After a long conversation, Erik, aka John, agreed to send his best guy out to do the job I hired them to do in the first place. He also said he would refund me for the $50 UV light that they charged me $500 for. All of this was on the condition that I call Amex and remove the dispute. I agreed and called Amex and asked to have the dispute removed.
Matt showed up as promised. Really nice guy. Did a fantastic job cleaning. He was detailed in showing me all of the instances where I had been ripped off by the first clowns that came out from Supreme Cleaning and Restoration. He also told me a lot of other details about Erik, his religious affiliation and such that would warrant more honesty than he's displayed me and my family through all of this.
After Matt finished his work and I acknowledged that I was satisfied that my ducts and furnace had been cleaned properly, I start getting texts and email from Erik hounding me to get with Amex about the removing the dispute on the charge. I explain that I've already resolved it with Amex. Apparently, his Merchant Account refused to release the funds. I ended up contacting Amex several more times to confirm that the dispute has been resolved. Finally Erik relents, but then he starts asking me to remove all of the reviews I left on Yelp, KSL, etc. Let me share with you one of the last email communications I sent him regarding the matter.
On Jun 3, 2016, at 9:29 AM, Darron Robbins wrote:
On Fri, Jun 3, 2016 at 12:45 PM, Erik Schweitzer wrote:Erik,The whole experience that I've had with your company is something that I will definitely learn from and hope to never go through again. We responded to your mailer for the duct cleaning. That's the only service that we wanted. I do understand upselling, but when Chris came out, he immediately went to work scaring me into thinking that my family's health was at risk if I didn't purchase $1500-$2500 worth of services. Keep in mind that I responded to your $39 duct cleaning deal. Chris never showed me any mold test proving we even had mold. I trusted that he knew what he was doing and that we needed the service he was recommending. Trusting Chris was my first mistake. Matt did a mold test that came up negative. Even still, I wouldn't have had any problem with paying for these services if Chris and his assistant actually performed the work they promised to do. Instead, they completely ripped us off. I believe Matt sent you plenty of pictures to prove it.After realizing we'd been defrauded, I called the number from the invoice that Chris provided. I spoke to you. This was your first opportunity to take responsibility as the owner of the company and straighten out what had happened to us. I started out by asking what all was involved in cleaning the furnace. I asked this because Chris had explained that he would pull out the A coil and the furnace motor and thoroughly clean everything. It was obvious that none of that had been done. This made me really upset since he just got done telling us that our health was at stake and that a "complete restoration" would resolve it. You told me that you didn't know what was involved because you were just an "office guy." I didn't know at that time that you were the owner. Instead of taking responsibility, you put the reputation of your company back in the hands of a fraudster and told me you'd have Chris call me back. I can only assume the reason for this is because you were having lots of these types of calls because of Chris. Actually, Matt told me he has spent weeks cleaning up after Chris. I had looked up online how inexpensive a UV light is, and realized that $500 for it was a bit much. I asked you to cancel it. You told me that it might have already been drop shipped to us and that you might not be able to cancel it. Huh?My second mistake was trusting Chris again. When he called, I told him that I felt like he had defrauded us. He promised to come "make it right." He assured me he would come out within 5-7 business days and install the UV light for free and do the "complete restoration" that he sold us. After 2 weeks with no follow up call or anything, I realized that we had in fact been defrauded. I now had zero trust in your company. Would I want to even allow someone from your company back into my home at this point? I called my credit card company and disputed the charge.This, Erik, was your second chance to take responsibility. Instead of contacting us to try to resolve the situation, you simply responded to the disputed charge by claiming your company provided the service. You also claimed that you called multiple times to schedule the UV light install. Those calls were never made. This was weeks after the initial service visit. If you actually hadn't been able to reach us, wouldn't refunding for an overpriced UV light been the honest thing to do?At this point I was really pretty upset. I went online and found all of the negative reviews of your company that sounded similar to my experience. I also did a business registration check to see who the owner of Supreme was. The two principles for Supreme showed Alavencia Hurley and Erik Schweitzer. I thought, Hmmm, didn't I call and talk to an Erik when I first realized Chris had defrauded us? He told me he was just an "office guy." After going back and forth with AMEX over the dispute, they advised that I try to work things out with the merchant. I still didn't want to allow anyone from a dishonest company back into my home, so I thought I'd call and try to at least get a partial refund or something.When I called this time, I got a guy that sounded just like the guy named Erik, who I found out was the owner, that I spoke with last time. I asked for Chris or Erik. This guy told me his name was "John" and that Chris and Erik were