The Consumer Complaints Blog

They do not have experienced estimators or skilled trades people as their website claims.

An estimator came and gave a quote after declining to fully view the basement area where there was an existing tub. She was told that the house was being renovated for sale in the near future and was asked if the “lifetime” warranty would be transferable. She indicated that it would be. She was also asked if the installer would be a certified plumber to which she responded, yes.

The day before the install, a call was made again to ensure that they knew the tub was in a finished basement with the appointment clerk insisting that they installed in finished basements before without a problem. I still asked to speak to the installer. The installer called, was told the bathtub was in a finished basement and he still assured us that there would be no problem.

The installer arrived the next morning, cut out the old surround bathtub and realized that the basement floor was completely finished in concrete. He had a fit, cursed the inexperienced estimators, and left to rent a jack hammer even though he never bothered to view the work area before starting. He ranted about not taking the job if he knew the floor was finished and that it would now be a two day job

He jack hammered a hole, 20”wide x 16”long x 7”deep, right down to the dirt. While doing this, he said that the hole could be filled if I wanted but he was not going to do it. He suggested using “foam crete”. He attached the drain, installed the bathtub, cleaned up the debris, and left a survey questionnaire.

I called the estimator immediately about the hole and the warranty not being transferable. She denied saying that the warranty would be transferable and that the hole was an unforeseen situation. Like the installer (who had the opportunity to view the work site prior to starting) said, if she had taken the time to look she should have known that there would be jack hammering required. She said there was nothing she could do but have the owner call.

I never found foam crete and wanted to speak to the owner immediately. The owner phoned the next day and left a message saying that everything would be resolved. I returned his call and left a message that I had spoken to two journeymen plumbers who both indicated that there was no reason that my floor could not be filled as there was no such plumbing or building code and that I wanted my floor restored to the way it was found.

I forwarded the email I had sent to his estimator about my concerns to which the owner responded by agreeing to offer the warranty to the next buyer and that the hole would be repaired with no mention of additional cost. I told him that jack hammering was not the problem (I had paid them extra for this) but that the hole left was the problem. He told me that his installer felt the hole did not need to be filled to which I responded that it would not be acceptable as my floor was completely finished and I expected it to be left in that condition. He wanted to research this and was going to call several sources including NAIT and the Canadian Builders Association.

After waiting one week he had no answers but said he would like to call the City of Edmonton Building codes branch. He emailed later that day indicating that he was told that there was no code and that it was a civil matter. He offered to fill a small part of the floor but would require $375 to fill the complete floor and that Bath Solutions would no longer warranty the drain.

NO WARRANTY because his installer decided to leave a huge hole. I responded that I no longer wished to have amateurs in my house and having him second guess what I told him was the building and plumbing code. I told him that if he paid me $375 I would have someone else fill the hole. He responded by saying that I was wasting his time and that he would not talk to me any more but would only monitor my emails, to call a lawyer and take him to court.

HOW”S THAT FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND A LIFETIME WARRANTY!

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

We gave our 60 days notice to our landlord (our 1 year lease having expired. Since then he has provided a constant source of harassment. Here’s what an ad for the apartment SHOULD look like:

$850.00 plus hydro.

