STRAUSS HOMES, LLC CHET BOTCH & AMY STRAUSS Deceived Consumers, Adversitors and Attorney General CHECK PUBLIC RECORDS FOR MORE Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania

I am the lastest, unfortunate victim of Chester Botch Jr. and his latest company Rightchoice.  I will not go into detail here.  I am preparing a detailed report as a victim which I will send to the attorney general of Pennsylvania in the next few days.   Under no circumstances allow yourself to become another victim.  Do not contract Chester Botch Jr. or Chester Botch Sr. for any work.   

Strauss Homes Owners Amy Strauss and Chet Botch (aka Chester P. Botch, Chester P. Botch, Jr. and Chet Sheila Botch),
As Chet Botch knows, everything in our home was new. A professional and honest contractor (traits that you don't have) had built this home to codes. It passed extensive inspections. We purchased our dream home and you destroyed the home; however not the dream. The basement you destroyed? We can repair it. The money we spent to fix our back yard? We can get back. Items lost? They're just things and we can get most of it back? What was concerning? That you didn't care about the safety and health of your customers, including our infant granddaughter. What hurt? We lost items of sentimental value that will never be replaced. What we learned? To do thorough investigation before hiring anyone to do business with us. And yes we were angry after so many conflicting stories you told and your lack of response. What did you expectt?

It deeply saddens us to see how you are so arrogant as to insult other contractors in the manner that you do. Unlike you, the contractors that came to our aid have behaved  professionally, honest, reputable and highly skilled.  If they don't satisfy your writing skills, that's because you don't have any of your own. For a person in your line of work as a Human Resource worker, you should be writing and be legally knowledgeable at higher standards--but that's nor here or there. Take this advice--don't speak of your home improvement colleagues in the manner that you do. You've also done this with your other customers and employees who have complained about you, including MF, RF, SF, DR, JP, ML, BW, Country, and local retailers who have banned Chet from their property.  Your business behavior is unethical and it does nothing for your competitive advantage.

As for a family member from my home that said anything to you--we were afraid of you after the threats Chet made to us. No one here would want to talk to either one of you! He threatened our lives.

As for the $500 from ServiceMagic, I suggest you check that information with them and you'll see for yourselves. We made a decision based on integrity and that's something you are not familiar with. We went to them for mediation purposes. The claim was against you and to give you the opportunity to make amends. You did not. We could not hear a word you were saying because Amy and Chet had a yelling match--lack of professional team skills--and we could not understand a thing you were saying. Here's what the mediator sent to us via email "Unfortunately Amy and Chet were both speaking over each other and I didn’t hear you. At this time I will be discussing the case further with Josh and the committee and will update you accordingly."

Here's also a brief statement from another email I received from a sub-contractor that you failed to pay wages to, "Amy is the so called president, mostly because of chets color full past i just wonder how he is still around nepa, i dont know where he can even buy supplies, i know of 2 suppliers and a major retail chain that he is banned from..."

The fact that your employees don't receive wages makes me wonder about how you treat employees you represent at your day job. This definately influences my decision to ever become a customer there. 

I don't know who the other rebuttal is from in this report, but it sure sounds to come out of a wise person. It sounds like one of the contractors you've taken the liberty to insult.  See how professional, ethical and compassionate this person is? Perhaps you should take the advice. Listen to the Godly advice.

Time and time again I've considered posting a copy of the letter from the insurance company on this site and other sites so that readers would see for themselves and make a judgment based on the facts.  However, I am saving that for the right time. It clearly shows that STRAUSS HOMES illegally proposed and performed excavation work in our home. That alone states our case. One statement from Lititz Mutual Insurance Company reads, "Please be advised your policy with Lititz Mutual does not provide coverage for excavation activities, and thus, Lititz Mutual is unable to provide coverage to you for this claim. Your policy with Lititz Mutual contains an endorsement.....entitled LIMITATION OF COVERAGE TO DESIGNATED PREMISES OR PROJECT, that limits coverage to projects of....We trust you understand the basis for our decision."

We say to Amy and Chet, do you really understand the basis of that decision? This doucument, in its entirety, is in the right hands. And there was another contract they proposed, which they claim we signed and does not fall under their insurance and line of work --at least not at the time it was proposed and at the time the excavation work was done. Amy claimed this was not to her knowledge, that it was corrected but never showed proof of taking corrective action to regain our trust.

Amy and Chet, stop involving others that did nothing to you. The more you insult them, the more you make yourselves look bad--so bad. Do what's right for your customers. If you have been as successful as you say you have, then it shouldn't be too hard to do that.  As you claim 3-4 out of 427 have comaplained--really?  Come to terms, be professional and do what's right for them. Although you did work here illegally, if you get the right insurance and come to terms with doing the right thing, things may come around for your business. 

Amy, sometimes we've wondered if you really trust the kind of business Chet is running for you. He asked us to write checks in his name only. That was suspicious and we wondered if you even knew the full cost of the project before we shared documents with ServiceMagic. And there are other questionable behavior about Chet that has come to light that we wonder if you're even aware. Maybe you do know but things have gone too far. Don't feel it's ever too late to come to terms and do what's right. But then again, you might have full knowledge of everything that goes on and support every part of it. Not the kind of team work that should excel. Instead, you should team up to do what's right.

Until then, stay away from insulting others that were not part of this unfortunate event.

D&J

Chet & Amy:

I do quite a bit of research on fraud and contractor indiscretions.

The reality is that you're not looking so good. John's accounts are correct since, through his writing, I know, he's an honorable man. He isn't the sort of person who concocts things against innocent people.

