Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/07/2024

  Type:Billing 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.

  My tenants sent me a text of the conversation the business owner was having with them. They do not feel comfortable with the business owner being in the house. I do not want the business back in my house. The business owner appears to be trying to scam me out of my house. He has only painted the basement walls and cleaned the gutters to this point and not worked on any of the other jobs listed in the contract. I do not trust him with any more work and do not want him on the property. If you read the forwarded texts attached you will understand why. I gave the business a down payment of $1700. I have asked the tenants to give me pictures of the finished painted basement walls and the cleaned gutters. Once I am satisfied the work is complete, the business can deduct the amount for completed work from the down payment and I want the residual amount of the down payment refunded to me and for the business to stop any further work as I can not trust this business in my house.

  Business Response

  Date: 16/07/2024

  I'm very sorry that **** had to go through this.  This is not how I do business.  * *** ** * ***** ** ********* ** *** ***** * **** ******* ** ********* *** ****** **** * *** ** ****** *** ******** ** **** **** ** ****** ***** *** ******* ******* ********* *** ******** **** ** ***** * ******** ** ** *** ** ************  Despite feeling empowered at first it turned out to be a disaster in the end.  When I called **** from the hospital ***** **** I told her why I was there.  She assured me that I was doing the right thing, and she understood perfectly, seeing she was a registered nurse.  The event that was supposed to make the Grand Falls real estate market explode was completely in my head. It was not realistic.  I am not a bad or sneaky person either. I would never do anything to swindle **** out of her investment property.  I was not thinking right. I apologize for that.  I offered to install gutter guards at no cost (worth about $2000) but she didn't bite.  I seemed like she thought I could put  a hex on her house or something.  I don't even know how I would make her house appear to be haunted.  It would be extremely difficult, to say the least. I asked her to forgive me--still no response. This frustrated me.  It seems like she wants her "pound of flesh".  I was in the hospital for almost two weeks starting on June 21.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 16/07/2024

  Regardless of Tim's personal health and circumstances, the resulting texts broke the trust between me with the business and my tenants with the business.  It was his texts and the apparent attempt to collude with the tenants to devalue my property that became an issue. It was the tenants who alerted me to Tim's behaviour.

  I was happy to hire another contractor to finish the work on the property and to install the gutter guards already purchased by Tim, but Tim's text response about the gutter guards was inappropriate. I don't know how to proceed with Tim regarding the gutter guards at this point. I have already partially purchased them through the down payment.  The only recourse is to pay for the painting and gutter cleaning and for Tim to refund the residual amount owed to me from the $1700 down payment. 

  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 21/07/2024

  Invoice INV-126 was compiled with information contained in INV-066 and INV-067.  Up charges are explained in INV-126 which result from the entire basement requiring painting because there were dents and cracks everywhere in the room.  Also, **** ***** did not have the paint number on file (I went to them personally to enquire) so a computer match was made but there was enough difference in the paint tone to require the entire basement to be painted to avoid color mismatches. Two coats were required in the basement--this was mentioned as an additional cost in the estimate, additional materials were required as well.  The gutter cleaning is a standard charge of $400, and could have been more in this extreme circumstance.

  I will be happy if the client pays the outstanding amount of $492.90 and I will consider the matter to be resolved.

  Final invoice, INV-126                  $2,192.90
  

  Deposit, May 20, 2024                ($1700.00)

  =================================

                                           Balance $492.90

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 30/07/2024

  Only one person painted the basement.  It was not a two man job. The basement required only one coat of paint.  

