We hired Merrimack Valley Roofing and Gutters to remove ice dams and snow from our roof. We based ou

18th of Aug, 2010 by User492771

We hired Merrimack Valley Roofing and Gutters to remove ice dams and snow from our roof. We based our decision on cost quotes from various other companies. Barry, the person you'll speak with to set up the job, took advantage of innocent unaware homeowners just to get his foot in the door. Over the phone, he asked what other companies were charging. That was our first mistake. He came in with a lower quote. When the guys arrived to the house, they told us the problem was worse than the expected (sure, Barry told us the avg cost of an entire house for roof snow removal and ice dam removal was $650). The workers said they'd have to charge more, but weren't sure how much. We were desperate because we had multiple active leaks going on. He told me he would take care of the entire house. He wrote up a contract describing the work (Barry would later tell me that the contract is written ambiguously, on purpose). They cleared the back of the house, then told me the front of the house was bad (and where another leak was occuring inside the house), and he would "do me a favor and take care of the front of the house too". Wasn't that in the original contract? According to the written order, yes. According to the workers and Barry, no. So all he did was clear snow off the front part of the house. Of course, he told me earlier that the leak was made worse due to me clearing off the snow with a roof rake AFTER the dam had already formed. I was stuck having to believe him. Either way, the original leaks stopped after about an hour, so we thought we were out of the woods. The next day, we had a major leak coming in our window in our bedroom upstairs. Of course, this was due to the fact the ice dam still existed in the front of my house. We noticed the leak at 630pm, in a rain storm. We called Barry to complain and request he send out someone to finish the job to stop our leak. He immediately (and without looking at a copy of the contract), stated that the front of the house was not part of the plan. I explained what the workers told me. AFter he yelled at me a bit and would not let me speak, he agreed to call the workers and see what could be done. The original worker called me about 30 min later, all "concerned" and reiterated (again, without the contract in front of him), that the front of the house was not part of the plan, and neither was clearing all the snow off the roof. Now, the contract states "Snow Removal: $350). He said, "That only includes the first 3 feet from the roof line". Oh, does it? Wasn't written that way. Every time I called him out on something, he had a different excuse and contradicted himself multiple times. Eventually I convinced him to get someon else out here. 2 other workers came and cleared the ice that evening, and the leak stopped. Now we have far worse damage and will need to put in an insurance claim as it will exceed our deductable. I called Barry to complain, who told me I was given a huge discount and the guy wrote up a much larger quote higher than what he actually charged so I could get more from my insurance co. I reminded him that is insurance fraud and I refuse to do that. He then told me that $750 was the avg cost of the work that day, and the following day it went up to $850, for no apparent reason but Barry's apparent business training enabled him to circle logic his way around supply and demand, and incorrectly I might add. We called him again this morning, and he again went over this supply and demand argument, and wouldn't let me get a word in. He then told me to call 10 other roofers to get a quote. We already did this, and quotes ranged from $500-$700, which is why we went with Barry's company who originally told us $650 max for EVERYTHING. He refused to adjust the price, even though half the work was completed AND it created more damage since it wasn't completed. Again, he said, "Well, the contract is written ambiguously". I would never use this company again, not even to shovel my walkway. They are SCAM ARTISTS and not very good at it. We have spoken to a lawyer who agrees their practices are illegal. We'll see where it goes.

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