DriMaxx

Thank you for taking the time to read this post as it brings light to a series of situations that I hope will help you in your decision making when considering whether to or whether to not hire Drimaxx. Summary Drimaxx proved to have several levels of dishonesty, uncommunicative, low in quality, a…

Thank you for taking the time to read this post as it brings light to a series of situations that I hope will help you in your decision making when considering whether to or whether to not hire Drimaxx. Summary Drimaxx proved to have several levels of dishonesty, uncommunicative, low in quality, and displayed major lack in professionalism. I would warn consumers to do their research before considering them. They will promise you amazing things, but the reality is you will waste your time and never see the things you are promised unless you want to drop heavy $$$ as they are unable to get results from insurance. They had a great company years back, but since, based on reviews, feedback has turned primarily to negative. After reading the full review you will see they took advantage of another person. This time it happened to be a 100% medically disabled war vet, but regardless if that was the case or not, they still failed to remain client focused and took advantage of the client. *At the bottom of the review was the resolution/response provided by the owner. Be sure to look them up with the BBB. They have an F rating and many complaints that go unresolved. Our Experience with Emergency Response Services In early December 2019 we had a small pipe leak that occurred in our kitchen that resulted in a minor flood of our kitchen area. We were dispatched a plumber (All Hours Plumbing) through our home warranty services who arrived and identified the problem. The plumber then called Drimaxx who came out to deal with the drying of the affected areas along with mold remediation as the pipe had been unknowingly leaking in the wall for some time. The mold remediation team did a good job at dealing with things. Not a top-notch experience in any way, but they did the work and finished it as planned. No major complaints with this portion of the company. Our Experience with Rebuild Services: Project Manager Adam Carlson This is the one area of Drimaxx that I would not recommend. There are 5 areas of business that I deem critical when selling or providing a service. Communication, Honesty, Professionalism, Quality of Service, and Timeliness of Service. Communication: This was a major weak point amongst all channels within Drimaxx. We experienced endless times where we called and left messages, were told we would receive a response within certain time frames and never did. Sent emails with major delays or no responses. At times we were blatantly disregarded by several leads within the organization who were unwilling to discuss the issues we were having and instead “ghosted” us. This included attempting to seek resolution from the lead project manager Robert who assured us he would resolve it by a certain time. After compiling documentation quickly and providing him all requested documents immediately, we were again ghosted with no confirmation, response, and an overdue deadline. Prior to scheduling a rebuild with Drimaxx, the rebuild project manager Adam came out for the rebuild estimate and promised a lot of great things and sold themselves on their ability to work with insurance to get things done. Well, we ended up communicating mostly with our insurance trying to figure out what was going on due to lack of communication from Drimaxx to both us and the insurance company. This resulted in us finally giving in and buying our own lower cabinets (ruined in flood) as there were major miscommunications between departments within Drimaxx and we were tired of living in a house with no cabinets, plastic wrap walls, and utter dysfunction. From an internal perspective within Drimaxx, the workers had no clue what was being asked of them from project leads. A few of the instances included them only painting halfway up the wall and stopping saying that is what they were told to do, and the job was complete. An idea of what that looks like is 67.5 SF of unmatched paint halfway up both sides of our wall. What they were supposed to do was paint the entire kitchen to match which is 472.52 SF and then paint 725.33 SF in the garage, all of which was included in the rebuild estimate. Being appalled and frustrated, we finished painting our kitchen so that we could get our lives back in order since we had been waiting since December and it was May. Being a 100% disabled veteran, having the disfunction of a house with a semi functional kitchen, plastic wrap for walls, I was, to say the least, very discouraged on their effectiveness in coming back out and finishing, risking another few weeks or months going by. Therefore, painfully but successfully, I helped my wife put the kitchen back together and paint the walls. My wife called and made some noise and reactively they came out and finished the half painted wall in the garage. When they came out, they forgot to bring the paint. Adam told us he was going to have them pick up several cans before arrival, they obviously did not get the memo. Then they did not have any baseboards to match even after a