Tornado Tough Tornado Shelters

This is long, but will be worth while if you are thinking of using this company. When someone is in the business of selling/installing items that could save lives, people are literally putting the trust in that person to keep their family safe. In my situation, I debated for awhile before I decided to move forward with this purchase due to the cost and having been laid off from Walmart. However, I decided that you cannot put a price tag on the safety of your children. I chose to go with a local company, Tornado Tough Shelters. This would turn out to be a big mistake and if I had taken the time to research this company before, I would not be in my current situation. To start, the installer was a no-show on the day he was scheduled to come out. I was later informed (after moving my appointments around) that he would be there the following day. The next day, which was a Friday, the installer showed up and explained the process to me and said it would take around 5 hours to complete. I left him at my home at 8:30 that morning. I received a call from the "project manager", Jason around 2:00 that afternoon informing me that the installer hit and broke a water line within my garage floor. They assured me that this water did not get into my home but I would be responsible for supplying payment to the plumber they had coming to fix this. At that point, I asked the project manager if they were insured and he said "This isn't about if we are insured or not". When I got home, the installer was still there as well as the plumber. I went inside to get a check for the plumber only to see the water all in my kitchen, laundry room, dining area and part of the living room. I informed them at that time and they came inside to look. The installer immediately said he needed to take a load of dirt away and he would be back. I paid the plumber ($500!) and he left as well. An hour passed and before I knew it, I had the installer, the company owner, Frank as well as Jason from Courtesy Care (restoration company) at my house. The gentleman from the company that handles water removal was a "buddy" of the owner and they assured me they would give me a good discount for cleanup but I would have to pay for it (another $500). I explained to the owner, Frank that I was never informed there could be a water line within the floor and I never knew this could even happen. When he was asked if this has ever happened before, he said only one time. He was then asked that if they knew something like this could happen, why did they not check for water lines prior to digging. The response I received was "Why didn't you?" Frank said he would pay for half the cost of the plumber and half the cost of the water clean-up and that was just out of the kindness of his heart but I would have to pay for anything else. He also informed me that I should not open a claim with my home owners insurance because his buddy could do these repairs cheaper and the insurance company would dock me for filing a claim. When Frank showed up at my home, he didn't even give us a chance to think through our options as they immediately started going over what they were going to do (which turns out to be the bare minimum and would not have repaired all damages) and when we began to push back, Frank immediately responded with degrading comments (such as the water line comment above) and said he didn't have to cover any of the damages, he was just doing this because he knew I was upset. The individual from the water clean up company, (Courtesy Care) said he would send someone out to mop up the water and put blowers in my home, which they did do. He also said he would be back on Monday to check for water damage and see what needed to be replaced. This never happened. Nearly 2 weeks passed before I heard from the gentleman and this only happened because I went to a local news station about Frank's company. My insurance company estimated the damages at just a little over $5,000 and I am not even sure that the shelter is safe for my family and have plans for an inspector to come out and look at it. I did pay for the shelter as I consulted with my attorney and this is what he suggested I do at the moment or else I would have waited until all of this was resolved. When I went to the local news station, Frank began texting and calling me. He even showed up at my house (which I knew thanks to my security system and cameras)! He stated he wanted to resolve the issue and he was going to pay the entire bill for Courtesy Care and half of the plumber. That would total out to be $750. Not even close to the $5000+ damage they did to my property. Keep in mind, this amount doesn't even include the personal property that was in my garage and ruined and they left my garage and driveway covered in mud!! I really hate when people are taken advantage of and I have a feeling they will do this again in the future. Steer clear! Also – just take a few moments and look up other reviews for this company. It's not just me.

