Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/29/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The Chimney and Wildlife Specialists project on 3/10/2023, was to replace 3 whirlybirds with new ones and rebuild the chimney stack.The crews lack of English and training impacted the project.1)They did not remove the old whirlybird bases. Their manager told me on the phone that it was customary, and he did not put it on his bid for the job. He relented. Attempted deceit!He promised to bring the new whirlybirds to the house and check their work, but he did not, and I lost my only chance to communicate my issues.Because of their time mismanagement, the whirlybirds were installed in pitch dark conditions between 7-7:45 p.m. They used cellular screen light to see their work. 2)Per the agreement the boards were going to be painted twice. One coat while on the ground and a 2nd after the chimney was rebuilt. During the 1st coat of paint the wind was blowing leaves on the fresh paint but they made no attempt to remove them. I started picking up the stuck leaves from the boards to show what they needed to do.During the rebuild I summoned the leader of the crew to talk about the corner trims having uneven width. He nodded but took no action. When the owner came at my request 5 days later, he was disrespectful, rude, and belligerent. He mentioned to me that he yelled at his crew but did not elaborate. At the end he agreed on the correction free of charge.His task was to reposition the trims of 2 corners, and I emailed him a diagram.2 hours later he sent me an email that now he wanted me to pay an extra $575 for the redo.Chimney details were never provided, but he accused me of not giving him the chimney details prior to start.Once I saw the work, I knew he needed to correct the corners.A video of *********************** Chimney professional Installation on ******* agrees with me.BBB shows ****** ************ as the owner but he presented himself as ************ to me. My resolution is to be refunded the $575 needed for the repair which was not done correctly in the first place.

  

  Business response

  04/12/2023

  This customer complaint is filled with inaccuracies.

  If there was a way to file a complaint against this customer we would like to officially do so. This customer sat over the shoulder of our workers, questioned every inch of work they did, micro managed everything to a point that was beyond ridiculous and to absolutely nobodies surprise voiced his dissatisfaction with the work after the fact.

  I would like to point out a few things. First that this customer canceled our initial appointment to come take measurements because he was not satisfied with the gutter guard we use and was concerned we would damage his gutters. He sent our guys away and forced ** to purchase a different gutter guard and re-schedule with him. Between our roofing company, fabrication company and chimney company we have accumulated exactly 1 complaint of gutter damage over the last 14 years. and that instance couldn't be avoided. This is  because our techs know how not damage gutters. Time is money. a canceled appointment cost a company money. This customer however did not mind because he read online somewhere that there is better ladder guard for protecting gutters...

  Now to point out the straight up lies and inaccuracies from the customers complaint.

  1. At no point was it discussed or agreed upon that the boards would be painted twice. This was not discussed or agreed upon prior to the crew showing up. This is something the customer just insisted on and pushed for while he was hovering over our work crew. Again this made the install take longer and was not something our crew was anticipating. We also did charge for the additional time or labor cost our, guys did to appease the customer.

  2. At no point was trim board orientation discussed prior to the install work. If he wanted the trim boards to overlap in any direction or pattern all he would have to have done was request it. We pointed out to the customer that way we did the replacement is congruent with the houses in his neighborhood. The job is functionally perfect and meets all of the terms of our estimate, our invoice and all agreed upon work. His request for us to change the boards to his liking is an aesthetic request and cannot be done free of charge. It is not as simple a request as the customer assumes it is. changing the trim board overlap will cause the siding boards on the inside to be too short or too long by a quarter inch on all sides affected by the switch and they will also have to be replaced.

  3. The customer is also straight up lying that we agreed to agreed to do this at no charge. We did agree to this at cost with no profit calculated in.

  4. I did go back to inspect the whirly birds. They were installed correctly and functioning exactly the way are designed to. They were the exact agreed upon ones that we estimated. 

  Attached is an email correspondence prior to the job that informs the customer of the exact model we intended to use and pictures of the rebuilt chimney showing it was rebuilt correctly. 

  Customer response

  04/15/2023

  *********** disrespect for the customer and their property is in plain sight. Since my roof has gutters throughout, I wanted to protect them from damage with ladder bumpers which is why I requested them from the very beginning. He should have respected my request. Instead, I received absolute disdain and disregard!
  The facts are:
  1) Why does the owner use 2 different full names, ****** ************ for the BBB registration and ************ for the customers.
  2) Deceptive. They left the 3 old whirlybird bases in place instead of replacing them with the new ones I purchased. They got caught, and in the words of their manager, He did not include the removal on his bid.
  3) Time mismanagement. The whirlybirds were never brought in by the crew or their manager and he never showed up as expected. ******** had to go to the store and wasted an extra 1 hours. Whirlybirds installed at pitch dark conditions using cellphones for light.
  4) His office lady called me before the installation in the afternoon of 3/7/23 and verified the 2-coat paint request at no extra charge. They painted the boards twice but left tree leaves stuck on them. At the end, the crew dumped the brush cleaning dirty water on my front yard.
  5) ******** was untrained and unable to communicate in English to resolve any issues. The chimney corners were done unprofessionally. A ******* video of *********************** Chimney professional shows how the corners should be.
  6) Upon checking his work, per my request, ************ said that the office would call me to schedule the correction of the trim at no extra cost. He also made a point by saying to me that he should put this extra cost in his future bids. 2 hours later he reneged on his word!
  7) Even though I replaced everything visible from the chimney, they still left a rusted and unpainted chimney flashing without ever telling me. I would have paid extra to have this also done.
  
  They need to refund $575, the cost to hire another company to correct the chimney corners.
  

