Complaint Review: SUNSET SHUTTERS

SUNSET SHUTTERS, LLC aka ALVARO RAMIREZ,

aka JOSE ALVARO RAMIREZ aka JACOBO BISTRE

7702 EAST DOUBLETREE RANCH ROAD STE 300

SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85258-2132

PHONE: (480) 902-3195

B.D.D., INC-PHOENIX

5815 SOUTH 25^TH STREET

PHOENIX, AZ 85040

PHONE: (602) 243-9798

FAX: (602) 243-1561

RE: SUNSET SHUTTERS & B.D.D., INC.-PHOENIX

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter in hopes to not only get assistance in resolving this matter but also to insure these companies are unable to commit their fraud, theft and deceit against anyone else ever again. 

This matter began in June 2017 in which Sunset Shutters and Alvaro Ramirez the company’s owner was referred to me to provide drapery automation in my family’s home in Paradise Valley, AZ.  On June 17^th, 2017 Al Ramirez of Sunset Shutters, LLC set up an appointment to come to my home and take measurements for the areas that we were looking to have the drapery automation installed.  We met at the property around 2:30pm on June 17^th, 2017 and discussed the areas we were wanting the automation installed and he took measurements and made notes in order to provide pricing. 

After taking measurements and discussing the automation for the multiple areas he then went into discussing who was providing the drapery for the home and he asked if he could also bid the drapery.  Now initially we were told by Reynaldo, the person that had referred Al Ramirez to us, that he would only be able to do the automation.  Although now, after seeing the home, he wanted to provide bids for the automation and the drapery of course because he was anticipating he would be able to make a substantial amount of money from the project, or at least that was what I was told by Reynaldo afterwards. 

Although I was hesitant at the time I decided to have him also provide a bid for the drapery to see where it would come in at and at the very least to see another bid price in addition to the one we had already had.  In addition, we had thought it would also be easier to have the same company handling the drapery automation also handle the drapery considering it went hand and hand and exact measurements for both depended on one another. 

After the initial meeting with Al Ramirez and Reynaldo, I followed up numerous times to find out where he was at with the bid for the automation and the drapery in which I heard back from them both on June 22^nd, 2017 in which they met me at my office at 5:30pm to go over and discuss the bid in detail.  Immediately when reviewing the bid, which his first bid on 6/22/17 came in at $42,078.96, which he was missing multiple areas of drapes on the bid and also was far higher than our other bid from another company we had already had.  So I told him that we would not be interested in moving forward with this pricing and that we already had another separate bid that was much lower.  He immediately started reducing his bid and asking what the max we were willing to pay was for the drapery and automation and I entertained the conversation because we were really eager to get the drapery finished and the other company was extremely busy at the time. 

The first company we received a bid from thought it could take a month to a month and a half before they could be finished due to their scheduling and Al aka Sunset Shutters said that manufacturing of the drapes could be done in 10 days which was very intriguing to us.  So after explaining to Al what the bottom line was for us to spend on drapery,  he corrected the drapes he had missing from the original bid.  So Al made his notes and said he would get back to me in a couple days after he verified with the factory to insure he could get the pricing down to where it would work for us, which we had told him the most we were willing to pay was $27,000 for the entire drapery package including the automation.

 A few days later on June 26^th, 2017 Reynaldo contacted me and said that Al had gotten his revised bid and verified things with the factory to insure the pricing could be met and the timing as well, which was equally as important to us, and he wanted to once again meet at the office to go over and discuss.  We met at my office at 5:00pm on June 26^th, 2017 in which we discussed the new proposal and contract and went through it in great detail in which we made notes on the contract for everything that was discussed.  Some of the things identified in this contract was the fabrication time, which was stated to be 10 days, he guaranteed installation no later than the 21^st of July, 2017, that he was providing the fabric material at cost because the manufacturer provided it to him at cost and he would be passing that savings on to us and that the final pricing would not exceed $27,000. 

The reason for including all of this on the contract was specifically because Al stated if I were to give him a deposit of $5,000 that day, June 26^th, 2017, we would agree to the pricing of $27,000, which I agreed to do, but wanted to make sure we had everything noted on the contract so there was no confusion of the expectations that were to be met.  Although I did express my concern at the time as to why he was collecting a deposit prior to us picking the fabrics, but he specifically said he had factored in fabric pricing of $25-$30 per yard for all fabrics, which we knew was more than the fabrics we had already picked with our previous company and bid proposal we had been provided as the most expensive fabric on our previous bid was only $18 per yard and going down to $12 per yard for the least expensive.  So Al had said if the pricing of the fabric came to be less than the amount he factored at $25-$30 per yard then the price would actually go down for the entire drapery package.  So at that point I felt comfortable enough to move forward and issue the first deposit check for $5,000. 

