Our IndieDwell Home, Part 5, From Warranty To Warranty

By the fall of 2021 I had made peace with the poor workmanship that was displayed in the warranty repair work on our home. At least everything was “fixed.” That was until December of 2021, when our Shaw Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring began to peel apart. It was no longer a problem with the subfloor and the seams, it was a problem with the way the planks were constructed.

I knew at this point we were past the IndieDwell warranty, however, we were still within warranty for the floor itself and I rightly guessed that IndieDwell would have to be a part of that process. So I emailed Scott Flynn again on December 17th. Unfortunately he was no longer with the company. I reached out again to the CEO Christina on LinkedIn and she didn’t respond. I ended up filling out the contact form on the website and got a response from Pete Gombert on January 4th.

Pete reminded me that the home was out of warranty and I reminded him that the flooring they replaced was less than a year old and he might be able to get the manufacturer involved on my behalf. He got back to me on January 13th and told me I needed to register the floor on Shaw’s site and initiate a warranty claim there. I did that…and waited.

Pete got back with me on January 24th asking if I’d heard anything from Shaw, which I hadn’t.

Pete got back to me again on January 30th with the news that this was IndieDwell’s first warranty claim and they were having to go through a process with Shaw as well. Pete was also going out of town to celebrate his 50th birthday (Happy birthday Pete!)

On January 31st I was asked to submit the square footage of the damage, my address, the invoice number (didn’t have that) and the installation date as well as the process we used to maintain the floor (a Libman mop with a water/vinegar solution)

On February 22nd I heard from Pete that Shaw was going to send an independent inspector to review the floor. The inspector had actually scheduled their visit a few days prior. They were an elderly couple, I would guess late 70s, who by the looks of their equipment had been inspecting floors since they were newlyweds. They took pictures, rubbed the floor with Q-tips, and laid a straight edge over it and shined a flashlight through any gaps they saw. They were very nice.

I waited some more, until I reached out to Pete again on March 23rd. He assumed that Shaw had moved on to working directly with me. Shaw had not done this. But by April 13th Pete had been informed that Shaw was going to pay the full replacement cost of the damaged floor. I was to get a quote from a local contractor, submit it to IndieDwell who would submit it to Shaw, who would approve it and cut me a check so that I could pay the contractor to do the work. Easy as pie.

The contractor, a great guy named Chris Anderson with 345 Aesthetic Construction, came out and gave me an estimate of $650 for the repair. I forwarded it to IndieDwell on April 18th. They approved the bid on April 21st but needed a W9 from the vendor, which I got and sent to IndieDwell to send to Shaw on April 22nd.

It was May 6th when I reached out next wondering when I should expect the check from Shaw. Pete thought that the contractor should be getting the check directly (as Shaw did ask for his W9). I let Chris know to expect it and let me know when he got it.

When there was no check by May 22nd, I reached out to Pete again. He was told by the Shaw rep that it was being cut that very day! How fortuitous! The contractor should see it early the following week.

By June 7th, there was still no check. Pete got back with Shaw and they said, yes, it was processed on June 8th and we should see it any day. By June 29th, after several more emails, the check was still missing.

On July 16th I was beginning to be concerned that my contractor was not being honest with me. That he had received the check and cashed it without telling me. He came recommended by a trusted friend though, so I was hoping that wasn’t the case. I suggested to Pete that Shaw find out if the check had been cashed, and if not to cancel it and just send it directly to me. Shaw got back on the 19th of July saying yes, the check had been cashed. I got back with Chris and asked about it - he said he didn’t have it.

Then Pete came back with the answer: After all of the back and forth and W9 from the contractor and address verification, Shaw sent the check directly to IndieDwell and their accounting team just deposited it. The IndieDwell controller, on July 20th, mailed out a new check, finally, directly to me. I got back with Chris after receiving it on July 25th and scheduled him to come out in the next several weeks to make the repair. That was scheduled, and completed, on August 4th. It only took a full 8 months to get done.

Unfortunately, if you remember the less-than-stellar trim carpentry job the IndieDwell team did when they repaired our flooring in the spring of 2021, the way the cabinet toe kicks were installed proved impossible to remove without breaking. Chris did this to get the flooring replaced with the intention of finding replacement toe kicks and making that repair. He was however met with the same predicament that both IndieDwell and I was - no one in North Idaho carries that particular product. So he just didn’t come back and left us without toe kicks on our cabinets. Something for the honey-do list.

That brings us to today, February of 2023, when our new flooring is peeling once again in other areas around the house. I’m confident we have no further recourse with either IndieDwell or Shaw and will just have to deal with a sub-par product until we can afford to replace the whole thing sometime down the road.

That would be the end of the story of our frustrating home if it weren’t for the HVAC system.

Zak AdamsFebruary 7, 2023