ComplaintsforL. Browe Asphalt Services, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  11/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Our driveway and walkways were paved November 3, 2020. Before the end of the first year, the sides of the walkways were cracking and falling off and the driveway itself began to crumble. The salesman returned at that time and said the issue would be resolved. It was not resolved. We continued to communicate with the salesman Joe R****, who said he would pass our concerns to "Tom - the Foreman on our job", but Tom never got in touch. I have been trying to work with Joe, and have let him know on multiple occasions that Tom has not contacted us, but nothing is being done to resolve our issue. We paid $6,500 for a driveway that began crumbling before the end of one year of installation. When we tried to have the driveway sealed (by another company) we were told the driveway was not "hard pressed" and was falling apart, so we could not have the driveway sealed. I want the driveway and walkways redone. I believe we have been extremely patient and reasonable, but after working with them for more than a year, we are just being ignored by L. Browe Asphalt. Thank you for your time.

  Business response

  12/28/2022

  Hi *****,Hope you are well!After some discussion with our crew leads, and owner, we wanted to reach back out and offer to crack fill and sealcoat your driveway and sidewalks at no charge to you.  We would have to wait until the Spring to do this work.  We have a reminder in to reach back out when we get closer to our sealcoating season.  Feel free to reach out to Lorne, the owner, at ###-###-#### with any questions.Thank you for patience while we handled this matter,  enjoy the holidays!  Best Regards,*******

• Initial Complaint

  11/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  This business installed my new driveway in the summer of 2020 at a cost of $8000. This summer of 2022, I noticed several large cracks along the edges of driveway as well as numerous "spider web" cracks throughout the driveway. I reported this issue to the business who sent three employees to inspect and initiate repairs. The individuals acknowledged that this was a problem that they had "never seen before" and contemplated what action they might take for over 30 minutes. The individual in charge, who had participated in the original installation, commented that they could not heat and recompact the cracked areas because the driveway had been sealed, something that is normally done within 1 to 2 years after installation. The lead individual informed me that he would have to discuss this issue with his manager and promised to get back to me, then left the premises. In the two months since then, I have not heard anything back from this company and my repeated phone messages and emails to them have been unanswered, including my final phone message left specifically to the presumed owner of the business, Lorne Browe. In my final message, I stated that if they were not interested in effecting repairs to my driveway, I would accept a full reimbursement of my $8000 as resolution. The business's website states that their work is fully guaranteed, yet they refuse to respond to any of my messages regarding what resolution they will take to fix my deteriorating 2-year-old driveway. I am demanding that they either effect repairs or completely redo the driveway as soon as the weather permits (now likely in the spring of 2023) and provide me with a written statement beforehand that they will do so, or they reimburse me the full $8000 I paid. Thank you for your consideration into this matter* ******* ******** Rensselaer, NY.

  Business response

  11/11/2022

  ******* ********* driveway was initially paved by L. Browe Asphalt on July 9th, 2020.  On March 18th, 2022 we sent him a reminder email about sealcoating his driveway to help protect the asphalt from elements and cracks.  He responded around April 11th, 2022 asking for a quote to sealcoat, which was sent to him on April 12th, 2022.  After that he was unresponsive to any communication with him. We attempted to initiate contact with him again via numerous different methods on April 14th, 2022, April 28th, 2022, and May 9th, 2022. There was no mention of cracks during this period of communication. ******* called and sent photos of cracks along the edge of his driveway on July 6th, 2022, three days prior to his two year warranty expiring. When the photos were received and evaluated by our team it appeared that there could have potentially been a vehicle that drove off the edge of the driveway that created this cracking.  While our warranty that is quoted below and was acknowledged when signing the quote does state that we are not responsible for cracking due to the unbanked edges that are shown in the photos attached, we did offer to provide crack fill free of charge.  Mr. ******* would not accept that resolution.  “Two year warranty - L. Browe Asphalt Services Inc. guarantees the quality of materials and workmanship to be free of any defects for a period of two years from the date of installation. Hairline cracks do not require any corrective action. Any cracks larger than 1/8 inch wide will be filled with a liquid crack filler at no charge under the two year warranty. These repairs might be visible. The warranty does not include reflective cracking, damage caused by gas or oil spills, cracks due to unbanked edges or tree roots, and normal wear and tear.”A foreman from L. Browe was sent to visit ********* property to assess the cracks in person on July 19th, 2022.  Our foreman also mentioned that we could provide crack fill free of charge, Mr. ******* again rejected that resolution. The foreman did note at that time that the driveway had been sealcoated by another company. While there may have been opportunity to provide a billable repair using our infrared heater we were now unable to provide that option due to the top layer of asphalt being topped with sealer.  At this point in time L. Browe Asphalt feels all opportunities and resolutions have been exhausted, and we have upheld our guarantee in our warranty.  

