Have You Been Stonewalled by a Company? When This Retaining Wall Started to Buckle, the Customer Got the Silent Treatment

A retaining wall isn’t just there to look good. A well-built retaining wall is a critical piece of infrastructure that holds up the soil above it. And when a retaining wall fails, anything built on that soil can collapse as the earth below slides down a grade. That’s why this woman was so concerned that her brand new retaining wall was buckling.

A Slippery Slope

Diane had a bit of a problem. Her deck—and really her entire home—rested on a slope that was threatening to give way. If the soil on the slope collapsed, it could take her whole house with it. So she hired a company to build a retaining wall that would hold the soil beneath her home in place. She paid $12,000 for the work and was satisfied when it was complete. But just a short time later, Diane noticed that the wall was buckling, putting her deck and her home in jeopardy. So, like any reasonable consumer, she called the company that built the wall to see if they could fix it. But they wouldn’t come out to do the work, or even to inspect the wall.

TrustDALE Gets Involved

After being stonewalled by the company that built her wall, Diane reached out to TrustDALE. She shared with us the blueprints for the wall that was built. And we came out and had a look for ourselves. It was clear that this retaining wall was not doing what it was built to do. But we wanted an expert opinion. So we called out one of our TrustDALE certified engineers to have a look. Sure enough, the wall was in bad shape. According to the engineer, the wall had to be rebuilt entirely. Of course, Diane already had a hunch that that was what needed to be done. But she still couldn’t get the original builders even to come inspect the wall.

TrustDALE reached out to the builder to share our engineer’s prognosis. Suddenly, the builder was much more responsive. They texted Diane that they would have someone out to look at the wall within the week.

In the end, the builders made it right. They rebuilt the wall to the proper specifications. Now Diane and her home are safe, but we are left wondering what would have happened without TrustDALE. It seems like the builders had some intention of working on Diane’s wall, but it was on the back burner, an afterthought that could be dealt with when the builder had spare time. Of course, by the time the builder got to it, heavy rain could saturate the soil above the wall and cause a catastrophic collapse.

That’s why we recommend working with TrustDALE certified businesses. All of the businesses in the TrustDALE circle of trust are committed to excellent customer service. And if there is a problem—and problems do happen with even the best businesses—they have all agreed to let TrustDALE make it right.