- Report: #734423
Complaint Review: Zimmer and Kohl Contracting - Louisville Kentucky
Reported By:
Ashleigh Bills -
Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Zimmer and Kohl Contracting
10242 Shelbyville Road Louisville, 40223 Kentucky, United States of America
Phone:
Web:
www.zimmerkohl.us
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Zimmer and Kohl Contracting they lie, cheat and jack up their prices Louisville, Kentucky
In April, our basement flooded. So my wife and I went through the process of getting bids from several companies. One of those companies was Zimmer & Kohl Contracting. I wish we would have never, never, never done this.
Their bid was the lowest of the five we received. When we asked why they came in lower than the other bids, we were told it was because they worked in volume and that's how they could keep the prices low.
Sounded legit to my wife and I, but just in case we put back extra money to cover any additions to the estimate that we might occur after the job was completed. We gave them a check and they disappeared.
So after fighting for two weeks to get on the schedule, and get anybody to call us back, we finally got on the calendar for May 24th. When May 24th arrived, we were told they needed to come back to our house to measure. Which was odd because they had been to our house 3 times already and had measured twice.
6 hours after he was supposed to be there, their contractor Ben showed up at my house visibly angry. He stormed into our house, brushed past my wife and in a tone that can only be described as furious on the verge of punching me or something, he began to berate me. Yelling about how we were supposed to supply the tile and the supplies. My response was a bit amazed because LINE 1 of the estimate clearly stated they were supposed to supply and install everything. It's like going to McDonald's, ordering a cheeseburger and then being asked to supply the meat and the bun so they can cook it.
He then told me there was no way he could do the job for the price on the estimate. I asked how could he suddenly come to this conclusion when he'd had the estimate for 5 weeks. He said, the person who did the estimate didn't know what they were doing and they should be fired. He then filled out a check for the deposit we had given Zimmer & Kohl Contracting, threw it at my wife and I, saying "I took time out of my schedule to come out here, I don't need this!" He then started swearing and slammed our door in a fit or rage.
So after calming down, I called the person who had done our estimate. He apologized and worked with Zimmer and Kohl to come up with a new price. He produced one for about $3000 more than the original price. Which my wife and I agreed too, this was our own fault for doing this. But like I said earlier, we had put aside money in case of overages, and this was honestly about what we thought they would be based on the other estimates we had received.
So we scheduled a date with the guise that we wouldn't have to deal with Ben again after his outrageous and pompus behavior. They agreed and were supposed to come out to our house so we could sign the new estimate on May 28th.
I then received a call from them on the 28th telling me that the front office had kicked back the 2nd estimate and had assigned a new dollar figure to it. This estimate was for $10,000 above what the initial estimate was. At this point I had to walk away.
Now, I sit in my house which has all the furniture that was in the basement crammed into our living room, hallway, extra bedroom and sun room. Our house is maze because we moved everything out of our basement because they were supposed to be here to do the work. So instead of having a completed basement, I have an empty hole and a garage full of old carpet that they were supposed to hall away.
Of all the horror stories you hear about slimy, underhanded, greedy contractors and construction companies, Zimmer and Kohl fit them to a "T". They don't show up when they're supposed to, don't call you back, and low ball you on a price to get the job and then try to gauge you with a prices only the hand of Satan could have signed off on.
Stay away from Zimmer & Kohl Contracting. I'm not sure how a company that's been in business for over 40 years can survive with rude, pompous employees like Ben. I will be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.
Their bid was the lowest of the five we received. When we asked why they came in lower than the other bids, we were told it was because they worked in volume and that's how they could keep the prices low.
Sounded legit to my wife and I, but just in case we put back extra money to cover any additions to the estimate that we might occur after the job was completed. We gave them a check and they disappeared.
So after fighting for two weeks to get on the schedule, and get anybody to call us back, we finally got on the calendar for May 24th. When May 24th arrived, we were told they needed to come back to our house to measure. Which was odd because they had been to our house 3 times already and had measured twice.
6 hours after he was supposed to be there, their contractor Ben showed up at my house visibly angry. He stormed into our house, brushed past my wife and in a tone that can only be described as furious on the verge of punching me or something, he began to berate me. Yelling about how we were supposed to supply the tile and the supplies. My response was a bit amazed because LINE 1 of the estimate clearly stated they were supposed to supply and install everything. It's like going to McDonald's, ordering a cheeseburger and then being asked to supply the meat and the bun so they can cook it.
He then told me there was no way he could do the job for the price on the estimate. I asked how could he suddenly come to this conclusion when he'd had the estimate for 5 weeks. He said, the person who did the estimate didn't know what they were doing and they should be fired. He then filled out a check for the deposit we had given Zimmer & Kohl Contracting, threw it at my wife and I, saying "I took time out of my schedule to come out here, I don't need this!" He then started swearing and slammed our door in a fit or rage.
