Atlantic Remodeling/roofing estimate

On Saturday April 1 we were visited by Dan of Altantic Remodeling, located

in White Marsh MD. This was our third roof estimate in a week. Initially

Dan was very cordial as he explained his company's flawless track record (no

unresolved customer complaints) and showed us how Atlantic had ranked in the

top 200 in a home improvement periodical. He said he would gracefully

accept a yes or no answer to his offer. After preliminary discussions and

measuring the house, he sat down to write up the estimate. In the meantime

my wife's friend had arrived because they both had an appointment to be

somewhere, so I asked Dan to finish up.

When he presented his unprofessional-looking estimate, it turned out that

his offer was over $5000 more than the others two estimates we had received.

When my wife told Dan we wanted to "think about it", his mood abruptly

changed and he become irritated and belligerent. He repeatedly demanded we

explain "what was wrong" with his offer. My wife told him she never accepts

an offer on the spot, but Dan would just counter with questions about the

other offers, and it became a circular waste of time. I told him we were

feeling very uncomfortable, as if he was holding us hostage. He indicated

that since he had invested his time at our house, we "owed" him an

explanation, but apparently none of ours were good enough for him. I tried

to usher him out but ordered me to sit down. I would not have complied but

he seemed very unstable, and I didn't want to set him off. He was a big guy

and very intimidating.

My wife and her friend went upstairs while Dan continued to bide his time,

asking for a glass of water and asking to use the phone. After speaking to

his boss, he finally got up to leave, and I told him we'd call and let me

know, at which point he said "I'm betting you won't". On his way out, he

told me to fax to Atlantic the other offer my wife had mentioned to him (as

if). Once he was gone we were all in disbelief at what had transpired. And

then, to our horror, we discovered he had left his samples in our kitchen!

We assumed they were left on purpose, to give him an excuse to return and

badger us some more. We set them on the front porch, and I called Atlantic

Remodeling and left a message to have a manager call me. When I was called

back, I explained the situation, and the manager Phil was very apologetic

(much to my surprise). I told him they needed to send someone out to

collect the samples, but if I saw Dan, I would call the police. He said

they would send someone else out to collect them during the day on Monday,

and they did.

Beware of this company. Atlantic remodeling is obviously using bully

tactics in order to intimidate potential customers. This experience was

beyond upsetting - it was traumatic. I spoke to a police buddy of mine, and

he said I should not have hesitated to call the cops.

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We have just finished a one hour "estimate" meeting with Mark of Atlantic Company that was the dumbest, most aggressive sales pitch I have ever received. He was pleasant at first, but the credibility pitch lasted for half an hour, and then he started his offer of 25% off if we signed that night!!!! 25% off what???? We could never pin him down to price. Then he got on the phone and called "Brad" to report that we obviously weren't a good fit for their business! I have never been rejected by a salesman before. How lucky can you get? I feel sorry for anyone who signs up with this company before reading the dozens of negative comments I have read.

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Hi I just had a very similar experience with Atlantic Remodeling. Please please PLEASE beware of this company. THey came to our door the night previously saying that they were doing free estimates in our neighborhood on Saturday (Sept 18, 2010). I declined but when they said they could give us a free roof estimate, I said "why not?".

They asked me if my husband would be home, and I said yes.

Saturday morning they arrived in a black non company truck with NO ladder to do a roofing estimate. They were both wearing business attire (suits/ties) and were not in any way dressed to do a roofing estimate. My husband greeted them and they looked at our roof from the ground and then sat at our table with my children who were eating breakfast, demanding to meet me. I was upstairs sick in my room with a stomach virus. My husband came up and said they insisted to meet and said that if they didn't meet me that we had to write them a check immediately for $100.00.

So I dragged my sick vomiting pajama wearing body down to my living room and they told me that its a company policy that they meet both home owners as they get more callbacks this way. I told them that it was never explained to me that we had to all sit around and meet, and that I am sick and it is extremely disrespectful. I informed them that they would not be threatening me for $100.00, that that isn't even legal and that this was supposed to be a free estimate with no strings attached. The two men present continued to argue with me, so I told them they had to leave.

