Acme Roofing

Description of Work: Replaced entire roof and subroof (radiant barrier). I called this company by mistake. I had thought I read about them on Angie's List but it turned out I remembered their name from an ad. Their rep was extremely pushy and at the same time assured me it would take "one day" to do my roof and that "we can make sure that your insurance company will cover the entire cost except for your deductible" which at the time was $1,050. He said that while my insurance company would have to approve his estimate, he did not anticipate any problems whatsoever and cited specific clients with whom he had accomplished successful negotiations with insurance companies, claiming that he used to be an insurance adjuster himself. He showed me a notebook full of references on different kinds of stationery, then insisted that "to even get the permit process going and start things with your insurance company" I had to pay $250 immediately. Foolishly I did so instead of consulting at least one other company, since I was eager to get the work done and frankly I believed the rep and his "pitch." Later, this same rep tried to get me to pay him another $1,000 months before any work was actually done, "to pull a permit" which ended up costing $175 (and even for that, I never saw a receipt and paid an additional $250 (credited to total). The damage was incurred on December 4, 2009 and the roof was not completed for OVER FOUR MONTHS. My insurance company challenged the original estimate which was extremely high (over $11,000 for a 1200 square foot house), and ended up agreeing to something over $8500, however my deductible was raised to $1350, there were "unexpected" items which suddenly came up at the last minute resulting in several hundred dollars additional on the final invoice which I was then told "they will not pay for. (?) Every stage of the process I had to place innumerable phone calls and send emails to the rep, who would make promises which then took weeks to complete (estimates, permits, appraisals, etc.). Several times said he was "too busy" to address my situation because he was "out looking at roofs," i.e., giving estimates (presumably, to new customers, before dealing with me, an existing one). The final roof, although I specifically chose white shingles, is gray and does not go with my house. The roofers did the job in two days, and for one night left my attic open to the sky with a few tarps over it, despite the rep's promising they would not do that. It took another 2 weeks before the gutters were replaced, and more mistakes were made with those although apparently corrected. Overall I would never deal with them again and would not recommend them to anyone. I have since looked at other roofers on Angie's List and noticed almost every job I saw cost less than mine, proportionately. I am yet to "settle up" the final invoice and am very upset with this experience.