Re-Bath

Now back to Re-Bath, they are no longer in business. They never had a plumbing license and the franchisor in AZ, a lovely person named Hedi, says we are just screwed. They might be willing to fix the plumbing leak. The insurance company says we will need to get Re-Bath to pay for their mistake so we need to collect from their insurance company. But you know the rest of the story, Re-Bath didn’t have insurance.

Today, the same person called my cell phone. I answered and told him "I am not going with you. Goodbye." I hung up. (I was with a client at the time.) When I returned home, there was a message from this same male on my home phone, stating "Hi Robin, thanks for returning my call and hanging up on me." First of all, I never returned any call to him. I hung up the phone after I said goodbye and that I'm not using Re-Bath. This display of unprofessionalism and immaturity is one of the reasons I will never use this service. If the office/sales staff acts this way, I wonder what their other service people are like. This is disgraceful!

I faxed the corporate office of Re-Bath in Arizona, also left messages for them, but did not get a reply. I went in person to the insurance company whose Certificate of Insurance Re-Bath has. The insurance company verified that they insure Re-Bath but tried to call while I was there and could not get a hold of Re-Bath either. Today, I got a phone call from Re-Bath's scheduling clerk, Grace. She told me they are now located at North Haven, CT 06473 with phone (203) 764-1600 (Her number showed up on my caller ID as 1601). She says she still does not have a ship date when the materials for my job will be trucked to Connecticut from Re-Bath's facility in Arizona. I asked, "When did you order the materials?" and she could not tell me a date. She said she didn't know whether the office in Arizona had received the order because she does not have a confirmation from them.

In the meantime on my answering machine, I got a call from Amy in the Arizona office, merely telling me the new Connecticut phone number and advising me to call there to get my problem resolved. According to the CT Dept. of Consumer Protection, under Connecticut law, if it is 30 days past the scheduled date and substantial work has not been done, I have the right to cancel the contract and demand that Re-Bath refund my payment. From what Grace told me today, no substantial work has been done. She did not have any confirmation from the Re-Bath materials fulfillment center that they had received her order. No materials have been delivered to the job site.

Furthermore, the CT Dept. of Consumer Protection says the language of Re-Bath's contract is in violation of CT law, as contractors are required to give a definite start date and completion date, not an approximate date as their contract says. I have sent a certified letter (also by regular mail) to both of the new addresses demanding refund of my $2,365 deposit by 8/17 or else I will take further action. I have also filed complaints with the CT Dept. of Consumer Protection and the Better Business Bureau of CT.

Then the contractor just stopped showing up. The owner, Mr. Dave Fleming, of Monument, Colorado, gave the excuse that the contractor was sick. David showed up a couple of days to paint the bathroom walls and cabinets. He appeared to come clean and said that his contractor wasn't really sick. The real reason for the delay was that his contractor of 8 years took everything out of his warehouse and ran off with it. I was told that I'd get $1000 discount due to the issues and inconvenience, but never received it.

On February 15, 2009, Mr. Dave Fleming sold the company to the Denver office. We were told by Mr. Fleming that Re-Bath corporate would take over and complete the work. I called corporate office and after many messages later, I finally got a hold of someone who sent out a husband and wife team to assess where we were in the process around April 2009. They work for Am Bath, which remodels hotels and motels. They told me that Mr. Fleming left 80 other families in Colorado Springs in various states of bad remodels. He gladly took their money without remorse. Dave was also performing jobs he was not qualified to do, such as installing new cabinets, plumbing, and countertops, which was what he was scheduled to do in my second bathroom that fortunately he didn't start on.

My re-evaluation by Am Bath was in April 2009 and now it is late July 2009 without a phone call from them stating when my bathroom will be started. I started this process nine months ago and I am out $7000. My family of six cannot use the shower because it has been demolished. I am down to one bathroom. My upstairs bathroom remodel was not started. All I ask is for Re-Bath to either give me my money back (preferred) or finish the job in a timely matter, but being timely isn't a quality that they embrace.

After 5 weeks and no calls, I phoned them. I was told they would call me in 1-2 weeks. Still no call 2 weeks later. I called them and was told the boss was out of the office. Left my name and number for him to call back. Never called back. At this point, 7 weeks later, called Corp. HQ in Tempe, AZ. They took the info and opened a complaint file and nothing else happened. I gave them over $5,100 as a deposit and they are not getting back to me. I sent them a certified letter.

Now I have hired a new contractor to fix their damage and have to take them to small claims court for the deposit and repairs to the bathroom and kitchen. BTW they are not cheap. The cost for 2 very small bathrooms only doing the tub shower and walls was just under $20,000. They hit you with outrageous costs when they come to your home to reset toilets and vanities that they needed to remove to put up their walls. Do yourself a favor and get real tiles. The cost is about the same.

While removing the shower drain, the worker damaged the ceiling directly below this in my kitchen. This was a brand new ceiling installed when I remodeled the kitchen 5 years ago. The ceiling split and bulged open. I was sitting directly under there and just moved out of the way in time as I thought to myself that the ceiling might come down the way he was pounding away above me. Then they demolished the master bath.

After demo they realize they had the wrong size. They started to build out the walls of the shower to compensate for their mistake and I stopped them immediately when I saw what they were doing. They ripped everything down, removed their tools and have never returned. They left the sink in the hall bathroom unfinished after lying about what they had done to switch the doors and drawers around because of the interference with the water valves. They charged me $625 and told me they would finish the job the next day. Of course they didn't, but they got that money plus I paid over $5,100 in deposit money for the master bath that they left ruined. Terrible, terrible customer service. I am a single woman and feel they took advantage of this situation. They are predators in my view. Stay away from Re-Bath.

On 7/7/09, I called Glen (of Weatherly) to ask how the order was coming along. He stated that they had not yet ordered the parts because they were having trouble getting the money together. I immediately called Re-Bath and spoke with Heidi. Re-bath had no record of me. I faxed my contract to Re-Bath, and was told that Weatherly ceased being an authorized installer as of 6/10/08. I called Glen Carwile and demanded my money back. He said OK. The next day, I got a voice mail from Kevin of Weatherly. I called him back late afternoon. He said Glen tells me you're having concerns about the contract. I stated that Glen said that parts had not yet been ordered. He stated Glen doesn't know.

Then I brought up the termination of Weatherly's franchise agreement on 6/10/08. He said Weatherly cut off Re-Bath (not Re-Bath cut off Weatherly), and I replied that I didn't see what difference it makes. The situation is the same. Weatherly can no longer install Re-Bath. Kevin of Weatherly stated that he could complete his contracts. I've complained to the BBB, Fairfax County Consumer Protection Services, and Virginia Board of Occupational and Professional Licensing. Fairfax County sent him my complaint with 10 days to reply, and he did not reply. A second letter with 7 days to reply just went out.

My $1,750 check payable to Re-Bath was cashed by someone other than Re-Bath. No acrylic liner has been ordered. No work has been done.