AERT Hit With Class Action Suit Over ChoiceDeck

I, like everyone else who has purchased and installed ChoiceDek, has had to put up with black spots. I want to know someone's opinion on using a local law firm or going with the class action law suit. In my experience, in a class action suit the individual usually on gets a very small portion of their money back while the lawyers get the big money. Also, has anyone file suit against Lowes for knowingly selling a defective product. When I spoke to my local dealer I got the runaround. I will never shop at a Lowes again for this reason. Any information will be of help in my decision on litigation.

I too have the black spots on my deck. I contacted the law firm about the class action suit and they are in the process trying to reach a settlement. I'm guessing class action will result in something very small but dont know if I want to fight this one on my own...

Well, i was almost settled on choice dek for my new deck - can't afford Trex - have heard negatives on that now also. and Azak and Timbertek are too cost prohibitive. hey i might do back to pressure treated - hey then i can afford to do some other work around the house or maybe take a vacation!

we sent a letter to the manafacturer and complained. they gave us a full refund .

Cecil Knight wrote:

I, like everyone else who has purchased and installed ChoiceDek, has had to put up with black spots. I want to know someone's opinion on using a local law firm or going with the class action law suit. In my experience, in a class action suit the individual usually on gets a very small portion of their money back while the lawyers get the big money. Also, has anyone file suit against Lowes for knowingly selling a defective product. When I spoke to my local dealer I got the runaround. I will never shop at a Lowes again for this reason. Any information will be of help in my decision on litigation.

You are correct! I read today some company in a class action payed big bucks, but the people got only $2.00!

Yep two dollars!

i like the deck.... best thing i did, installing this deck...just use a little bleach and water, or 30 seconds, comes off and looks great, had my deck for 21/2 years would never go back to wood.... 800 square feet cleans in 30 minites... jpcars@telus.net

i have had no problems with my 500 sf choicedek, 6 years now, and still looks great. i have cleaned with a varity of products, greased lightning, oxyclean, and straight pressure washing. all have worked well.

I have a Deck that was installed in 2004 and it has Black Spota and due to the fact that the joist are as described on 16" centers rather than as TREX would have 12" centers the deck has beautiful waves (Not).

The Deck has spots and is warpping all over due to what I would describe as incorrect use of Plastic Building Products - Yet the Deck was installed per the Instructions at Choice Deck.

We have just installed Choice Deck and are just now learning about the lawsuit and all of the problems. We had intended for this to be our last deck. What recourse do we have to recover almost $6,000 investment?

I have a ChoiceDek deck and it is spotting. It was purchased in 2005-2006. Apparently the product had unclean (food products in with the plastic) recycled plastic in its makeup that has caused continual mold problems FOR SOME OWNERS. The problems and their severity are directly related to the humidity level where they are installed. Cleaning the product can cause serious failure of metal construction pieces (joist and deck construciton materials) that were used in the decks construction. Those people who are going out and using harsh oxiding cleaners on their decks may be endangering the integrity of their decks. Before I clean mine with anything other than pressurized water, I am waiting for the class action results. The company should come through for the consumer, since this involves a lot of people. I am giving them time to decide what course of action people should take.

I too have the same problem with my ChoiceDek, black spots. What good is a guarantee when they won't do anything about it. It looks just horrible!! If the class action suit is won, won't the makers have to do something about their inferior product...what about Lowes are they being sued too?

I installed choicedeck in fall 07. now, black spots everywhere....pissed off....want relief

email: jeff.cloyd@ricoh-usa.com

I have a choicedek that is 4 years old. It gets black spots on it where my wood deck rotted, in a damp shady corner. No where else does it spot but the rest of the deck is in sun and stays dry. A pressure wash takes the spots away. Until I read these posts I would have only thought that it spotted because of the location. A relative put in Trex at the same time. The top separated from the hollow inside.I think the best deck I've seen for lasting power and abuse is ironwood, which is a very hard wood. Its hard to stain though.

I am having the same mold spot problems with my grey ChoiceDec. Is their a class action suit in the works?

Have had my deck and railing by Choicedek for two years now. It is nothing but problems. It looks like a leopard and have tried all of the recommened cleaning methods. What a waste of $4000.00 Waiting to see what relief we get from the class action suit?

I have had my deck since March 06' and it is a mess. I filed a claim with the manufacturer, sent pictures and everything, all I got from them was $50.00 to go to Home Depot to buy the cleaning product because Lowes does not carry it. 4 Months later all the mold is back, it makes me sick, that I spent $6500.00 on materials for something that is horrible looking and embarrasing. Don't even want to entertain on the deck. My husband is a carpenter and installed it, If I had to pay someone to install it, the cost would have been around $12,000. I can sympathize with everyone who is having this problem. Hopefully we can all get relief from the class action suit.

We installed the deck in April '06. I tried to clean it last summer using a mop and Clorox Outdoor bleach, it didn't work too well. I just recleaned it using the same product and an $18.00 sprayer. I didn't scrub or powerwash, and it came out much better. Of course it isn't what we expected when we installed it.

Jim - your description of "leopard" exactly describes my deck! We have had wood decks and have used deck cleaners which perfectly cleaned the deck. The only thing we have found to use is a pressure washer (bought a new one for $250 this year) and inch by inch washed the deck. No regular deck wash has helped. I've used straight bleach and it helps on large spots, but we have a large deck and shouldn't have to wash it with straight bleach (worried about plants, animals, our own skin, etc). We also have a problem with water collecting on the deck. It looks like we have a mini-lake on the deck - we have to squeegee it. We thought it was the installation (although the installer used the spacers that came with the instructions). At least nice to know others have had the same problem and it's not something we are doing.[]

I installed my 600 sf deck in January 2007 using Choicedeck. Since then, I have had nothing but problems, specifically with the mold and spotting. I used bleach mix, and power washing. I realized that power washing takes off the mold, but it returns within 3 months. Also, the Choicdeck railing is flaking and I don't know how long it will hold up in the harsh Hawaii rain and sun. Disappointed to the max. I hope they refund the full purchase price.

I am completely disappointed in Lowes and agree that a guarantee is no good if not honored. Our mold is terrible and it doesn't come off wihtout extreme effort. We paid $30G for the deck and I can't imagine how much it will cost to replace the board. We will have to because we are selling our house in the spring. I called Lowes multiple times during this summer and they said that the mold was completely normal. I asked if others had the same problem and they said no, that it probably had to do with how much light the deck received (NOT!). I won't shop there again!