  Customer response

  04/17/2023

  I am rejecting this response because:   

  *********** disrespect for the customer and their property is in plain sight. Since my roof has gutters throughout, I wanted to protect them from damage with ladder bumpers which is why I requested them from the very beginning. He should have respected my request. Instead, I received absolute disdain and disregard!The facts are:

   
  1) Why does the owner use 2 different full names, ****** ************ for the BBB registration and ************ for the customers.
  2) Deceptive. They left the 3 old whirlybird bases in place instead of replacing them with the new ones I purchased. They got caught, and in the words of their manager, He did not include the removal on his bid.
  3) Time mismanagement. The whirlybirds were never brought in by the crew or their manager and he never showed up as expected. ******** had to go to the store and wasted an extra 1 hours. Whirlybirds installed at pitch dark conditions using cellphones for light.
  4) His office lady called me before the installation in the afternoon of 3/7/23 and verified the 2-coat paint request at no extra charge. They painted the boards twice but left tree leaves stuck on them. At the end, the crew dumped the brush cleaning dirty water on my front yard.
  5) ******** was untrained and unable to communicate in English to resolve any issues. The chimney corners were done unprofessionally. A ******* video of *********************** Chimney professional shows how the corners should be.
  6) Upon checking his work, per my request, ************ said that the office would call me to schedule the correction of the trim at no extra cost. He also made a point by saying to me that he should put this extra cost in his future bids. 2 hours later he reneged on his word!
  7) Even though I replaced everything visible from the chimney, they still left a rusted and unpainted chimney flashing without ever telling me. I would have paid extra to have this also done.
  
  They need to refund $575, the cost to hire another company to correct the chimney corners.

  

  Business response

  04/17/2023

  My response will be brief and my story consistent.

  There is nothing deceptive about my legal name change from ********************************* to ******************************* that I am in the process of. I am the same person and it has nothing to do with this job. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything pertaining to his complaint.

  The whirlybirds were inspected by me in broad daylight and were installed correctly. I don't see how any of the other details and complaints about this are relevant. 

  The customer cannot substantiate any of his claims because they are simply not true. a ******* video does not show the standard orientation of trim board overlap on houses in his neighborhood and cannot be used as way to confirm his aesthetic preference(that was not requested beforehand) as the correct way to construct a chimney chase. There was no request or agreement to paint twice. All of this customer's allegations are not true.

  We stand by our statements. We hope the BBB takes into consideration the thousands of chimney chases we have rebuilt without issue. Please look into the facts presented and provide your decision. We do not see the benefit of reiterating the same defense to these baseless claims. 

  Customer response

  04/19/2023

  The name ****************************** is accredited with BBB. Unbeknownst to me he presents himself as *******************. This is a red flag for senior citizens. Since the name has not been legally formalized, he should not use a name thats not legal.
  

  The details of my complaint about the whirlybird installation is relevant because I paid for a new product, and they were installing only half of it. The fact that they ultimately installed the new parts does not negate the attempted deception.
  

  On the 2-coat painting of the boards, originally, he said that I insisted on it and pushed it while hovering over his crew. Now he says that I never requested it and it never happened. The 2-coat painting was not in the contract, but his office agreed to do it for no extra charge when I asked for the cost of it. And their crew did exactly that. E-mail from 3/6/23 shows my request and a 3/7/23 phone call from his office confirms it. I am enclosing proof of these 2 events.

  The video of the chimney corner trim overlaps shows the correct and professional way not just in my neighborhood but anywhere. What I learned about chimneys is that I paid for a professional rebuild and ********************* gave me something unacceptable!
  

  Throughout this BBB complaint the only thing ********************* did was deny and deflect and accuse me of lying! It doesnt matter how much evidence I produce; he is going to deny it.
  

  TonyDarrah is preying on the weakness and lack of information of the people he exploits. Being a senior should not give him the right to be deceptive,disrespectful, rude, and a bully.
  

  Most customers do not have the ability to get up to the roof to inspect their chimney.We are dependent on the contractor to be honorable and follow good business practices. In this case we have an unscrupulous one.
  

  He still needs to refund $575 to hire another company to redo the defective corners.

  
  

  Customer response

  04/24/2023

  I am rejecting this response because:   

  The name ****************************** is accredited with BBB. Unbeknownst to me he presents himself as *******************. This is a red flag for senior citizens. Since the name has not been legally formalized, he should not use a name thats not legal.
  
  The details of my complaint about the whirlybird installation is relevant because I paid for a new product, and they were installing only half of it. The fact that they ultimately installed the new parts does not negate the attempted deception.
  
  On the 2-coat painting of the boards, originally, he said that I insisted on it and pushed it while hovering over his crew. Now he says that I never requested it and it never happened. The 2-coat painting was not in the contract, but his office agreed to do it for no extra charge when I asked for the cost of it. And their crew did exactly that. E-mail from 3/6/23 shows my request and a 3/7/23 phone call from his office confirms it. I am enclosing proof of these 2 events.
  
  The video of the chimney corner trim overlaps shows the correct and professional way not just in my neighborhood but anywhere. What I learned about chimneys is that I paid for a professional rebuild and ********************* gave me something unacceptable!
  
  Throughout this BBB complaint the only thing ********************* did was deny and deflect and accuse me of lying! It doesnt matter how much evidence I produce; he is going to deny it.
  
  ********************* is preying on the weakness and lack of information of the people he exploits. Being a senior should not give him the right to be deceptive, disrespectful, rude, and a bully.
  
  Most customers do not have the ability to get up to the roof to inspect their chimney. We are dependent on the contractor to be honorable and follow good business practices. In this case we have an unscrupulous one.
  
  He still needs to refund $575 to hire another company to redo the defective corners.

*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. ↩