The next step Al said was for him to provide fabric books for us to choose fabrics from that would be in the price range or less which he dropped the fabric books off on June 30^th, 2017 for us to go through and pick the fabrics so he could order them in order to meet the deadline. 

I then met with him again the following week to give him the fabric selections as well as messaged him the fabric selections and colors for the different areas as well to confirm they were correct on June 5^th, 2017.  He then messaged me on June 6^th, 2017 and said he would be sending me the order/contract revised with the fabric selections included within it, as the original contract did not have the fabric selections on it.  At this point, my understanding was that he had the fabric selections and he was ordering the fabric in order to get the manufacturer started on the project to meet the deadlines.  I was heading out of town to California for two back to back weekends of family friends weddings to attend and notified Al that I would be out of town for approximately 10 days, but if he needed anything at all just to let me know and I would address it or get him access to the home upon his request. 

I did not hear anything back from him until the week of the 10^th, while I was out of town. I received a call stating that Al, Reynaldo and the manufacturer were needing access to the home to get final measurements in which I put them in contact with someone that would get them access to the home in order to get the final measurements they needed in time to meet their deadlines.  Although upon returning and following up with them 2 days prior to the guaranteed completion date of the 21^st of July, 2017 I find out that they never even went to the home to get final measurements and not only did they not go Al was now stating that he needed me to review and confirm the bid/contract with the fabric selections on it in addition needed a second deposit totaling 50% of the total contract prior to the manufacturers coming out to do final measurements.  Not only was this the first time this was told to me as well as neither of them contacting me and telling me this while I was out of town in order to insure the deadlines were met, but now Al was also asking for another $8,500 deposit, which he specifically stated that the manufacturer will not come out to do final measurements until they have received the 50% deposit amount.  This all sounded very odd to me, but after expressing my concerns numerous times as I did not understand why they would be asking for another deposit prior to them coming out to do final measurements and in addition now they were already beyond the guaranteed completion date of July 21^st, 2017 that was agreed to and executed on the original contract and one of the only reasons we went with him and his company in the first place.  I reluctantly moved forward and issued a second deposit of $8,500 totaling a 50% deposit amount of $13,500 now and thinking there was no more reasons for them to not get this finished as I have met his requests and the terms of our agreement.  

The manufacturer was scheduled to come out Thursday July 27^th, 2017 at 9:30am to do all of the final measurements. They did, and measured all of the areas and we discussed the drapery styles and details for each of the areas and we also discussed the timelines to get them completed and installed which I had expressed time was of the essence considering we were already past the guaranteed completion date in the contract.  The manufacturers stated at the time of our meeting that typically a project like this would take a month but they would get it finished within two weeks and they would actually start installing sooner than that as they completed drapery for certain areas they would come out and do the installation for those areas as they knew it was extremely important considering we had no drapery in the bedrooms and had a 15 month old son at the time.  Although we were extremely frustrated, I decided to let it go and just focus on getting this finished over the next couple weeks so we could be done with it and it seemed that the manufacturer was very knowledgeable so that eased my concerns. 

I continued to follow up with Al Ramirez the next few days and on July 31^st, 2017 I told Al I need to confirm the final information from the manufacturer and the guaranteed installation dates no later than tomorrow, August 1^st, 2017, which Al responded stating he had received the information back that day and he would be forwarding it to me after his meeting with the manufacturer to review the information the following morning.  I received the detailed information from him on August 1^st, 2017 provided by the manufacturer and he now, after already being almost two weeks past his guaranteed completion date, was trying to increase the price to $37,874.06.  Which I immediately told him forget it, if you are not going to honor the pricing you gave me that we agreed to within our contract and I issued you in good faith a 50% deposit on, then refund the money and I will just have the other company do it.  He immediately started back peddling and dropped his bid to $32,000 while I was on the phone with him and I continued to tell him I am not paying anymore above and beyond what we agreed to in the contract.  Not only was it to not exceed the $27,000, but based on the fabrics picked and the pricing per yard Al had said the pricing could actually go down to $27,000.  Although I come to find out after reviewing this bid from the manufacturer now that not only is it almost $11,000 more than the contract price and two weeks past the guaranteed completion date of July 21^st, 2017, but looking at the fabric pricing they were marking it up by anywhere from 150%-250% from the pricing I could purchase it for online myself from a retail store.  Therefore their wholesale pricing being a manufacturer would have been far less than that and my agreement with Al and Sunset Shutters was they would be providing the Fabric Materials at their wholesale cost. 