Features include:
• T24 hour 501 streetcar TC stops right outside the front door with as much noise at possible so you always know it’s there – morning noon and night.
• Scarboro Beach and the boardwalk just steps away provides you with endless hours of entertainment along with free-spirited drunken teenagers and trashy domestic quarrels screaming things across the street at all hours on the weekends)
• No nosy landlords – these ones are in Thornhill and like to pretend you don’t exist. PLUS – they’ll take off to Florida for the entire winter without a forwarding address or phone number should anything go wrong.
• Walls painted poorly in bizarre colors with cheap paint that you can see through (don’t worry – they won’t repaint for you when you move in). These are studded with a colorful and varied history of tenants past. A fun game for children could be “guess what hung here in what year that still hasn’t been patched, sanded and painted over”
• You’ll save on hydro in the summer since there is no air conditioning and also in winter since the ineffective baseboard heating with the burning smell is more costly than you could ever imagine.
• “New” carpeting in the hallways (installed in 1985)
• “Fresh” painting in the hallways (done just before the carpets)
• Front door that often doesn’t close so you don’t always need your keys
• Door frames so rickety a good push will get you in – locked or unlocked.
• Intercom system that makes it impossible to tell if anyone is actually at the front door or if it’s just wind – who knows who you may be letting in?
• Plenty of storage provided you don’t own many clothes or anything else that needs to be put away.
• Sporadic (if any) snow removal makes navigating the icy sidewalks and stairs a winter treat. Your pets will love the nuggets of sharp, cutting salt that is set down once a month.
• Fascinating varied types of mold behind the crumbling bathroom tiles – with entire colonies of insects appearing in the bathtub every morning. Like Bits and Bites – you never know what you’ll get!
• Classy rust stains seeping from water damage on the bathroom ceiling (held up by masking tape in places)
• Vintage wiring featuring a breaker panel that flips off at will a couple times a week plunging you in the delight of darkness
• A great view of a dark and dirty red brick wall and your neighbors looking directly into all 4 rooms just a few feet outside your window – it’s so easy to make friends
• Bare wires hanging from the ceiling where there should be a lighting fixture – just like Berlin in 1945!
• Electrical outlets that may or may not work (it’s always a gamble – what fun!)
• Indoor/outdoor stone gray cleaning-resistant carpeting spotted with stains, cigarette burns, iron burns, and fraying sections near the doorways.
• Cracked, broken ceramic tiles in the hall lend a seedy, decadent air
• Cheap stuck-on vinyl tiling in the kitchen for that faux-diner look with original vintage rust-colored linoleum flooring still viewable between the badly set cracks and blackened glue
• Economical use of garbage disposal at the back of building – keeping the available bins to a minimum encourages lively nightly visitors and a thriving insect culture attracted by the fragrant, bountiful contents of the bins spilling everywhere.
• Lingering mold smell from sewage back up last year that flooded the lower floor.
• Plentiful rust stains in tub and sinks from the wonderfully antique plumbing

You will need last month’s rent as a deposit as well as 12 postdated cheques. For more fun, the Landlord will gladly call you at work to harass you and threaten to sue you and garnishee your wages for not giving him the cheques that your bank account are showing as clearly already cashed – and don’t think he’s going to repay you the interest on the deposit cheque either – he’ll insist that law doesn’t exist.

Viewings available weekends or evenings by appointment, though really who are we kidding? Anytime is fine! The landlord feels free to send anyone into the apartment he chooses at any hour whether the current tenants are home or not and with or without their permission.

As he will tell you – most residents are very pleased with the premises and have been here for years so it is rare that a unit comes available (never mind the tacky plastic For Rent sign stuck to the front door at the end of nearly every month, that’s just there for ambiance). He’ll also tell you he doesn’t rent to people with pets and if you tell him you have one he’ll claim you never mentioned it later. Of course it’s also illegal to refuse renting to someone if they have a dog or cat, but don’t worry – when you move in it will become very clear that he was only fooling and nearly every unit has a dog or cat.

The Landlord has been sued several times by past tenants already with several documented breaches on record. Here goes one more.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Last October I answered an online ad from them to have my outboard motor fixed at Stevensville Auto Truck Marine. They gave many promises. After a few weeks of them not returning any calls they finally called and admitted they couldn’t fix it. They then went on to sell me a motor that was less power than mine, but apparently was in great working condition.

The first issue was they placed it on my boat, without properly sealing the bolts on the transon so that the first time I took it out the amount of water pouring in was incredible, not to mention dangerous! After advising them they said they would fixthe problems, they didn’t. It still leaked like a sieve. The reason was my transom was apparently rotted and the wood wouldn’t catch the bolts properly. So knowing this, they still let me take it out the first time ! When I returned it to them they convinced me they would do a complete restoration of my boat. I gave them a deposit to start the work over the winter.

