Springfield Roofing sucks! Avoid wasting your time with them!
If you need roofing repair, especially emergency roof repair, I would simply recommend that you avoid calling Springfield Roofing (703-354-3229) (located in Springfield, VA).
I called Springfield Roofing on June 26th, 2006, and spoke with someone there about my emergency roof repair needs. They told me that someone would come by that day, look at the damage, and that an estimator would call me on June 27th.
On June 27th, 2006, I received no such call. They never did call me.
After going on a vacation, I came back to Virginia on July 5th, 2006, and called their receptionist. She said the estimator for my address was “Jerome”, and that I would need to call Jerome’s cell phone number in order to ask Jerome about the estimate.
So I call Jerome, and he just seems incredulous and snobby about the whole thing. “We got a lot of jobs.” He had no recollection of my address, or of talking to me. (And I didn’t know I needed to be taking names, so I’m not sure that it was him I spoke to either.)
So apparently this company runs its business leads really shittily — they have people talk to potential customers without knowing who is talking to who. They have no way to track business leads and they don’t even know what their own people are doing.
Of course, there was no estimate ready for me. Jerome even said that they don’t go to people’s houses to assess damage without the person being there to receive them. That is different than what I was told on the phone.
Inconsistent, Inconsiderate, and Unreliable: Springfield Roofing.
July 9, 2006 at 7:09 PM
Good thing to know, as after the tree incident, we now need some roofing work. We’re going to let Shannon’s brother do the work.
August 5, 2006 at 9:09 AM
Springfield has been working in my community for over 6 years. I recommend them constantly and I can tell you that there obviously was some mistake in what happened to you. I am sorry for your inconvinience and I know it makes you mad, but Springfield has been great with us.
October 1, 2006 at 4:13 PM
I can’t under stand how a company as large as Home Depot can treat customers so poorly. I signed my roofing contract on 9-14-05, Home Depot has now installed three roofs on my house and are getting ready to install the fourth one. They pay their contractors as little as possible and that is why they get poor quality contractors. Home Depot does not return phone calls, emails or letters for weeks or never. When you see my web page you can see the distruction they do to peoples lives and property. When you search the internet for “poor customer service from home depot” you can read for days, how do they get away with this?
http://www.freewebs.com/myroof
Thank you,
Don Wenzel
Oxford, Michigan
October 1, 2006 at 5:21 PM
Thanks, Don. Of course, my post wasn’t about Home Depot, and all that the Springfield Roofing guys did was fail to help me at all — which is actually better than helping me poorly.
I’ll let your comment slide in anyway because its semi-related, and because I have my own home construction project that was contractually slated for completion in June of 2004 and still is not done. (The company for that is VIRGINIA DESIGN BUILDERS; I would advise anyone to avoid them like dengue fever.)
March 9, 2007 at 6:57 PM
FROM ROGERSVILLE ALABAMA
I AM A CURRENT VICTIM OF THE HOME DEPOT ROOFING AND SIDING SCAM. THIS JOB ENDED UP COSTING ME 12082.00 TOTAL FOR BOTH JOBS. THINKING I WOULD BE IMPROVING MY HOME AND TRUSTING A NAME IN THE HOME IMPROVEMENT INDUSTRY, I RELIED ON HOME DEPOT TO DO THIS RIGHT.
5 MEXICANS AND A HACK CONTRACTOR SHOWED UP. RIPPED OFF MY SHINGLES, DID NOT REPLACE MY DECKING, AND RESHINGLED. AND LEFT IN ONE DAY. THE JOB IS A TOTAL JOKE. YOU WOULD JUST HAVE TO SEE IT,, I AM CURRENTLY ARGUING WITH GEORGE KEATON 615-642-8282, ROB HOLIDAY 256-221-8606, AND TED FORD 615-519-5612. THIS SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME, I KNOW IT CAN HAPPEN TO OTHERS. I COULD NOT SELL MY HOME TO HOMELESS PEOPLE FOR 0.00.