The man insisted on using the phone to call his boss and would not leave. As sick as I was feeling, I had no more strength to continue arguing. I grabbed my two children and took them upstairs and locked the bedroom door as I felt extremely threatened and uneasy about the behavior at this point. The man called his boss and told them that we are becoming "unprofessional". and left.

I immediately called the company and spoke with a manager who said that this is their policy to meet us both and its ridiculous that I wouldn't have done so. I replied that being sick in bed, its not something that I should be forced or threatened to do by tactics of bullying me into "thinking" I had to pay them money for their time.

THe manager took 2 other calls while on the phone with me and didn't even address the matters at hand and finally hung up on me.

And just as a note, we never got an estimate. The two suited men in my living room refused to give us an estimate until they "met me" and then also said they needed to go over options first, which how do you go over options if you haven't even done any measurements/assessments, etc.

Please beware of this company. I am so shaken and frazzled right now by the bullying we just received.

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Glad I'm not alone. I got a call from Jared about an hour before Dino arrived . Jared was getting "info" to help the salesman be prepared. Dino arrived promptly at 4:30. His first comment was what color is our house because it looked odd with a brown roof...what a way to start a sales pitch, putting down the prospective clients house. He then spent the next 30 minutes showing us all of Atlantic Remodelings Top 100 this Top 500 that....the whole time I could see my husband getting fed up with his whole speech. I also found Dino looking at me more than my husband which irritated me.

He then procceded to try to explain the difference between a good contractor and a bad one and the warranty you get from each (that took 10 minutes). My husband finally had to tell him to get on with the measuring because he had to be somewhere at 6 o'clock. At that time Dino because very abrupt and hostile towards my husband.

20 minutes later Dino came back in and wrote up the estimate, $5,000.00 more than the highest estimate we had. After our initial shock of his price, he asked us if it was anywhere near our other estimates. We told him no. He then asked if he could match our other estimates, who would we go with, we said the other company, he then became more hostile and called in to the office, if that's what he really did, and told them what his estimate came to and that his estimate was double what our lowest was and that there was no way they could, under good consciousness meet. He then went onto belittle us on phone for the next few minutes. I wasn't sorry to see him leave.

Needless to say, we will never use Atlantic Remodeling and I would never recommend them to anyone else because of their bullying tactics.

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March 30, 2010. I just had a horrible encounter with Atlantic Roofing. These young men approached me while I was gardening and offered to give a free roofing estimate since they were doing work in the neighborhood. I said that my husband would be home on Monday night so they scheduled it. Something came up so I rescheduled it for last night. They called to confirm and I mentioned by chance that my husband would arrive later. He attempted to explain a policy that both homeowners must be present because their sales statistics say that people are most likely to accept their estimates when both are home.

I explained that that was apparently not a problem when I first scheduled. I also explained that I am the actual homeowner and the decision maker on the roof because my husband does not care at all. I said he could either meet with me last night or try to reschedule but it wouldn't be for a while. He rudely said we should reschedule but them didn't reschedule and just got off of the phone. This can be well explained by their plan to bully us into a yes that night. I would never have made a commitment that night because it was not an immediate need. I only agreed to the estimate because he said it was good for a year. I have another estimate but won't do anything until fall.

Today, I called back to talk to a manager, Jim, who informed me of the corporate policy that the owners have set. Attempted to reassure me that it was not discrimination. Never apologized for wasting my time. I told him that if he wouldn't meet with just me he would not get he work and I would be sure to tell all my neighbors and friends to stay far away from their unkosher business practices. Glad I did not have to waste my time last night, sorry I did not read these comments sooner!

Thanks all for sharing...bad business.

