Pana Home Construction, Starlight Pacific, Victor Honami - poor quality work, fail to meet deadline, incomplete job, threaten us to pay in full Honolulu Hawaii

Victor Honami, the chairman and Pana Home Construction, LLC made so many changes to pre-agreed plans without our approval. His workers and subcontractors often didn't appear on the promised days and time and their workmanship was poor. Sometimes they come int he morning and were gone before noon. Victor told us so many times that he should finish our job by 4/15/2007 at the latest, and hasted us to sign the contract and make deposit (he yelled at me that he didn't want to do such a small job because he had a big project waiting for him), but he ended up in not finishing the job even 1 1/2 month after the date.

Finally we said to him that if he didn't finish everything by 4/30/2007, we had to cancel the job, and he accepted. On 4/27/2007, we requested him to send us the measurement of the bookcase we ordered, to make sure that he installed a correct one. But it had been changed, too. The initial bookcase plan we approved had 5 vertical posts (including both ends) to support heavy weight, but from the measurement he faxed us, the posts were reduced to 4, which is obviously cheaper than the initial one. We notified him right away but he never responded until the very last moment (4/30/2007) and said if we didn't accept, he would make a new one but it would take days. We have been tolerating for the construction for more than 2 months, and we lost some business opportunities because we couldn't make trip to abroad because of the construction delay. It was impossible for us to tolerate any more. That is why we had to cancel the remaining job.

After we told him we must cancel, he said he understood and said to pay us back the balance. But he never contacted us after that. We sent many faxes requesting to respond regarding warranty and refund, and getting rid of left over rubbish in front of our house, he never responded. Instead, he had his lawyer send us fax and mail, and threatened us to pay all the money in full, otherwise he would file a lien.

From the series of his attitude toward us, not only he ripped off, but also he humiliated us, intimidated us. In addition to that, the chairman Victor Honami speaks fluent Japanese and knows Japanese attitude well. He took advantage of us. It is very unfair but many people told me that often happens in Hawaii.

Followings are the details.

1) He never gave us breakdown of the cost despite my requests for many times, and hasted me to sign the contract, saying that he has a big job offer and if I don't sign right away, he cannot arrange the schedule for us and cannot do the job timely. We have been working with him since 01/25/2007 and we spent so many hours reviewing the draft he wrote and having meeting/ telephone conversation with him to get ready for the renovation. I signed because we trusted him and I had no other choice. It is natural to do so in Japan. Victor is very fluent in Japanese and he said he can read Japanese, too. He knows Japanese custom, and business style, too. Actually, his Japanese was just like Japan. I think it is not fair that he takes advantage of it.

2) He didn't complete the job by the schedule we agreed. From the beginning, he mentioned us several times that he had a big job starting on 04/15/2007 and he would and should complete our job by then. We kept trying to support his job to finish on time, for example, we changed our schedule in Japan and decided to stay here. That was a big loss for us, but the completion of renovation without fail was more important for us.
Wrong window 03/29/2007 We noticed that Contractor (Victor) brought a wrong front window by his misunderstanding. He brought a sliding window although we requested a bifold window. Three of us (customer) ordered the bifold window by showing the same type of window at the site. He said he understood, and we agreed with the quote based upon the agreement we made. When I mentioned him that he brought a wrong window and we want it exchanged, Victor insisted he thought we made the change in an arrogant manner and he even insulted me saying that he didnt want to do such a job and he had a lot of big jobs. His attitude was aggressive enough to scare me. I am a very Japanese-type young female and I am certain that he thought he could easily handle me that way.

3) Poor work quality - In general, a post should be made with one lumber which is stronger and looks better. But the contractor used several thin boards, lumber to make one post. One reason for that was he didnt ask our approval and we had to correct each time. We concern about the strength as well as the appearance. We are very disappointed with the work despite the high cost. When I mentioned about it, he arrogantly said to me You should have asked to someone else. I didnt want to do such a job!. The way he talked was like a gangster, and it gave me a big shock.

