BE SURE TO READ ALL THE RESPONSES FOR THE FULL PICTURE:
April 15, 2014
Tom Sullivan
Lumber Liquidators
3000 John Deere Road
Toano VA 23168
RE: Clients: Melania & Jim Saltarella, 3413 Ravensworth Trace, Kennesaw, GA 30144. Phone: 770-653-0756. Defective Product from Kennesaw GA Store, Purchased June 19, 2013
Dear Mr. Sullivan:
We went into the store in June 2013 to purchase Acacia wood to have installed in our new home. We spoke with Rachel, and Clifford Cork. Cliff insisted that the Floating Floor, particularly the MS Bamboo, was a much better product and we should purchase that. The flooring has a 30 year warranty. 796.40 square feet of wood was purchased on July 3rd, 2013 for $3,550.39 including tax, and the wood was picked up and placed in home July 17, 2013, over two weeks prior to installation so it could acclimate for the amount of time recommended by salesperson. Lumber Liquidators gave us the name of their recommend installer, Precision Flooring, which we used. Attached is the Lumber Liquidators Flooring Project List completed and signed by Alan King of Precision Flooring, dated June 18, 2013. We also bought the best insulation layer that was recommended, the Bellawood Premium Underlayment. It cost us an additional $1,613.40 for the installation.
By the second week in November our floors were separating. On November 13, 2013, we called the Kennesaw store and spoke with Dwayne, who they told us to contact their Customer Care Line. We called it at 1-800-427-3966, spoke to “Carrie,” who instructed us to fill out a General Disclosure Statement report and send it and photos of the floors to “Matthew E.” We were told “Matthew E” would be our representative, and to send him the photos of the floors and a General Disclosure Statement. We were told Matthew would get back to us in two to three business days. Not only did Matthew not get back to us, he would not return telephone calls. We once again called the local Lumber Liquidators store on November 26, 2013 and spoke with Cliff, who once again suggested that we call the Customer Care Line. That same day we called the Customer Care line and spoke with “Vickie” at 9:25 am. She never got back to us. We then called the installation company. The owner of Precision Floors, Joel Negron (404-550-7853), came out and looked at our floors. He took a moisture reading and told us that there was too much moisture in the wood, and he believed we have a defective product. He told us to get another box of wood and he would have his installers come back in and take up the damaged wood and replace it with new, and he hoped that would take care of the problem. This repair happened December 6th, 2013. Our floors now are coming away from the walls in nine different areas of our home. It is obvious that we have a defective product and that our floor will need replacing. We are attaching photos of each area that is damaged so that we can show how the wood has shrank over the last eight months and is coming away from the edges. The wood is also cracking and cupping.
We visited the local store February 17th and spoke to the manager Scott Turner. He assured us that the problem would be taken care of, and mentioned that he sees us at our church and that he attends the same church. Shortly after that we finally got a telephone call from Matthew E, who said that the problem had to be with installation, because there was nothing wrong with the wood. I do not understand how he could tell that because he was calling from out of state and had never seen our floors. Matthew called back on March 19th to ask if the problem had been resolved, and I told him that it had not. He told us that the installer had gone out of business, and said he would get back to us. We called the manager Scott again on March 27, and he said he was still looking into it and would be sending inspectors to look at our floors.
Yesterday we spoke to the installer recommended by your company, Joel Negron, who had closed the company that put in our floors and now owns a new floor installation company. He said that in his opinion we would need all new floors, but from his experience he knew that your company would do nothing but blame the installer, and then blame us for our life style tearing up the floors. He said that it was too bad, but we had no choice but to accept that you have sold us a defective product and there was nothing we could do about it. It concerns us that someone who you have recommended and who has such knowledge of your company would believe that about you.
Our expectations are that Lumber Liquidators will stand behind its product and warranty, and replace the defective flooring in our home with a good product, and have this installed at no additional cost to us. So far Lumber Liquidators has ignored the situation, leaving us with unsightly flooring that poses a tripping hazard. Ignoring the problem has gone on for months, and we need this to be resolved immediately.
Photos of the Separation at each of the Nine areas
1. Right Side Sliding Glass Door
2. Right Corner of Fireplace Hearth
3. Along the entire front of Fireplace Hearth
4. Along the entire bottom of Kitchen Breakfast Bar
5. Between the Cabinet & Center Island/Kitchen
6. Separation around the cabinet, Left of the Kitchen Stove
7. Hallway outside Kitchen extending to Hall Closet & inside the Closet
8. Entryway to Hall Bathroom
9. Entryway to Master Bedroom
Please respond to this letter within two weeks.
Respectfully,
Melania & Jim Saltarella
3413 Ravensworth Trace
Kennesaw GA 30144
Cc: Pastor Craig Bowler, Attorney David Perrie, Consumer Advocate Clark Howard, The Magic Real Estate Team’s Real Estate Blog.
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