First off, I am sorry that the customer felt that this situation was a "NIGHTMARE" as she put it. I think that, in the end, this is sort of a "shoot the messenger" situation. We did the gutter cleaning as we have done on almost 100,000 roofs, but this roof was unlike most. The roof had rotted wood. The customer didn't say she had rotted wood, or warn us in anyway. So as we are cleaning, the crew member stepped on the rotted wood. Now, a roof in proper repair can hold up 400 lbs of weight at any individual point, but if it's rotted, then it's like stepping on wet cardboard. We created a hole, but it wasn't our fault. It wasn't as if we made the roof rotted, it takes years for wood to rot. To use an analogy, if you have a deck that is put together, but isn't screwed or bolted, basically a lot of loose boards stacked together, and you let people walk on this deck, and it falls apart from not being properly built, you don't blame the person who was walking on it for the lack of proper construction. The homeowner was lucky that our worker wasn't hurt in the ordeal. Now, upon discovering the rotted wood, we did give an estimate on replacing the roof, which is what the customer needs. The customer wanted us to come out and verify what the worker said, which I found disappointing because there was no point to do this. If the wood wasn't rotted, then it would have held the wait of the roofer that was on it, so there wouldn't be a hole. The homeowner was insistent that we come out and verify the accuracy, so we did. And yes, Rick did reschedule the customer multiple times. Rick had two things working against him, making sure the customer was home, making sure a van was available to provide him a ladder, and Rick is undergoing cancer treatment for a stage for leukemia, and unfortunately some days are worse than others, and Rick unfortunately had to reschedule for what honestly was an unnecessary formality. Roof was rotted, hole was there, end of story. I don't understand the stance of offering the pay for the materials for a patch job. For starters, the customer doesn't need a patch job, she needs a new roof. You could patch the hole, but there are other areas of rotted wood and doing a patch is like fixing a flat on a car with no engine. Ethically, we wouldn't just do a page even if the customer offered the 10,500 just to do it. We don't do work on a roof where the rest of the roof is still in bad condition. When we leave a roof, we leave with a guarantee in place. We have a reputation of quality and professionalism, and if we patch up a bad roof, we'll just have to deal with numerous call backs for when there are other issues with the rest of the roof which needs replacement. There comes a point where, ethically, despite whether it is what the customer wants to hear, you have to say, "No, this is not going to work." And as far as paying for the materials, for whatever work we would do, it would have to cover materials, labor, overhead cost, all things involved in pricing a job. I point out, once again, it was not our fault that the wood was rotted. Now, as far as the insurance company, I am 100% not surprised that the roofing company recommended by the insurance company that would have had to pay for the replacement of the roof said that the roof didn't need to be replaced. I haven't been this unsurprised since I took any object in the world and threw it up in the air and seen it fall down to the ground. I want to restate this because, frankly, it's just funny to me. I'm going to go all caps. THE INSURANCE COMPANY, WHO WOULD HAVE PAID 10K TO REPLACE THE ROOF, RECOMMENDED A ROOFER, AND THAT ROOFER SAID THAT PATCHING THE HOLE WAS FINE AND REPLACING THE ROOF, AND SAVING THE INSURANCE COMPANY 10K, WAS THE BEST APPROACH. We do roof repairs, and install whole roofs, but installing whole roofs isn't something we like to get involved in too much for how long they take. So in that regard, 10,500 may be a little high, as an encouragement to go with another company that is slightly cheaper. You see, we gave an estimate for the replacement, but never counted on doing the work. We still have to be honest with the customer, and the honest truth is that roof needs to be replaced. If the customer was someone who was more understanding of the fact that it wasn't our fault the her roof was rotted and more sympathetic of the difficulties Rick has had in getting out to her home, I would have told her that, if she doesn't believe us, to get an independent roofer, one with no ties to the insurance company, out to inspect and give an impartial estimation of what needs to be done. I am truly sorry the customer felt the situation was a nightmare. We tried to be helpful as much as possible and, if the customer had told us from the start that the roof was rotted, this all could have been avoided.