4) Work delay and changes he made He kept saying that he would finish the work in 2 weeks, and if not, at the latest, before 04/15/2007 because he had a big project starting on 04/15/2007. They started the work on 03/19/2007. However, one week after the deadline he set up, the construction was not complete. One of the reason for the delay was that carpenters and subcontractors (painter, electricians) often didnt come even thought Victor promised to have them come. By this, we had to stay home to wait for them in vain. That was very stressful. Another reason for the delay was caused by his negligence of of approval. He didnt verify with us about ceiling style, position and number of light fixtures, roof support, window style, and so many things. And he even changed the size or the style we had agreed upon the rough draft. Therefore, we had to often request to correct or change them. We kept trying to support his work to finish on time. Therefore, the delay was entirely caused by his fault. We faxed him a letter on 04/24/2007 to complete all the remaining work by the end of April, and again, to give us the breakdown of the initial estimate. Other than that, we notified him several times by fax and by telephone.

5) Wrong size bookcase 04/27/2007 - I requested Victor to give us the measurement of the special order bookcase which was supposed to be installed on 04/30/2007. I needed to make sure that it is the right size, because he changes many things without our approval quite often. We received his fax on 04/27/2007, and we found out that he changed again. They eliminated one post (There should be 5 vertical post to support heavy weight. But they made them 4 posts) . That was obviously cheaper than what we approved. We requested to correct it immediately.

6) No sincere effort to compensate his mistakes 04/30/2007 - In the morning of the installation day (final dead line), Victor called me and said he could correct the bookcase size if we wanted, but it could not be made in one day. We couldnt accept further delay, and forced to cancel the remaining work. He said I understand. I will pay back the balance. We realized by his attitude after that, that he didnt have the will to do the remaining job. So he called us on the final day so that we would cancel the job.

7) Other loss for customer - As I mentioned before, we canceled our business in Japan, which loss was up to several million yen ($60,000.00+). We needed to stay home during the extended period which required us a lot of patience and inconvenience. We cleared 1/3 of the furniture and stuff in the office (where the bookcase should be installed) one month ago, because he said he would soon be ready for the bookcase installation. That made our work efficiency very low. And we cleared all the furniture the previous night (04/29/2007) to get ready for the installation in vain. He was responsible to call us right away because he knew on 04/27/20074 that he couldnt make it in time.

8) Neglected our requests to respond 04/30/2007-05/09/2007 - On 04/30/2007, the day we were forced to cancel the work, I tried to fax him our request, but the fax line was busy all the time. It had been working fine until then and to us, it was obviously cut because he tried to avoid the complaint or request for the payment from us. It lasted couple of days. I call the company and finally one employee answer the phone on 05/01/2007, and told me to fax to their neighbor, so that they would give it to Victor. Therefore I faxed to that number on 05/01/2007, and I also sent the same letter by e-mail on 04/30/2007. What I notified Victor by fax and e-mail are a) give us the break-down b) pay us back the proper amount c) clear all the rubbish left in front of the site. But he neglected and never give us reply. After 05/01/2007, we kept sending the same request by fax, to which he never replied. By the way, his fax machine always gave us the wrong date (3 days earlier than actual date). I assume he does it on purpose to take an advantage when he has troubles with his clients.

9) Suddenly he had his lawyer sent us a letter 05/11/2007 Because he neglected all our requests, I sent another fax on 05/09/2007 saying If you keep neglecting, we have to regard that you are trying to steal our money on purpose. Soon after that (One of two days after that) he had his lawyer send us fax to order us to pay the all the cost except for the front window and ceiling cover in 10 days, otherwise he would file a lien application against us. In his opinion, it is his right because we signed the contract with the amount of $23,730.00 on 03/12/2007, even though he failed to complete the job by his own fault . I assume he thought we would be frightened by lawyers letter and make the payment right away. It is again, a discrimination against Japanese, and not a fair way to do business.

Rena
Honolulu, Hawaii
U.S.A.