out in the field and were not available. When I explained my situation and that I felt like Supreme was a dishonest fraudulent company, John got really defensive. He said he was the one who had been dealing with the charge dispute. This was your third chance to make this right, Erik. Instead you hid behind a spontaneously assumed new name. I recognized your voice from the last time I called, but I went along with it anyway. When I asked about the supposed phone calls to come install the UV light, you rattled off 3 different dates and exact times that had been logged into your "system." I wrote those times and dates down. I'd be interested to know if you would be able to provide them again and have them match what you told me the first time. Or, were they really just made up on the spot like the name you suddenly assumed. BTW, I asked Matt if there was a John that worked at Supreme. He didn't know anyone by that name with Supreme.The one ray of hope was your offer to send Matt out to do a thorough job on my system. I had read a review that mentioned Matt coming to fix things. I figured I might as well get the service I paid for so I agreed to cancel the dispute and have Matt come finish the job. If AMEX was going to force me to deal with a fraudulent company, there was probably no way they would actually credit me back for the charge. I called AMEX and cancelled the dispute before Matt arrived and printed the notice they sent me so I could send it with Matt.Matt came out and did a fantastic job. I also got the overpriced UV light installed for free, having been refunded $499 via check. Matt was very thorough and showed me each instance where Chris had ripped me off by not completing the work he agreed to do.
The only reason I'm willing to give you a 4th opportunity to resolve any of what I've posted online is because Matt came out and did an exceptional job cleaning our system. He went above and beyond to do a great job. However, I don't feel that Matt represents your company. He was honest. Your last text to me stated that Mean Steam is an affiliate "but by no means are they the same company or owned by the same people so that part is inaccurate and I am getting flak from al the owner of that company." I've attached a copy of the registered principals from utah.gov showing you and al as the principals for Supreme. How are Supreme and Mean Steam "by no means owned by the same people?"I had contacted Matt Gephardt from KUTV news right after this all first happened. My brother had success with having Matt do a story after an incident with a local company. It took over a month for Matt to get back to him, but he did end up investigating the company and resolving the matter in my brother's favor.I feel like, had your company been straightforward with me from the start, I would not have paid for the "complete restsoration." I only agreed to it because I was led to believe I had mold. In fact, Chris told me something along the lines of "This is probably the worst I've seen." The only reason I contacted your company was because I needed my ducts cleaned. Dealing with this whole issue has cost me a measure of time, stress, hassle, and irritation.
Here's my proposal for a resolution. If you send me a refund check for $700, I will remove everything I've posted online, withdraw my complaint with the BBB and not do a story with KUTV if Matt Gephardt does contact me about it. This is not negotiable. Should you not accept this resolution, I don't wish to have any further communication with you or your company. I look forward to your response.Darron Robbins
I
would like to clarify that we do have a man named John who does work as
my assistant in our office when I am doing other things. Other than
that And like I stated I am embarrassed of the experience that you had. J
would gladly refund you $700 if you will agree to to take that all down
as well as retract your BBB COMPLAINT also please remove the blog site
as well if you please. I am doing a baseball tournament for the next 5
days so if it is ok o will need until next Friday to cut that check and
send it out. Would that be ok?
On Friday, June 3, 2016 10:49 AM, Darron Robbins wrote:
That would be fine. I'll take down everything that I've posted and we'll consider everything resolved once I receive the refund.
Thanks,
DarronOn Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 3:39 PM, Erik Schweitzer wrote:
Dear Darren
I just got back from a
baseball tournament. I have not sent you a check yet and actually
realize that I cannot actually send that off to you until I get your
money back in the companies possession. However I have spoken to my CC
Processor and they are suppose to be getting back with me today as to
what day i am to have that so that I may then send you the refund. I
just just wanted to give you the update.
Anyway ill let you know as soon as I hear something.
Thanks Erik
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This was the last email I got from him. I thought is was humorous how in response to all of the detailed allegations I emailed him, he still wanted to justify calling himself John by telling me they actually do have someone there named John. I wonder if John knows that Erik uses his name when dealing with upset customers. Anyway, I replied asking if he was still planning to resolve this. Apparently his company's online reputation isn't important and neither is keeping his word on anything he says.
Learn a lesson from my experience and hire a reputable company. Especially if it involves someone coming into your home. I'm really glad that vent cleaning is not something I need to have done on a regular basis.
Here's a download I got from the Utah.gov website showing Erik and Al as principals of Supreme Cleaning and Restoration:
