Complaint Review: S&S Quality Contractors LLC. - Jupiter Florida

On October 28th, 2011 I signed a contract with S&S Quality Contractors to remodel 3 of my bathrooms. I was asked by Tom Seeber if I was serious about doing all three bathrooms and if we could agree upon a price would I be willing to sign contracts that day. I told him, I was very serious and anxious to get started. We then agreed on pricing and I gave Tom a deposit of $3,470.14, 50% of the total cost of all 3 bathrooms.  At this time Tom gave me a start date of 2 to 3 weeks from the signing of the contract. I was assured by Tom that 2 of my 3 bathrooms would be completed by November 24th, 2011 which would have been 4 weeks from the date of signing the contract.

This date was important to me as I told Tom I was having company for the holidays and was anxious to have it done by that date. That same day I went to S & Ss office with Tom and picked out my cabinet color and granite and gave Tom a copy of my tile selections which I had already done with his recommended tile store, D & B Tile.  

Nearly, 2 weeks after signing the contract I hadnt heard from anyone at S&S Quality Contractors.
On November 10th I called Tom Seeber and asked why I hadnt heard from anyone. Tom Seeber said Michelle (who was out sick) would be in touch to set up a time to meet with him.  On November 16th (6 days later) I got an email from Michelle in regards to that conversation.  That same day she sent Cres (S & Ss carpenter) out to meet with me in my home. Cres took cabinet measurements and discussed some cabinet possibilities and informed me that Michelle would send over a rendering of what we discussed but I never heard back from her. 

By November 28th I still hadnt heard from anyone from S & S and had not received any renderings.  That day I left Tom Seeber a message and sent Michelle an email asking what was going on. I was very aware that the agreed completion date had come and gone at this point. When I did not receive a return call I, called Tom Seeber again on November 29th and I explained my concerns. I  asked why S & S hadnt started my bathrooms yet. After lengthy conversations over the phone on both November 29th and December 3rd, at which time Tom seemed very defensive and agitated by my call, Tom assured me that S & S would be starting my job the following week and that it would only take a few days to build the cabinets.. Tom Seeber gave me his word that without a doubt at least 2 of the 3 bathrooms would be completed by December 25, 2011.

I met with Tom Seeber and Jennifer DeMeo on December 6, 2011 at which time Tom told me that the tile had been ordered and it would be in within 3 or 4 days. That day Tom also told me there was a new countertop product they were carrying and he thought I should consider it for my bathrooms. I went to S & S later that week on December 8th to look at the countertop product and told Jennifer I was still interested in the granite and wanted to see it.  She said they were still waiting for their granite shipment and that she would call me as soon as it came in.  On December 12, 2011 Jennifer DeMeo emailed me that the granite slabs had still not come in.

On December 15, 2011 with still no word from S & S, my husband and I went to the S&S showroom and we were told the tile was still not in and that S & S still had no granite in stock.  Jennifer again presented the alternate product called Ceaserstone. She took me out back to look at what granite was in stock but there were just remnants and scraps. Again, she told me she would let me know when the granite came in. On December 19th, 2011 Michelle extended her apologies, thanked me for my patience and told me the granite had still not come in.   On December 20th, 2011 I spoke Tom Gallagher at D & B Tile who told me the tile was never ordered by S & S Quality Contractors for my job.

On December 21, 2011 my husband, Mike Trapasso went to the S&S showroom. He spoke directly to Tom Seeber and told him he had no confidence that the job would ever be completed. Tom Seeber pointed to a few unfinished wood cabinet bases without doors and said they were ours. My husband then told Tom that he knew from D & B Tile that the tile had not been ordered. Tom said it had been. Tom Seeber then blamed me for the delay claiming I had not picked a counter top. My husband then asked what type of countertop is at the shop now that would enable them to  complete the job. Tom brought him to the same pile of scraps we had both seen on December 8th.

My husband knew the one larger remnant from another project was not enough to complete the job and certainly not what we wanted for our bathrooms. Mr. Seeber then suggested the Ceaserstone could be ordered and he could have it the next day, but that was not what we wanted for the countertop. My husband confronted him on the tile and said he knew for a fact it had never been ordered. At this point my husband asked to receive our deposit back since nothing had been done at all as per our agreement. Tom said, Why would I give you your money back? My husband replied I will go after you for my money. Tom said I will not be threatened, get the f*** out of my store! As he walked through the shop, Tom told him to take the f****** cabinets. My husband turned to him and asked how much of the deposit would he give us back if he accepted the cabinets he was pointing to. The cabinets he was pointing to were the unfinished bases without doors. There was no way of knowing if they were even made for our bathrooms.  Again, Mr. Seeber said he would return nothing.  My husband promptly left the showroom. 

There has been no attempt of communication from S & S since the meeting on December 21, 2011. It was very clear to us as the weeks passed and confirmed on December 21st, 2011 that S&S Quality Contractors had no intention to ever abide by the original completion dates and that there was no foreseeable future completion in sight. To date we have not seen any of our deposit money go towards the completion of our job. 

I initiated every communication made between myself and S & S from the start and I had made every effort throughout the eight weeks to eliminate any obstacle that would impede the start or completion of this project. 

December 26th we sent a letter with all the above references to Tom Seeber demanding an immediate refund withis 30 days.

On January 29, 2012, we received a letter from Tom Seeber denying any wrong doing. He blamed us for the delays, naming design issues, a broken down granite suppliers truck, me being rude, claims to have shown my husband the "completed cabinets", and my husbands inexperience in granite sizing.  He sent pictures of one cabinet and the side of another, stating that all the cabinets were complete in his letter, when in fact we never saw completed cabinets.  His picture shows one complete cabinet and the side of another in his warehouse which he reference below.

Excerpt from Mr. Seeber's response letter: 

 "Since we are breaking a contract apart that was discounted considerably based upon multiple job discounts, the vanities will be charged at standard pricing based upon multiple discounts, the vanities will be charged at standard pricing before discounts were applied (for doing multiple jobs that will now not be paid).  The cost we have incurred up to this point are as follows; $750 at our standard level one Linear foot price of $375.00 per foot (@24") for the downstairs vanity $2,062.50 (@5.5 ft.), and well over $500.00 in design fee hours combined for myself, Cress, Christina and Frank for a total out of pocket of $3,312.50."
 
S&S Quality Contractors offered us $157.67 from our original 50% deposit of $3,470.14.  Mr. Seeber has basically doubled the cost of the cabinetry to retain our deposit.  None of the above pricing from Tom was ever part of our agreement!

To date, not a single part of our remodel project has been started or completed in our home.  I have made every attempt to move the project along by making timely selections.  I have initiated every phone call and email to get S&S Quality Contractors to perform per our agreement.  I checked regularly with the tile supplier after making my selection prior to hiring S&S.  The tile was never ordered!  This was my sign that this project would not be completed per our agreement or any time in the near future. 

After receiving the above letter, I emailed Tom Seeber and Christopher Carr. I offered to accept a refund of $1,984.36 which is the balance after deducting the contract pricing.  I agreed to this as a settlement to move past this bad experience.  We have owned 4 homes, two of which my husband completely remodeled.  We have also hired many contractors over the years and know what good service is.  We just wanted to move on.

Sometime in the beginning of February 2012, S&S Quality Contractors abandoned their office in the darkness of night and appears to have relinquished their contractor license.  A few days later after discovering their abandoned office, we received an email from Tom Seeber with the same $157.67 settlement and an offer to sell the "cabinets" for us.

In the end, no services were performed.  Thom Seeber and Christopher Carr never planned to do any of the work, intead we funded his failed business for an additional month.