On August 2^nd, 2017 I was told that he was going to refund the deposit money and drop a check off at my office around 12:45, which was sent to me through text message, although they never showed up to drop off any check.  Then the following day August 3, 2017 I was messaged that Al had met with the factory and was revising the quote with the factory and reduced it to $28,000. So after much back and forth and now not even wanting to move forward with his company because he has not only missed his guaranteed completion date, he has now tried to increase his price after he had already required and received a 50% deposit and now over two weeks past the agreed upon completion date, we agreed at the price of $28,000 due to them providing some of the additional items such as tiebacks and other items that were in addition to our original contracted agreement.  Although we at this point were extremely frustrated and had very little confidence in him and his company or the manufacturer we reluctantly agreed to move forward ONLY after he provided us a new guaranteed completion date.  Which he said he had to speak with the manufacturer again to get confirmation and on August 4^th, 2017 he told us that the factory confirmed they could have the manufacturing and installation done by August 18^th, 2017 and that they already had all of the fabric in stock.  I specifically told him that I was not interested in wasting anymore time because had I stayed with the original company the drapery would have been installed already and he promised that it would be installed by the 18^th of August, 2017. 

I continued to attempt to call and follow up with Al for the next week and heard nothing back as I had numerous questions as to anything else needed and how many drapery rod rings that were going to be needed as we were providing the drapery rods, which we had already purchased back in June and he was going to advise us as to exactly how many drapery rings were going to be needed so we could order those as well and have everything ready for the installation on the 18^th of August, 2017.  Although my messages continued to go unaddressed until August 15^th, 2017 in which I then received a voicemail from Al stating “that he was just following up in regards to your order and all of your messages and I got your email.  I can tell you right now will work on it and I know you want them as soon as possible but things are not always as fast as we want them sometimes.  Working really hard to get them done as soon as possible and you guys know we are going to get it done and the guys know we are going to get them installed as they get done and they will bring them up to the house so I will be pushing really hard and I’ll be in touch with you. 

One other important thing I have to mention to you is you will see the quality of the job and no one can compare and it’s a professional job and we are working to make sure everything is done perfectly for you.  I will try to get a hold of you maybe later today or tomorrow or the next day to keep updating you. Thank you.  Another week goes by and I hear nothing after constant calls and text messages following up as it is now past the guaranteed completion date again and then finally on August 22^nd, 2017 I get a text message stating from Al, “the week of the 4^th is the day they will start the installation” which I confirmed they were referencing September 4^th, 2017, which was confirmed.  On September 1^st, 2017, once again I asked about the drapery rod rings and said I needed to know how many were going to be needed because they were installing the following week and I still have not ordered them because I have not been told how many they were needing, which I was told “next week”.  On September 6^th, 2017 still no one has come to install anything and I haven’t heard anything back as to why now they have not showed up to install and said I am done waiting around and continue waiting with no one getting back to me and telling me the truth. 

After a dozen messages or more expressing my frustration and that I feel like I am just continually getting the run around and just being lied to constantly by Al, Sunset Shutters and the manufacturer.  I am now told that all of the automation motors and rods have now arrived and the custom curved automation rods arrived as of yesterday September 5^th, 2017 and he is planning the install tomorrow morning, September 7^th, 2017.  I continued to message with my frustrations and why the communication has been so horrible and why are we just continually hearing lies and the never-ending extensions of their guaranteed completion dates.  It was obvious they did not know what the guaranteed completion date was and it had become more than obvious that these companies were in my opinion nothing but a bunch of frauds and nothing was being done.  I messaged Al on The night of the 7^th of September, 2017 after hearing nothing again from him and no one coming out for the installation like I was told the day prior and I was just at the point of being done with these apparent lying, deceitful, unethical crooks and just wanted the deposit money back at this point.   Al messaged me back on September 8^th, 2017 stating “I am on my way to the factory, I will give you the information in one hour,” this being at 10am in the morning.  Just over 3 hours later I get a message from Al stating he is trying to get a hold of me and to please call him, but I told him I was tied up and he could email or message me the information so I could have it in writing.  He stated “I have requested the factory to provide a written commitment and they have not sent me anything, I am not sure if they will anymore at this point, I promise you to send you a written proposal of Installation by Monday if I don’t have the answer I will request your money back as well.” 

