American Dream Home Improvement, Inc. / Replacement Windows

American Dream Home Improvement, Inc. / Replacement Windows

February 5, 2007 - Business Reply - From: Email User

This letter is in response to the above complaint posted on your site. Please read in full and respond. Thank you in advance. There are several points to be made in this case and I will do my best to shorten them as much as possible so bare with me. First of all my original contact with Karen London and David Blum came on an effort to sell them the building of a sunroom for their home. We hit it off for I felt very welcome in their home and they were very nice people and we had a good time for the several hours I spent with them. However despite our mutual initial feelings, I was unable to sell them the project that evening and they told me they would keep me posted of their decision. At that time ADHI, Inc. was the authorized dealer for Winchester Industries and a window product called Bristol™. I had explained that to them at the house and told them we were the only Company carrying that product in their respective region and we had to install that product as well. I guess they did not believe me at that time because a few weeks later I received a call from Winchester informing me that a local contractor within our territory had contacted them to buy the Bristol™ and that Winchester had told them they can’t do that and the contractor needed to contact me for any further need for that particular product. Now at this point I had not heard from David or Karen regarding any decisions they had made regarding the sunroom. I then called this contractor and in the process was alarmed by the secrecy and the general direction of the conversation, so I told him we are not interested in selling him the product and that we alone sell and install the product in this region for it is not your typical windows. They are expensive and made a certain way and our guys are trained to handle them and to avoid problems it is our policy to sell and install. That conversation however stuck in my mind because it was just weird plus he had told me that his customers had requested that window specifically. So to put two and two together, the only way his customers would have done that would have been to have come in contact with us first. I then began to make some calls to see if I can figure out who this was. It didn’t take me long to figure out that it was Karen and I decided to call her and discuss this with her because frankly I was for one flattered that they recognized the superiority of the product to request it from their guy and two, I was upset that they had tried to sneakily go over my head to buy them knowing this was our territory. So I called and we spoke and the truth came out. You see these guys had built their garage for them before and they gave Karen and Mr. Blum a price $1500 cheaper than ADHI, Inc. to build the room and promised them that they can get the Bristol™ if given the contract. So Karen and David gave them the contract. This is the first lie their contractor told them to get the contract. Now at this point I and Karen were still on very good terms and I was fond of them and even though disappointed at losing the sale I appreciated her candor with me and wanted this project to go well for them. Now you must understand, our sales process always explains the nature of our company and how we install and why we don’t sell to contractors. We also go out of our way to explain the horrors of this business and the steps we take to avoid the problems that people have with installations, and these things were explained to her, by me in this case, as well and she assured me that she needed to save the $1500 and that she felt comfortable with these guys she hired. So after some thought and one or more conversations with her I decided, against my better judgment, to allow their contractor to purchase the Bristols from Winchester, this time only. So I called Karen and told her of my decision, she thanked me and assured me that they would do a good job. I then contacted and told Winchester Industries that I would allow this transaction to go through and they requested that the contractor is to make an invoice and submit it to us with sizes and quantity and styles of windows they needed and then we can fax it to them so that the process goes smoothly and I happily obliged to help all parties. Because the windows would have to come on our next truck shipment and we would have one invoice for all the windows on that shipment that would be paid by ADHI, Inc., therefore they need to pay us directly for reimbursement. So their contractor sent in their order, I called Winchester and figured the price, we wrote it up and their contractor signed it and then it was faxed to Winchester for the order to be completed. This process also absolves Winchester of any mistakes the contractor may make in measurements. The monies would need to be paid to us as reimbursement since we have to pay Winchester to receive these items for the next shipment. I then contacted their contractor for the proper deposit until they receive their products and it took him several weeks to pay up. This was a problem since the windows were ordered weeks before because Karen had expressed her desire for this project to be done very soon and I had promised her that windows would not get in the way of that, as it turns out these contractors didn’t get to her for a while any way. As a matter of fact I had to get Karen involved for us to get the money. I shared with her my concerns at that time again and she once again assured me that the contractors are legitimate. I also had several other serious issues with them. One, he ordered Double-Hung window styles in the beginning then a week or so later he called and said he had made a mistake if it wasn’t too late to change to 2-lite Sliders. Two, he called a week later again and said he made a mistake again and that they should be brown in color not white and if it wasn’t too late to change them again. We obliged each time. I told him that the color brown in this case would cost an additional $400.00 from white and he said no problem he would pay that at pick up. Before I forget I should mention that we have never seen this money to this day and he’s been in default from day one. But that’s another topic. A few weeks later the shipment arrives and they come and pick-up their windows and go on their way. Sometime after this whole thing ended, I received a call from Karen telling me that her room has been done for a while and that during an overnight rainstorm her room leaked and their contractor is blaming the leak on a manufacturer defect. You can imagine my thoughts at this time, but I calmly told her in so many words, I told you so. I also reminded her that we had this discussion thoroughly before this process began that once she chose to have someone else do this job we had and have nothing further to do with it. We are not their contractor and they are not our customers. There is no contract and