Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Student Works Painting's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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Student Works Painting has 8 locations, listed below.

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  Student Works Painting

  119 2455 Dollarton Hwy North Vancouver, BC V7H 0A2

  
• 

  Student Works Painting (Victoria and surrounding areas)

  V8V4A1 Victoria, BC V8V 4A1

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  Student Works Painting

  Calgary Office Calgary, AB T2G 0X8

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  Student Works Painting

  Edmonton, AB T5T 6J8

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  Student Works Painting

  Winnipeg Office Winnipeg, MB R3G 3H4

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:20/06/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Recently we got our house painted by the student works painting team. The beginning of the transaction was pretty smooth. I mentioned I wanted a similar color and pointed out some issues I had with the ceiling. (A small dent and then the old owners had painted the ceiling. I also mentioned a few of the walls were a darker shade but you couldn't tell so I wanted it all just one color. I got a quote for just over 3K to for one coat of the ceiling, walls and baseboards.She came and did a small swatch on the wall of the colour that I picked online. It looked like it matched quite well, close enough. After the first day I was out at an appointment and got a message that one coat wouldn't be enough as there was streaks, she sent a picture. And it would be another ******* to add a second coat. She had already painted a portion of the wall to show me the difference so I didnt really have much of a choice in the matter. I informed her that it was the darker walls and that maybe only the three walls would need a 2ndcoat. At this point I was a little upset as it was more than I wanted to spend and thought as a professional she probably should've put the swatch on the darker walls if there was a chance it would need another coat.I paid for just a second coat on those 3 walls only.One of the days they were working they accidentally lit one of the drop cloths on fire in our kitchen. They shook out the cloth in our backyard and continued to use the charred cloth for the rest of the job. I was extremely disappointed in having to pick up pieces of ash that had been imbedded into the carpet and in my backyard. Once they had completed the job I noticed that not a single wall had been puttied (even though it was checked off on my invoice) and they had just painted over every dent and crack in the house. I noticed this a couple days after the job. I called to get them to come back and fix only one of the walls because it looked terrible. They ended up puttying this wall and painting it. But they only painted the parts that they putty and they used a brush not a roller so it looks awful. After this I noticed one of the walls in the kitchen was half painted and not finished. They also forgot to open the doors when painting the doorways because of this I now have an outline of grey on all 5 of my bedroom doors. I made a complaint and they phoned me and told me all they could do was come back and touch it up. I extremely disappointed in the professionalism of these students. I expected a great deal more for how much I ended up paying. This has been a huge headache and an even greater disappointment. All I wanted was a portion of my money back so I can fix the doors and walls myself. Overall I will not be contacting this company again for any painting related needs.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 22/06/2023

  Hi ******, 

  Thank you so much for informing us of this issues. As I said to you on the phone yesterday we are terribly sorry for this, and the job should have never gone this way or had these results. We agree that your mother paid for a good job, and we will like to make sure she is left with that. As we discussed yesterday we would love to send a veteran franchisee over to resolve all the concerns of the job, and make sure your mother is left with the end results she should have received the first time. I know you were going to speak to her to make sure this would be an acceptable solution, so please let us know and we will be happy to schedule it at her earliest convenience. Thank you for informing us and giving us the opportunity to make this right. 

  ****************

  Vice President of Operations. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/02/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  A quote for painting was provided for $12000. We were pressured into signing the contract on the same day and paying a $2100 deposit. The pressure was to obtain a 10% discount that would not be available if we waited. We explained we wanted to lighten the Color of the house from the medium Color we had. The quote stated 2 full coats of paint. 3 months later when picking the final Color the business owner, ****, changed her quote to add $3000 since our chosen Color was lighter than she expected and thus needed an extra coat. We argued this was in contradiction to our agreemnent but she refused to refund us the deposit. Another paint company told us two coats were plenty for the Color we chose. **** noted that on the quote sheet it stated in small print that should medium to deep and clear base colours e chosen this may change the number of coats and price to explain her new added price. But this makes no sense to the layperson since that does not sound like the light Color we picked and she did not verbally explain that to us in the original meeting. We now see that there are many similar online complaints regarding this company for these tactics - pressure to pay deposit, then increasing the quote later once she has the deposit. In our discussion requesting the refund she said she had already purchased two gallons of paint - we think this is not true since we had not agreed upon a Color yet, she had only purchased small samples (regardless 2 gallons of paint is only worth $120 maximum). If true we are fine receiving our deposit of $2100 less the $120.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/02/2023

