My father-in-law send a complaint letter to Robert's Carpet but never got a fair resolution to the problem and were stuck with a huge bill, defective product and lousy service.
The complaint is attached. Be aware when dealing with this company.
My house was flooded on June 9 during the storm Allison. We chose Robert's Carpet to install hardwood flooring into four rooms of our home. It was for a total of 850 square feet for a price of $6071.83 including a one year warranty but excluding the thin set leveling material at a price of $40.00 a bag. Work for leveling the floor began August 28.
After leveling and letting the thin set dry for one day, the work crew told me that nine bags of the material was about the right amount to use for the 850 square feet of space covered. The next day, three men arrived at 9:30 A.M. To prepare the floor before installing the wood. After about three hours of cleaning the floor, they applied the glue to bind the wooden planks to the floor in my study and living room and allowed it to dry. They said it would be about half an hour before they could lay the wood onto the floor.
Meanwhile, Mike, the head of the crew, went outside to his truck to retrieve a piece of paper and asked me to sign it. I asked him what it was, and he said it was a disclaimer relieving him of all responsibilities if there were problems with the floor. I told him I would not sign such a statement, but he threatened to leave at that very moment, with the glue still on the floor, if I did not sign it. I then asked him if there were any problems with leveling the floor. He assured me there were no problems because he was a professional. I also told him that the company guaranteed me a one-year warranty, so why would I still have to sign such a disclaimer? He replied that he only does sub-contracting work for the company and if I called for service, the company would charge him for the repairs and he does not want that to happen.
After waiting for more than two months for completely repairing my house and seeing all the glue on the floor, I decided to sign the paper so he could proceed with the installation. I also told him that if the glue were not already on the floor, I would have told him to walk, just as he threatened to do. The following day, Thursday, they finally completed the job. After they left my house, my wife and I carefully inspected the floor and noticed they did not do as good a job as was expected. We found several lumps in the floor and some of the floorboards creaked when walked on.
The next morning, I called Ernie, the salesman from Robert's Carpet who sent the crew to my house. I informed him about the problems with the floor and the way his crew acted when they forced me to sign the disclaimer. He said he would talk to the crew and get back to me. I called him again on Monday morning and he said he would talk to a John Taylor and get back to me, but I never heard from them again. A week later, I called the store from where I purchased the wood. The salesman wanted me to talk to Ken, the manager, and he promised to come to my house the next day.
He arrived at my house around 9:30 A.M. I showed him the problem spots around my house. He did not respond in any way and seemed not to be interested in my problem. I was extremely angered by the careless attitude he showed his customers. Finally, he showed me the paper I signed with Mike and claimed that I prevented Mike from properly preparing and leveling the floor. I tried to explain to him the situation I was put in to sign the disclaimer, but his reaction seemed like he did not want to be bothered. He then said that he would get back to me again. Since I did not hear from him, I called him again the next day and he asked me what I wanted to do? He still insisted that I not letting his boys properly complete the job caused the problem spots. I told him that this was not true and if he was not going to honor the warranty, I was going to sue the company. At this, he said that would be fine and that he would win in court.
I was put into a situation where a sub-contractor literally forced me into signing something completely against my will. Dealing with a flooded house was bad enough, so I signed it to prevent further delay of getting my house back to normal. I have never in my life encountered such a so-called manager that had such a bad attitude toward their customers. Until their mistakes have been corrected and the workmanship is satisfactory, I cannot be expected to pay for the quality of work that I received.
Misrepresentation and Duress
In summary, I was obviously made to sign a contract due to Robert's Carpet head crew member telling me a false statement about the quality of work done being professional'.
I was also threatened unlawfully that the crew will leave the job undone (wet glue on the floor) if I don't oblige right away. On such short notice and at a critical time, I had no choice. Such a contract under duress has no legal binding.
Leei-hong
Houston, Texas
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