The Provider Response is not true. I was the one who found this company to work for my mother and as proven to Angie's List, the BBB, and The Attorney General's Office I am authorized to support and speak for my mother in this case. This complaint has been closed by the Attorney General's office and the BBB. Dura-Loc did agree to refund $1,000 to my mother on the condition that we have the BBB block our complaint from public viewing. We would not agree to those terms and a stalemate was reached so both the BBB and the Attorney General's office closed the complaint. In essence we have spent over 6 months and over $1,000 to warn people about this company.
Please do not hire this company.
You can read the entire complaint against them at the BBB website, the complaint is dated 1/20/2016 in the Answered section of the Complaint Resolution Log. This is the link:
http://www.bbb.org/west-florida/business-reviews/roofers/wintex-industries-dura-loc-in-fort-myers-fl-6178793/complaints
Below is our original report to Angie's List:
This complaint is in regards to service agreements not being met, complaint calls and emails being ignored, and refund not being issued. This Complaint is being made on behalf of my mother, Judy, who lives in a custom built dome home in Lehigh Acres. She is 71 years old. Dave Gustason, the owner of Dura Loc, is not answering his phone or responding to any messages that I have left in an effort to resolve this issue.
Following is my account of the transaction to date:
My mom hired Dura-Loc at the end of April (4/19/15 check-deposit 4/24/15 cash-paid in full $3,000) to patch some shingles and replace five skylights above the front door. The roofer they sent out, Rick, informed us he had lots of experience with skylights and some experience with Dome Houses and he could save us some money by fixing the skylights. We told him we had already had several handymen attempt to repair them and all were unsuccessful. He assured us he could fix them. After three or four weeks, and several attempts to fix them, they still leaked.
We (My mother and I) decided to actually fix the leaks by spending $4,000 to buy new skylights. Dura Loc charged my mother an additional $2,000 (6/25/15 credit-deposit 6/29/15 credit-paid in full $2,000) to install the new skylights. I wasn't aware of this charge until after the payment was processed and as soon as I found out I took issue with the company. Not only had they failed to repair the old skylights as promised, one of the new skylights was installed improperly and it took the roofer several more attempts over several more weeks to fix it. Now we have also discovered that a repair that the roofer made to the roof on his first visit has is still leaking!
I have an email from the office saying the installer, Rick was in agreement to refund the $2,000 installation fee. The owner, Dave, later informed me his employees do not have the authority to make such statements. I can take comfort in the fact that his employees know refunding the money is the right thing to do.
We were concerned that the roofer may have needed more help to actually do the work correctly, extra hands and ladders. It was just the roofer and his wife doing the work and we supplied an extra ladder. My mother has been recovering from a brain aneurysm that burst in 2012. She is almost back to 100% but I worry that this stress of dealing with this company is not good for her health not to mention the fact that her social security income does not allow for this large of a loss for work not completed.
Mom will be moving to St. Petersburg, FL by the end of the year and will be selling her house. We were hoping to have the roof repairs done by now and were previously considering having Dura-Loc replace the entire roof but after this fiasco with the skylights we have no confidence the work would carried out in a timely fashion or be of any quality. We will be listing her house as is.
I had a meeting set up with the installer, Rick, and the owner of the company, Dave, Tuesday, August 18th to resolve this issue and have money refunded to my mother for work not completed. I took a day off from work to drive from St. Petersburg to Ft. Myers to meet with them. The owner insisted that all of us (Dave, the owner, Rick, the installer, and me) needed to sit down together and discuss the repairs. I knew the installer would probably not be there since his wife was in the hospital. Rick, the installer, called to assure me he would be there by noon but he did not know about Dave. I kept calling Dave, the owner of the company, and leaving messages. No response... Late in the day he called to say he would not be able to make the meeting without Rick and Rick was still in the hospital with his wife. I said he could at least have the decency to sit down with me to discuss the matter from my point of view and he refused. So I lost a day of income and drove four hours for nothing.
I rescheduled the meeting with Dave, the owner of the company, and the installer on Monday August 24th at my mother's house. I was unable to make it because my husband's car was in the shop and he needed my car to get to work. I left several messages for Dave on Saturday and Sunday to let him know I would not be able to make it but I would be available all day for a conference call to settle this matter. I also sent an email to the office detailing the same information. He did not respond to the phone messages I left or the email. I spoke to the secretary Monday morning and she informed me that Dave had gotten the email. He is shirking his responsibility as a business owner to engage with the customer and resolve disputes. I have never felt so disrespected.
Dave's lack of concern for the customer and unwillingness to take responsibility for the workmanship of his employees is a huge reason to avoid this company. I repeat, avoid this company.
Update 01/12/15
This complaint has been seeking resolution through the BBB and the Attorney General's Office for six months. Dura-Loc tried to block my complaint on Angie's List saying that I was not the person receiving the service. This is not the case. Our circumstance does fit the criteria for placing a review on Angie's List and with the BBB. I am the one who commissioned Dura-Loc on behalf of my 71 year old mother. The reason I called this company was to prepare my mother's house for sale so she could move in with my husband and I in Saint Petersburg. We did have to hire another roofing company to finish preparing her house for sale. Her house did sell in November and she has moved in with us in Saint Petersburg.
The last communication I had with Dura-Loc in an effort to resolve this dispute through mediation with the Attorney General's was on December 21, 2014. Dura-Loc offered to refund $1,000 to my mother on the condition that my complaint with them not be made available to the public to read on the BBB website. I consider this blackmail and I am thankful that my mother is not desperate for this money or we may have had no other choice but to take the money and not be able to encourage the public to learn from our experience and avoid Dura-Loc.