Complaint Review: J. T. Hickman (now Known As Select Sunrooms)

Beware of sunrooms by J. T. Hickman, whose company is now known as Select Sunrooms -- he ripped us off! His business name used to be J. T. Hickman Co., Inc., but when we sued him in court he changed the name while we were still in litigation. His company is located in the state of Delaware and he also does vinyl siding, windows, roofing, and decks, as well as sunrooms. He is not a member of the Better Business Bureau because of unanswered complaints against him.

J. T. Hickman's company built a sunroom on the back of our home in the summer of 2001. We did all the things a 'smart' consumer does to ensure a quality choice of contractor - checked the BBB, checked for license & insurance, got three or more estimates from different companies, checked references, etc. We finally chose J. T. Hickman's company because it had been in business for over 40 years, he had a product we were happy with
and he met all our other criteria for the job, like being able to pour a concrete slab without subcontractors and getting the permit.

It took the company 4 weeks longer than promised to complete the job, but finally after six weeks, we had the new addition. The day the job was supposedly finished it started to rain and the room immediately began to leak. After notifying the company and them coming back 3 times, the next four months (September to January) were spent playing phone tag, caulking & re-caulking, broken promises to come and fix, and their missing appointments to come back.

After giving them 120 days to rectify the leaking problem, we contacted an attorney. Our lawyer had a contracting consultant inspect the room and he found there were construction defects, the room wasn't built to the contract specifications (it was a foot too short), and the county permit given to us for the job was not issued by the New Castle County Department of Land Use, but in fact, was forged using another of their customers' permit numbers.

We took the case to the Court of Common Pleas, where, by evasions, omissions, and every delay tactic you can think of, it took 5 years, but we finally won the case in October 2006. The judge found J. T. Hickman Company, Inc., guilty of 'failure to construct a sunroom in a workmanlike manner', violation of the Consumer Fraud Act, committed Common Law Fraud, Breach of Contract, and Breach of Warranty. We were awarded a sum of money just equal to remedy having a new sunroom built -- no court costs or lawyers' fees (which totaled more than the addition cost!). In total, our savings have been drained of more than $60,000.

During litigation, we discovered and exposed that Hickman had a history of opening permits for his jobs, but not closing them out (which requires inspections by the County and results in a Certificate of Occupancy (C.O.) for the consumer -- and is required by law to occupy the room. Between the years 2000-2005, Hicman applied for 99 permits. Of these, over half (58) took 1 year or more to get the C.O., over 1/4 (27) took 2 years or more, 4 took more than 4 years, and 1 took 5 years -- it only takes about a month to build a sunroom addition. We believe all of these eventual closed-out C.O.'s were fueled by our litigation. Question arises as to whether they would have ever been closed out.

He also made a mess of the yard, did not appropriately clean-up, damaged my fence and a metal sunglider, and stole the screen door that we had removed from the back door.

It has now been 1 years since the judgment and he has yet to abide by the judge's order. Unbeknownst to us, he dissolved his business (J. T. Hickman Co., Inc.) and opened another business (Select Sunrooms) while we were still in litigation, we believe for the sole purpose of evading a guilty judgment. Technically, he can get away with this. We know this because we have contacted our State Representative, State Senator, the Consumer Fraud Agency, the Consumer Affairs Bureau, the Attorney General's Office, The Department of Land Use, and our Lieutenant Governer of the State of Delaware -- all to no avail. It seems like it is perfectly legal to commit crimes, then change your name so that you can't be held responsible! How was this man awarded a new General Contractor's License which he was still in litigation? -- we question the veracity of the new license since he was proven in court to have committed fraud, poor workmanship, breach of contract, and breach of warranty.

We are left with a sunroom that leaks on all 4 sides and in the roof seams, that is a foot too short (barely 8 foot - the contract was for a 9 foot to 8 foot sloping roof), and a sunroom that we cannot occupy, by law, because it has no certificate of occupancy because it did not have a permit to be built. For 7 years we have endured an empty, leaky sunroom on the back of our home that we paid good money for. We are simply outraged by J. T. Hickman's unscrupulous behavior and the reality that this man has absolutely no integrity whatsoever. He has been proven in court to perform substandard workmanship in his construction jobs and does not live up to his obligations and responsibilities. We seriously question his professionalism. The change of a company name cannot change the character of the owner of that company!

We have talked to many of his peers over these last seven years who have informed us that they serviced Hickman's former clients who also were completely unsatisfied with his work and had construction issues that needed remedied. Evidently our circumstances are not unique; apparently Hickman has a history-filled pattern of committing poor quality work and then ignoring his obligation to do what is right!

If you're looking for a positive testimonial for work Select Sunrooms has done BEWARE! This company is only 3 years old and is owned by the same individual who has been proven in court to only do inferior work at best and committing fraud, with an absolutely worthless warranty. Our warranty stated Satisfaction Guaranteed or Money Back." NOT! I feel sorry for the unsuspecting consumers who may be referred to him or have work done by him. I'm sure he's watching his p's and q's right now so that he can get some good testimonials for his website, but you can't change a leopard's spots.

The sunroom Hickman put on our home was an Admiral Sunroom (a product we really like - if the installation had been done correctly). Hickman is now with Joyce Manufacturing, of whom we notified of Hickman's character, but still employs him as a dealer of their prouduct.

For pictures of "My Room of Shame!", please visit our website at www.selectsunrooms.org. If anyone has any suggestions, we welcome comments.

Vicki and Liz
New Castle, Delaware
U.S.A.