Zimmer and Kohl Contracting they lie, cheat and jack up their prices Louisville, Kentucky

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.

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;