New England Insulation Company

Additional Notes

Complaint: In August, 2008 I paid *** ******* ********** a total of $3,550.00 to insulate our older home with blown-in cellulose. In February 2011 we had flooding between several exterior walls from ice dams. Our concern was that we had mold growing between the walls from the water-logged insulation. On April 11, 2011 our contractor began removing the damaged plaster on the back stairway. We discovered that, in thirteen bays, there was trace insulation in four bays, and no insulation in the remaining bays. Subsequent demolition on the walls on the opposite, south side of the house revealed no insulation as well. We can safely assume, from what we found, that the rest of the house is uninsulated. On April 12 I sent an email to ****** *********, President of *** ******* **********, explaining our concerns, with nine photos documenting the problem, and asked him to contact us to contact us by phone or by email. No response. On April 13 I sent another email to Mr ********* with additional photos of the opposite side of the house. Again, no response. A week later I telephones his office and spoke with (****??) who assured me that Mr ********* would call back. Still waiting. Family and friends also did not notice any difference in either comfort level or fuel oil consumption after the house was "insulated" Note: On close inspection it appears that holes were drilled at somewhat regular intervals from the exterior sheathing. However, there is back plaster between the studs, and the holes either did not drill entirely through the back plaster, and/or the insulation was blocked from filling the channels between studs. Evidently there was no monitoring of quantity of material going into the walls.

Desired Settlement: Prompt cooperation with full refund of money paid to *** ******* **********. Thank you for your assistance with this unfortunate matter.

Business Response:

Consumer Response: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # *******.  Thank you for contacting *** ******* ********** on our behalf.  We had already tried contacting *** ******* ********** three times with our concerns, once by telephone and twice by email with full documentation of the issue.  The company failed to respond to us in any way. How can they be trusted to follow through with their "infa red scam" remedy?  We have already been "scammed", and paid the company $3550.00.  Had the current contractor, brought in to repair water damage from ice dams in roof gutters, not opened up walls to remove the insulation we presumed was saturated behind the plaster, we might never have known that the insulation was not there.  We require a full refund.   Thank you. Regards, ******** ******    

Business Response:   Mrs ****** have the house infra-red by whoever she want to. infra-red is the only way that will tell where the insulation is missing. we will pay up to $200 to have it done and then blow in insulation wherever it was missed. would like to get a copy of the contract we had. we had a fie in 09 and lost all records. as far as email, we use *********** not ***. so we are sorry she didn’t get a  reply. I’ve been around for 33 years and will stand behind our work. if it was a  utility job they will vouch for our company

Consumer Response:

I would just ask that *** ******* ********** Company complete the job that we paid for, beginning with a comprehensive infrared survey of the entire exterior wall area and then completely filling any voids that may be detected.  In dealing with water damage from ice dams this past winter, we’ve recently opened up extensive wall areas on both the north and south sides of the house and found no trace of blown-in insulation between the studs; we’ve already had to pay another contractor to fill these areas with fiberglass batt insulation so that we could replace the interior finishes.  *** ******* ********** has done shoddy work here and they have an obligation to make it good.

BBB's Final Determination: After reviewing the position of all parties, BBB determined that the business made a reasonable effort to address the complaint. However the consumer remains dissatisfied.