ComplaintsforCreative Fences & Decks Inc

• Initial Complaint

  01/26/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We are owed $4800. We provided a $5,000 deposit. No construction, purchasing of materials, or permitting ever commenced for our deck (Figure 7). The only work product we received was a site map valued at $200 (Figure 3). According to the contract the $5000 deposit was to go towards building. Permitting was supposed to be charged separate (Figure 2 and 6). The owner of Creative Fences and Decks, ****************, states that $5000 was paid to one of his former employees that left the company (Figures 4 and 5). ****** states, if ******* is willing to return his commission and his compensation for the permitting, then I can return back your deposit (Figure 4). Creative Fences and Decks is responsible for delivering a service that we paid for. Money lost for intra-company disputes should not be passed on to the consumer.After ******* left, ****** clearly indicated that he would cancel our contract and return our full deposit if we wished not to proceed, but he since changed his mind (Figure 4 and 5).****** failed to notify us that ******* left the company. He kept our deposit and performed no construction or permitting work. We found out when we called to inquire why work had not started. After ******* left, ****** stated the contract quote was too low. This beam clearly has to come down, that will be a few thousand dollars more. ******* missed that this wood has dry rot, see the white spots, that is dry rot. That has to come down too. I inquired how much additional cost, within $10,000. ****** stated he could not provide that. ****** showed us another deck he built, which in his words was simpler and smaller, but cost over 90k. Mitica will not honor the $76,800 contract price. Changing the price should negate the signed contract.Lastly, when we first met with ****** he recommended we proceed with our project without acquiring a permit. This is in direct violation of City of Lake ***** ordinance (Figure 8). We insisted on permitting.

  

  Business response

  02/28/2023

  This was my response to ****************** on January 24th. 2022. I received your letter today of your intent to file a complaint with the BBB regarding your deposit. There are a few misleading statements in the letter as to our company only
  having a $200 plat plan available for your permit process. That is completely not true, as I came out to our meeting with the completed set of plans. See plans attached.
  The deposit of $5,000 you provided to ******* is actually a security deposit that gives our company the ok to start the permit process with is quite lengthy and involved,
  contract clearly state that $2,000 is applied toward securing permit, then there are permit drawing for which the permit facilitator is paid a salary and beyond that we do not
  start the permit process unless we are secured the project. *******'s commission is what I voiced as money i lost in the process as he no longer works for me and his full
  commission was paid in full. When you agreed to the contract and signed you also gave me the ok of going to our internal process of compensating our salesperson for
  contracting your project. You can revoke the contract as you are the customer and you have every right to do that, I cannot force you to work with me on the project,
  especially that ******** clearly voiced her desire to work with ******* on the project. ******* was not even licensed at the time. That being said, You have the freedom to
  pursue your project with whatever company you desire, but you cannot ask for a deposit back that has already been applied to the process. None of the $5,000 goes
  towards materials or any of the construction process, that deposit would be balance of 1/2 of the project that is collected on the day we start the project. You gave our
  company a security deposit and provided us with you acknowledgement that you were in agreement with our company to start the process of permitting. I hope this clarifies
  things. Mitica

  Customer response

  03/01/2023

  Complaint: 18934978
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  We have documented proof that we would be charged $200 for the site plan. This is included in Figure 3.
  
  We should not be penalized for intracompany disputes.  ****** said in your own words, I mentioned at the time I would return the deposit, that we had a right to receive our refund of $5000. This is documented in Figure 4. We should not be charged for permitting as no permitting work began. We proof of this in Figure 7.
  
  The owner of Creative Fences and Decks believes we will go with the former employee.  We request that all names outside of ******* and ****** be removed from this post.  This is untrue. We are not working with the former employee.
  
  We have documented proof that ****** told us that we could have our refund back since no work had commenced on our project. This is documented in Figures 4 and 5. 
  
  The owner of Creative Fences and Decks owes us $4800.  No construction, purchasing of materials, or permitting commenced. The owner gave us his word that given his companys break up, he would refund us the full $5000. We have written proof. Please see Figures 4 and 5.  He has since decided not to uphold his promise.

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

  

  Business response

  03/18/2023

  ******, I did submit a response, not sure what you did not receive it.  Much of the information from ****************** is not true.  ******** signed a contract and provided out company a security deposit giving our company the OK to internally start process of permitting and compensation for the sales commission.  What we do internally is not a matter we discuss with our customers, but they are agreeing to allow us to go through our process when they sign the contract and provide the security deposit.  When I met with them I brought the complete ************ ready to be submitted to the city for approval.  Because my assistant ******* was let go they decided to cancel the project.  I will not be returning the deposit as the internal process we go through extinguished the amount of the deposit.  Please relay that information to them.  I will not be playing tug a war with them on the issue.  If they would like for us to continue the process, acquire a permit and build the deck as proposed I will honor the contract.  Thank you!  Mitica

  Customer response

  03/22/2023

   
  Complaint: 18934978
  
  I am rejecting this response because: the contract does not include paying for "internal processes."  The owner of Creative Fences and Decks wrote (we have proof) that we should receive the money, but he could not give it to us because his employee took it.  He said that he would give the money back if his employee gave it back to him.  While it is unfortunate that there were internal conflicts, the fact that money was taken internally, should not impact our ability to get the refund that the owner of Creative Fences and Decks put in writing we were owed.

  Future potential customers should know that the owner of Creative Fences and Decks will not uphold what he has said nor uphold what he has written.

  It is untrue that permitting work began. Please refer to the email from the ******************* showing no permitting work began.

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

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