Complaints.com

From: Message Author
Date: Wednesday, 16-Aug-06 14:52:36 CDT

Business Info

AMERISEAL

CLEAR SPRING, MD

VERY UNPROFESSIONAL, LOW QUALITY WORK

I recently settled on a new house in a very nice neighborhood in Waynesboro PA. The builder provided a very solid well built house. It's the outside work that has caused me a great deal of frustration and loss of resources.

The driveway sub-contractor, Ameriseal, was without a doubt the most unprofessional, untrained crew of blacktop pavers witnessed in the tri-state area. Here is my experience:

First, for some reason this contractor lays the base & top coats of a driveway in 2 separate steps, months apart.

BASE COAT-

* They paved the base coat on top of dirt- no stones as a base.

In response they blamed this on Dan Ryan, stating the production supervisor told them it was OK. Wait a minute- who is the professional performing the service???

* They argued stating I was to blame for the blacktop base coat crumbling after 2 weeks. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no stone base, and getting Dan Ryan to listen to me took over a month, due to the contractor disputing this claim.

* Once the contractor agreed to take out the poor base & re-install it, everything changed. It got worse.

Once it was obvious I was correct, they admitted that they failed to install stones, but again, refused to be accountable.

The attitude of Dan Ryan improved- they were apologetic and wanted to make this right for me, the customer. The contractor however, became quite rude & indignant with me- the customer.

* As the old base was being removed, the equipment operator backed into one of my brick lampposts, damaging it. That was due to use of equipment known to lack brakes. I also lost a concrete pillar ornament. My pillar is still waiting to be repaired, and no one is compensating me for the 100$ ornament.

* Once the old base was removed, a stone pre-base was applied. This stone base was left such an uneven, sloppy mess that I & a friend spent hours shoveling, raking, and placing & following a straight line for clean driveway outline.

* The contractor failed to remove all of the driveway. A huge 4 ft by 4 ft hunk was left at the base of my drive. We had to tear that out ourselves.

* They returned the next day, cigarettes blazing, and poured my base. They left my yard around the driveway a mess.

* When the base was being applied, they failed to put stones on an area, and were going to pour blacktop base once again onto bare dirt. I had to move my car in front of my drive to keep them from doing this while I waited for the Dan Ryan supervisor to return. Talk about comical!

* I was told they would return to finish the job in about a month.

TOP COAT-

* Once the topcoat was poured (2 months later), I experienced even more insult from the so-called manager of the crew (who is by the way one of the workmen). He downright misquoted me to Dan Ryan when I had a conversation with him, resulting in a totally unnecessary misunderstanding. He later insulted my friend that helped to make sure they would not have to come back a 3rd time. My friend is the one that spent hours cleaning up the lousy stone base they left a mess. So much for appreciation.

* I asked for additional work to be performed- add a turnaround off my driveway. They increased the price after it was completed, causing quite a bit of contention in getting the project completed. My receipt for payment was written on the back of an envelope.

* The next aggravation occurred when the landscape contractor came by to repair the yard area left a mess. That too was almost comical: I caught the workers raking rocks & sod clumps up against my light post and then covering them with topsoil. I brought this to the attention of the foreman while lounging in his Bobcat. He apologized, saying this would be addressed. After they left later that evening I went to the area they "repaired", and found rocks & sod everywhere, so I raked up the area myself, and made piles for easy disposal. The next day when they came by to complete the job, I pointed the piles out to the foreman. They left an hour later, and my nice little piles were still in place, neatly covered with topsoil & grass seed. I was so frustrated I decided to just mulch over the entire area & be done with it.

I am not a builder, but I do my homework. I supported my claims after detailed research on the web, as well as talking to 2 reputable blacktop contractors from the local area.

This whole experience is obviously an issue of a high quality builder using low quality sub contractors. The problem is that we, the people that spend life-savings on these homes, pay the price.

I love my house, it is very well built. I hate the outside, even now that this is supposedly resolved. Every time I look at my driveway I remember the loss of time from work for 2 of us, the stressful incidents of trying to get the builder to believe my claims, and the unexpected extra landscaping. I re-live the frustration, the dishonesty and the lack of professionalism.

Be warned- do not use Ameriseal. If your builder just happens to be locked into a contract to use this group, do yourself a favor and demand a replacement sub contractor.

My finished product is not great, but I can live with it. Do I really have a choice?