  
  We are sorry for your experience with ****. We do need to point out at no point in time were you pressured in to signing on the spot. Our franchisees are very busy trying to balance school and running their business and if their clients are able to make a decision at the time of the estimate we offer them 10% off as a thank you for helping them save time. This was something that was told to you well in advance when you booked the estimate, and was not something that was just brought up lightly. Making a claim that a young woman in business is pressuring people to sign on the spot seems to be going a little too far, especially someone who has the integrity of ****. We will admit that **** did make a mistake int he application of the test patch, but she did offer to come back and do it properly with a roller and brush. Unfortunately with the shortages in raw materials some of the substitutions the paint companies are using have affected the coverage, and in some cases whites or off whites are having issues covering in two coats. We always do a test patch in advance to make sure this won't be an issue for you, and if it is you have an opportunity to change the colour to one that does not have that issue. Did the other painter you speak about take the time to do a test patch for you to confirm? We do apologize for the incorrect techniques of applying the test patch with a foam brush, but again we were willing to come back and do it properly to confirm. We believe that this point it this project is not a fit, and have no problem refunding you the deposit. We will deduct costs of the paint $180 (please see attached receipt) and $70 for credit card fees that we incurred to process the transaction and to refund the transaction. Please confirm that you agree and we will process the payment immediately. Thank you

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/02/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:16/08/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Met with Logan *** M**** on April 27, 2022, to discuss all what we want done (front deck, septic tank cover, garden boxes, and back deck-back deck is the only thing that was previously stained and needed to be sanded,  which was discussed). Signed the contract, picked  a colour, and pay the deposit. Logan comes back at a later day and does a couple test patches. We like the colour and tell him to go with it. It's a semi transparent oil based stain.
  He comes about a month later, we are not home. They wash the deck and do some prep but we aren't there to verify what exacly they did we aren't really sure what he did because it didn't look like much. They come again in a few days once the deck has dried. They do the front deck and septic tank lid and some in the back yard. We are pleased with how it looks. He continues in a day or two and calls me and tells me they are having trouble getting the stain to soak into the back deck, and asked if he should continue, I told him ya I mean what other option is there at this point but try to do some sanding and get it to soak in. He said it looks blotchy. We come home and we see what they have done and we are not happy. We talk with Logans worker Braeden and I ask him if he would be happy with this if it was his house he said no. He also said he had his doubts about the back deck and expressed them to Logan. Logan came back to do a final walk thru and we told him we aren't happy. Not satisfied. Pointed things out to him that weren't done. He just stared at us. He never really tried to make things better he was just hoping we'd pay him to go away basically, so Joanna wrote him a cheque, but after he left she put a stop on the cheque. He gave us a number of the stain supplier and we called a lady named ***. *** **** ** ****** **** ******* *** **** *** **** *** ** *** ** ***** ** ** **** ** *** ******* *** *** **** ** ****** ****** ********. We just want our deck finished, once the work is complete, payment will be issued.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 19/09/2022

  Mr ********* 
  
  *

  We are terribly sorry for the late reply. We did not receive any correspondence from the BBB about this claim until September 14th. Our District Manager, Angelika Sawka, for Northern Saskatchewan has reached out and left you a message on the 15th. I will have her follow up with you guys again today. We would be happy to resolve the issues. 

   

  Cory B******

  Vice President - Operations