so on. I also told her again that I told her these windows need to be handled with specific care and instructions by the handlers and that we told all this also to their contractor and now it’s your typical issue with general contractors that never take the blame for any thing… it’s always the manufacturer! This is why I didn’t want to have anything to do with this to begin with. You have the manufacturer that is certain it’s not their product, and I would be more inclined to believe that since at that time we had installed hundreds of Bristols and had zero complaints over the years (and still don’t by the way), and on the other hand you have the contractor that’s blaming the product. Bad situation, but the irony is we, ADHI, Inc. are neither responsible party! As a matter of fact, they still owed us $400.00 for the products yet which we were just middlemen for and were trying to be nice to both parties involved! Never in my years in this business have I had a person, Karen London, try so hard to damage our reputation as a customer of mine let alone as someone who’s not even a customer. All that said; I still sent one of our installers, paid for by me, to go meet their contractor at Karen’s house to try to resolve this situation. Guess what? Not to my surprise the man they hired to do the work was a no show. I still paid my guy for a total of three separate trips to go back, take out each window, perform the recommended manufacturer’s suggestions to each window and put them back in! I paid for that, not Winchester, not their contractor, not Karen but me. The problem persisted and the factory representative concluded that as they first thought this was an installation issue due to the contractors lack of experience with this product and mishandling of the product prior to install (we found out that they had removed the sashes from their frames prior to installation so that the windows wouldn’t be so heavy, this is a no-no on a highly fine tuned window such as the one they were dealing with and other stupid mistakes too) and that they were washing their hands clean of this matter and consider it case closed. So at this point neither Winchester nor their contractor would be willing to take any responsibility for the situation. By the way their contractor refused to show up at any of the three times my guy went there. The whole load remained on our shoulders and Karen refused to hold her contractor responsible for this issue, and obviously to this day still refuses to do so. Then she started to demand her money back from us! To which my response was, and is, we paid for a product to be delivered to your contractors, they were, and we were still short changed of that. We did not build the product nor were we hired to build the room that they went into. I am not returning the money to you that I have already paid to Winchester for materials you’ve received. I am also already out more money to my installer who performed three days of work to repair what we didn’t even do. We were at an impasse. I have spent more money on them than I do most of our customers! So to make a long story short, as far as I was concerned we had no more obligations to spend another penny on this issue. Further more this put a wedge between us and Winchester and ultimately that relationship ended soon thereafter. During that time we were also preparing and beginning the process to close American Dream Home Improvement, Inc. down, which is a process that has nothing to do with Karen or David since they are not even a client. ADHI, Inc. has closed since, but we still have a phone line that deals with our customers for servicing and warranty issues, and again Karen and David are not aware of that because once again they are not privileged to know so since they ARE NOT A CUSTOMER OF ADHI, INC! To make matters worse, Karen & David decided to have someone else come in and remove the windows and install new ones and get rid of any evidence that would condemn their contractors’ to their mistakes regarding the installation of these windows. And on top of it they demanded and continue to demand a full refund by ADHI, Inc.! The whole premise makes very little sense and is totally unacceptable to me. Furthermore there are other counterpoints to their letter to you that need to be made. First of all the warranty they qualify for is a manufacturer's warranty from Winchester Industries, if they don't want to honor their product warranty, there's nothing we can do about that! Our warranty is a labor warranty & we did not provide any labor here so it does not apply. From the very beginning, they were told that and their contractors were told that, there are no secrets there. Anything different wouldn’t even make any sense. Again any warranty that would apply to this, logically, would come from Winchester, if they so desired to honor it which carries with their product regardless of who installed it ( that’s what they tell their customers anyway, what if ADHI, Inc. went out of business for one of our Bristol customers? They still have parts warranty from Winchester for life); and/or a warranty from their hired contractors. Either way I’ve told her from the beginning that we can not and will not be held responsible if something went wrong, which it did, and I tried to warn her and she wasn’t having it. This is all about going with the cheaper estimate and our experiences show you’ll always end up getting burnt. But that’s neither here nor there, the bottom line is we told all of them if there are problems we are not a part of those things and shouldn’t be rightfully so and the law protects us here. Secondly, regarding their contractor, I contacted him several times to set up specific meetings at their home (which we already discussed they never honored and didn’t show up for) and to try to collect the remaining balance on the windows which I finally gave up on. So their contractor didn’t want to have anything to do with these problems! Who are they kidding here? We have gone beyond the call of duty under the circumstances to do everything possible to rectify the situation for them, and that there was nothing further left to do since what they were demanding was a full refund as discussed above. The problem is neither the manufacturer nor the contractor who bought these windows and built the room and installed these windows are not willing to take any responsibility and have hid. I felt then, and still do, that any further compensation is between Karen, David, their contractors and Winchester industries. The manufacturer has just ignored the problem (with exception of some window dressing just to look good) and told me if I wanted to be nice I can pay for one of my guys to go and do what they recommend, which I did, paid by ADHI, Inc.! So what attempts did they make? Nothing, except a couple of phone calls to cover their rear ends and blame us too. They don’t even have a field service representative! So that is just ludicrous. It’s another amazing chapter in this crazy story in which the homeowner blames us for all