Rudy's Flooring, San Antonio, Texas

Working with Rudy's Flooring was a very BAD EXPERIENCE. We have since learned that other flooring companies write contracts that protect the consumer. Rudy's only writes an Invoice that only protects him.

The following is our story:

We met with Rudy at the Home & Garden Show. We said we wanted to have hand scraped, beveled oak flooring installed in 4 bedrooms and 4 closets. We brought a sample piece of wood that matched the wood in our dining and living rooms. We mentioned that he didn't have that quality of wood. He said he had more samples at his shop. We went to his shop. We took our sample of wood. We said that he didn't have that quality of wood. He said I can get more samples. We even sent him a text with the kind of wood that we wanted from our our builder's handbook. He came to our house when my husband wasn't home. Rudy spent his time talking about the school where I had taught one of his children, the neighborhood and school in general. Every time I questioned whether it was a good match, he assured me it was a good match, that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. We went to his shop a week and a day later to pay the invoice. We asked to see the wood. He said it was in the truck. He had customers. We did pay him a $5000 deposit out of $8496. 73 invoice. At the and of the 1st day of installation, we noticed the wood was most certainly not a match. The wood he installed was smooth, straight edged and a bit lighter because of the texture being so different. The workers packed up the 2nd day and didn't complete the remaining 2 bedrooms and 2 closets. They took the unused wood, glue, and other unused materials. Rudy came to the house the next day. He then noticed our wood was beveled, hand scraped wood. He said that our not liking the wood was a personal preference, that 9 out of 10 people would like it. The remaining balance was $3496. 73. Rudy said it would cost $1000 to close the contract. This seemed like too much considering that 2 bedrooms and 2 closets were left undone, no furniture moving, no carpet removal, no labor, no installation, no wood used, no glue used, and... Rudy said for his company to remove the wood to start over we would have to remove everything from the rooms and the closets and have everything professionally cleaned. The only money he could save us is the restocking fee that was about $1169. We decided not to do this when the new samples he provided didn't match at all. Before we could return to his shop due to his limited hours of operation, he sent us an invoice for $2,051.19 to close the account. We sent an email asking about what happened to the $1000. We also mentioned that we were very dissatisfied not only with the wood, but what he was offering in monetary value to help compensate us for such a big loss. We also mentioned that we had spoken to an attorney. He sent emails with the following rhetoric, "didn't expect this kind of behavior from an educator", "we only allow you in the showroom to pay your bill", "We are not sure if it was your intent from the beginning or you came to the conclusion to Cheat and steal from a small business but it's not acceptable and illegal." The rhetoric in the following emails continued when we sent him pictures of our existing floors and the floors he installed. We also emailed him the amount of money we has lost, $5000 deposit, (the amount he was still requesting whether it be $1000 or $2051. 19), $2000 to have dustless floor removal from another company. We tried to negotiate the amount to settle with him to $500. We had professionals suggest that amount based on the unfinished work and his invoice. We didn't hear from him until we sent another email explaining our situation. We addressed him, Dear Mr. With his last name. He addressed us our last name with an s, no greeting. He then sent another invoice with $1,515.30. I was considering paying it to be through with all of this until I saw that he had sent another email, "Please let us know if you plan to pay your outstanding bill, it's shocking and unfortunate that you attacked our integrity which we take very personally and do not see any reason to go back and forth. We do not have anything else to speak to you about in email or in person. There's no reason for you to go in our office, showroom, or warehouse." My husband thought about still yet, negotiating back to the original $1000. Just to be through with him, we paid. Working with Rudy's Flooring has been a very BAD EXPERIENCE. We lost $5000 deposit, $1500 to close our account, and $2000 to have another company remove the wood. The floors that should cost about $12,500 to match our quality of wood will cost over $20,500. Remember I taught Rudy's child and this is how we were treated when things didn't work out. We did let Rudy know that 2 other companies matched the wood in a different specie, hand scraped, and beveled with the exact same color and model. We sent him pictures. Yet, he has accused us in email of the rhetoric I've put in parenthesis above. NO STARS!

The first 2 photos show the flooring Rudy's installed. The wood is smooth, straight edge sides. The next 2 photos show our existing flooring we wanted matched with an identical sample from another flooring company. Our wood is beveled, hand scraped wood.