OH, AND THE GAF PEOPLE HAVE NOT BEEN AROUND, NOT EVEN A CALL. I CONTRACTED THIS JOB ON 10-13-06 JOB WAS COMPLETE ON 11-27-06, AND I HAVE BEEN IN A BATTLE SINCE. I HAD ORIGINALLY CONTRACTED 57 DECKING SHEATS, BUT THEY HACKED UP MY ROOF TO USE ONLY 3, SO I DEDUCTED THAT FROM THE ORIGINAL COST, THEN THERE WAS A DISCRIPENCY OF 918.00 BETWEEN DOWN PAYMENTS. THEY DID NOT WANT TO GIVE THAT BACK. NOW I AM ASKING FOR A TOTAL REINSTALL AND ALL MY MONEY BACK. THE SIDING IS A JOKE ALSO,,I AM ASHAMED TO HAVE BEEN TAKEN LIKE THIS AND WASTED THIS MUCH MONEY. MY HOUSE WILL NOT RECEIVE A 125% RETURN ON THE SALE.
DISGUSTED AND APPALLED IN ALABAMA
March 16, 2007 at 1:54 PM
Hiring A Bathroom Remodeling Contractor
Busy, busy, busy, that is how you have to describe the people of the new millennium. People seem to have less time for things around the house. The work week never seems to be over, people are tired and just want to spend time with their family. The average work week has increased from 38 to 44 hours. Traffic and distance makes commuting to work last much longer. There is actually less time for yourself and your family. When it comes to remodeling a room in the house, it just seems like too much time and effort. So when the bathroom needs to be remodeled, who do people call?
The first choice for busy people is to call bathroom remodeling contractors. There are a lot of contractors and it can be confusing at first. The people have to choose one and that is sometimes the hardest part of all of the remodeling. There is the Yellow Pages but if you call all the contractors in the yellow pages you are likely to get many messages saying the number is disconnected. What about flyers at your door? Bad Idea, These guys are usually people laid off from some other kind of work not necessarily contracting work. What about TV ads? These people are usually reliable but costly. They charge anywhere from half again to twice what a smaller reputable firm would charge. So what is the best way to find a contractor? The best way to choose bathroom remodeling contractor is to ask family and friends if they have had work done and how they liked their contractor. The price he gives you will probably not be the lowest price you can get. A person that is in a lasting business can not afford to give work away long before going under. Going under means owing a lot of people a lot of money. Going for the lowest price often can mean you are shopping for trouble.
Word of mouth means more than almost anything. People can also go to most home warehouse centers and ask for a list of recommended contractors. This gives people a good place to start but do yourself a favor and ask friends and co-workers first.
Next, call all of the contractors on the list and show them what needs to be done. It is perfectly acceptable to ask for references if the contractor in not a referral. Check with some of the references and find out what they liked and didn’t like. Bathroom remodeling contractors get work by their previous work. If they aren’t good, they won’t have very much work to do.
Paying Bathroom Remodeling Contractors
Once the people have decided on the right contractor and the right price, the terms of payment will soon surface. In most cases, people don’t want to pay the contractor before the work is started. If payment is made before any work has started, the incentive to finish the project will have been lost.
They may ask for a portion up front for materials and the amount is something that the people and the contractor will have to talk about. We have found that a minimal down payment is all that is needed. Just a few hundred dollars or less. Then 30% when we start and 30% after all the rough in work is done then another 30% when the drywall is completed leaving 10% for the final. That way everyone is even money wise most the way along. There are special circumstances such as plans and permits the city wants up front. Special purchases such as special order tubs and tile that needs to be paid up front. Keep in mind that there is a 3 day rescission law. That means the job is officially under way at 3 business days. If you cancel the job after this time you still owe the contractor. Talking about these things opens the doors for more questions. Talking to bathroom remodeling contractors is a good thing. If the people see something that they don’t like, the contractor will appreciate being told immediately. This saves materials and time.
Time is money and most people have a budget that they are following. When the work is finished, the final payment will be expected. Remember that the contractor needs the money and if the work was performed in a satisfactory matter, then people should pay the difference right away.
October 12, 2007 at 1:49 AM
Tell me have you had any good expriences? I know honest work is hard to come by these days. They say call you tomorrow and you never hear from them. Do they just make so much money they can afford to do this?
October 14, 2007 at 11:44 AM
No great experiences, but I had a satisfactory experience with Sears putting new siding on our house (a $9300 job). Upon signing, it was done within 3 days or so. The sales person warned me against tactics the actual workers use, so when they used them, I knew how to counterattack.