In March 2009 they called me saying they needed more money to buy supplies, so I gave them another $500. By the time April rolled around I kept calling emailing to see the progress, but again no return calls or emails. In May they finally reached me with nothing but a ton of excuses why they hadn’t touched it all winter! They then proceeded to tell me its so late in the season, that they had a comparable boat to sell us. When my wife and I went to see this boat, it was 5 feet smaller than mine, and this boat that was apparently good to go had the motor in several parts and him working on it! I said it was unacceptable. He invited us to wander around the property and see if there was anything else we liked. My wife and I found a hull, that he guaranteed was sound. After quite some discussions we decided to buy it because he was going to paint it for us, move my lights, bilge pump, downriggers, and a few other things from my old boat to this new one. That was June 10 2009. He promised us it would be ready on June 20. I called several times before the date to see what was happening, but again no answers. They finally called me back on the evening of Thursday June23, asking what time I wanted to pick it up as it was ready. I made arrangements to drive out the next day at 9 am. I called them at 830 am as she asked me to, but again no answer. My wife and I arrived there at 11 am, and found the boat completely UNTOUCHED! The paint they had put on it, which is all they did and switch the motor over, was the wrong colour we ordered. Without even a word of apology, he promised my wife and I they would take it into the shop that evening and work on through the night and not to worry as it would be ready the next day at noon.

Again we drove out. The boat was sitting exactly where we had left it the previous day. Again, without a word of apology, I was yelled at because ‘other customers are losing time and money from here vacations’! I advised him that since last October when I purchased the other motor, I too was wasting time and money. Again he yelled at me as to how busy he is. My friend who accompanied me asked him then to give us the seats we ordered and we would install it. That was when he started yelling to not touch anything, he would bring it in as soon as he finished the seadoo he was working on and that it would be ready that afternoon by 4. I went home rather upset and waited for the call. It never came.

I finally reached him Monday evening and the excuse was he had to go on an emergency call up north! After making tons of promises, yet again that it would be ready the next day….nothing. Finally on July 9, his wife called saying come get the boat its been ready for a few days. When I arrived there, the boat was still in the exact spot….UNTOUCHED. All the equipment he was going to install, was just thrown haphazardly into the boat. When he showed up, there was no explanation why he made me come out for a third time yet again, knowing nothing had been done. That was when he started yelling how if I keep bad mouthing him, that’s what he calls my calls and emails he doesn’t answer to, he would sue me! He then proceeded to throw these 4 ugly rusted seats into the boat, I asked him where were the seats my wife and I ordered and there was no answer. Instead he just kept giving me junk I didn’t need to make up for it. The stuff given is useless garbage. I was so upset I decided to take the boat with me. That’s when I noticed my marine jack I had just installed on my trailer last October was broken, my spare tire also new missing! We finally found the tire, but there was never anything mentioned about the destroyed jack. His wife made me sign a piece of paper that she wouldn’t give me a copy of saying it just said I took it and it wasn’t stolen.

When I arrived at home I realised they had lost the key to the ignition! So I had to get a locksmith out to fix it! Since I have had it home I’ve had to rewire all the lights, install my fishfinder, my downriggers, carpeting, fixed a large hole in the keel that was the size of a toonie that wasn’t there before! Basically everything he was going to do, I’ve done. My wife emailed him saying those aren’t the seats we ordered and wanted back the $500 he was taking for seats and labour. That’s when he told her, I don’t do refunds, and your husband signed a release that he was satisfied with the work. No I didn’t! As of yesterday he hasn’t returned any calls or emails.

Yesterday I finally took it out only to find out that the motor he sold me won’t go into gear, just stays stuck in neutral. I called him from the water as my friend and I were just drifting on Lake Ontario, he didn’t answer. When my friend called from his cell phone, he answered. My friend explained what was going on, and he just said, I guess the transmission is shot, and hung up! We were towed in by the harbour police.

I called all night, emailed and still haven’t heard a thing. I’m sorry if this was a little long winded but I wanted you to understand exactly the kind of business they operate. There is a lot more I could tell you, but I hope you get the idea of how my wife and I have been treated by Shawn and Stephany, the owners of Stevensville Auto Truck Marine on 13717 Ort Rd, Stevensville.

I have contacted BBB and filed a complaint. Hopefully I will get the results I’m looking for. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I bought in August 2007 a Hyundai Santa Fe. I noticed about two months ago a rust on my driver’s side door (inside of the car), which I took to the dealer to have it inspected. I first of all need to clarify that I have purchased this vehicle at the Hyundai Mississauga dealer, and since I had moved to the city of Oakville right after purchasing the vehicle in August 2007, I decided to start servicing the car at the dealer located in Oakville instead, just for convenience.

