C&L Ward C&L Ward Bros Co. Never use C&L Ward and be careful of BBB reviews Davisson Michigan

I needed a new roof, so I checked the Better Business Bureau (BBB.org) and saw that C&L Ward had an A+ rating with BBB and all their reviews were positive. This made them stand out from all but one other roofing companies.

I went with C&L Ward even though they were the most expensive - almost twice the price of Oakes Roofing. I thought their Salesman, Greg Rice, was a genious when he told me all my current baffles were incorrectly installed because they went past the 48" mark of the plywood. He said when they're correctly installed I will feel a world of difference. Turns out, Greg Rice was wrong, after I spoke to a construction worker and checked in a Home Depot home renovation book. The baffles would be incorrectly installed if they were put in like Mr. Rice said.

But the real issue is breach of contract. My work order (contract) said they would replace 8 sheet of plywood with 8 new OSB sheets and install the baffles from the outside. The roofing installation foreman, Shaun Most, boasted the "We don't read the work orders. We just do what we think needs to be done." Well, that's not what I paid for and there's a bigger problem. I paid extra to get an Owen-Corning lifetime, transferrable warranty. The only good guy from C&L Ward I've met is Shawn Trombley, the Roofing Inspector who confirmed that they did not follow the work order and that they must fix this - several other things were incorrect too. Mr. Trombley told me "Owens-Corning won't honor the warranty since the installation didn't meet their standards."

I called Owes-Corning and let them know of the shoddy work C&L Ward was doing and asked who audits their "qualified" roofing partners. Owens-Corning did not give me an answer.

I also learned not to trust BBB reviews. In hindsight, a company having all positive reviews should have set off an alarm bell. Who goes on to a site and writes positive reviews? Not many. I'm guessing these reviews were posted by employees, friend and family of C&L Ward and/or customers who were given a discount in return for a good review.

Then I check Angie's List and Yelp - and you should do so yourself - almost 100% of their ratings are F's.

I won't even go into detail of all the debris - nails, staples, cut metal pieces, hundreds of pieces of cellophane and old roofing paper that were left in my yard AFTER their "clean up." It will take years to clean this.