I had such high hopes to find a local company that could be a 1 stop spot for my home needs, Ace Contracting fell short on so many levels. Poor communication, employees who don't like their job, poor craftsmanship, left a mess, and a GM who doesn't care about the customers and is all about company profits. For the price they charged, the service was subpar. The only thing they got right was the equipment and the only employee who was very professional was the regional manager.
I hired ACE for HVAC work and mini split install, I had a tight timeline, as I was only in town for a short time. Their quote was 5 figures and I received a 10% discount, and they said they could install in 1 day while I was in town.
Poor communication started immediately, questions were not replied to, scheduling was not confirmed, notified one morning that the contractor was on their way and then that they arent and the installation would be the next day.
On the day of installation, the crew for the mini split did a horrible job, left a mess, mis-drilled a hole and gave it a sloppy repair, got dust and debris all over my boxes and artwork, and they talked shit about the corporation they worked for. One contractor told me there was asbestos in the walls, but couldn't answer any questions I asked about asbestos and they didn't put on any protective gear after they discovered it. This was my mother's house, and she recently passed so I spent 45 minutes researching if she died from asbestos. It was very frustrating to have a professional contractor tell me something but not be able to answer any questions about it. After they left, I discovered a mess in the closet & trash left in the room. I took photos and emailed my contact with how upset and disappointed I was. It took me 45 minutes to clean up, and I wore a mask after the asbestos comment. It was dark when they left so I couldn't check out the outside work. The next day when I checked the work, I was beyond pissed. I took photos and emailed my contact and the main website the photos. The craftsmanship was horrible, sloppy, and wasteful of materials and they used part of the house to clean their tools and left a mess. For the price I paid, I was mortified.
So long story short, I ended up speaking to the regional manager & GM of the company. The regional manager was personally going to do the repair work 4 days later. I was already out of town, so I permitted them to fix the outside. The work was corrected, and even the regional manager commented on how bad the work was. I asked for a partial refund since they did not fully live up to the promises made.
For a refund, I had to talk with the GM. As the GM is digesting what I explained and looking at the notes on the paperwork from their contractors. He pointed out that I got a 10% discount. I explained that the discount was part of the estimate I accepted & paid prior to the work being done, this was a 5 figure job even after the discount. He said that since I had that discount, he could only give me a $600 refund, and between the refund and initial discount he couldn't give more than that or it would eat into the company's profits. Then he told me that his employee should not have given me the discount in the first place, and since I shouldn't have gotten that discount, I should be happy to have that original 10% discount plus the $600 and that was the best refund he could offer. He then said that I should count on my tax write-offs for this install. I truly was having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that he was telling me that a discount is now a refund, that multiple employees messed up and that I still had to pay basically the full agreed price, even though his people messed up and did not fulfill the full scoop of work they were hired to do, and the company can't take a loss.
When did discounts and refunds become the same thing?
Was the 10% discount prior to work being done a reason to allow employees to mess up on the customer's dime, so it doesn't cut into company profits?
from the customer's perspective, I agreed to an estimate, paid it, cleaned up after their contractors, have an extra poorly repaired hole in my closet, experienced extremely poor craftsmanship, received poor communication from the company, wasted numerous days dealing with this problem, only to find a GM who acknowledges they screwed up, doesn't care that this can damage their company reputation, all so the company doesn't cut into their profit. I'm sorry, I didn't train your employees nor do I run your business, so why am I paying for their mistakes? Your business is 2 things, the equipment you install and the craftsmanship of your contractors This was not worth the $ read more