In December, a piece of our siding fell off of our house & it cracked when it hit the ground. I called my builder & since I had lived in the house for just over a year, I was told it didn't fall under their builder's warranty anymore. They referred me to the original installer, Home Kim Group. I live in a neighborhood of about 100 homes by a national builder & apparently, Home Kim Group was contracted to install the siding on all of the homes. I called them up, sent pictures of the cracked siding, & they gave me a quote for $175 to replace one piece of siding. I naively agreed to their quote. They replaced the siding, but there was a significant color difference. I questioned this color difference & I was told that it was due to the sun fading my existing siding. At this point, I had not yet asked what brand this siding was. When I asked Mr. Kim if there was a manufacturer's warranty against fading, Mr. Kim responded by saying "not really". Next, I found out the brand & color from my builder & discovered that there is not only a "no fade" warranty, but also a "no cracking" warranty, by the manufacturer of the siding. As a trusting customer, I assumed that a reputable company would inform a customer if what they are asking to be quoted would have been covered by the manufacturer's warranty, but I should not have been so trusting of Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim says he has been in business for over 30 years, but he doesn't even have the decency to let a customer know that what they are calling about could have been covered in full under the manufacturer's warranty, including installation & labor. When I contacted the manufacturer about their warranty, they obliged by offering me a courtesy credit of $100, for which I am thankful for. The warranty manager also let me know that she thought I was excessively charged by Home Kim Group for that one piece of siding.
I attempted to write to Mr. Kim to try to recover the remaining $75 from Home Kim Group, but Mr. Kim refused to refund me the remaining $75. He tried justifying his charge by trying to tell me that I told his assistant when I first called in that a rock or machinery had hit my siding & that he didn't think that would have been covered anyway under the warranty. I never even said that. He also wrote that his company had driven over an hour each way to give me an initial quote, when really, the quote was completed by me emailing him a photograph of the damage. He also tried telling me that I would have needed to pay him for the removal of the cracked siding & the installation of the new siding, even if my cracked siding had been covered by the manufacturer's warranty. That was just not true though either.
For someone who has been in the business for over 30 years, Mr. Kim needs to brush up on business ethics & he really should know the warranty of the products he sells. Home Kim excessively charged me, has been dishonest, & did not disclose a manufacturer's warranty to me that I could have used in full; Mr. Kim would rather make a buck off of you & then refuse to give you back any money once you catch him.
I am hoping this review about my negative experience with Home Kim & this warning to other future customers will help Mr. Kim become a more humble businessman. I hope he will brush up on the warranties of the products he sells his customers. I hope the next time a customer asks a question about a warranty on a product that he sells that if he doesn't know the answer, he will contact the manufacturer's representative & get the right answer, rather than just making something up to justify a job for his own monetary gain. I would not recommend Home Kim Group to anyone. The owner acted deceitful & greedy. read more