The PUSHBACK
IICRC
O ver the years, we have heard many stories and have been involved with many cases of “pushback.” What do we mean by pushback? The manufacturer who immediately sends a decline letter to the dealer instead of sending an inspector to investigate. Or after sending an inspector, the manufacturer does not agree with their findings and still declines the claim. The installer who does not know how to fix something and, instead of talking to the customer about it, never calls them back, AKA ghosting. The customer who wants something done a certain way, which is against the installation instructions and standard industry practices. In all these cases, someone is left trying to figure out what it is going to cost to fix the issue. Recently, we have been on inspections where there is an obvious manufacturing issue. Instead of the manufacturer accepting responsibility that there is something wrong with the product, hung their hat on one sentence out of a 6 page report from the previous inspector and said the entire floor was failing because of one small installation issue, which was not around the areas of concern in the first place. On another, they came back with they were replacing the floor because of the “relationship with the dealer”, it had nothing to do with our report that said the same curling concern was occurring to the uninstalled planks. In one case the installer is left trying to help the customer and pay out of pocket for the replacement; or get lawyers involved and end up paying more just to get the product to replace the floor. In the other, the dealer gets what he needs, but at what cost? The supplier may not be as friendly on future jobs to cover the cost for this replacement material.
Jessica Violand Bruno Has been a flooring inspector since 2006. She is an IICRC Senior Carpet Inspector and holds certifications to inspect other floors. In addition, she is a lead sales associate with a flooring retailer and worked for 10 years with a flooring wholesaler.
Contact her at Jessica@ Mark4Floors.com “ Pushback happens
when no one wants to take responsibility— but someone always ends up paying.”
14 Premier Flooring Retailer TISE | 2025
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