Let me tell you about the nightmare experience that my wife and I endured at the hands of Solomons Flooring Dandenong. We were looking to replace our existing carpet as it was a wool blend and had some sun faded patches in it. The existing carpet was around 60 oz. weight with an underlay Dunlop Springtread Extra rated as Luxury by Dunlop, with a similar quality carpet and underlay.
A staff member from Solomons did a measure and quote for my wife of $12,850 in April 2017 assuring my wife that the carpet and underlay were of a very high quality. I believe at this stage he was trying to rip my wife off as after the carpet and underlay were laid we visited the Bentleigh store and ask for an indicative quote for the same job using the same carpet underlay combination we were quoted approximately $9,000. They even glued the new carpet on top of existing carpet in the cloakroom under the stairs and even did not do this properly as they left the concrete floor exposed.

When the carpet was laid, and we had a chance to walk on it it felt like walking on a wet towel. And when vacuuming the carpet it lifts off of the floor. The carpet they used was approx. 40 oz. weight and the underlay was a Dunlop Supergreen rated by Dunlop as regular. I rang the store for the original staff member to come out to have a look at the terrible job that the layers had done and also to question the quality of the product sold to us. They were not interested in coming to our house but instead sent the carpet layer back again. The carpet layer then proceeded to lie through his teeth assuring us that the carpet is new and there is nothing wrong with it and that it would be better in 12 months.

While all this was going on Solomons fraudulently accessed my credit card account and removed $8,600 from it. I went to my bank with documented proof that Solomons stole this money out of my account. The bank reimbursed me on this evidence.

We then used the services of IKW Consulting Group to do an evaluation of the carpet and the way it was laid. Here is a summary of that report:

The installation has not been done in accordance with Australian Standards and industry best practice, due to the following:
o The carpet has not been power stretched and evenly tensioned
o The carpet seams were not edge sealed prior to being joined together
o The ends of the seams have not been heat taped correctly so they are lifting and not adhered properly
o In multiple sections, staples have been used to hold the carpet edges and repairs in place
o The smoothedge is too far away from the walls, which leaves an unsightly gap against the wall in some sections and this needs to be replaced
o Prior to installing the new carpet on the stairs, the old staples and sections of carpet were not removed completely and they can be seen on multiple steps
o The carpet under the stairs has not been cut in or joined properly. The carpet has been cut short of the ceramic tiles at the door and the new carpet was glued to the carpet underneath. We expected the carpet to be installed over new underlay on smoothedge
o The seam in the main bedroom is not in the right place and it has a small triangular fill which should not be there
The carpet may be able to be repaired (with additional carpet from the same dye batch) however that cannot be confirmed until the carpet has been taken up and the full extent of how many cuts and staples there are can be assessed.
If there is no carpet available in the same batch, then the carpet would need to be replaced upstairs at a minimum and the ground floor carpet would need to be taken up and re-installed.
All seams will need to be taken apart, edge sealed and then re-joined to ensure they are done in accordance with Australian Standards and the manufacturer’s installation instructions.
The carpet will require power stretching, which may require additional carpet where the carpet is stretched passed walls and door jams. Full runs would need to be replaced where the carpet is
stretched past walls and door jams, as repairs would be unsightly and unacceptable.
The underlay is not a top quality luxurious underlay and it is not what was requested. The underlay needs to be replaced with a luxurious underlay.

Also they have done some damage to the upstairs floor. The floor now moans and groans when walked on. The extent of damage will not be known until the crap carpet and underlay is removed.

We took Solomons to VCAT and VCAT ruled that it was a “Major Failure” and ordered Solomons to return the remaining amount that we had paid them plus the VCAT fees. Solomons would not pay back the money as directed by the VCAT Order so I had to go to the Magistrates Court and then to the Sherrifs Office to get a Warrant to Seize Property from Solomons. I eventually received payment from that warrant from the Justice Department in July 2018.

This nightmare has lasted 14months and is still not over. I have an extract from an email sent by the store management of Solomons, that reads in part:

From: [redacted]
Cc: [redacted]
Sent: Thursday, 12 Jul, 2018 At 9:32 PM
Subject: Re: VCAT Order - reference number C4346/2017
"Ted
Low life is your whore mother that’s still looking to find out who your daddy is."

These people have proven to me, my wife, my bank and also to VCAT that they are thieving, lying, cheating low lives and I hope that they go out of business as they have used their dishonest practices on other people also . Go to:
https://www.productreview.com.au/p/solomons-flooring.html
This will give you some idea of the despicable acts that they are capable of.

As Solomons Flooring Dandenong is a franchise and I have spoken to the Franchise Managment, for Victoria/Tasmania who seemed to be more concerned with the store management than the customer.
We now have to go through this process of getting carpet all over again, this time with open eyes. However, who can we trust as there appears to be a lot of bad reviews for what we thought are reputable carpet companies.
I want to let as many people know about Solomons as possible as I do not want anyone else to go through what we have with this company and I hope that this post will save some people from the stress and anguish that my wife and I and many others have had to go through with these crooks.
So anyone thinking of visiting this store you have been warned.