The first comment the dealer in Mississauga had to make when I took the car for inspection was that I had not been servicing the car at their dealer reason for why they could not deal with the claim, as it would required too much paperwork for them to justify this claim to the head office. I alluded to the fact that I had bought the car there as well as the rusting protection for the car at the time of purchase, however, they mentioned that this policy only covers for rust damages caused on the outside of the vehicle not on the inside. This for me does not make sense. I followed their recommendation to take the car to the dealer when I usually do service it, the Oakville dealer. The Service manager at the Oakville dealer, Mr. Steve Allum, ask if I had bought the rust proofing, and asked for me to show it to him. When he looked at it, he mentioned that his dealer does not deal with the Diamon protection plan, that they have a completely different plan and that therefore he recommended me to take the car back to the dealer where I have purchased it from. This immediately to me sounded incorrect, as I was felt that no one wanted to take ownership for the claim neither wanted to provide the customer service any client deserves, even more for a car that was at the time only 18 months old.

I took the time again to contact the dealer in Mississauga to update the service manager Mr. Kohli about the conversation that I had with Mr. Allum, of course he said that his statement was completely wrong and that he was going to call him to discuss.

Three weeks after I did not have any response from neither of the two, despite the follow ups. At the end Mr. Kohli mentioned that he had agreed with Mr. Allum that the Oakville dealer would take care of fixing the door. To my surprise, after dropping off the car on 6 Jul 09, I got a call from Mr. Allum on 7 Jul 09 indicating that they had determine that they can not fix the door properly but have decided to put some kind of patch on the rust, as it was felt that I had caused the rust with the scratches caused by my shoes by getting in and out of the car. I have to say that this is the lamest excuse they could have come up with. Since when the cars rust by the contact they have with your shoes for getting in and out of a car. The recommendation that Mr. Allum had given me is that I need to take the car to a body shop for proper fixing, which could cost in the range of the $300 dollars he indicated, and that they were not going to assume responsibility for paying for this repair as it was considered outside of the car warranty.

I decided to follow up directly with Hyundai Canada to seek their advice, and was unfortunately turned down. The customer service department rep at Hyundai Canada told me that they can only go with what the dealer is telling them, and if they say that I had caused the scratches, there is then nothing they can do about it. I told the lady that I can not believe that they would jut wash their hands and not provide the Customer Service that someone’s deserve. I even told her that if that was the case I would return the car to the dealer. The response of their rep was that I can do whatever I wanted to since the car has already been paid by the bank, so basically they did not care what I did with it. As you can understand this is extremely disappointing and frustrating, even more so knowing that I still have a couple of more years to go paying the car. If the car is going to start falling into pieces from the inside out and they are not going to be responsible for responding for this then I do not want this car. This is the reason why I bought a new car, if I wanted to have a car that falls into pieces, I could have easily bought a used car for that matter.

I am writing to you to seek your advice and look at the possibilities that I have for making them pay for the repair. The clean up work the dealer did its very poor, I even noticed that the rust on the door is coming form underneath a plate that is sitting by the door foot step, so how I can my shoes get underneath this plate and also cause this kind of rust? In case needed, I do have pictures that I took to show exactly where the rust it’s actually located and also for anyone to look at the quality of the job the Oakville dealer performed. I am very concern about the lack of service Hyundai Canada and their dealers provide, specifically post-purchasing of a car.

I thank you in advance for your advice and attention to this matter.

Lizbeth Carmona

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

As a travel & food writer, I’ve depended on my Platinum American Express card for 20 years — during which time I paid either on time or early. So you can imagine my surprise when I tried to check out of a hotel in Madrid on Monday to find that my card was declined. I assumed it was an error only to find that AmEx imposed a credit limit (I never had one) so low that I couldn’t pay for the hotel. Once I returned, I googled to find a litany of similar complains: long-time Platinum Card holders who spent ten of thousands of dollars a month (and paid on time) to find that they now had a credit limit that dwindled with each month.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/credit_cards/amex_plat.html

Something is very fishy here, especially given that American Express recently received $3.39 billion from the Treasury to now become a bank holding company.

I know the NY Times did a story in January regarding how AmEx started penalizing customers who frequented certain merchants.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/31money.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=american%20express%20credit%20limit&st=cse

It seems this problem is very pervasive. I am at a restaurant now where the francise owner told me AmEx lowered her credit line from $30,000 to $5,000 for no reason.

I hope this situation can be investigated.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.