On 10/5/16, we placed an order for carpet and installation with Danbury Lowe’s saleperson, Dave Tanner. We received a ‘Detail Expectation Sheet’ with a “What to Expect” paragraph in which there’s nothing stating that the customer is to expect wall damage from the install. It also has a paragraph below that lists reason for choosing Lowe’s including “contracting with experienced and professional independent installers who meet or exceed the highest professional standards in the industry” and “Guaranteed satisfaction – from start to finish.” None of this, so far, has been true.
Goodhouse Flooring located on Mill Plain Road in Danbury were the installers hired by Lowe’s. On Thursday (10/20) at around 8:30am, 3-4 Brazilian (or Portuguese based on the language they spoke) appeared at the door ready to install the carpet. I brought them up to the bedroom specifically pointing out to them that this was a newly remodeled room. The walls and ceiling had been skimcoated, primed and painted; the doors and trim primed and painted. There were no marks, dings, dents or chipped paint anywhere on the walls; every nail pop and imperfection in the walls had been repaired prior to the priming and painting which is why I made a point of telling the installers to, “please be careful.” I had even removed the door to the bedroom to ensure that they would have plenty of room to work and to ensure they don’t allow the door handle to hit the wall. The baseboard had not been installed specifically because we didn’t want it damaged by the knee kicker. The room was in pristine condition and the installers acknowledged that they would be careful.
When they were done, it was shocking to see the damage left behind. Black, curved scuff marks; paint scuffed off; dents in the sheetrock. As I pointed out the marks, one after the other, they at first, tried to claim that they were already there, but I reminded them how we had just had a conversation about 45 minutes ago as to the walls being perfect and how they had to be careful and then they said, “okay, maybe we did that.” Really?! Maybe?! I immediately called Lowe’s and spoke with Dave who offered no apology and no assistance whatsoever.
My wife then spoke with Scott of Goodhouse Flooring because she had talked to him on Monday (10/17) about scheduling a day and time for the install. Scott proceed to say that the installers told him the damage was already there before they started and he said he had no reason to doubt them. He wasn’t there and he can’t speak to what they did or what the room looked like. I was shocked that our honesty and integrity would ever be questioned regarding scuff marks and wall dents left by dishonest and unscrupulous carpet installers which, I believe, must have been subcontracted out by Goodhouse. I can’t imagine anyone going to these lengths of calling the Lowe’s store, Lowe’s Corporate, and the carpet store to complain about something that was pre-existing and would have been seen by the installers prior to their starting the job. They never pointed out any damage to the walls BEFORE they started the job because there was none. Also, the damage is all in the lower part of the wall. If these walls had any pre-existing dents or marks, as they said, they’d more likely be in random places all over the room. In fact, they were specifically told to be very careful with the walls because they were just skimcoated and painted.
My wife told Scott that she’d be very surprised if this is the first complaint that he’s received about damage caused by their carpet installers and he actually said he receives a call like this “about once/week.” Well, at least he admitted that and it’s probably more than once/week. He also had the nerve to tell me that the painting of the walls should be the last thing that a homeowner does in a room because damage to the walls should be expected when having carpet installed. Amazing. So, all homeowners having carpet installed should expect to have to paint their walls again after having it installed by Goodhouse Flooring??? In all the years of having carpet installed, I had never heard of such a thing. There was no apology from Scott or the installers. The installers did admit that “maybe, we did that,” and did attempt to remove the black marks with a piece of carpeting. But, Scott said the installers told them that the black marks on the wall looked like they were left by the bottom of a shoe. Another ridiculous claim. The black marks on the wall were clearly done when they were rolling out the carpet and the edges left the curved scuff marks behind.
We really are just shocked by the lack of concern by Goodhouse Flooring. Scott said that this is all part of the carpet install process and customers need to understand that. He also said that Lowe’s is at fault for not making it clear to the customers upfront that they need to expect some damage from the installation. My wife asked Scott why, when they spoke on the 17th, he never mentioned that there would be damage left behind. If this is common and to be expected and a known issue from Goodhouse Flooring installers, he should have mentioned it that day. It is true that Lowe’s never mentioned anything to us about damage being left behind from the carpet install. According to Lowe’s and Goodhouse, we apparently signed a waiver stating that Lowe’s and the installer will not be responsible for damage left behind as a result of the installation of carpet. So far, the “What to Expect” section on the “Detail Expectation Sheet” we received says nothing of damage being left behind. Also, not one carpet installation that we’ve had done in the past required us to sign a waiver releasing the installers from the responsibility of damaging our home. That’s unbelievable to me.
I think one of the biggest disappointments is, again, the lack of concern by Lowe’s and Goodhouse Flooring. I can’t expect much from the installers as they’re clearly men who have no conscience or integrity and probably aren’t paid enough to care. They were in and out in under an hour and showed no concern for the damage they left behind. We’ve had carpeting installed in the past, but never hired a big box store who subcontracted out and we’ll never do this again. But, I can tell you that the past carpet installers never left behind damaged walls. This is a first and I am writing this review to let others know that Goodhouse Flooring does not stand by its installations; they stand by their installers, but they could not care less about the concerns of the customer. We purchased the carpet from Lowe’s, but after that it was Goodhouse Flooring for the rest of the job and their business ethics and quality of installers that they hire are questionable to say the least.
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