October 31, 2007 at 4:27 PM
always deal with a qualified roofer. make sure to look up their license with the state!
http://www.davidnessjr.com/
October 31, 2007 at 4:53 PM
David, we actually did :)
January 26, 2008 at 1:17 PM
Clint, maybe if you are in a non-emergency situation in the future you can take the time to ask the company for a reference list. Can I also ask why your experience with Sears was satisfactory and not great? I work for an exterior remodeling company and am curious as to what you would like to see in order to say you had a great experience, thanks.
January 26, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Hi Amy,
Yea, I wish it was possible to get reference lists from companies in advance. The logical place would be to post them on the website, but then people would feel funny about having their phone numbers posted publicly. Invariably they would have to then mail a list, and you would have to wait days. I’ve also investigated companies for HOURS only to be completely screwed by them — KHD Flooring was another example.
We definitely should have asked for more references from Dan Lopez, sole proprietor of Virginia Design Builders. Not doing that is the singular most regrettable decision of either of our lives. I’d gladly trade the life of every pet I’ve ever owned to have not met that man.
As for Sears, our experiences were mixed… We got Sears to do siding for our entire house.
On the one hand, the price was good. $9,300 versus a $4,000+ estimate, and a $7,000 estimate on painting our house. Why pay $7K to paint a house when you can pay $9.3K to get new siding?
After signing up for the job, they did it within 2 days.
None of the Virginia Design Builders-style of signing a 3 month contract, then taking over 3 YEARS to complete the job. None of the KHD Flooring-style of saying they’ll come back with the right wood for THREE MONTHS and then finally canceling the contract after causing excessive waiting.
Of cousre, they are in a rush to do it because the Sears system exploits the contractors a bit. They don’t give a contractor another job until the last job says they are completely satisfied. Thus, they want to rush you into signing off on it.
My Sears siding contractor did not put the guard rails for our steps back on. I told him it needs to go back on. He actually walked down the stairs and pretended to fall, and fell into the wall, and argued, “See, you don’t need the rail!”
Of course, Fairfax County Code Enforcement, who I have worked extensively with to report violations in the workmanship of Virginia Design Builders/Dan Lopez’s addition, would have disagreed and made me put that rail up right away.
It took him another day or two to fix everything I demanded. Unfortunately, I *still* signed off too early — in their rush to complete the job without even telling me when it was going to be done, they removed the outside lights to put the siding around them.
Since I was not home to let them in or turn out the circuit breaker, this caused a short, destroying a 27-inch tv that we owned.
If it had destroyed a computer, I’d probably still be in court for them.
It took me months, and hours of phone calls, and eventually they gave me $100 for the TV.
$100 is not enough to get a 27-inch TV, but of course I happened to get this TV for free, so it still represented profit.
So anyway, I would deal with Sears again — I wish they did flooring — but I would be very careful, and only sign off after checking every tiny thing in my house.
July 15, 2008 at 10:00 PM
clint i have had SFR work on 16 homes we own not one issue.
you sir sound like a demanding, big headed
yuppie.
If you want instant return from a contractor become one.
July 15, 2008 at 10:10 PM
one more thing clint who did your roof ?
i also know you mod. anything not in your favor !
July 16, 2008 at 9:03 AM
It’s quite funny that someone with 16 homes is calling someone else a yuppie. It is not demanding to expect a company to come out when it SAYS it’s going to come out, and you have a hole in the roof.
Michelle, YOU seem like a yuppie AND a cunt. But I already told you that in email. Uncivil hostility will be met with uncivil hostility. I never take the high road for the sake of doing so (, cunt).
July 16, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Shittily is not a word.
July 16, 2008 at 9:50 AM
Just an observation, but “she” doesn’t type like somebody who would own 16 homes.
On a slightly related note, I find it interesting that generally people who are all about business, capitalism, etc. don’t like it when somebody complains about poor service, bad products, etc. They act like “Well, you wouldn’t have that service/product if it wasn’t for capitalism, so don’t complain!”. You’re considered a big old lefty for raising hell about bad business.
But one of the basics of capitalism is that in order for it to be successful, there needs to be competition in the market. In order for there to be competition, people NEED to go to the provider of the best services/products. How will you know which providers to avoid? By, uhm, reading reviews, complaints, and making a decision based on those.
I don’t know what michelle thinks about capitalism or whatever, but her complaining about YOU complaining about bad service is just an approach I’ve seen only from people who are very pro-capitalist and so I’m responding more to them, not to her. And it’s an argument that makes no sense for several reasons.
July 16, 2008 at 10:23 AM
I consider myself to be very pro-capitalist.
