Rayelle Robinson is upset with the initial reaction from Jayman Homes after a hot-water line burst in her family home, killing her two puppies.
“Our hot-water line blew up in our main bathroom and our puppies were in there because we were gone for an appointment – the scalding hot water killed them,” Robinson explained.
According to Robinson, a Jayman Homeowner worker assessed the scene and determined the water-line break was due to the puppies – a 10-month-old golden retriever, George, and a five-month-old Rottweiler, Chloe.
The Robinsons then contacted their insurance company, which assessed the water-line break and had an engineer report determine the break was not caused by the puppies but due to a faulty water line.
“The report tested negative for saliva and tested negative for bite marks,” Robinson said.
The family states they contacted several different plumbers to see if it was a possibility the dogs could bite through a water line and Robinson said they all laughed at her.
“(I had) a plumber say unless your dog turned into the Hulk there is no possible way,” Robinson said. “The builder has not had any contact with us – they did say in (to news outlets) that they’ve been talking to us, but we haven’t heard anything.”
A representative from Jayman Homes insists there is documentation of conversations between the homeowner and builder – “we have the appropriate documentation, reports and backup to support our position in this matter.”
Robinson, a mother of two, commented that the only time she heard something from the builder was when she posted her concerns about this issue on a Facebook page – Robinson said representatives called her and asked her to remove the post.
“They have employees that are in the same group as me but my lawyer said no, I don’t have to take it down because I am not saying anything bad about them – I am just telling them what happened,” Robinson said.
Jayman Homes has issued a statement to the news media regarding the issue – due to the fact both parties have legal counsel involved in the matter, a Jayman Homes representative said it would not be appropriate to discuss specific details about the issue.
“Jayman remains sympathetic to the loss our home buyers have experienced and confirm that we have been actively involved with these customers from the outset to work towards an appropriate solution recognizing this is an especially emotional event for them. Based on the facts before us, this was an insurable event which has been covered by the owners’ home insurance policy and we are continuing to gather facts in relation to same. Jayman has always and remains committed to honouring mandatory warranty obligations while following through on our commitment to provide top tier service for every one of our customers. We have never, nor would we ever, take steps to ignore or block customer calls as suggested,” – Jayman Homes statement.
The family said they are upset at the fact they have not received an apology yet.
“It could have been either one of the kids going to the bathroom at the time the pipe broke,” Robinson said.
“It’s heartbreaking – (the puppies) are like family and it’s hard when you have little kids looking for them and they don’t understand what is going on or why they are gone, they just realize they aren’t here any more.”
The family bought a new golden retriever puppy for the children and are currently waiting for their home to be fixed.
In addition to the deaths of the puppies, the Robinson house also suffered damages in the front entryway, the bathroom and the heating pipes downstairs.
“I would think they would’ve been a lot better about it – (the response) has been really poor,” Robinson said.
A Jayman Homes representative wanted to clarify during a phone call with the Eagle that the company has not avoided or dodged the customers phone call and said Jayman is 100-per-cent on board on trying to get to the bottom of the issue.
