Complaint Review: Premier Care in Bathing - S. Daytona Florida

I read your statement about how great it is to be an installer for premier.I have installed for premier since april of 2012. Since i have installed well over 150 jobs for them. I am a independant contractor. In other words, They sub the job out to me. As is all the installers for premier. In new york, pensylvania, new jersey,etc. This is all i am aware of. I know nothing about direct hire installers for premier. Doesnt mean they do not exist, just means I have never heard of it. 

   I was specifically told to fill tubs to test with just Cold water. Since day one by my install manager. I have always had to watch my Pay checks with premier. They have shorted me on 22 jobs and to this day I have never heard an explanation why. What happens is, you call bobby who does payroll in the office, and then she says you have to talk to your install manager, then he says he has to check with bobby, and it just fades away. fortunately, I have every dollar for every job and the date documented.

  I to had one job that the home owner was not happy with, It was 325 miles away from my home. I actually drove 77.000 miles for premier from rochester,ny to install all over New York state, pensylvania, and New Jersey, In my time working for them. They have trouble keeping installers i think. 

  Anyway, The last job I installed for premier ( the only un happy customer i had), i have yet to be paid for. Premier owes me upwards of 1500 dollars for that job. In New york state a sub-contractor can put a mechanics lean on a customers house until the disput is settled with the contractor(Premier care). i have tried to avoid this but communications with my install manger have seized.

   Premier care is getting better about dealing with the hot enough hot water issue. I have installed brand new 40 gallon hot water heaters for premier and a 40 gallon hot water heater will NOT fill the haven with adequiet hot water. Even with the displacement of water by the customer.

   I have plenty of horror stories about premier care. They wont realize it but I put a lot of fires out for them. The reason I am filinng this complaint or had to disput how great it is to work for premier is cause it is just not true. Yes, my check was alway on time, Just hallf the time it was short a hundred or 2. I will persue re  solving my issues with premier by any means i have to, even going after the home owners but, i would be careful getting involved with working for them.  

Hi All,

Very recently my quite elderly parents had a walkin Sanctuary style tub installed in their Phoenix home. Being elderly, my father neglected to tell me about this plan until just a few days before the installation date. Dad couldn't remember the name of the company, and so, I could not do much. I live 100's of miles from mom and dad. I hoped all would go well. I did not know that my parents would be paying nearly 20,000. for this tub. I thought maybe 12,000 total would be a great deal, but I had heard these kinds of products were costly. Having just done a bathroom remodel in my own home that cost 40,000, I could understand the expense of such an undertaking. But for my money, I tiled the entire bathroom, floor, wainscotting, shower stall with premium tiles and also installed a 3,000 claw foot cast iron tub that required reinforcing the joists under my home and givingt each of the four feet of the claw foot tub it's own pier under the house as well. A hold had to be cut in our master bedroom to allow the engineered joists to be gotten under the home, and that entailed new carpet in the bedroom as well as all kinds of sundry costs. We obtained a master craftsman contractor and his team included the best plumber and tiler I have ever had the pleasure of working with. All this required permitting and inspections from the city I live in.

Compare this to what my parents got for the cost and it's mind shatteringly a rip off.

Besides this sad state of reality (gad, how can they do this to old people?)... My dad didn't remember that my mom's Long Term Care Insurance has money for home modification for her needs of safe daily living (she has dementia, a gait instability, and is legally blind). SO, I called Premier Care Bathing and asked their customer care representative (Robin XXXX) to please provide me with a statement/invoice for the product and installation so that I could obtain my mom's insurance benefit (5,000 for home modification). Robin was very kind and told me that Premier would be happy to provide this for me, and would contact the person who could do this for me and have it sent right away. Also, I asked for a picture and model number for the product, so I could show and tell the Long Term Care Insurer. There was a problem providing a model number, so Robin explained that an information packet about all the products would be sent, and I could cut and paste for mom's insurer a bit, to get what I needed. I thanked her, she was very friendly. I liked her.