@gaugeyagee:
“But one of the basics of capitalism is that in order for it to be successful, there needs to be competition in the market. In order for there to be competition, people NEED to go to the provider of the best services/products. How will you know which providers to avoid? By, uhm, reading reviews, complaints, and making a decision based on those.”
Well said!
July 16, 2008 at 10:27 AM
I concur as well. You post any complaint, and someone whines about it. You gotta wonder if it’s a shill for the company itself!
July 16, 2008 at 12:25 PM
Seriously, I’ve had people react with disdain towards me when I tell them that I try as hard as I can to avoid Sony products now that they killed off two companies I respected by repeatedly suing the crap out of them in court. The first was Bleem, a company that made and sold a Playstation emulator for the PC. The 2nd was Lik-Sang, a company I bought lots of video game equipment from.
Boycotting is ALSO a tool for consumers to use within the capitalist framework, yet I keep getting flak from pro-capitalists for using it. In fact, it’s required for the system to work in a better way (more competition, thus better prices, services, products for consumers).
I guess what I’m trying to say is that being an apologist for a company that provides bad service benefits nobody except possibly that company.
July 16, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Another observation: Clint doesn’t type or write like someone who went to Thomas Jefferson HSST…(I guess in, your opinion, gaugegeyagee, in order to own 16 homes, you have to be an English major)…You do have a right to whine about your poor service just as anyone has the right to rebut your whine, regardless of who they are. Anyway, Clint, I’m so glad you were able to get your roof fixed and I’m sure you will find more things to whine about on your rediculous websites, hoping that others will care. Maybe you should get a job…maybe you could become a contractor and stop whinning and calling people names on your blogs.
July 16, 2008 at 12:36 PM
I don’t need to “hope” that others care. You coming along proves that others do care. Thanks for the vindication!
July 16, 2008 at 12:40 PM
She corrected some of her capitalization and punctuation errors, but could still use a spell checker. :)
Ok so now writing a bad review is whining, while being an apologist is rebutting. Hmmmmm….. LOGIC FAIL
July 16, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Wow, so thought provoking. It happened two years ago! One whiny guy wrote a complaint. Great. Others have had positive experiences with the company. Perhaps gaugeyagee could point me to the correct falicy, logically speaking. I’m not wasting anymore of my time on this two year old complaint. Just wanted you to know that I also used the company, and had a pleasant experience.
July 16, 2008 at 12:49 PM
“Never has the eagle wasted so much time, as when he submitted to learn from the crow.”
July 16, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Before you correct my spelling, fallacy.
July 16, 2008 at 12:52 PM
@michelle: That’s good that you had a pleasant experience with the work they did. What about people who have bad experiences with a service? Should they just pay up and shut up?
If really all you wanted to do was say you had a good review of the company to contrast against Clint’s, you should have done just that. Instead, as we can see from the first two comments, you went on the attack instead. Do you write hate mail to Consumer Reports too? Haha.
July 16, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Ha ha. No. Wow, my first two comments were an attack, similar to hate mail? What do you call his response? I’m not going to let someone openly call me a filthy, disgusting, and degrading name, without responding. There is a difference when someone says “you sound like a…” and someone who openly calls you a c**t. I’m sure Clint would respond if someone called his wife a c**t, because she responded to someone else’s blog. If you have a bad experience, then you’ve learned your lesson and you know that, in the future, you should use another company. It is possible for people to have different experiences with different companies, as discussed in this blog. Clint had a bad experience, I had a good one. Plain and simple. Thanks for all of your advice.
July 16, 2008 at 1:42 PM
Hostilities started with you Michelle. Your first 2 comments out of the blue attacked me. Now you’re going to whine that I used a word you don’t approve of? Not to sound like a 2-year-old, but you started it. It’s the equivalent of a stranger knocking on my door and telling me they don’t like me — I’d quickly grab the baseball bat I keep by my front door and “escort” them off my property if they did that, with quite a few choice words.
Basically, I meet force with no less than double that force in return. I usually opt for 4X.
July 16, 2008 at 3:19 PM
good for you.
July 16, 2008 at 3:25 PM
Yuppie stands for young urban professional. You’re sorry you find that offensive.