ills and no one else. Even though we had the least involvement with any of it. It’s truly amazing. Third, as far as them winning the BBB case, this is my favorite one yet. In March of 2005, ADHI, Inc. was already closed for 3 months. We were no longer a member of the BBB since the end of 2004! The arbitrator process is an agreement one makes with the BBB, voluntarily mind you, to resolve unresolved disputes as a current member of the BBB and only as a member! Since we were no longer a member I decided to not even show, since we have no further obligation to do so. Why would I? As I said we are no longer members, and the arbitrator’s decision wouldn’t even apply to this case any more. I was and still am amused that they even still held the meeting. I explained my position to the local BBB office long before March of 2005, and they agreed with me on all my points and later on once the arbitrator talks surfaced, I had no interest to entertain this charade any longer ( I’ve already explained numerous reasons why I’ve been done answering questions to any one regarding this issue). So correction: They did not win anything at the BBB as so much that there was a "no show" default entry since ADHI, Inc. was absent at the meeting and unrepresented. This adds NO validity to their claims since the BBB arbitrator never even heard the opposing point of view to base a decision on. The BBB sent me a letter afterward and said that the decision was and is a default decision that is the normal practice when either party does not show. And they offered to hear our side if we wanted to submit a letter so that they can issue a decision based on facts. At which point I called them and told them that I had no desire to do so and that we are not members which came as a revelation to them, since I guess they had not noticed prior to the arranged meeting. Even the BBB failed to recognize at the time that they are discussing the faith of a non-member! I don’t think so. You couldn’t write a comedy better than this fiasco. So as far as the BBB so called ‘decision’ is considered, it’s another ridiculous chapter here. As far as I’m concerned the BBB is an organization that’s paid by people like me to stay in business, they certainly have no say in telling me what to do, especially in a situation like this one when 1) we are not a member, 2) the complainer is not our customer and 3) they gather to hold a meeting in our absence? It’s totally ridiculous. What’s next? The BBB is going to meet with Karen to decide the faith of some strange guy in Canada? C’mon. Next topic please. Fourth, regarding their sense of entitlement. As far as Karen’s assessment of being entitled to this money, I believe I have demonstrated how ridiculous that is in all the above (at least as far as them being entitled to that money from ADHI, Inc. is considered anyway). Fifth, As far as contracts and invoices, once again there are no contracts between myself or ADHI, Inc. entered into with David Blum or Karen London. Case closed. They therefore have no claim on us and have no right to slander these names online through your website. Sixth and most importantly, regarding the whole issue on the table. For a couple of years now Karen London has been a thorn on my side regarding this. I’ve done my best to ignore this and try to move on. But my patience has finally ended with her and David and this issue. I’m no longer amused or interested in neither their threats nor their complaints. As a matter of fact I will use this stage as my opportunity to issue my own promise. I have gathered online information since the beginning of our fallout with Karen. This information shows Karen London engaging in detrimental conversations and activities with our current and potential customers, posing as one of our previous customers with a bad experience, basically trashing our name (& my name personally too, let me remind everyone that ADHI was a Corporation and an individual entity by law and should be treated as such;) to whomever is willing to listen and has caused numerous cancellations and problems with our REAL customers. This is a classic case of defamation of character and I have now spoken to about a dozen attorneys, some of whom are my closest friends, who have begged me to pursue this for 2 years now. Well I’m finally going to and am in the process of putting a dollar amount, with concrete proof, of all the money she has cost me and ADHI, Inc. & GWS, Inc. unjustly in the last two years. The preliminary numbers are staggering. She has finally bitten more than she can chew, and frankly I couldn’t be happier to set the record straight and teach these people a lesson about this type of behavior and shakedown tactics. Just recently I found even more recent attempts by her to discredit Guardian Windows And Siding, Inc. to REAL customers of GWS, Inc.!! If ADHI, Inc. had nothing or little to do with these people’s problems, then GWS, Inc. really has nothing to do with them at all. In their letter to you, David opens with “American Dream Home Improvement, Inc. (ADHI) currently going by the name of Guardian Windows & Siding, Inc.” and on your website www.complaints.com there is Karen once again claiming the same and telling all mankind that as a disgruntled customer she advises all not to do business with either company and Michael Salavati! It’s unbelievable. Correction: GW&S, Inc., with the exception of me, has no other involvement with ADHI, Inc.! It’s an entity of its own. There are no people that were involved with ADHI, Inc. that are involved with GWS, Inc. . So if I go tomorrow and work for Dun & Bradstreet, is Karen then going to post on the web that ADHI is now operating as Dun & Bradstreet and no one should do business with them because she is a previous disgruntled customer?!! How absurd and just flat out wrong. She will pay for her actions now; I will make sure of that. Of course she can choose to remove these ridiculous claims from online sites and immediately cease to engage in any further derogatory conversations about me as a person and GWS, Inc. as a Company and even ADHI, Inc. as well (since we have clearly to any normal human being demonstrated above that ADHI is not deserving of this treatment), and only then will I consider to cease the proceedings, but that would have to happen immediately for me to even consider it now. There has been much damage done and the dollar amounts are huge. Just consider she has been doing this for two years! You can do the math. Frankly I’m sick of it. I, ADHI, Inc. and GWS, Inc. will be even pursuing the websites that she frequents, there has got to be some sense of responsibility for the garbage they allow anyone to post unsubstantiated on their websites with little or no scrutiny. These are issues that will get resolved soon. As for this letter, I can keep going but I believe our points are made. I respectfully request that your website remove her posted complaints and in doing so I offer to just let the matter rest in peace. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Michael S.