I waited more than 2 weeks. Only the product information arrived in two 8x10 envelopes. One white, one manila colored. I pawed through all this, and there was not statement.

I called Robin and explained I didn't get the statement/invoice for the tub, only the information packets. Robin said she would get right on that. Another week plus went by. I called again to Robin, my dad called Robin.

After much ridiculousness, and some deception, I believe, I was overnighted an invoice, and emailed an invoice and a pick order, showing the pricing for everything, and the steep discounted offered my father at the final sale. I was grateful for that, as the 'real' price would have been well over 20,000 dollars.

After the horrible time I had getting the invoice out of Premier Care, which has delayed insurance payment to my parents, probably for 4-5 months (they have a time limit once you start a claim, and that time limit has been exceed, so we must begin again, and usually there is an initial denial, and more information is requested from mom (the family in this case) in order to 'prove' whatever the insurer needs 'proof' of.

Due to the delay in obtaining the invoice from Premier (only aggessive complaining and multiple supervisors were required in order to obtain the invoice, unlike the friendly 'can-do' personality of the 'customer care' person, Robin XXXX --due to the month long delay-- I emailed the supervisor (Melissa XXXX) and explained that due to the delay and the problems this created I would also like to obtain the name of the business that did the installation, information on any plumbing being moved, any permitting obtained, or an explanation about why no permitting was required, before and after pictures, and the need for the 'bead board' product surrounding the tub to fix any wall repair from the tear out of the existing tub. I asked for contractors license information too. I Was Thouroghly and Rudely Rebuffed. Told that none of this was my business. I was also told that I was never happy with anything they did for me, so why should they even bother with me!

All I can say, is that this family had a simple need and it lead to abusive treatment toward my family. Premier even obliquely suggested that my requesting my mom's name on the statement would be tantamount to insurance fraud! By association, I felt that I was being suspected of defrauding my mom's Long Term Care insurer!

All in all, the entire relationship, aside from the friendliness (and ineffectual) customer care representative was Horrible. My family was accused of being the problem, since we didn't tell Premier this was covered under mom's Long Term Care insurance!

I have documenting emails from Premier, and am happy to share these with Corporate Premier, should they even bother with my simple needs. I'm told they will not like to provide any additional information, even to my father, or even to his attorney. The supervisor states that the installation people would have their privacy breeched, so any credentials they have or don't have is absolutely a Private Matter, and none of my parents business!!!

Premier Care Bathing is highly suspect, in my opinion. I would never recommend this company to anyone, ever. There is something just plain rotten about them.

Sincerely,

Allise XXXX.

I am writing in response to this posting from an anonymous contractor.

Premier denies the allegations in the above posting and repsonds as follows:

Premier does not utilize nor condone high pressure sales tactics.  Premier responds to requests by customers for information on our products and subsequently schedules an in home consultation to work in conjunction with the customer to ascertain based on their needs and/or disabilty the product that is best suited for them.

Premier goes to great lengths to ensure that the customer gets the product best suited for them, including having the customer try the unit prior to its installation and executing documents stating that they are satisfied with the product and its installation prior to collecting the final payment.  The customer has the ability to cancel the contract within three business days and received a full refund as well as refusing the product if they are unable to fit in the unit or enter and exit safely and also be refunded in full.

Installations are performed by Independent Contractors who enter into Indpendent Contractor Agreements with Premier.  The price for the installation, travel and labor is agreed prior to the installatin and upon receipt of the executed paperwork and invoice the contractors are paid in full.

Premier Care in Bathing has been providing safer bathing options for over 25 years and succesfully installs our bathing units in over 8000 homes every year.  Premier provides a vital service to those with bathing issues to enable them to bathe more safely and comfortably. 

I am responding on behalf of Premier Care in Bathing to this posting by a customer's son.

Premier Care in Bathing responds to request by customers to come to their home to ascertain what products we have that meet their needs.

In this instance, I agree that a walk-in bathing unit would not have been the best product for this customer based on his disability.  Premier does have an entire line of barrier free shower products with no step that sits flush to the floor.  I have no explanation as to why this product was not offered to this customer based on the description of the diabililty. 