lead was onsite the day before and stated they would be replacing it the following day, which is how we ended up with a 4” based board vs 2” baseboard on one of our garage walls. I reached out to Adam to resolve this via email by simply requesting an updated statement to ensure we were not being charged for the work that wasn’t done. They had an insurance check for $4700 from us and even if they completed the original quote of $3700, that left at least $1000 to be paid to us. The problem is 50% of the work on the quote was never done so that number of return was much higher than that $1000 mark. Adam claimed the other project lead Jim, who occasionally showed up unannounced, had offered us a refund before they started the job and so basically, we were out of luck on getting a refund. What really occurred was we were informed that they can’t refund us money and we had to apply it toward something else. Since we did everything else, we suggested a countertop replacement which ended up being quoted around $600. They requested we pay $250 of this countertop estimate as there was not enough money left in the $4700 deposit. Let me remind you, only half the work had been done. We again requested the updated billing summary and still nothing. The below email was from Adam in response to our request for the updated bill as we felt that we shouldn’t be paying anything for a $600 countertop when we had potentially thousands left in the budget. “You had received a check for reimbursement for $440 (this was for the cabinets we purchased out of pocket to replace the ruined ones). We also received a C.O.C from you stating that you were satisfied with the work and that our job there was completed. The granite countertop for the island was an extra that we were going to do for you at a cheaper price then having Jacksonville Granite doing it. Jim had offered you a complete refund for the difference in invoices at the beginning of the job, and you refused. For example, I can’t hire a sub contractor and pay him and then go back and ask for a refund because I don’t agree to the price. As I stated, we have reimbursed you $440 and we’re willing to take care of most of the counter top.” After breaking down the original quoted estimate based on what was done, we were due over $2,200 and that was being generous given other things were done incorrectly. Jim had never offered a refund and specifically stated “We can’t refund any extra and have to return it to the insurance. To avoid this, he asked is there anything else Drimaxx can do?” Adam also asked the same thing which is when we mentioned the island countertop replacement. I assure you, as most of you, I would not have turned down a refund for the difference in costs if I had been informed it was something that could be done. Not a logical thing. In terms of the C.O.C. (certificate of completion), we signed it for the work that had been done from the estimate, less than half, as we had done the rest, and nothing was left. Even though low quality, to be quite honest, we didn’t want them to keep fixing their mistakes as you will see in future sections. Signing it confirmed what was done was accepted. Later we find out from the owner that since we refused to let them finish everything, they were still charging us. Again, this is coming from the estimate they made and refused to update when they failed to complete the job. They had been notified via email and phone call of discrepancies in billing, so I felt it offensive to tell us that they were doing us a favor by getting countertops and that signing the C.O.C. gives them the full right to all the remaining balance. If the job was done, I can understand that, so Adam’s analogy was not an accurate depiction of what took place. I have formally requested a copy of an accurate bill stating what took place and never received it. Professionalism: It seems that everyone has something bad to say about the other people in this company. Nearly every time we had a complaint, it was met with blame on other people and their lack of effectiveness. Luke, being a major one of receptive complaints, did fall within what was being said of him. Though at one time, reviews showed Luke as a very effective employee, recent reviews and personal experience has proved this is no longer the case. When speaking on the phone we were met with “sure”, “ok” and other short answers when asking what we felt were critical questions. His demeanor always came off as annoyed and too busy for us. I realize that workloads often play a role in effectiveness but should never play a role in how you maintain your professionalism among clientele. Other instances include showing up without having called or scheduling a time and if you weren’t home it would add to the delay in them coming back out. Not showing up multiple times because workers called out sick. Showing up ill prepared and then delaying things as a result. This highlights several of many instances. Honesty: This will be short as most were detailed in other sections. They did ½ the work and have not offered a refund for the other thousands of dollars. As you will see in the response from the owner, they still refused to return what was rightfully ours. Quality: The quality of work was low in quality in all aspects. If the