Mortar joints of cultured stone on 6' x 8' west wall and small area (2' x 2') on top of South wall. Homeowner installed stone.
@ 4:00P.M. On Monday October 24 Cedrick, the tech. That THE REPAIRMAN sent out to do the work called and stated he was on his way over to start the mortaring job. (for the past seven days he had been working on the trim job and that still wasn't completed) I ask Cedrick if he thought he had enough time before dark to get the job done. Oh sure; Cedrick states. He shows up a few minutes later and starts job. When I go out to check on the job, Cedrick is using a putty knife and large paint brush to apply the mortar into the joints. I am not familiar with this way of apply the mortar; I have always used a grout bag to apply mortar to the joints.
I ask Cedrick if he is sure he knows how to do this, stating that I thought you used a grout bag? Cedrick states no that this is the way they always do it. I offer to get the grout bag that I have for him and let him use that. He refuses the use of the bag and assures me the stone will clean up. I continue to check up one him questioning him several times of this procedure. Cedrick works until 7:30P.M., it is know dark.
I take a drop light outside to the job sight and am horrified at what I see. Mortar is every where. All over the stone, siding, Sofia, gutters, deck and deck railing. I fear once this dries it will NOT come off. Robert Zandarski, a friend, and myself immediate start to clean the deck, deck railing, and south wall with a sponge and clean water. I had to go to work so I contacted the owner of THE REPAIRMAN, Steve Dennison. I told him of the mess that was left to dry.
Informing him I had spent over an hour cleaning up what I could. Steve asks me to e-mail him the pictures of the job. At 9:59, October 24 I e-mailed pictures and the last eight days of events to [email protected]. The next day at 8:15A.M. Steve responds via e-mail Thanks, I will look into it. & Steve.
Two days later Cedrick shows up. I inform him I am totally unhappy with the way he left my home with mortar all over everything. I tell Cedrick to finish up the trim work and clean the stone. Cedrick uses water and a brush to clean stone. When Cedrick is done he request payment of $447.50, I am unable to tell if area is clean because it is still wet. I sign the bill TBD - to be determined once the area is dry. The next day things are dry. There are still mortar stains on stone, deck, siding, soffits, and gutters. I take pictures of the results.
Wednesday November 2. THE REPAIRMAN, owner Steve Dennison, leaves a message on my answering machine, which I still have, concerning payment for the jobs. This is the first time I have heard from Steve since the night my home was left in a mess. I return the call that evening and inform Steve that there is still mortar on everything. Steve wants to know why I have signed the invoice and not paid the bill. I inform him that the invoice was signed TBD and I had discussed this with Cedrick, the tech. Steve states he will have to talk with the tech and he will call me right back. Steve calls back and states Cedrick will be back to clean up but that he will not put up with nitpicking at the work. I agree. On November 4th I e-mail Steve pictures of the job after Hedrick had cleaned up the first time stating the work is unacceptable. There is no question, the stone looks awful.
Hedrick shows up and begins to clean stone, deck, Sofia and siding. I get home when he is finishing job up and once again inform him when the area is dry I will check to see if it is clean. Once area was dry, the deck had cleaned up. The stone was faded from the acid, which is very obvious. The Sofia still has mortar in it. I again take pictures.
Mr. Dennison calls and leaves a message, which I have; his only concern is the payment for the job. He threatens late fees if I do not pay. Steve states on the answering machine that he will send Cedrick out to get the money. Later that evening Cedrick shows up and I write on the invoice my disappointments, I write unsatisfactory work on the check.
I e-mail Mr. Dennison the pictures of the finished results. Mr. Dennison response via e-mail basically accusing me of having the problem. I then contact another contractor trying to find out if this problem can be fixed. I am informed that I can purchase dye for the stone. I contact the company that I purchased the stone from and they order me the dye. Mark, whom works for Consumers Concrete where the stone was purchased, assists me with ordering the dye and also gives me a web site on the manufacturer of the stone. Once I get to the web site there are installation instructions, which I now have. Obviously THE REPAIRMAN does not know what he is doing.
On December 14 I call THE REPAIRMAN (269-428-0493) and got an answering machine giving me a cell phone # to call if it is an emergency. I call the cell # and leave my name, phone #, and state that I am calling about the stone work that I have a problem with. The next day I call again (269-428-0493) this time a female answers the phone and I leave a message with her of my name, phone #, and that it is concerning the stone work that I have a problem with. She says she will have Steve get back with me. On December 16th for the third time I call (269-428-0493) a man answers, I state my name and reason I am calling. The gentleman puts me on hold. Steve answers the phone eventually and refuses to take care of the problem. Stating he will pay only for the dye. This is not an acceptable solution to a problem that will cost $743.00 to fix the damages.
It greatly disturbs me that Mr. Dennison's ONLY concern was payment. The respect for time, customer satisfaction and workmanship was non existent in his attention to this problem. What started out as an attempt to increase the value of my house by finishing up two small projects has resulted in a much larger problem to correct and a decreased value to my home as a result of the services received from THE REPAIRMAN.
The lack of respect for my time. I informed both Steve and Cedrick that I worked 3rd shift and slept during the day, but that I would arrange to be up when they needed to be in my home. Cedrick was late (over 2 hours) 4 times and cancelled the entire day 3 times.
During this nightmare, I only heard from the owner, Steve three times. The first two times only with concerns of getting paid. Mr. Dennison was never concern with finding out if mortar had cleaned up or if job was satisfactory. The final time was when he e-mailed me stating that I had the problem. VERY, VERY unprofessional in all aspects of doing business with this company.
I have tried to resolve this problem through the Better Business Bureau with Mr. Dennison. Mr. Dennison did not respond. I then sued in small claims court winning a judgement against "CALL THE REPAIRMAN" STEVEN R. Dennison.
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