On 5-30-12, Sam Sutton of CSA was contracted to do the repair work on my home from a large hail storm. He was very positive, assertive, and made us feel like he had our back and would do the best job possible for the insurance money we had available to cover repairs. He boasted that they did top notch work, would do it in a timely manner, would clean up after each job, and would be punctual and if not able to be punctual, they would be in contact to let us know when they should be expected. What we got from CSA, unfortunately, was the opposite.
Sam assured me he would be present during the time the insurance adjustor was here doing her accessment of the claim. I was given an appointment with an adjustor and promptly let Sam know. The adjustor came, and Sam was no where to be found. I finally got in touch with him and he quickly sent over his associate Ester, which I appreciated. After the assessment was complete, Sam arrived and was able to sit down with the adjuster and I and go over everything. He was 100% clear on her assessment and what was going to be allowed and not allowed. 2 days later, I received the initial check from the adjuster and I met up with Sam and signed over the ~$9000 check and gave him the detailed documents of the adjustor's assessment. Sam said that he would be able to do everything that need to be done with the allotted insurance money. Sam then informed me that he would be going on vacation for the week, and we would be first on his list for the roof starting the next week.
Roof: A week and a half after we were anticipating hearing from him, I got a text at 10pm the night before, asking if they could do the roof the next day. We agreed and they started on the roof bright and early, which was great. Around noon I noticed it was getting very hot in the house, and I assumed that is was because the roof was off. After the roof was complete and the workers were gone, it had just gotten hotter. I called an AC repair person ($89.95 service call), that came out at 5pm, and were informed that one of the roofers had nailed into the copper line, draining the freon and overheating the compressor. Repairs were quoted at $1600. I immediately called Sam and he was very apologetic and said he would take care of it and would send his AC guy out first thing in the morning. In 100 degree heat, we were extremely irritated, but realized that sometimes these things happen and were happy that Sam was eager to fix the issue and please us. By 10am I still had not heard from Sam or the AC guy. I called and texted and finally got a hold of Sam and he kept giving me excuses and putting off the time. By 2:30pm, Sam and the AC guy showed up. Sam was very apologetic, and even came with a $25 gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse. It was was a nice gesture, and we appreciated it. He also reimbursed me for the service fee I paid the other company. The AC guy was very nice and informed me of a few issues that he took care of on top of fixing the initial issue. By 7pm, we finally had working AC. He told me that our copper lines were shorter than 'factory' and that if by the next day or so if we noticed it not cooling correctly to call him and he would come back and tweak the freon. 2 days later, it was cooling, but was off by about 5 degrees so I attempted to call him and email him, with no responce. I informed Sam about it and he said the AC guy would be back out. He never was. So we will be contracting another AC company to come out and fix the issue, as soon as we can afford it.
Windows: The day we first met Sam and agreed to have work done, he patched up the broken window as well as the skylight. We appreciated that he was willing to do that for us. A week or so later, Sam had his fence people come out to take a look at what would need to be done about the fence, and had them measure the window that would have to be replaced. Apparently they measured incorrectly. A few days later at 8am, the doorbells rings 3-4 times in a row and it was the window guy. I had no advance notice that someone would be coming, but I let him in the backyard and in the house to do the measuring. I was told it would be a few days and the window would be ready to go. Each time I was told this, something was wrong and he had to come out 3 more times (each time WAY too early and unannounced) to measure the window. The window was never fixed.
Gutters: With no prior notice, one day the gutter guy showed up to get measurements and talk to me about paint color, etc. He seemed very professional and I was pleased. The next day (again, with no notice) he quickly got the new gutters up and they looked good. Unfortunately, we had to clean up after his mess. He left several large pieces of guttering in the bushes and in the grass, as well as leaving the porch covered with a fine, black, sandlike material. We didn't feel the need to make a big stink about it, we just cleaned it up and moved on.
Skylight: We were told several times that the skylight would be installed and it kept getting put off. Finally Sam said it would have to be done sometime when it wasn't so hot otherwise it might not stay securely. We completely understood. Eventually Sam came himself and installed the skylight. We have had no problems so far.
Fence: The fence was the biggest mess of them all. We were told it would be 2 day job; they would start early morning, take down the old fence and set the new post. 24 hours to set the posts then put up the new fence. Sounded simple enough. This was a huge deal because not only were we without a fence (and he have a dog) the 3 other neighbors were without out a fence. The supposed 2 day fence job last from Tuesday to late Friday evening. They claimed one of their workers injured his ribs so Wednesday there was no work done. I don't want to say they were lying, but I think they played up the injury to Sam, because we spoke with them after they wrapped up on Tuesday evening and everyone was fine. Friday was the worst day, they were hot and tired, and basically doing a poor job and letting things slide. They stomped and ripped up the neighbors plants, hammered in nails straight through the board in to nothing, split several pieces of wood, left large chunks of dirt and cement all around, the list goes on. Not only were the physical problem an issue, the workers had attitude from day one. By the end of the afternoon on Friday we had had enough and were expressing our feeling IN the house. They overheard and when we stepped outside, we overheard them insulting us and being very unprofessional and offensive (I will not repeat the vulgarities that were used in reference to us). When they were confronted about the job being supposedly done, one of them puffed up his chest and raised his voice as to want to start a physical altercation with my husband. We informed Sam and requested he come out to see what a horrible job they had done. He claimed he would never work with these guys again, and would take care of the job and get it done right. I didn't hear from him for a few days, then he finally informed me that the SAME guys would be coming out the next day to fix the fence, that was Monday the 23rd and I haven't heard from Sam or his people since. We had to hire another company to come and repair the awful job Sam's people did. It is costing $400 out of pocket. The new fence company informed us that the work done and the materials that were used were sub-par and that the slats were not quality and the posts that were used weren't fence posts, they were landscaping posts.
Final invoice: Sam was very aware that money was tight, and the insurance money that was allotted was what I had to spend on repairs. He assured me that very little money out of pocket would be required. I had a hard time getting