Thanks for the notes and taking the time to detail the project. Thanks for recognizing that we care about the work we do, because we really do. Some of your other notes are disturbing and confusing and I don't think characterize this project very well, so I felt compelled to tell the story from our side. Yes, a large plain, broom finish concrete driveway was installed, about 2,000 square feet overall. Project included the main driveway, some stone work, and a small backyard walkway. The customer's discussion and concerns on this job all revolve around concrete cracking and 2 minor imperfections. Customer "threatened" to put a review on Angies list with a "D" rating due mainly to the hairline cracks that appeared. Customer perceives that we didn't do a good job, ie the installation was not done right, or the material used was inferior, due to the cracks that appeared in the concrete. Nobody likes their concrete to crack. Most everyone perceives cracks in concrete to be associated with bad or inferior work, and of course, blames the contractor. I can't do anymore to be upfront and explain the risk to customers that concrete cracks. This is seemingly public knowledge, but here is more information about our position on cracking, what we tell customers, and what is printed in our contract: Regarding cracking, the part that most people don’t understand is that our objective is not to keep the concrete from cracking, but instead rather the opposite … We allow the concrete to crack, but we want to guide or control the location of these cracks into the grooves, ie, the control joints where the cracks are less noticeable. Similar to a a basic sidewalk, those grooves you see, those are control joints, the purpose is to allow the concrete to crack, but guide the location of the crack into these grooves where they are less noticeable, not to stop the concrete from cracking since that is not realistic. The irony of this is that I have never once received a call from a customer about a hairline crack that occurred down in a control joint. However, when the same hairline crack fall outside the boundaries of those joints, ie visible, random crack, that’s when customers notice and become upset. But keep in mind, a hairline crack in the control joint is identical to a hairline crack that’s not in the control joint … with one exception, you see the one not in the joint, and thus the problem here on this project. Control joints are designed and installed to receive cracks. This technique approx 95% effective and has been in use for 100+ years. Unfortunately it is not 100% effective and sometimes the cracks occur randomly, ie not down in the control joint. I can’t be any more up front about this in telling customers up front and also detailed in our contract. When a crack occurs randomly, outside of a control joint is there a quality problem? Was it bad concrete? Did the contractor do a bad job? This customers says yes! The reality is that the control joint technique is 95% effective, so cracks do occur out of the control joints approx 5% of the time. Customer signed up for a concrete driveway, said he was ok with the risk of random hairline cracks and knowing there is no timeframe associated, ie cracks can occur early. Random hairline cracks occurred, and now customer is upset and threatens to post a “D” rating on Angies List due to poor quality of work. This is where we are puzzled. If you knew the risk, and it happened, why the D rating? This should actually be an A rating because we were able to provide this information and let you know the risks up front. I tell customers this everyday … if you don’t want the risk of seeing a random hairline crack, although only a 5% chance … if you don’t want that risk, then don’t buy concrete. I personally do over 200 consultations each year to sell our work. I try to say the same thing about cracking to everyone so that there is no misunderstanding. The wording I use in person is also detailed in our contract. In addition, we also have a very detailed article on our website that we wrote about concrete cracking. The risk of concrete cracking is not a secret, there is no "silver bullet", there is no magic formula to prevent concrete from cracking. In this case, once the hairline crack appeared, the customer said "the neighbors driveway didn't crack, so mine should not have cracked either". If the customer had said before the work started that the neighbors driveway has no cracks ... if my new driveway cracks, I will assume you did a bad job and put a "D" rating on Angies List about your company, honestly I would not have signed the contract. Not because of the threat, but really because this customer does not have a realistic expectation about concrete. It is our responsibility to inform, educate and set expectations for customers and again, we try to say the details to every customer, and this is always backed up by wording in our contract and articles on our website. This is what is writing in our contract, along with some other verbiage about warranty against cracking contract says: “Customer acknowledges inherent risk of concrete cracking and that hairline cracks are not covered under any warranty.” This is not a secret, it’s not a hidden trick, this is what I say to customers in person, this is what is printed clearly in our contract. If you don’t like this risk, again .. please … don’t buy concrete. Hope this helps to clear up this issue and helps future customers understand the risks associated with concrete. Salzano Custom Concrete