So after calming down, I called the person who had done our estimate. He apologized and worked with Zimmer and Kohl to come up with a new price. He produced one for about $3000 more than the original price. Which my wife and I agreed too, this was our own fault for doing this. But like I said earlier, we had put aside money in case of overages, and this was honestly about what we thought they would be based on the other estimates we had received.
So we scheduled a date with the guise that we wouldn't have to deal with Ben again after his outrageous and pompus behavior. They agreed and were supposed to come out to our house so we could sign the new estimate on May 28th.
I then received a call from them on the 28th telling me that the front office had kicked back the 2nd estimate and had assigned a new dollar figure to it. This estimate was for $10,000 above what the initial estimate was. At this point I had to walk away.
Now, I sit in my house which has all the furniture that was in the basement crammed into our living room, hallway, extra bedroom and sun room. Our house is maze because we moved everything out of our basement because they were supposed to be here to do the work. So instead of having a completed basement, I have an empty hole and a garage full of old carpet that they were supposed to hall away.
Of all the horror stories you hear about slimy, underhanded, greedy contractors and construction companies, Zimmer and Kohl fit them to a "T". They don't show up when they're supposed to, don't call you back, and low ball you on a price to get the job and then try to gauge you with a prices only the hand of Satan could have signed off on.
Stay away from Zimmer & Kohl Contracting. I'm not sure how a company that's been in business for over 40 years can survive with rude, pompous employees like Ben. I will be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Ashleigh Bills
Louisville,Kentucky,
United States of America
Zimmer & Kohl ContractingWhen we do something wrong, we blame the customer.
#2Author of original report
Fri, July 08, 2011
Ben,
I appreciate you telling me I should write a book. If I did it would be titled, "How to Not to Run a Contracting Company." And it wouldn't be a "fairy tale".
Let's break down your reply that's full of more goose stepping and inaccuracies from your end.
1. "let me explain, you just got to be the best at what you do & know how to value your customers, treat them well,". If the "best" is missing appointments (twice) and start dates (twice, as well), then you guys are on your way to being the "best". If by your employees telling me you'll be there a certain day and to get the basement ready for your crew to work and not showing and then jacking up your prices at the last minute, if that's what you mean by the "best" then anoint yourself the King of Louisville Contractors.
If by "treat them well" you mean, swearing at people, refusing to call people back and lying about your prices, then you get a gold sticker.
For your knowledge, none of these qualities should fit the definition of "best", "value" or "treat them well".
I rely on people's word. That's what "value", being the "best" and treating customers well means to me. You broke your word to us on multiple occasions and I kept giving Zimmer & Kohl opportunities to make it right and that's my fault. I relied on a "respected" company to do what they said they were going to do in a time frame they set, this was my mistake on my part. I trusted you and you really hurt our feelings.
2."get them in & out with no problems,". Maybe if you didn't rush around so much and have the "get them in & out" mentality, you could have been more up front about your prices and your start date. If you had been, we both wouldn't be wasting time on the internet battling it out.
3. "that's what made "Zimmer & Kohl Contracting Co. Louisville/ New Albany" stick around for so long," You've stuck around so long because youand this is what I can glean from the internet, so I could be wrongbought a well respected company that had a long history here and are running it into the ground. (If I am incorrect about this fact, I am sorry. But since your last name is neither Zimmer nor Kohl, I'm not sure how you can represent this company, unless this is the situation. If either Mr. Zimmer or Kohl would like to contact me, I'll have no problem discussing this situation with them.)
4. "Member of the Better Business Bureau for a long time, well rated & accredited by these guys". I'll give you this, Zimmer and Kohl have been members for a long time and you do have a fairly good rating. But ultimately, this is very misleading. You have 3 complaints filed against you this year and 3 others in the last 3 years. Which is a lot more than many of the other contractors that are BBB rated. While they are all closed complaints, I for one can say that mine was not closed to my satisfactionI wanted you discredited.
I think you intentionally low ball bids constantly so home owners will choose you over other contractors. Then when it comes time for you to do the actual work, you raise the prices. This is what happened to us. We dealt with you for 5 weeks because of your low price and promise of quality and ended up missing the window of four other contractors we had lined up.
Also, while the BBB is a great organization, they are no longer nearly as respected as they used to be. Today, consumers don't head down to the local BBB office for advice about a business first. They hit the internet. The look for real people's opinions about the work companies have done. That's why Angie's List, Service Magic, Ripoff Report, Yelp, Yellowpages and Google Place pages are so popular.