  
  

  Thank you,

  ****

  Business Response

  Date: 07/08/2024

  After searching, I discovered that there was a tally only one coat of finish paint applied.  So, the customer is correct in this.  But the entire basement was painted--not just the two walls originally indicated by the customer.  There were dents and blemishes all over.  The stairway and surrounding wall areas required crack filling also. So this was crack filled, sanded, primed (lightly sanded again) then painted.  The estimate showed two men working for 8 hours at $80/hour but in the end it was one man (****) working under my supervision for 28.75 hours at $30/hour.  $736 vs. $991.88 (respectively). So I lost money on that because I had to adhere to my quote.  It took **** 4.5 days.  It is the work product that counts--not how many bodies and not how many days.  The value is still there.  It was a job price.  It was not Time and Materials.  But in Estimate EST-066 is states specifically that if the whole basement is painted it will be an additional cost and I communicated this to the customer as a $400 up charge in a text message. The customer did not dispute the amount.  I also inspected the customer's roof to report on missing ridge capping and venting, and I inspected the stairs on the front of the house to determine how they should be repaired in order to make them safe.  These two things were done with the prospect of further work but this never materialized.  The customer got an exceptional deal.  I did not.

  Correction:  INV-126 Line item 4 says "2nd Coat in Basement"  this should really be labelled, "Up Charge For Painting Entire Basement".  My mistake.

  See Line Item 6:  "If the customer wants the entire room painted then this will cost extra".  This originally appeared on EST-066.

  I would prefer to deal directly with the customer to quickly resolve this matter.  This process is combersom and time consuming.  I think I am being more than reasonable.

   

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 14/08/2024

   I am rejecting this response because: 

  I am not satisfied with the businesses answer and do not agree with the businesses response. 

  
  

  My response is he's messing around with the billing and creating confusion.  I think the attached text messages, his ever changing story, and his backpeddling speak for themselves.  He should stick with his quote.  I actually sought further counseling on this issue and she agreed Tim should stick with his quote. I think I'm being scammed.

  
  

  $800 for the painting + $400 for the gutters = $1200 

  
  

  I gave him $1700 downpayment. $1700 - $1200 = $500 that he owns me. 

  
  

  I have hired 2 other professionals to continue the work on the house. They saw the work that needed to be done, gave me quotes, did the work, and I paid them.  Quite simple actually.  No unprofessional behaviour or upcharges.  My tenents were not comfortable with Tim and neither was I.  We could not trust him back on the property.

  
  

  I spoke with Grand Falls Police Department on the day he picked up his tools to enquire about a peacekeeping visit between Tim and the tenents during the tool pick up.  The police seemed to be familiar with him and his tactics and advised me.  

   

  One more thing I must stress is that Tim came to the house and assessed the basement BEFORE giving his quote. My tenents let him into the house to assess the basement.

  
  

  
  

  Again, I do not accept the businesses response. 

  
  

  Thank you,

  
  
  
  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 21/08/2024

  The customer refuses to acknowledge the up charge for having her entire basement crack filled and painted.  Not only were the two initial wall sections crack filled and painted, but the entire basement including the stairwell and wall areas right up to the doorway to the kitchen. The estimate makes it clear that there would be additional charges for the additional work and this is reflected in labor and materials charges. The estimate was used to make the invoice so the same wording appears on the invoice as well.  This was also communicated to the customer in a text message.

  
  

  Small Claims Court is the way to resolve this.  In SCC the workman is worthy of his reward.  Fair compensation for work performed.  I have never lost a SCC case and I have always collected.  I'm tired of this process that allows my customer to malign and denigrate me, all the while refusing to be objective.  I take refuge in the clearly spelled out estimate and in the invoice that honors good work, real materials and fairness.  The job was a top notch professional job despite it being done by a novice.  I supervised and coached my assistant and he did a fantastic job. In the original scope of the project only 1/2 of a gallon of paint might have been required.  Instead, we used two gallons of paint.  The crack filling was challenging.

  
  

  I have no record with the police unless it is to do with a serious car accident that claimed the lives of my two oldest daughters and rendered my son a paraplegic in 2002.  My customers are fiercely loyal to me, often working their projects around my schedule.  I even carry treats for dogs and cats.  

  
  

  I am finished with this.  I will defer to the Small Claims Court in Edmundston.

  
  

  Sincerely,

  Tim.