I'm sorry you're having problems with the install. What's worse is that you have paid them, so it's not like you can withhold any money as leverage to make them fix the problems. A contract with terms that generous toward the contractor should be either negotiated toward your benefit -- or left on their desk, unsigned. Good luck in getting them to fix everything.

Well.... I was told it would cost ME an additional $675. if I wanted one piece in the dining room... ( I insisted on 15 foot goods and had to pay more for it just so I wouldn't end up with more than 2 pieces, total, for the front room & dining room. )

I ended up with 3 pieces in the dining room.

As for the fireplace tiles... They told me the installer would replace them... He didn't.... I was told, on Wednesday, I needed three pieces of something to make the carpet as high as the tiles and that I would have to pay the $114. for them... I didn't... I told them they wouldn't get another penny from me, for any reason... Instead the installer put in new, higher, tack strips and added what looked like very thin wood shingles so the carpet slopped away from the tiles... And left the corners hanging in mid air!

The steps still look like carp.

Can't put a stop payment on a cashiers check for lousy work, only if it's lost or stolen... I did try though.

I did check the company out with the BBB, no complaints, ever...

I started to fill out a complaint form... Per the BBB site "The BBB strongly encourages consumers to first attempt to resolve complaints directly with the company"... I tried doing that on Wednesday and was yelled at... The salesman said I was "acting as if everything was a tragedy" and then he called me a tragedy...

They came out on Thursday and the dining room is acceptable but the rest....

So far I've complained about the lousy work that Rite Floor Covering did in my home on three forums, two here and another one, and to all my neighbors... I plan on calling the store tomorrow and see if they'll send someone else out to fix this mess... If that fails I WILL file a complaint with the BBB... I may even call the local TV stations to see if they can help... I've made up flyers with four pics of their work and the part of their contract that's in my original post... I've handed out some of them and will put them up in every grocery store with a bulletin board... And it won't end there... I didn't pay $3000. for Shaw Carpeting only to have it improperly installed.

Rita

Greetings, Rita.

Have you had dealings with the people in charge of the company? It often is a good idea to go as close to the top as possible when one is less than pleased with a company's performance.

And be reasonable, courteous, logical, have a good case, well-documented ... and be patient and persistent.

Is this an independent company, only at this location, or is this one branch of a larger company ... and if so, where is the headquarters?

If the headquarters is elsewhere, and you contact them, with a creditable complaint, sometimes when headquarters rattles the chain of a branch ...

... things change ...

... sometimes in a hurry!

It seems to me adviseable to try to deal with people who are more in charge in the company than with (lowly?) salespeople. Most of them want to get the sale, and are much less concerned with making things right when they are less than satisfactory.

The job is done. We got the money. So what if things aren't quite satisfactory ... further dealing with it is just trouble, costly in terms of employee time, costs and emotion. Ignore it ... maybe it'll go away.

With a number of consumers ... that tactic works.

Apparently not with you!

By the way - did you record the abuse from the salesperson? Have you spoken of it to people higher in management?

Are they situated on a well-travelled thoroughfare? Walking traffic, as well as vehicular? Is their storefront on a city street, or are they in a mall? If they are in a mall, how far are they from city property? Would traffic there be only slightly related to the carpet company, and would it be mostly vehicluar?

If they're in a mall and you try to picket near the store, they'll kick you off the private property. Fast.

Have you found out from the city what rules would govern if you picketed their store?

Carrying a sign that says something like, "I am dissatisfied with the installation that Rite Floorcovering did in my home".

There was a guy near here who was unhappy with the service that he'd had from a certain car company ... and had a sign on his lawn, on a heavily travelled thoroughfare, for many months, telling how that manufacturer made lemons! It was years ago ... and I still remember its name!

DO you live on a fairly heavily travelled street?

After you've exhausted all avenues of repair with the company, and through the BBB, have you considered putting a large sign on your lawn?

Would local media, e.g. newspaper, TV, radio, be interested in your complaint?

Sometimes they are less than enthusiastic ... as the company may advertise with them ... but it's unlikely that you will.

A few years ago, in a small town in Illinois, a person who'd had a building permit had taken a long time, and the (small) municipality had threatened to tear the mostly-completed house down. Local TV and newsapers got in on the act, and some people on Gardenweb, and they were rather astonished that many people, even people from out of country, got on their case.

The guy got a reprieve ... and a while later, I was travelling near their village, with a car whose starter wouldn't work, so I left the car sitting on a small hill so that I could start it again, while I talked to the mayor, to thank him for the reprieve. He appreciated my visit - we had a good chat.

To travel from Detroit to Peoria, even in a car with a standard transmission that makes it possible to restart it, does take a measure of spirit of adventure (or stupidity), I think.

I googled the floor covering name ...

... found a message that told me their address and phone, plus offered a map of how to get there, but no email address for the company.

I planned to write them to ask how, when a person has paid in full for their service, one can have a leg to stand on if one is dissatisfied with their work.

Once, in church, I asked a teen to stand up, take my hand, and try to pull me off balance ... which he did, with a measure of difficulty.

Then, I lifted one foot from the floor and asked him to try it again. He succeeded - much more easily.

And I replied that we need a good underpinning to our lives, in order to be solidly based and well able to cope with the issues that happen in our lives through the years.

Which is more of a commentary on my speaking of ... " ... a leg to stand on ...", than it is of your problem, Rita.

Do you have a suggestion as to actions that the people here might be able to do to be of help?

Good wishes for success with your problem.

ole joyful

Some companies are just dreadful to deal with, they make you wish you'd never heard of them.

However, when things go wrong I find that it's best to write to companies rather than telephone. Telephone conversations tend to go nowhere and it's easy to get pulled in to unhelpful debates too. Often the person you end up talking too isn't the best person to deal with your problem either. People are also in my experience less likely to be rude or try to fob you off in letters. People are perhaps more self concious of their choice of words when writing them. At the very least their letter can be shown to their boss if they say something unreasonable.

Written correspondence is also good because it gives you a record of everything that is said. It makes it harder for people to distort the truth later. If your letters have been nothing but reasonable then they cannot suggest otherwise, nor can they conveniently forget having made claims or promises they didn't meet.

Mostly I get positive responses and the problem is solved, but there have been a few bad cases where things were not solved. If the worst happens and they do nothing to resolve the problem, you can of course take legal action. If you really believe the installation was exceptionally bad then you could even take the angle that they damaged your carpet. Obviously you'll have to try your hardest to resolve the problem through them before doing anything like this, if only so that you can later prove they did not resolve it when asked.

Anyway, I hope things improve and they do something to correct your problem.