Sett Studio

Hello Patty -

We just read your review and we understand your frustration. However we would like to address a few things you have mentioned that we feel are not being explained properly in your text. We try to put every effort into making sure that the units that we ship are sent with EXPLICIT instructions on the following:

GROUND PREPARATION
MAINTENANCE
INSTRUCTION

You were sent all of these instructions in the weeks prior to your studio arrival and informed of the HIGH importance of SOLID and LEVEL ground preparation for the studio placement. (THIS IS IMPORTANT AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HOME OWNER - as all Sett Studio documentation states)

You assured us that everything would be ready for the delivery of the studio.

We drove the studio out to your residence and reviewed the area that you wanted us to place the studio on.

It was NOT suitable SOLID ground. We noted that the ground was prepared with gravel and sand. Which, in any earthquake (even unfelt tremors) along with water causes a process called liquefaction. It turns into quicksand.

You were informed that the ground was NOT suitable.

You were still adamant that we built the studio in that spot for you.

So against our informed instruction and us letting you know that the studio would settle in an unnatural fashion, you still wanted it built there.

We built it there at your insistence.

The problems with your studio, began here at this point. Not with the construction of the studio. We have build many others in the Los Angeles area and have had only one complaint…yours.

Building a studio on gravel and sand is NOT recommended.

We went out to address your concerns and informed you AGAIN, that the ground that you wanted your studio on was unstable.

You proceeded to have concrete levels poured and attached them to the studio, thus inhibiting any future leveling to occur once the concrete levels began to sink.

These levels were poured against our recommendations NOT to do so.

This ALTERED your studio.

As the sinking began once more, which happens in quicksand, a studio, or any building structure will torque and warp and other issues will occur…ask any builder.

Now I’d like to take a few moments to address your other concerns about your studio that you mention in your review.

Cracks: From the moment we placed your studio on the ground we told you was not properly prepared.

You insisted we place it there. Seams split and cracks appeared. In an effort to provide the best customer service possible, we made every effort to accommodate your wishes on the placement of your studio.

The settling and buckling of windows.

When we build our studios on properly prepared soil, the most a unit will ever settle is 1-2 inches over the course of a few months.

By insisting that we place your unit on unstable ground, it sank close to 6 inches into the ground in just a few weeks. This is unheard of by building standards, and should be an indication that the ground is indeed unstable.

That is NOT normal unit settling, and we informed you that this would occur.

When buildings shift, things break.

When we left, your unit was level, the roof was not leaking, nor was the AC unit. When we place the AC unit in, we ensure that the water from the condenser flows OUT of the building, which is why it is important to keep the studio level, or it will come back in.

When a building begins to warp, water seeps in after heavy rains and roof leaks occur. If left untreated mold grows. You must keep your studio level.

This is an impossible feat on the ground you insisted that we build on.

We tried our very best to accommodate all of your wishes and even came out to help you with repairs, but in the end your studio will continue to sink, because the ground is not prepared properly.

As we stated, we totally understand your frustration and we TRIED to assist you multiple times by informing you that the ground was unstable and needed to be fixed. Instead you opted to claim that the studio was poorly built because of the trickle down effect of issues that have consistently, and predictably occurred.

We are very sorry that you are unhappy with your studio, but this all could have been easily prevented by proper preparation of the ground it was placed on. Our apologies.

We did not want your review to go without a reply, as we really do care about the people that we deliver these units to. In this instance, there is only so much one company can do, when instructions are not followed. We know the units we sell like the back of our hands, how they settle, and how they are built and we are probably the BEST place for information on how to properly prepare the ground for them. We are very sorry that you are having difficulties.

We did try multiple times to inform you that the ground you wanted the unit on would settle in unnatural ways.

We do apologize for any inconvenience, but at this point there really are no options.