3/10/2008
In November
of 2007 I bought wood laminate floors and installation from CC
Carpet in Dallas, Texas. CC Carpet is a carpet and flooring
company that has showrooms in the Dallas area, including
Mesquite, Farmers Branch, Lewisville, Arlington, Duncanville,
Grand Prairie, Richardson, and Fort Worth.
DO NOT USE
CC CARPET if you value yourself as a customer. They basically
called me a liar after they botched a repair of brick they
damaged during installation of the floors. If you are looking
for flooring, do not use CC Carpet. Use Lowes or Home Depot or
other companies.
Here is
my story.
The
salesman (Jason) was nice. We had a few concerns. For one, we
asked if illegal aliens would be installing the floors (there
are a lot in the area). He said no.
Well,
the installers may not have been illegal, but they were close
to it. In addition, one of the installers brought his kid to
help. The kid was about 10 years old. The kid even helped cut
the wood!
The
installers threw our baseboards around, instead of laying them
down gently. It's a minor point, but I wasn't happy about
that.
Before
installation, ceramic tile had to be taken up (to be replaced
by the wood laminate). Stupid me, I have never seen ceramic
tile removed. How it is done is that the installers take big
hammers and break up the tile, then they sweep up the little
pieces. This causes a tremendous amount of dust and a thick
layer of dust was soon all over everything in our downstairs.
The dust was on our furniture, on our other floors, on our TV,
on everything. They should have put up a plastic barrier to
keep the dust contained. I have asked around, and this is what
most flooring companies do (put up barriers). This failure caused us to clean
for several days and also the dust gave me respiratory
problems that lasted over a week.
We had
the flooring installed on two separate days. In the living
room (first day) they took the baseboards off and undercut.
The second time, for the entryway and study, they left the
baseboards on and undercut. This resulted in the baseboards
having a jagged edge on the bottom (in the entryway and
study). They tried to cover it up with caulking, but now it
looks tacky.
The
floors actually looked pretty good upon completion. No real problem there
except for the baseboards, the dust throughout the house, and
the brick that they damaged when they undercut it.
The
installers undercut the brick, but when they did, the bricks
and mortar came loose on the front and side. I called Jason
and he came out to look. He said that he would get this fixed.
About a week later a person from CC Carpet came out to put the
brick back in place and re-mortar. I knew something was wrong
when it took him all of two minutes. The bricks were crooked
and at least one brick (on the corner) was not even oriented
right. The previous mortar was sticking out. I asked him about
this. He said he was sorry, but that he was a plumber and not
a bricklayer. He said that CC Carpet should have sent someone
else.
I called
the corporate office. I called several times over two weeks
and each time I was told someone would get back with me. No
one ever did. Finally, I called and demanded to speak to
someone in charge. I can't remember the guy's name, but I
understood him to be second only to the owner. I told him my
story. He said that he didn't believe me because his
installers never undercut brick that is one level. I told him
that they did, that I am sitting right there looking at it and
that my whole family and even Jason can attest to the fact
that the brick was undercut and that the installers are the
ones that damaged the brick. He then told me that the brick
was already broken before the installation. I told him that
no, that wasn't true, and that in addition, Jason could attest
to that fact as he saw the brick before the installation and
after. Again, he told me that he didn't believe me. I asked
was he calling me a liar. He said no, but said that what I was
saying wasn't true. SAME THING. As you can tell by the
pictures on this page below, the brick was undercut and it is only
one level. (The installers never mentioned anything about not
being able to undercut one level.) Plus, I want to know why CC
Carpet sent someone out to repair the brick if they say they
didn't break it in the first place.
CC
Carpet has told me I have no further course of action against
their company regarding the brick. Really, it should be a
minor issue, but it became a big problem when CC Carpet
basically called me a liar. I will get the brick repaired
using another company, apparently at my own expense. I would
never have CC Carpet do work at my house again. They do not
value the customer.
Click on
each image to enlarge. The photos show that indeed the brick
was undercut and also the shoddy workmanship of the brick
repair. Notice the corner piece which is not even oriented in
the right direction. |
