Complaint Review: 99install - Nationwide

I've been installing TV's on the wall for 25 years. Mostly independant through word of mouth and some advertising but I do take work as an independant contractor through other companies. They are the middle man so they add cost to the homeonwer or business but typically at a fair rate for making the arrangement. 99install.com however should be avoided at all cost (or it will cost you and probaly the installer too if he is new). I only performed three installs with this company and they decievied me on the first two and refused to call me to discuss an issue with in wall wiring that the customer wanted and ultimately did not pay me at all for the work I performed on that job. 

The first shady thing they do is send you a text "Are you available xx/2017 10-12pm install 60in tv ($120) customer will provide mount."

Sounds great so I took the first two jobs like this but when I got paid it was $40 each. The fact I took a second person on one of the jobs to assist and the time of travel I basically worked for $5 an hour.

Lesson learned. The price they text you is not what they are paying you, it's what the customer is paying them.

Most recently I got an offer to install a 44" tv over a fireplace, install powerbridge extention kit and conceal wires $369. So I asked what the pay is to the installer is this time. The installer is to provide the Romex and the pay to the installer is $135. When I get on site to do the job the area the customer wants the wires moved from is three walls away from the fireplace so I explain that with external wire raceway this can easily be done but otherwise extensive amounts of drywall will have to be removed to do the in wall wiring. I call the company to explain the situation and get a voicemail that says they will call back within 15 minutes. No call is returned ever. So, I just installed the tv and advised the customer to contact the company about the in wall wiring as that is not in the scope of the job they assigned me. 

Fastforward to the next day. Text comes in "I understand you left a voicemail about a problem with the in wall wiring yesterday". I explain the situation and they respond "If we are send someone else to do the job then we canno pay you for it, we send you contract and it had fireplace guideline in it."

I ask them to call me because this is not a texting situation and they are not understanding that this is not a simple in wall wiring. No response. I try calling the number they are texting me on and it is not a valid number to receive voice calls. I call their 800 number and get their "we will call you back within 15 minutes message". 

I text them back and ask them to please call me as texting is not appropriate. I need to talk to someone about this job. They respond "no texting is on the record, thats why we text, this is 2017 not 2000 all company use texting now"

So, from all the poor text gramer and refusal to call me I am now assuming they are not even located in the united states. After some additional correspondance they state that since I did not complete the job (which no installer would have in this particular scenario) I will not be paid for the work I did on that job. 

I told them not to send me any requests in the future in which they responded "Contract terminated idiot".

On top of all that the mount they sold and shipped to the customer was the cheapest tv mount I've ever seen. Not only did it require assembly but it was so light and flimsy I felt like a chump installing the customers TV on it. I think they shipping was more than the value of the mount and they charged the customer $49 for it. 

I advised the customer that the labor to install the TV should be free. The customer paid them $220 for that labor even though they were only paying out $40 to the installer. 

I'm only writing all this to hopefully save other installers from wasting their time and other customers from getting ripped off by this company. Whatever hardware they sell you will be the absolute cheapest available from China.