ComplaintsforHigh Mountain Drywall & Repairs LLC

• Initial Complaint

  05/14/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  From April *****, High Mountain Drywall and Repairs LLC was in my condo attempting to soundproof my ceiling. The soundproofing didn't work at all, which according to the consultant I am in contact with, is only possible if the solution was not installed properly. However, I recognize the small possibility that the solution was in fact installed correctly and something else (though I am unsure what it would be) went wrong. Throughout the process, High Mountain was unprofessional and unreliable. I took time off work or left work early (thus losing wages), only for them to show up over three hours late and take twice as long as they said they would take. In addition, they took the ceiling fan box an electrician had just installed and replaced it with a lower quality box, which they installed incorrectly. My electrician had to spend an extra two hours fixing and reinstalling the ceiling fan box. High Mountain also broke the latch on my electric panel, which I emailed them about, but they never responded.

  

  Business response

  05/17/2024

  As a professional drywall company we told **********, that we couldnt guarantee an 100% sound proof. We provided options in which she accepted to double sheet and insulation. She also wanted to used some sound proof material that she bought elsewhere, in which we told her we didnt know how to use that material but that we would be happy to help her as she said she had the manuals, and only charge her for the time it would take to install those materials, and she said she was fine with that. From all drywall aspects we did everything correctly from drywall hanging to texture. Being in business for over 3 years we have never received such bad feedback. I understand that everyone is different and that everyone has different experiences. Drywall-texture installation has a process that cannot be done in one day. On day one of the project right before leaving she asked if we could insulate that same day(that wasnt planned to happen until the next day) so we told her we would have to go get it and come back & we did. As a home owner if I am going to have a project done in my house & being told a start date I am going to plan for that to happen if I agreed on that start date. It is not our fault that she lost time/wages during the project time. On day one she said she had to work morning till 3pm. Having our employees work hours planned for the following morning and being told she needed to work. As a company I have to give my employees full work hours. So we went to another project in the morning and planned to go to ************************* after 3pm and she was fine with that. Living in a city full of traffic where accidents happen all the time we didnt arrive until after 6pm in which we apologized for the big delay and she apologized for being rude as she said she had a bad day and felt she was taking it out on us. We value our customers time but we also ask to value our time. We kept being told that she needed the work done as soon as possible, and being limited on time where she would say she needed to leave by 10am or by a certain time as she said she had other jobs she needed to do. Which we understand but drywall work doesnt get in two hours. We finally came to an agreement where she trusted us to lock after we would leave for the day and we did always keep her informed when we would leave so she knew when her house was alone. Regarding her ceiling fan box, due to the double layer of drywall the original box didnt fit anymore. So we kindly bought her another box and installed it the way her previous box was installed (that wasnt charged) we are not electricians to know if we installed it correctly and there was no light/fan installed to know if it worked or not at the end of our work. We usually record before and after videos of each of our projects in which on our after video is clearly shows her electrical panel door being completely closed, so I wouldnt be able to understand at what time did we brake it, that could have also happened when she moved all her furniture back into the room but I couldnt possibly know that. We as a company completed all of our work and see no reason to adjust her price as we also never guaranteed her sound proof to be 100% and we told her we didn't know how to install or useher soundproofing materials and she was fine with that. We apologized for any inconveniences and for the bad experience you had with us.
  
  Best regards,
  High Mountain Drywall & Repairs Team
  

  
  

  Customer response

  05/20/2024

   
  Complaint: 21712574
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  Ineffective soundproofing

  I understand that there is no guarantee in soundproofing. When speaking with the soundproofing consultant, it emerged as a likely possibility that the solution was installed improperly in part because many more materials were leftover than there should have been, even with the necessity of skipping the first layers of drywall. However, while it is disappointing that the work done did not block any sound, that is actually not the nature of my complaint.

   

  Ability to install the soundproofing solution

  We did indeed have a conversation about installing a solution that I was given by a soundproofing consultant. On April 3rd, I sent over those manuals but never received any confirmation that they were read. The inability to answer any of my questions related to those manuals gave me cause for concern that the manuals were ignored. At the time, I had decided to put my trust and faith that the promises made would be kept.

  It was never mentioned that High Mountain Drywall "didn't know how to use that material" as stated in the response. The conversation we had via email about this soundproofing solution occurred from March 19th to March 20th. I gave the link to the solution I wanted installed and asked if it was something High Mountain could do. The first email response was an acknowledgement of receipt and a promise to let me know the answer later that day. At the end of the day, I hadn't heard anything so I sent a follow up email. I had to send a second follow up email the afternoon of the next day before finally receiving an answer. At that time I was told to go ahead and buy the extra materials with the understanding that they would install them. They never mentioned they never knew how (as a side note: I have another email exchange with the soundproofing consultant who says that the solution can be installed by "any competent contractor" on March 13th); if they had been honest in their communication with me, I would have chosen a different contractor who was capable of the installation. I never had any intention of hiring someone who didn't know how to do the work, and I feel that I was deceived in that I am only finding out after the fact they didn't know how to install the solution.

   

  Scheduling

  From this response, it appears that my concerns about scheduling were purposefully misinterpreted. I did appreciate that High Mountain Drywall made the time to install the insulation the first day. However, that conversation stemmed from me asking about the schedule and next steps, not from me requesting anything. As I asked about next steps, High Mountain Drywall offered to come back with the insulation that day, which was a wonderful offer that I felt very grateful to accept. If this was not a reasonable schedule, then they should not have offered to return that day.

  On April 23rd, I rearranged my work schedule to accommodate their schedule for that day. They asked to reschedule less than 3 hours before the agreed time. The original schedule was 1500, and they asked to reschedule to 1700. Their requested reschedule meant they would be doing loud work outside of normal business hours. I was trying to be respectful to my neighbors by keeping the construction noise to regular business hours, which I had discussed with High Mountain as well. I asked them to come the next morning instead. However, they ignored my concerns and came 3 hours late (not arriving until after 1800,  over an hour later than they even had rescheduled for) and interrupted my evening plans, even after I told them we should reschedule for a different day.

  I understand that things happen, but all of the scheduling issues could have been avoided with clear communication upfront. On April 6th, I asked how long the project would take. They never responded to that question. I did not hear from them again at all until April 10th, after I sent another email on April 9th. If they had given me a tentative schedule, I would have been able to plan ahead, take more paid time off work, and been around during the days they needed. However, because they did not communicate with me, I had to take unpaid and unscheduled time off work to accommodate their timeline, which I couldn't anticipate until it was happening.

   

  Ceiling fan box

  High Mountain drywall did communicate with me that the box might need to be moved. I didn't think that would be a problem and told them as much. They never said they would be removing it completely. If I had known that would be the case, I would have consulted with my electrician before approving anything. The box that was installed was of a lower quality than the one my electrician installed and wasn't rated for ceiling fans. My electrician had to spend an extra two hours fixing and reinstalling the box that was left.

   

  Electric panel

  I would be happy to provide a video of the broken latch. There were several people in my condo just before the soundproofing project started who can verify that the latch was fine beforehand and only broken afterward. I was very hopeful that we could resolve this issue as adults and professionals. I sent an email letting High Mountain know what had happened on April 28th. I sent a follow up on May 2nd. I never got a reply to either email.

   

  Notes

  All aforementioned email communication can be verified with the attached email records.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******************

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