Design Home Renovations (Youngsville, N.C.) paid a homeowner $5,000 plus court costs after a small claims court judge ruled against it in a case over an engineered wood floor, according to WRAL.com.
The homeowners had a $6,000 engineered hardwood floor installed in their home, but right away noticed the floor was “splintering and peeling,” WRAL said.
"One of the pieces was sticking straight up in the air," Marci Fisher, one of the homeowners, told WRAL. "When I pointed it out to the contractor he reached down with a little utility knife and trimmed it and put a little glue on it and put that piece back down.”
Design Home Renovations owner Dana Sherron told WFB she was in contact with the homeowners immediately after they shared their concerns with her in November 2016, but family issues and the Christmas holiday delayed her first visit to the property until January. She said she told the homeowners that the product was defective and she was starting a claims process with the manufacturer.
The homeowners told Sherron to give them a refund up front, but Sherron said she told them she had to go through the claims process first, so the homeowners went to court.
A Franklin County judge awarded the Fishers a $5,000 judgment, the maximum allowed for Franklin County, but Sherron still hoped she could replace the floors instead of paying the judgment.
The manufacturer eventually agreed to refund the cost of the product, and Sherron said she connected the homeowners with a flooring retail store to select a new flooring product. She scheduled the installation for May but asked the homeowners to release the judgment on her first—but they refused. Sherron ultimately paid the Fishers $5,000, and the manufacturer sent Sherron the refund on the product to help satisfy the claim.
Sherron’s attorney, John Austin, told WRAL that he believes the initial problem involved the product and called the dispute a miscommunication.
“I’m a small-town girl in a small town, so this is devastating to me,” Sherron said. “I’m going to keep working on my referrals from repeat customers.”