July 16, 2008 at 4:23 PM
See? She was complimenting you when she said you sound like a “demanding, big headed
yuppie.”! Learn to take a compliment, sheesh. :)
July 16, 2008 at 4:33 PM
I love how you “put words in my mouth.” Just like your boy, Clint, who “filters” the comments to display and favor his opinion.
July 16, 2008 at 7:08 PM
lol! If by “put words in [your] mouth” you mean “copy/paste what you wrote in an earlier comment”, then yes, that’s exactly what I did. :)
July 16, 2008 at 8:48 PM
by “putting words in my mouth,” I meant that no where did I say I was complimenting anyone…go back to school, learn to read, and stop confusing sarcasim with wit.
July 16, 2008 at 8:58 PM
My my, slippery.
“Yuppie stands for young urban professional. You’re sorry you find that offensive.”
So first you attacked, then you said you weren’t attacking in the first two posts, then you said it was actually a compliment (see quoted text above), then you said you weren’t complimenting.
You got schooled, I learned ya.
July 16, 2008 at 9:06 PM
Geeze, Michelle, you really need to get a life. You may not have been “complimenting” anyone, but you were definitely INSULTING in your first post by saying “you sir sound like a demanding, big headed yuppie.”
So, yes, the word “yuppie” is not an offensive word, but in your context, you are clearly using it as an insult.
We had a bad experience with Springfield Roofing. Yes, it was two years ago, and this blog post was written two years ago.
If you would care to read Don Landmark’s comment (the second one above), it is a great example of disagreeing with the post without being insulting.
You should learn to type.
July 16, 2008 at 9:07 PM
I told “her” she should get a job in George Bush’s press brigade, since her inability to answer direct questions is only a valuable “skill” in the political arena.
July 16, 2008 at 9:13 PM
Dodging questions??? Well, you never answered mine…who fixed your hole?
July 16, 2008 at 9:21 PM
Michelle: I didn’t answer before because that info is not readily available, and you’re already wasting a lot of time so I did not deem you worth spending time.
But let’s see if we can find it. Okay.. Carolyn searched her gmail. (Can you even search your crappy AOL mail?)
It was Augustine Roofing.
Of course, the fix didn’t take. Within a few months we had to call him back to re-fix it.
Later, we had him estimate the fix on a hole some raccoons had made, and he estimated WAY too high, MUCH higher than our other estimate.
So I purged his info out of my contact file (Which is why we had to do a gmail search) to prevent myself from calling him for future jobs.
July 16, 2008 at 9:29 PM
Thanks for answering. It’s too bad you had to go through all of that trouble just for me.
July 26, 2008 at 9:11 AM
Michelle, Clint SHOULD whine about this and let other people know about his experience so they can make an informed decision if they need to use a contractor. Isn’t that the point of sharing information? This actually HAPPENED to him. I can’t understand why it vexes you so much, or why you are involved to such a degree — it really doesn’t have anything to do with you. You say Clint needs a job, but you’re the one with too much time on your hands.
August 13, 2008 at 8:03 PM
By the way, trolls — If you leave a comment from an invalid email address — It wont get approved.
So Springfield Roofing Shills: Give up your quest to get a comment in here. I see you posting from comcast in Virginia.
If someone has something nice to say about these people — do it from a real email address, like “Michelle” did.
September 24, 2008 at 10:14 AM
I was also recently screwed over by Springfield Roofing. And I don’t mean someone just didn’t show up. I’m talking about damage they actually caused to my house, far in excess of the value of the new roof. They do not respond to my calls and basically don’t seem to care at all.
And by the way, the person that “represented” Springfield in responding to my BBB complaint was named “Michelle”. I wonder if that is a coincidence?
September 25, 2008 at 7:50 AM
Funny, I had this same argument about capitalism and consumer reviews just yesterday with a different friend! It seems the only people to complain about other people complaining about bad service are either shills or idiots. I’ve tried and simply can’t come up with any other reason why people would do that.
March 12, 2009 at 9:55 PM
lol..this is hilarious..im glad i stumbled upon this.
and also, if im spending that much money on a roof id be a demanding, big headed yuppie too, as you put it.(not saying he is)
why argue with someone that is letting people know about a bad experience with a company?..i roofed for six years when i was younger and know firsthand about how roofing companies try to cover their work..the company may not try to screw you, but the actual people putting on your roof may.Its a hard dirty job and your always looking for the easy way out..i worked for six different companies in central illinois and they were all kind of crooked in a way..its hard to find good roofing companies but they are out there.