EECO Excavation

-Scheduled appointment for EECO to review our proposed location for a storm shelter. 45 minutes after they were due at our house, they called to reschedule. -Second appointment date came, 30 minutes after they were due I started calling. Finally got a call back that they had a family issue and couldn't make it. -Third appointment they arrived, looked at the site, we exchanged a few questions. I asked for some references since their track record with us was already bad. They said they would send some. We went ahead and scheduled with them since they were the only local company with an opening in the near future, and the price was right. -We never received any references. Against my better judgement we kept the job scheduled. -On the day of install I received a call from the owner's wife, she said he had severed our buried power line and the house had no electricity. She made it sound as if it was no fault of their own. My father was at the house for us during the install. He said the owner (the one doing the digging) became belligerent at the idea that he would have to pay for cutting the power line. The EECO owner even said he didn't have time to deal with it as he had other jobs to do. He continued to say that he'd just fill the hole back in and leave. Once calmed down he said he would drop the shelter in and let PSO repair the power line around it. We refused that option and he got mad again. We found out once PSO arrived that EECO had called for location services the night before (they usually require 48 hours notice) and said he would not be digging until 11:00 or noon. The power line was cut at about 09:30. These folks with decades of excavation experience decided to dig near where we had told them a power line ran close by, without waiting for it to be marked. The line was repaired by PSO and the shelter installed. -The dirt placed back around the exposed part of the shelter was done in a very sloppy manner. I knew it would look rough until packed back down, but this was not even remotely symmetrical or any effort made to pack it back. Some parts extended 10 ft from the shelter while others were only 3 ft. -I had dirt clods all over the back yard. I knew they would make a mess, but I also expected them to clean it up. It took a full day to get the yard back in order. -The inside of our new shelter was a mess. There was quite a bit of dirt inside. It was a small detail that could have made a huge difference, especially after the problems so far. 5 minutes of sweeping would have resulted in one less disappointment. -One of the two large machines that was in the yard backed into our 6 ft tall redbud sapling, snapping the trunk at ground level. I notified EECO about this, asking if there was anything they were willing to do. I never received a response. Two weeks later I sent another email and let them know we had a quote from a local nursery to replace the same tree at the same size for $130. Later that day I received a reply saying Lowe's has 2-3ft redbud trees for $20. I replied telling her that the tree at Lowe's that would most closely resemble what was damaged cost $54, and that was acceptable to me. Almost 3 weeks go by without a response so I emailed again asking for a response. This time I mentioned that I was considering consumer reporting. I received a response that day saying they were mailing out a check for $54 to cover the tree. One month later and no check, I emailed them again, letting them know that the check either wasn't mailed or had been lost. I receive no response at all. That was Oct 24, 2012. THE GOOD -The shelter itself is nice. From what I could gather EECO does not manufacture or warehouse the shelters since it was some other company that delivered and placed the shelter. EECO digs the hole and outsources the shelter. I don't have a problem with that. One wall of the shelter has developed a hairline crack, but with soil conditions in Oklahoma I'm not surprised. I just hope it doesn't begin to leak. I cannot imagine trying to deal with EECO on a warranty. -The owner's wife spent some time with my wife after the install to discuss the shelter and what items are suggested in stocking it for an emergency. I really appreciated that. Overall this experience was a nightmare. I'm glad to have a tornado shelter, but in hindsight would have much rather paid more money to an out of state company for less headache. **************************RESPONSE******************************** It appears EECO would like to respond to my review with blatant lies, or their memory is quite faulty. "The first scheduled appointment we were unable to make it and had been trying for 4 hours to reach the Members and they were not answering their phones. When we did reach them, we were told they had forgotten and were not at home." I don't even know how to answer this. We were at home. Waiting. When they finally called (45 minutes after the appt time) we were still at home. Waiting. "There was a misunderstanding between us and the Members on who would call OKIE." It is ALWAYS the contractor's responsibility to call OKIE. Ask 1-800-CALLOKIE. "When we realized OKIE had not been called, we called at once and were told it would be done by 10 am. We would not have dug until after the line was marked otherwise. The OKIE guy said he was told no digging would be done until noon. When he arrived at 11AM, digging had already begun and the line cut. "Also we were not told the electric line was in the area." Lie. We told them it ran somewhere nearby (the service box is on the back of the house within 15 feet of where we wanted the shelter. "However, the Members were told they needed to have their fence down so the equipment and trucks could get into his small yard and if it was not there would be an additional charge. They did not." Lie. I removed a fence panel for them. They determined a post needed to be removed, and did so with their backhoe (about 1 minute's work). "We also stated if there was not enough room for the equipment to move around, there could be an additional charge." Lie. We had EECO come out to evaluate our property prior to install. Nothing was said about this, and should have been at that time were it the case. "we had to remove a tree" The same tree we asked you about removing when you came out to view our backyard. The owner said no problem, he would take care of it. "It was explained to them this was a very tight spot and it could be done but would be very difficult for the backhoe to get the dirt back in and around the shelter. It would be very rough and it would not be landscaped." Wow, lie. "I returned the email stating the additional charges had been dropped because of this however he did not like this arrangement." Actually, I received a snarky reply saying they weren't charging us for things they had said nothing about charging us for in the first place. Convenient. Either EECO has a problem with facts/truth, or they are confusing our install with another. This is a very poorly run, unprofessional business.