This entire episode could have been dealt if you would have been courteous to me and my wife instead of screaming at us, telling us we were wrong when you clearly made multiple mistakes and if you would have been straight forward about a time table up front. I have better things to do with my life than start a internet debate with somebody. But your continued arrogance, company's tactics and just down right rudeness necessitate me informing other citizens of Louisville and New Albany exactly what type of person and company they are dealing with if they hire you.
5. "while most of the other companies are dying slowly, we are thriving & hiring more people as we speak, extremely busy, orders are coming from right & left,". Good for you. Will you also not be paying these employees like you didn't Miles Riggs? You should hire more people because it's obvious you can't keep up with your current job load.
6. "we do reject some potential customers that present some behavioral patterns, mental imbalances or if they simply do not adhere to the average "Zimmer & Kohl" normal customer type profile". Nice. I hope other potential customers see this part of your letterthe part where you attack a customer and say I have a "mental imbalance". There you go folks, this is the kind of company Zimmer & Kohl are, the type that call people that requested business from them names. If anybody now is wondering what type of company you are, there you go. They swear at customers and tell you you're mentally unstable because they have the mentality of a school yard bully.
In addition, I have no behavioral problems, never been arrested, never done drugs, never started a fight, I pay my taxes, I recycle, I vote, I pay all my bills on time, have a credit score of 780 and I'm white, if this isn't a "normal customer profile", then I don't know who you're looking at as customers.
Are you being reverse racist? I kid about this, but really what about me wasn't normal? Sure I called a lot. But you guys took $800 of my money and disappeared for two weeks? Wouldn't you? I also kept calling because you kept missing dates and refusing to schedule me. Sorry, I expect some form of communication from a company that took $800 from me, again, this must be my fault.
7. "by the way Mr. Bills, we are the one that cancelled your contract and refused to do business with you," Ahh, this is fun, here's you lying again. You told the BBB we never had contract, you said we had an "Estimated Cost". So which is it? Did we or didn't we have a contract?
And you did not cancel our "contract". I DID. This is not a situation where you get to be right. I walked away from you, I canceled this situation. And I did so after your 3rd "Estimated Cost" came in $10,000 above the 1st. Really? A company that's been in business for 40 years is off $10,000 on a job? How does this happen?
8. "we have fully refunded your deposit, and even after we jacked up your price". You did both of these things. I will admit it. Glad you're admitting the latter half now as well.
9. "of an additional $ 3,000.00 you still wanted us to stick around & do your job, not bad hah,". As I've stated multiple times, we were okay with the additional $3,000. This put Zimmer & Kohl in the range of two of the other contractors we'd talked to. And after having a demolished basement for 7 weeks, we wanted the job done. Don't pat yourself on the back for thinking your services were that well respected. We were tired and desperate and we were supposedly already "on the schedule".
10. "I really wish you well;" I wish you well too. And I hope that you and your team learn how to stick to your word, estimate jobs better and stop swearing at customers and telling them they are mentally imbalanced. Good day sir.
Ben
Louisville,Kentucky,
United States of America
Ashleigh Bills Complaint against Zimmer & Kohl Contracting Co. Louisville/ New Albany
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, June 28, 2011
Mr. Bills you should write a book, you sure have a great imagination, great story teller, I give you that,
Mr. Bills you definitely have asked yourself a very good question toward the end of your fairy tale:
" How a company like Zimmer & Kohl Contracting Co. manage to stay in business this long with such rude employees ? Hmmm very good question Mr. Bills, let me explain, you just got to be the best at what you do & know how to value your customers, treat them well, with a lot of respect & give them their money worth & more, keep focused at all time, get them in & out with no problems, that's what made "Zimmer & Kohl Contracting Co. Louisville/ New Albany" stick around for so long, trust me, it is no accident, Member of the Better Business Bureau for a long time, well rated & accredited by these guys, & believe me it is not always about the money, there is a certain way of doing things, the right way and that's why we are so successful, while most of the other companies are dying slowly, we are thriving & hiring more people as we speak, extremely busy, orders are coming from right & left, thank you very much, & dear
Mr. bills, you know what? that give us the luxury, in these tough economic times to pick & choose who we will be doing business with, we do reject some potential customers that present some behavioral patterns, mental imbalances or if they simply do not adhere to the average "Zimmer & Kohl" normal customer type profile, by the way Mr. Bills, we are the one that cancelled your contract and refused to do business with you, we have fully refunded your deposit, and even after we jacked up your price of an additional $ 3,000.00 you still wanted us to stick around & do your job, not bad hah, I appreciate that,
the truth is, after getting to know both you & your lovely wife a little better, we decided that it will be better for every one that you look for a different contractor to help you with this, I really wish you well;