In some circles, you both will have been jailed for this injustice. You may be living in that circle. A matter of time.

I saw your line up of capabilities with regard to your firm. Gov.Corbett is no softy about these things. He's still warming up.

A real big issue in this world is "pride." The other is "desperation."

My suggestion is that you re-group. Concentrate on those projects you do best. Let God in Christ, handle the rest.

Brother, please don't try to discredit John. Your reported indiscretions upset the balance of that entire family. You have a family. You may have grand children. How would you feel?

My suggestion is that, you make arrangements to compensate John for all his troubles. The economics are hard, so you may not be able to do that now. When they'll get better, I don't know ... but, they don't get better like this.

Gov. Corbett is very strong on consumer protection. God is very strong on that, too.

Hey...you guys have internet access. There are projects you may not be that familiar with .... internet has all your answers. Just get better at the few things you can do best .... forget about dominating our brothers and sisters in the trades in your area ..... You want more business ... not less .... but what's happening is that you're getting less in spite of your advertised "high skill, everything" attempts.

Please stop. Stick with what you do best, let Christ handle the rest. Right now, you're not looking so good. You're both facing jail/prison terms, and a loss of everything .... going this way.

Your decision.

Heres the TRUE side of the story. Anyone that has any questions, comments, concerns, please feel free to call, email, fax, call our insurance company, whatever means you see to fit, to stop people like John Phillips and Damaris Rodriguez Coon, from posting this kind of information over the internet. These people should be ashamed of themselves!

John Phillips and Damaris Rodrgiuez Coon,

It is to our dismay that we must let you know that way you have went about handling your situation is and was very unfair. You took your unfortunate situation and turned into a personal matter and felt obligated to post false, misleading, and personal information via the internet.

The truth to this matter is that John and Damaris, is that you had a very unfortunate situation and we sympathize for you, but you turned it around and had to point to point the finger at someone and that someone just happen to be us.

The chain of events that lead up to your misfortune are and were disturbing and we had every right to question them. You tried to take away that right and got very defensive when we opted to seek advice from our insurance company and attorney. We were not stating that you did do anything wrong, but for the safeguard of our business we had to make sure any resolution we were to propose to you, would have been the acceptable way to move forward.

We were also informed, by a family member in your home, that he was not too sure what the fuss was all about as Strauss Homes did nothing wrong, but in deed the gutters on the home were clogged as well. We were flabbergasted by this information and immediately called and John and Damaris, but John hung up the phone on me when I introduced myself.

Handling our business in the manner we chose saw fit, made John very angry and perturbed. He wanted an instantaneous answer and immediately requested to be reimbursed for having FRESH START CONTRACTING in their home, before us, ripping it apart and putting it back together in less than 48 hours. Damaris had great concern for mold, so if that was case your basement would have needed to be totally dried out, they would have been blowers, dryers, etc which when we came two days later there was nothing! Well, my apologies, there was a small household humidifier. I did take pictures at this point and Damaris tried to state otherwise (that it took FRESH START CONTRACTING, over a week to put everything back together), so when I informed her I had these pictures, John and Damaris shortly there after, ended our conference call with our advertising company.

I really hope the two of you know what you are doing are far as posting very personal and misleading information via the internet. Strauss Homes has tried to reach out for John and Damaris on various occasions, but they hang up on the phone on us! Yet they state on the internet we are hiding and they are looking for us and wondering where we are. Well, John and Damaris we are right here. We are NOT hiding behind the internet, as are you. Damaris and John have posted middle names I have never had; they even went as far as to post information on the death of my grandfather. I have an email from Damaris, actually apologizing for this.

We/I have NOTHING to hide. Would you like to come to our office? Youre more than welcome. Would you like to call our insurance company and find out why your claim was denied? Youre more than welcome to. In fact I encourage you and any other person out there who is going to hire a contractor do their homework before hiring as well! Some of the contracts you sent into Service Magic were not even registered with the state of PA, and yet you have the impudence to say anything about Strauss Homes, when you hired someone anyway, who was not registered???

Damaris, you have your sister writing things about us on the internet and emailing us. I appreciate her sincerity to you, but really, you have gotten to use your Fifth Amendment rights, and have shown your true colors as a person.

You took our advertising company for a ride as well. You violated four of their Service Guarantees and deceived them into giving you $500 back. Anyone can check the Service Guarantee at servicemagic.com/serviceguaranteedetail. The one that stands out for us is #iv. not applicable for the work that extends beyond the scope or description of the original Service Request you submitted to Service Magic. EVERYONE, WE WERE CONTRACTED, HIRED AND REFERRED TO THESE PEOPLE BY SERVICE MAGIC FOR HAVC WORK. CAN WE GET OUR MONEY BACK FOR THE LEAD INFORMATION, PLEASE? Another one would be #vi., if you have not contacted Service Magic customer service via phone, email, letter, fax, or online live chat within 30 days following the completion of the project, which, once again, was not done.

We have obtained a 427 customer lead base from adversting,word of mouth, etc. in where we have 3-4 customer complaints. You do the math. I dont think that is too appalling. Being in business we understand you are not going to make every customer happy, all of the time. We spent thousands in advertising with Service Magic. Check out their reports online, some good, and some bad. Comes with the territory.

John works for SimplexGrinell. He knows the ins and outs of a business as well. He also used to be an excavation expert, and approved of our work, so once again, not too sure what your true problem with the company and personal complaints are all about, but we are more than willing to converse them with you at any time. You have all our contact information, so feel free to call at any time.

Respectfully,

Amy

Owner

Strauss Homes