaint

  07/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On July 8th, Vandalia Blacktop and asphalt seal coated our driveway. In the process they didn’t get the entire driveway coated and the sprayed tar 3-4 feet up the front and sides of our garage and house. Including brick on the lower portion of our home, our concrete patio and all three of our garage doors. We called the company and they sent us to their insurance company. Erie insurance then contacted us and said we needed to get estimate to replace all the siding (because it can’t be color matched to fix only the damaged area) the garage doors and cleaning of the brick and concrete. I got the estimates, submitted them to the insurance company only to have the insurance company tell me they will only pay to replace the damaged areas and I will need to pay for the remainder. Even though I have to get the whole house and garage resided because of Vandalia Blacktops huge mistake! My siding is only 5 years old and I had no intention or desire to change it, but now I must and apparently pay for it myself because they damaged my property.

  Business response

  07/26/2024

   

  I am aware of the situation, but it was not due to VB spraying the garage and house. We do not spray driveways and instead brush the material on due to the risk of accidently spraying areas as described above. We constantly monitor the weather radar to avoid any wash-offs but in this instance a pop-up shower developed right on top of them. Due to it being a sudden downpour the areas coated around the house were still wet. This is the reason why the sealer splashed on the house. Some areas don't look coated because the downpour splashed sealer on the house and then draining away. I will be contacting the insurance company on Monday, 7/29 to try to resolve this matter. We will sealcoat the driveway at no charge once this situation is resolved.

  I am very sorry that this situation has occurred.

  ***** *******

  Customer response

  07/30/2024

  Hello,

  Vandalia Blacktop and Asphalt is claiming that the damage to the house was due to rain and the tar splashing up on the house and garage and not due to them spraying our driveway and subsequently spraying our home. I understand that the weather could have definitely played a part in the damage, but my husband was home during the process and witnessed the crew using a pump type sprayer on our driveway not a squeegee. 
  Thank You

  Business response

  07/31/2024

  We are waiting on our material supplier to send us some samples that might take the sealer off of the siding. In addition, we can treat the concrete with a solution and then power wash the surface. We have done this before and it does an excellent job.

  We use a spray system for parking lots only. However, on driveways we use the system to apply the sealer on the edge. Basically we take the spray tip off the wand and decrease the pressure so that it just trickles out of the wand. We have found that this is a much better procedure versus spreading it by bucket as it sometimes it will splash. Quite frankly, we have capable employees that "IF" we were spraying they would stop immediately once they splattered a small section and not continue to spray.  We also sent our VP out to look at it and he saw the squeegee marks. When I first started the company forty-nine years ago, my VP started with sealcoating parking lots and driveways so he is very familiar with all aspects of sealcoating. The bottom line is we did not spray the sealcoat on the driveway. It was a torrential downpour that popped up right above the jobsite that splashed the sealer on the siding, garage door, and concrete. We constantly monitor the weather radar and it was clear, but then very small cloudburst suddenly formed right on top of them. I know that this has gone back and forth about this issue and hopefully this explains the situation sufficiently.

  Basically, we have been researching a way to solve the situation. Please be patient with us but this is a top priority for VB.

  Would you be able to email (******************************) us a copy of the bid that gives you a price to replace only the affected areas and the bid for all the siding? Also, would it be acceptable for VB to find a reputable company to give a second bid?

  Thank you for your patience.

  ***** *******, President

• Initial Complaint

  07/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  driveway is cracked and broken off wire sticking out of driveway low spots when it rains water lays on drive leaves mud spots Drive has been repaired already in spots. I have called ***** ****** numerous times for weeks and he does not return calls. I called office to talk to the owner he did not call either. It appears the blacktop was put down to thin.

  Business response

  07/27/2022

  We have already completed some warranty work for the customer but I will instruct our inspector to look at the driveway. According to our records the customer notified us beyond the one year warranty period.  However, we will look at the situation and see if we can satisfy the customer.

  Customer response

  07/28/2022

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ********

*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. ↩