On September 11^th, 2017 at 11:39am, I receive a text message from Al, stating “I just left the factory, they will be giving me the program of install later today, I will send it to you from here or email, thank you.”  Two more days go by and I hear nothing, now September 13^th, 2017 at 10:29am I receive a text message from Al stating “I just received an email, I will have an answer by noon today, after their response I will write you an email and you decide what to do.”   Now on September 13^th, 2017 at 7:51pm I receive a text message form Al stating “I had a conversation with everyone in the factory this morning, I am very disappointed with the way they are handling this, they gave me some information very different than before, it is very strange for me to hear what I did because they never delay the information as they have done it, they insist that they told you when they were in your house that this kind of projects takes at least 2 months, and they were planning to install middle of October, to make the story short I don't really want to have problems with you and I don't want to cause problems to Reynaldo who very kindly thought of me for this project, I really want to apologize for the delay, and I don't think its fair to anybody to deal with this anymore, I requested the money I deposited to them, and I will bring it to you, I already talked to Reynaldo and told him that I will put some of my money by Friday and I will bring a cashier’s check to him so he can give it to you, they told me by next week they will give me the money I will completed and bring you the rest, let me know who's should I write the check under please? And again this behave of them was totally out of what they have done for me in the past, but I know you don't want to wait any longer and I understand, thank you for understanding.”

Now it has become more than obvious they were never planning on installing anything and they only wanted the money and were just going to string us along as long as they possibly could and use the money as they wanted to for whatever they wanted to as I to this day do not believe they actually even order any of the materials or fabrics or ever had any intentions of installing anything into the home, it was just a scheme to get the deposit money, because they thought they could get away with it or just because maybe they needed money at the time and figured they could take it from us and use it for whatever their true motives were, which were obviously not to complete the work that they were contracted to do.  I demanded immediate repayment of the deposit funds, which I was told he does not have and he would try to get me a check after the manufacturer gave him the money back, which was September 14^th, 2017. 

After constant back and forth and demands of our refund not being met and excuse after excuse we got our attorney involved, although now we are racking up attorney fees as well on top of the deposit funds we already have not been paid.  Then he has the nerve to tell our attorney that he wants a release signed or he will not return the funds, which I said I was unwilling to sign any release other than a confirmation that the funds were returned.  Why should I have to provide a release to him of all liability after he basically fraudulently took money for goods and services that he absolutely had no intention of ever fulfilling and was only for his own personal gain and now almost 4 months from the time I met him and started the process of getting drapery installed in my home we are still left with no drapery and now also out the $13,500 in deposits that were given to Al Ramirez and Sunset Shutters for the drapery.  Not to mention, we have had absolutely no drapes in the home the entire time, my two year old son and wife sleeping on the floor in another bedroom which offered more shade in the early morning so my son and wife could actually get some sleep due to my son not sleeping well through the night and up half the night every night along with my wife being up with him and then not even being able to get sleep in the morning without having to try to find an area in the home that offers some sort of shade in order to at least get a couple hours of interrupted sleep. 

As of October 5^th, 2017 Alvaro Ramirez had the nerve to tell us that the manufacturer now has gotten back to him and the soonest they would be able to have the drapery completed and installed would be sometime in the first quarter of 2018, which I know it almost sounds like an unbelievable  comment for him to make at this point, but not only did he make the comment but it was through his attorney Jim Pak, with Pak Law Offices in Scottsdale who in my opinion from my initial search of him seems to be nothing but an ambulance chaser representing personal injury clients, although now assisting someone I believe to be a crook -- Alvaro Ramirez -- in attempting to get away with his fraud and deceit.  Al Ramirez, Sunset Shutters and B.D.D., Inc. as far as I am concerned, are nothing but crooks and if they are allowed to continue doing business they will just continue taking advantage of consumers as they did with us and I am sure there are dozens upon dozens more out there that have been also taken advantage of left not knowing what to do and having to resort to filing complaints and/or legal action to attempt to recover and remedy their problems with these companies.  We are demanding the full deposit to be returned.  It appears he does not have any money to refund because he used the money I gave him for other improper purposes rather than using the funds to place the order with the manufacturer. I am entitled to a refund of the deposit and the difference between what Al agreed to charge and what it will cost to get the job done with another installer. I am also entitled to reimbursement for legal fees and other damages suffered.

I am willing to answer any questions you have and provide you with whatever information you need.

Sincerely,

AZ-CUSTOMER