Premier does offer financing to its customers through a third party company and has no control over the payments or the interest as this is set based strictly on the customer's credit rating.  This option is offered to the customer to help them to be able to get a needed product if money is an issue.

Premier provides over 8000 customers a year with safer bathing options and shoudl this customer ever have a need we are happy to help.

I am a direct hire employee installer for Premier Care in Bathing. Let me start first by saying of the 100 plus installations I have completed for this company I have had only one dissatisfied customer. For which my regional manager and the sales department went above and beyond to rectify the situation ultimately resulting in the customer feeling completely happy with the product and installation. 

Next, I'd like to point out that in all my time with the company I have never had a single issue with getting paid. They have always paid me very well and routinely. Like clockwork. I personally am very customer service oriented and am proud of the company i represent. I strive to provide the highest quality installation for each and every customer. 

Never once, I repeat, never once have I been asked to demonstrate the filling, draining, and operation of the tub with just cold water. What you don't realize is without the displacement of a human body the Haven tub model hold 45 to 50 gallons of water. The ONLY reason why a tub would run out of hot water halfway full is because of an insufficient hot water heater. I have seen many a house with a 40 gallon electric hot water heater. This is insufficient. The salesmen I've known where required to investigate the size of the water heater in a potential clients home and if they found it to be insufficient address the issue by recommending and offering the installation of a sufficient one.

Also salesmen assess the size of a customer during the initial interview to assure and recommend  an appropriate tub model. And the first thing I do as an installer upon arriving at the customers house is meet and greet, then immediately unpackage the tub, inspect it for damage, incorrect or missing parts because sometimes things go awry during shipping. I then ask the customer to have a seat in their tub to ensure a comfortable fit and that they are happy with the product before I start any work. That way if an issue arises it can be promptly addressed. And I mean PROMPTLY. I have never had a problem getting a different tub model overnighted to any location.

Finally, the warranties are very good. One year for parts and labor provided by the installer(e.g. wallboard, trim, tile floor, caulking, etc.), Ten years for the tub shell, frame and motor(This is the actual product, the fiberglass and acryllic shell, hydrovescent jets, tub legs and frame and the motor that runs them), and a LIFETIME warranty on the door seal. And I've done many service calls as well, Premier has a very prompt and thorough service department. They take very good care of their customers.
In conclusion as an employee of this company I am extremely happy with my pay and the way I am treated, as a valuable member of a team. I have never been asked to perform any unsavory tasks, and always provided the customer with the highest quality materials, product, an installation. In my time with the company I have seen nothing but immensely happy clients.

Premier Care has to be one of the worst employers in town. They treat their call center employees worse than I can imagine in those of Chinese sweatshop worker conditions. They promise to pay them $25 per sale that is signed with a customer, but rarely actually pay their employees this bonus to supplement their poverty-level wages. If asked about their missing bonuses the managers will usually just tell them to go away, or stop complaining and be grateful they have a job. The lies don't stop there either. Fraud and Deception are "Ethical Standards" with Premier Care and its Texas based parent company Aga Commercial Products, Inc.

Most sales people try to put aside the horrible working conditions and complete lack of ethics at the management side of the house, but sometimes working in such a sinister business takes its toll and people have to move on. This place is so horrible to work for, I will not even put in on future resume's just because its like saying you worked in Hell selling hot coals for the Devil himself. I feel sorry for people that have bought their products only to realize they were promised a quality product, but instead were sold a flimsy, piece of garbage that are a total ripoff.

Their CEO Iain Whyte is reportedly a Reverend somewhere. He must be a Reverend from the Church of Satan, because no man of God would ever allow the kind of management seen by many here in South Daytona Florida. There Information Technology team (South Daytona location) are total idiots, so if you ever get onto one of their call lists they will be calling you forever. The call center workers have complained about the system in the past, but that usually just gets them terminated for not wanting to "Play ball". Avoid this corporation at all costs. You would be better off standing outside and taking a bath with a garden hose.