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There is something that everyone who isnt in this business must understand...Lets say a company has 5 sales people...Out of those 5, 3 of them will probably not be very good at their job and they resort to the high pressure and rude approach. It is basically because they dont understand how to handle being told no and they freak out when they hear it. A company can train someone to be the best they can be but the company isnt there in the house with them to make sure these types of tactics arent used. I am a home improvement sales person and I do not have this problem. I have never had to resort to these types of sales tactics in order to get a sale. That is another thing that all of the consumers out there must understand....MOST HOME IMPROVEMENT COMPANIES EMPLOY COMMISSION SALES PEOPLE. While I am not intending to offend anyone by any means, I think that homeowners need to have a bit more respect for people like me who are simply trying to make a living. The whole thing of "I will call you back after my other estimates"...let me assure you that 9 times out 10, once we leave the house we will not get that deal. By the time you get your third and fourth estimate you have completely forgotten all the important details of your first estimate and you make a decision solely based on price, which is the worst thing you can do.

It also seems that some people are expressing some issue with how long we spend in the house doing our presentations...Look at it from this angle...If you are looking at a roofing, siding or window project, you are looking a very large monetary investment as well as putting the trust in someone to take a piece of your home apart and put it back together again. If you feel confident enough with someone coming in who looks like he just got off of a jobsite who spends 30 minutes taking some measurements, rambling some quick info about what he has and leaving an estimate on the back of his card, PLEASE just dont bother with the project at all because you WILL end up getting screwed. There are sooo many differences in products and quality of installs and warranties between all the different companies that 2 to 3 hours is a VERY reasonable amount of time to make sure you understand the difference. If you cant invest a few hours time to make sure you are getting a quality product and install then you have no business requesting estimates from reputable companies. As far as price goes, if you want to get quality windows installed for $400 each, good luck getting service after the windows are installed and the final balance is payed. A company has to MAKE A PROFIT to ensure quality and good service. Please keep that in mind when thinking about pricing.

I would like to say that I am not in any way condoning the actions of these bad sales people that are mentioned in these posts. They simply chose the wrong profession and they will blackball themselves from the industry in due time. But when it comes to pricing and presentations and the value of a salesmans time, please keep this post in mind.

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Everything everyone has said is true. Had Dino out for 3 hours giving me the exact spiel others on here mentioned. Its obvious they are trained in what to say like robots.

Asking why we wouldn't want such a quality product at such a great price.

Asked Why Why Why Why 500 times.

Trying to pressure us into signing day 1. Sorry but I don't sign anything on Day 1 yet alone my first quote.

Made the same phone call to his boss. Was obvious a tactic in my mind but I let him give his Oscar performance.

The guy was worse than a car salesman.

His price went from 47k to 37k to 33k to 27k. Odd how the more you say NO! the more the price went down.

After 3 hours he sounded like Charlie Brown wah wah wah.

Left basically saying he knows he wouldn't hear back from me. (Damn right you won't.)

Then mentioned getting into his car he would give his buddy my number who could do the price cheaper.

At this point his buddy called and said he worked for Atlantic and said he buys the siding in bulk and can do a much much cheaper price. So why can you give me the same product way cheaper than your co-worker? You both work for the same company right? I finally stopped answering their calls and told them we were no longer looking.

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I had a very similar experience. The salesman would not leave my house after giving the estimate. He was rude and unprofessional and made my wife nervous. I finally had to open the door and forcefully ask him to leave.

I would not recommend this company.

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I had a pushy salesman over and he sat in our livingroom for 3 hours and at the end he gave me a quote of $5200. I told him no and he callled his boss. I told him I would take his offer for $1500 and he agreed. His tactics were pushy but I feel I got him down to my budget. Any thoughts?

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I'm very surprised anyone has complaints about Atlantic Remodeling. My husband and I had a wonderful experience working with them. The gentleman who came out to measure our windows was very nice and professional. Our project coordinator was knowledgeable and thorough. The work was done quickly and the windows look great! I recommend them to all my neighbors.

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I recently had a very similar experience to those mentioned in the previous complaints. Two employees of Atlantic Remodeling came to our house and said they were doing some work in our neighborhood. Would we like an estimate on any windows or our roof? My wife said she would like an estimate to replace our bay window. They asked how old the roof was and said, on learning its age, they could give an estimate for that as well. They scheduled a meeting at our house for the following week.