April 27, 2005 - Consumer Message:

American Dream Home Improvement Inc.

Guardian Windows and Siding, Inc.

1275 Glenlivit Dr. Suite 100

Allentown, PA 18106 Through our contractor we purchased 7 Bristol Windows valued at $4200. The windows presented problems from the first day they were installed. The problems consisted of not being able to lock the windows. The glass pulled away from the sashes. The windows could not be opened or closed properly. We tried to call the President of this company, Michael Salavati, for about two months. He never answered our calls.

When we placed a call to the manufacturer, Mr. Slavati did finally call us. He sent his window installer out to fix the problem, which he blamed on installation. After he fixed our windows we had an even worse problem. The windows leaked water into the room.

We tried unsuccessfully to remedy the situation. After almost a year of fixes and very wet conditions on the inside of the room, we demanded our money back. We took our concern to the local Better Business Bureau where we won a judgment for the cost of the windows plus installation costs we absorbed by replacing the Bristol windows with a competitors. Michael Salvati and his company totally ignored the judgment. It is now almost two years and we have yet to receive any refund for the windows. Stay away from these people! For the record they are changing their name to Guardian Windows and Siding, Inc. Thank you, Karen Click this link to e-mail the message author: Email User

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Me and my neighbors in Pearisburg, Va, same problem, handles broke, windows falling out. After they wre installed they came and fixed some problems but now cannot find company that installed them, they just up and vanished!Now broken handles and disappointed customers. 50 year warranty, HA! HA!