ReNEW windows and siding LLC.

I called the 800# and was connected to an answering service who could only give me information if I applied for a $100.00 refund on God knows what. The 800# operator didn't have a clue either Piecing together what I know It seems Jim Larkin is simply a CONTRACTOR BROKER who avoids any responsibility for the work he accepts money for completing. My recommendation: Look elsewhere. (I should have been suspicious at the photo copy business card).

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I am writing this letter to make a complaint against the company ReNew located at 247 Meriden-Waterbury Tpke in Southington CT. The owner is Jim Larkin.  We contracted with Renew to have two bathrooms gutted and remodeled in April. The work was supposed to start in May and be completed in June but did not start until the middle of July.  We were told it would be completed in two weeks but it took almost four weeks.

                One of the reasons it took this long to complete the job was because many things had to be done twice because they were done wrong the first time. An example of this is the lights over the sink were hung pointing up instead of down so holes had to be filled and the lights moved up. The pipes from the toilet has to be redone. The downstairs bathroom took longer than anticipated so the upstairs bathroom was a "rush job" and we were not happy with the results.  The shower surround was not cut straight so there is thick caulking put in a clear color which looks black.  So we have a new shower that already looks like it has black growing on the caulking.  The towel racks were not put up evenly  and one of the racks fell down the first week.  Also at the last minute they said they would not make the door open the correct way because of the where the light switches were. This one of the main issues we wanted corrected in this bathroom.  My husband had to run wires himself the night before and then get them to fix the door.  They should have realized this before the bathroom was dry walled.   On the last day of the project the worker said he was supposed to get a check for the balance due.  My husband was not home so I said I wanted him to check the job and then we would pay the next day.  He left but then came back to the house and said the boss said he had to get the check.  I called my husband who said to just pay him.  They were paid in full before we were able to check everything out. 

                We had to try to get the installer to come back because the water was not working and the bathroom door would not close.  It took over  a week to get a response and the only reason we got a response is because we had the installers cell phone number.  The owner would not call us back when we left many messages with his receptionist.  My husband had to fix the towel rack and put trim around the door.  When the worker came back to fix some of the problems he would put white caulking all around the wainscoting and shower stall after my husband had already painted so it looks terrible.  The fixtures they  put in the shower also look cheap and we have already replaced the shower head. There are several other things but I chose the main issues.

                Another problem we had was one of the workers was drinking on the job.  My son witnessed the drinking and the worker also apologized to my son for taking beer from the refrigerator.  After I heard this I checked the outside trash cans and found many empty large cans of beer and nips of liquor.  I came home one day and the whole house was unlocked with the garage doors open and both workers has gone somewhere in their car. When they returned they did not say anything.  While installing the brand new toilet in one of the bathrooms the cover was broken so they put our old toilet cover by the second new toilet to be installed and did not tell us.  When my husband asked about it they told us the cover  was broken so my husband asked where it was so he could bring it back to get a replacement and they stated they had thrown it away! Did they think we would not notice the seat did not match?  They also installed a waste pump system with no access to repair if and when it fails. The walls will have to be torn down to repair. 

                When the owner Jim Larkin finally did come to see our complaints he did not want to hear any of these complaints.  He said why are you telling me this now.  We told him we felt tremendous pressure to get this job done because we were having a large catered graduation party with the invitations already sent and needed to have a working bathroom! We were not confident he would send over someone else to get the job completed in time because of how long it took them to start the job in the first place.  I also told him I was informing him of all this to save the next customer from dealing with these problems.  He basically did not want to hear anything and tried to blame things on us.

                Now the final straw that got me to actually sit down and write this letter is that we received a bill asking for more money for a closet door that was installed that the owner stated was not in the original contract and granite that was installed. The owner stated he would not address any service or warrantee issues  on the work that was previously done if we did pay this new bill.  This was said to us even though we paid in FULL the contracted price for all the other work.  We sent a check minus the amount of the toilet seat cover that was damaged that the owner agreed he would pay for a new one and  for some trim installation for the door that was partially finished.  We have tried to contact the owner to fix the shower surround but he will not call back and has not cashed the final check he demanded we send.  After continuing to call we finally called back to repair some cracked grout.  When the worker came to repair he stated that he did not work on bathrooms.  He put some clear caulk over the cracking grout, which looks terrible and did not solve the problem. We have been waiting over four months for ReNew to repair the  shower surround.  I do not trust this owner and would not recommend this company RENEW WINDOWS AND SIDING LLC to anyone.