NOBLE, okla. - Mike Johnson’s storm shelter has been belly up for a year now.
His yard is pretty much useless, not to mention dangerous for his kids.
He says the worst part though is knowing his family doesn't have anywhere to go during a tornado.
“I paid money for this to protect my family,” he said.
The guy who installed the shelter is John Keely of Common Ground Storm Shelters.
Mike says he refuses to come and get it.
“I've spent a lot of time calling the guy,” he said. “I understand the situation he's in. He had multiple shelters that I'm aware of that have floated up out of the ground.”
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office tells the In Your Corner team their office has received five complaints against Keely's company.
Plus we know the Better Business Bureau lowered his rating to an F for failing to respond to complaints.
We found Keely’s address online and met up with him at his home.
Keely says he's only installing safe rooms now.
He provided our team with a report that says his safe room design was tested and approved by The National Wind Institute at Texas Tech, which we reminded him has nothing to do with the below ground shelter floating in Mike's backyard right now.
Keely told us he plans to refund Mike and others their cash.
The In Your Corner bottom line is state agencies don't regulate shelter installers.
Some municipalities, including Oklahoma City, require a permit, but it does little good to protect customers.
Just ask Ken Milligan.
“We had to pull a city permit and let ‘em know it was installed so they could come out and check it,” he said. “They drove by the house is all they done.”
Ken says his shelter is built good, but several issues came to light shortly after the install.
The biggest thing is water.
There appears to be hollow spots beneath the shelter.
Ken paid extra for a warranty, but the company that installed it, Precision Shelters, went out of business.
We know the company's managing partner, Dan Trantham, is filing bankruptcy and now lives in Fort Worth.
Trantham tells the In Your Corner team there simply wasn't enough money to keep the doors open and because he's in bankruptcy proceedings there is nothing he can do to help Ken right now.
- It's important to educate yourself.
- Get references.
- Doing searches online.
- Make sure your storm shelter design meets FEMA guidelines.
John Keely says he doesn't have any extra cash right now to refund customers their money.
We'll check back.