Recently I was driving through my neighborhood and saw a cleaning crew either cleaning windows or rain gutters. Nowing that I was in need of having my rain gutters cleaned out I decided to inquire about their services and spoke to Brian Morrell. I asked him if they clean out rain gutters and he told me that his company does.
Later that day he came to my home and I took him around to point out the two drains in back, one over the garage area and rear bedroom. I told him specificly that these two drains are not draining properly causing the rain water to overflow. Went to the front pointed out areas of concern that needed attention as well. He also mentioned that they clean the outside of the gutters. (personally I could care less about having my gutters shampooed on the outside) Said other companies normally don't include that. He assured me that he and his crew would take care of everything.
He gave me a price of $350.00 to clean all the drains. At first I felt this was on the high side but being a large two story home I agreed to the price. Brian told me that he would be out 4/8/6 AM to complete the job.
On 4/8/6 Brian and his crew arrived around 7:30 AM to start work. He started in the rear of the home while his two other guys worked in front. Later that morning I went out front to see how things were going. I asked the guy on the ladder if he found any debris blocking the drain. He said "no didn't see anything" I said ok And went back inside thinking they have everything under control.
Later that morning Brian came to the door to collect his money. I went outside to look things over and when we were in the back i asked him about the two drains that were clogged. He told me that everything should be fine. The way he answered my question was somewhat vague. At that point I wasn't having a good feeling. But he reassured me that if there is any problem he would take care of it.
Well guess what. I should have listen to my inner thoughts. Brian proved me right. About two weeks later a storm moved through the area and yes, you guessed it, my drains were still clogged. So, I called Brian to advise him of the problem. Said he would be out the next day to take care of it. What he told me next blew me away. He said that there must be a misunderstanding in our communication he only cleans the outside drains not the inside. But he did tell me that he didn't see anything. I couldn't believe my ears. Never once in my coversation did I ever indicate to him that i wanted my outside drains polished. But he said he would take care of it anyway.
The next morning I decided to get on my ladder and see what this guy did. Absolutely nothing! There was a pile of crap stacked about 6' high covering the downspout. I called him immediately to find out what time he was coming over. He said he couldn't make it had other jobs to do. I asked him about the following day and was told he would be in CHURCH ALL DAY. I asked him when he will take care of it and he didn't know. I asked him if he check inside for debris. He said he did i told him what I found. I think he relized at that point he had been caught in a lie.
I expressed my disapointment in his lack of business ethics. He said that HE WAS UPSET and needed to calm down and call me back in an hour. Well, that didn't happen either.
Here's the interesting part. Knowing that he cleans windows I was going to have him clean ours and my two neighbors. That would have put about another $1,000 in his guys pocket.
I never knew that there were companies out there that specialize in shampooing only the outside rain gutters.
Bottom line: Im out $350 bucks and clooged drains.
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