The Shelter is great, the deliverer and installer was the best I've ever seen.|On the other hand, the Project Manager (Frank), should be fired on the spot... The worse PM, I've had the disservice to deal with.  I amended the initial installation site to immediately inside an 18 ft gate to facilitate ease of installation.  The initial contract required a $149.00 tight quarters installation fee. The new location was easy access and no $149.00 adjustment refund has been issued to date.  Also optional was a deposit of $99.00 for excess dirt haul away, in the event, I did not want it.  No dirt was hauled away and I have not received a $99.00 adjustment or refund.  Additionally, on Federal reimbursed storm shelter installation, they require FEMA ATSA Certificate seals, which I later found out was an additional $100.00 put express shipping fees after I had to run it down as to why it was not initially attached, which Frank claimed, he did not know was required.  As a Project Manager of worth, the customer should not be lead blindfolded through a process where you are the subject-Matter-Expert. Bar none this is the worse PM I've every dealt with.

I found Tornado Tough with a google search.
 The price was very reasonable so I called them to ask a few questions.
 I spoke with Frank, the manager of Tornado Tough.  He was very
talkative and friendly on the phone.  We agreed on a shelter, and he spent
at least a half an hour taking my details and credit card information for the
deposit.  We set a date for the work to begin.  When that date
approached, I called to see if we were still on schedule, and he told me he was
running behind so we pushed the installation to the next week.  
When the day came, his crew showed up with a small excavator.
 I didn't meet Frank.  I haven't been able to reach him since the
initial call.  More about that later.  The crew began cutting into my
garage floor to dig out the concrete and dirt.  I wanted to watch, but
there is a policy in the contract stating Tornado Tough does not allow anyone
to watch the work being performed because it causes their installers
nervousness.  They're digging a giant hole in my foundation, and I'm
contractually obligated to not watch.  
Altogether, it took about six or seven hours to complete the
job.  They cut a rectangle into my garage floor with concrete saws, they
removed the dirt with the excavator, and they inserted the "high quality,
premier line of storm shelter" into the hole and began pouring concrete to
lock it in.  The contract states they will "make an effort to make
sure that the existing concrete floor and drive way do not crack during
installation of your storm shelter."  It goes on to say "Tornado
Tough is not responsible for concrete blemishes that occur during the
installation process."  So all I could do was hope and pray they
didn't screw something up while I contractually wasn't allowed to watch the
installation.  At the end of the day, it looked pretty good.  There
were a few cracks in the concrete, but nothing I was upset about.  They
packed up their equipment and drove away.
Fast forward four short months, and the outside of the
shelter is already rusting away.  The paint is chipping and giant rust
spots are forming on the top.  At no point during the conversations with
Frank did he tell me I would have to paint the outside exterior of the shelter
every couple months to prevent rust.  The contract states they are not
responsible for water entering the shelter.  It doesn't say anything about
the outside of the shelter rusting.  I tried calling, texting, and
emailing Frank at Tornado Tough, but he has never answered or responded.
 Once the sale and installation was complete, he completely disappeared.
 He never called to make sure I was happy with the installation.  He
didn't leave me with any maintenance tips to keep the shelter free of rust.
 The contract has a little section with a limited life-time warranty that
says I shouldn't let moister or debris settle INSIDE the shelter.  It says
I should maintain the interior paint to keep it free from rust.  It says I
should grease the roller bearings on the door every 6 months, and it says I'm
responsible for keeping the unit painted and keeping water out of the shelter.
 I really wish he had stressed the importance of having to repaint the
OUTSIDE of the shelter every couple months to prevent rust.  The inside of
my shelter looks fine, but now the outside looks like a rusty antique trap-door
in the middle of my garage floor.  
It only took a matter of weeks for the High Quality storm
shelter to start rusting away.  I must not have gotten one of the
"Premier Line of Storm Shelters" for which I though I purchased.
 Again, I've tried calling, texting, and emailing.  No one has
responded.  I called from a friend's phone number, and guess what...Frank
Answered.  I told him I'm interested in purchasing a storm shelter, but I
have a few questions.  I started with "How often will I need to repaint
the shelter to prevent rust."  He paused for a moment and said
"That's a really good question."  He went on and on about some
story of a soccer mom parking a minivan on top a shelter.  I have no clue
where he was going with that, but he did not once provide an answer as to how
often the shelter needs to be painted.  He just wanted to sell an
unsuspecting customer another rusty metal box in the purpose of
"protecting my family."
Morel of the Story --> Tornado tough will sell you a
rust-prone shelter and dig a big hole in your garage.  You can't watch the
installation, and they're not responsible for ANYTHING going wrong.  After
the transaction is complete, Tornado Tough will not respond to any questions or
concerns.  All I want to know is how often I should have to repaint the
outside of the shelter.  The shelter has a web address cut into the
outside of the door that also serves as the vent.  The web address,
SSCNWA.COM does not currently exist on the internet. 
Be sure to ask every question possible before the sale is
final.  Tornado Tough Frank isn't going to warn you about the monthly
maintenance required to keep the shelter's exterior from rusting.