The next Tuesday, Pierre arrived at our house at 7 p.m. He took some measurements and said he could give us an estimate. My experience in the past getting estimates is the contractor takes some measurements and then goes back to his office to workup an estimated job. This did not happen. Instead Pierre proceeded to bring in lots of samples and gave a 2 1/2 hour presentation. We were trying to be courteous and therefore allowed him to give his talk. But it was the hardest sell job I have ever experienced. He proceeded to explain how their product is "linear" and not "kd". This was to assure us that theirs was the best on the market. Finally, he gave us an estimate which was, in my opinion, many thousands higher than it should have been. He then tried to pressure us into agreeing to the job by saying if we agreed right now, we would get a 25% discount. We refused to do so. We needed more estimates and wanted to look up the vinyl windows he was pushing (accu-weld, which for being the best, lacked any reviews on-line and a few consumer comments of being cheap).

When we said we would not sign. Pierre's attitude changed. He could not believe that anyone would want to pay more by not taking the 25% discount now. My wife told him she was becoming very uncomfortable and wanted this to end. He began to engage in a discussion trying to understand why we wouldn't accept his offer. Did we not think Atlantic was a superior company? (They say they are listed with the BBB, but I couldn't find any recommendations from BBB). "In all of my years of selling windows, I've never met anyone who wanted to pay more!"

Finally he began to take his samples to his car. This took three trips. On the third trip, he asked to use our phone. He had his own cell, but we allowed him to. Then he called his manager, and said in a very loud voice so we could hear him, "I am leaving their house. They have a lack of faith in our product" and then he left.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have allowed him to stay so long, but he was fine at first and I had no idea this estimate would be different from ones I've gotten in the past.

These folks are pushy and the sale's pitch was high pressure. I worry about an elderly person who is perhaps more easily intimidated by these tactics. I think the prices quoted were very high and there was no assurance that the product was quality.

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I find the complaints listed here as very interesting. I have not only received an estimate from Atlantic but am now a client. Richard was the salesman whom I had, he was very meticulous in explaining the company, products, and procedures. Every promise he made during the meeting was followed out throughout each step of the project. My siding looks great and the windows installed have helped put my BGE bills in check. I am not discrediting the previous posts, God knows contractors can be a bear to deal with at times. Every company has a bad seed or two occasionaly, it sounds like a few people here unfortunately experienced that.

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As a former employee of Atlantic Remodeling I completly agree. I was one of the canvasers who went door to door trying to schedule free estimates. The boss, Burt, told us to use bully tactics to schedule estimates. Not only that, but the company threatened to not pay us if we did not schedule at least 1 estimate everyday. This is what I call a rat company. Never do business with them.

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Had exactly the same experience last night for siding from Steve. Amazing. Three hours of my time and then he calls me irate when I said I needed to go to sleep.

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This company is not only a bully to consumers but a bully to its employers as well. I actually worked for this company for a couple months as a salesperson. The job was horrible. These businessmen are interested in naive high school students who would actually spend their time moving from door to door during the summer or winter no matter how hot or cold the weather is. No benefits. Paid around $10 an hour and made us use our own cars with chump change for gas and not even considering mileage. They would use you for a couple months and fire you if you fail to bring the company any leads. They basically teach you how to lie; paid training involves giving a sales pitch which is nothing but a gimmick and a string of lies. The owners check your every move on your "4-hour" work day and follow you from door to door in their bmws to make sure you're actually getting leads. They earn over $20,000 a week and enslave poor high school kids who need part-time jobs: how smart. Please watch out for them and don't let your kids work for them just incase you live in the white marsh area.

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Wow. I am amazed at what I just read because I just went through the exact same thing with these guys. I said no and he just would not accept it. I had to explain why again and again. These guys are freaky. Good thing for the internet. They won't get away with it for long.

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I had a very similar experience with the Atlantic Remodeling Salesman. I will never recommend this company to anyone!

It was a two hour waste of time which didn't even result in getting an estimate. The salesman walked out with it after I told him that no matter how good their price was, I was not signing anything until I had two other proposals in hand!

This was an absolutely horrible experience!