  Customer response

  11/15/2022

  Better Business Bureau:  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.  To the folks at the BBB… I thank you for your consideration and processing of my complaint with the L Browe company. You provide an outstanding service to consumers and you had provided much appreciated assistance to me with a past incident. Keep up the good work !  It is clearly evident to me based on their response that the L Browe company is washing their hands of any responsibility for the deteriorating condition of my driveway and are actually trying to deflect the issue at hand by blaming me for it with baseless and untrue allegations. In response to their message, I’d like to set the record straight on several points :  (1)   (1) While I asked L Browe for a quote regarding the sealing of my driveway, I decided to go with another company whom I’ve used in the past and I know to be a reputable, honest and trustworthy company. Who I chose to do the sealing was obviously my right as a consumer and is irrelevant to the issue at hand. While the cracks were visible at the time of the sealing, I had this procedure done within the recommended timeframe (1 to 2 years after installation) and had hoped it would prevent further deterioration. Unfortunately, it didn’t and several months later I contacted L Browe and alerted them to the situation. (2)  (3)  (3) L Browe states that their foreman offered to provide crack filling for free during his inspection of my 2-year old deteriorating driveway. This is absolutely untrue as there was no mention of this during the inspection. As stated in my initial complaint, the foreman and his two assistants stood around for almost 30 minutes repeatedly stating to me that they’d, quote, “never seen anything like this”. The foreman also mentioned to me that they had recently changed their source of asphalt mix, so it is possible that they had used an inferior quality mixture during my installation. Again, no offer of crack filling was made and there was no communication back from L Browe after they left with the assurance that they “wouldn’t leave me hanging”. (4)  (4)  In their response, L Browe states that their warranty does not apply to cracks due to unbanked edges. During his inspection, the foreman stated that he didn’t think the wider edge cracks were caused by the unbanked edges and certainly not the “spider web” cracking more towards the middle of the driveway. The edges are unbanked because there had been grass growing up through the asphalt on the edges, most likely because the asphalt was too porous and insufficiently tamped or compacted. To prevent this from occurring, I had to trim the grass away from the edges, hence the reason for the unbanked edges. (5)   (5) Lastly, I do not recall them applying any base gravel under the asphalt, something that is critical when installing asphalt on heavy clay soil and something L Browe should have been acutely aware of given that they are based in this area. It is my opinion that the deteriorating condition of my 2-year old, $8000 L Browe driveway may be due to the lack of sufficient base gravel, insufficient compaction and tamping on the edges, low quality asphalt that was later changed, or a combination of all of these factors. I don’t know what more your organization can do with my case, but if it is to be closed, I am hoping it remains on record on your website so other consumers can be aware. While pursuing independent legal action of my own remains an option, at the very least I will share my experience on several review websites including ****, **** *******, **** and ******.  I will provide more photos to you in a separate email for the record. Please let me know if you need any more information from me regarding my complaint. Again, I thank you so much for your service.  Regards,  ******* ******* 

  Business response

  01/10/2023

  BBB received the following message from the customer on behalf of the business: The L Browe company did reach out to me directly via email on 11/28/2022. They stated that they would perform a mill down and repave of my driveway in the spring. Hopefully, this future action will provide satisfactory resolution of my issue. Thank you! 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