We first contacted them in May, got the details, got the price, made sure they were FEMA approved, etc.  We had to go to Rogers office with a deposit of $695 and discuss the details with a lady named Shannon.  My husband asked her TWICE if they would haul away any unneeded rock and dirt from the hole to which she replied "it's included in the contract price". There was a large backlog in orders so installation was slated for July 30, 2014. which was understandable.  The excavator arrived at 8 a.m.  that day and the truck from Oklahoma with the "box" was there before the hole was even started.  The excavator had not been given the company's "fact sheet" as to how deep, fill with sand on bottom, clean-up (or dressing as they call it), and was used to installing garage type shelters. The truck driver was about as helpful to any of us as a bookend...seemed bored and climbed in his truck and slept part of the time until the hole was ready fro the shelter.  They set the bottom portion, checked level, then proceeded to add the top and some really gnarly looking sealant to the seam. No one bothered to recheck the level.  Then the excavator began to fill in around the shelter with rock (of which there was a lot) and then called it a day.  The truck driver left and I walked around the house to see the final result....WOW.   It was not level, the yard looked like a bomb had gone off and to quote the city inspector when he came out "Holy cow...who did  this to your yard?" He had been an inspector of shelters for over 15 years and never seen such a total mess.  When I contacted Frank at the company, he said that clean up was not written into the contract and a "little unlevel" was no big deal.  My husband went out with his camera and took pictures with a level on top of the shelter and of the surrounding area. He emailed them to Frank showing the bubble in the level was all the way to the right.  Frank quickly agreed to send them out to pull it and reset it....that happened 3 weeks later.  So here we sat unable to clean up or anything.  On August 21st, after one cancellation, they did come out with a different truck driver from Hausner's in Oklahoma, Maurice, and John, the excavator.  They pulled the shelter, dug the hole to its proper depth, put sand in the bottom so we would not have pressure cracks from the rocks, put us in touch with someone to haul out 40,000lbs. of debris and did a splendid job that day.  The driver was a big help to us all, absolutely stellar and John seemed to be better informed as to what an in -ground shelter required.  If we had had the first trip what we had the second trip there would have been SO much less stress. And they wanted to be paid at the end of the first trip and were, so we had very leverage to rush the reset. 

My advice...if you want proper "dressing" and cleanup, put it into the contract and have them initial it (ignore verbal promises), pay by credit card so you have recourse via "dispute" if there is a problem, and take LOTS of digital pictures to prove what you may need to.  We spent almost a month cleaning rock and "dressing" the sides of the shelter in 90 degree heat at the ages of 63 and 64.  We are finally on the downhill side and in another week or so will have it finished.  Then we have to level and reseed the yard and water.REMEMBER.....ANYTHING YOU WANT DONE THAT IS NOT IN THE CONTRACT, WRITE IT IN AND HAVE THEM INITIAL IT. I am not advising you not to use this company, just stating my experience and giving adivice to avoid a two-week crying spell and working in unbearable heat afterward doing what someone else could and should have done.  JUST GET IT IN WRITING.

  

                  

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My experience has been excellent. They pay very good attention to detail. They have been very helpful. They have done an excellent job so far.