posting services will allow, pictures will be posted showing the detail of their work. The completed work included 16 linear feet of drywall on both sides of the shared kitchen and garage wall totaling 32 linear feet. 227.5 SQ FT painted and 11.3 linear feet of baseboard installed. Just a reminder, this is what they charged $3,300 for. Drywall results: Uneven slope of 2.08% on the kitchen wall from the middle where they began to the floor where they finished. This has resulted in ¼” gaps on the tops of base cabinets we installed post drywall and no room for flush baseboards to be installed. Paint results: Was not edged and resulted in over brush onto other items. No “paint prep $223.00 worth” was done. Also, no cleanup of the paint overlaps was attempted which has left several items unable to be fixed due to the paint having dried. Baseboard: They didn’t prepare and as a result requested to use a non-matching baseboard, which we approved for sake of be able to have it completed so we could reattach our washer and dryer. They did not paint the baseboard and did not caulk the baseboard and didn’t even fully attach it. If you can see photos, you will witness the major gapping. Timeliness: Once you get to the rebuild stage there is no concept of timeliness for them. They will promise you timelines and never follow through. Once they get your deposit or insurance check, get used to the way you are currently living as things will not get fixed for a long while. In conclusion, I will share a short story regarding the Resolution from Matthew Byatt, the Owner of Drimaxx. After getting ghosted over and over, I finally showed up and politely but firmly requested for an updated bill. I was told they updated systems and Luke did not have time to create a new bill reflecting the changes and I would need to wait. I reminded him that when a customer is standing in front of you, it’s not the best etiquette to inform them you don’t have time for them especially after ghosting them continuously. In response, I requested to do the math on my end and provide the updated bill. Once they realized it was several thousands of dollars in work that was never done, things began to change and suddenly they were ready to work out a deal. Luke offered me $1500.00 and the $600 quartz countertop for the island. Realizing that this was a reasonable offer and the closest to what was owed to us, I accepted it. It was then that I was informed the owner had arrived and wanted to speak with me. I went into their conference room and the first thing after an introduction is “when people come into my workplace and start demanding money, I have to be involved.” This was not said in the politest tone but in his defense, he was told from Luke secondhand information in likely a less respectable way. In short, I informed him I was seeking a resolution to everything as we experienced horrible forthcomings from working with his company. I stated I went through every channel possible and no one ever offered to work through resolution and that I had planned on going to the BBB, placing reviews, and then going to small claims court as needed. He basically said bad reviews happen when you service 500 clients yearly so it was not a major concern. He then proceeded to tell me that they have won many court cases and that it would be a waste of both of our times. He then stated that he could not honor what I had just been offered by Luke and I needed to give him several days to review things. He seemed appalled by the photos of bad work that was done and, in all honesty, I had high hopes that we would find resolution. He mentioned that he did not want to get involved with any more contracting with us, so the countertops were off the list. After several days, he had Luke call me, rather than taking the time to call me, and told me they were only offering $1000 as we had refused for them to complete the work therefore, we are being charged for it anyway. The workers claimed I told them to stop halfway up the wall because we were doing backsplash. The reality was, why would we say that and why wasn’t the other 4 walls of the kitchen painted to match per the estimate. The other question is why they only stopped halfway up the garage wall as well. I don’t recall backsplash being placed there. The reality of what took place was they were told the paint was matching and they were instructed to paint halfway up the wall in the area where they replaced the drywall only. We were shocked, i.e. the call mentioned in the communication portion of this review. So, taking his employees word on saying we told them to stop, we were charged for the entirety of the painting. In the end, we accepted the $1000 as he was right, going to small claims court for the $2,200 that we should be due was not worth the hassle to spend months of prep and days of court related processes. I declare they won. They took advantage of another person. This time it happened to be a 100% medically disabled war vet, but regardless if that was the case or not, they still failed to remain client focused and took advantage of the client. I hope this review sheds light on the situation. I would suggest looking at the BBB website on Drimaxx as they have many complaints and never any resolution. Know your options folks.