Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/06/2025

  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.

  **** ***** was hired to paint our entire main level of our house. This included walls, trim, windows, doors, and ceilings. The windows and doors were not completed correctly. There is smeared paint and caulk on every single window(37 windows) and they were not even sanded down. It's a complete slop job. The doors they painted are chipping and peeling, and have pulled wood off of the frame they are attached to. The finish date was postponed at least 7 times supposed to be done in October and was not completed until the end of December prolonging our move by months. He was given roughly a month and 3 different notices that the windows and doors needed to be fixed. He sent workers out the day before the deadline, and they look exactly the same, no corrections (see current pic). The entire experience was a nightmare. Although the wall paint job is mediocre, all we want is a refund for the windows and doors. We do not want his crew back out as we gave multiple opportunities and frankly had things go missing by his crew members which he admitted to via text. We do not feel all was returned but at this point, the least we ask is that we are refunded for the uncompleted doors and windows. I attempted to settle this privately, I went through the itemized invoice and the total refund requested is $7383.80 and notified him. He said he doesn't have the money to do that and wants to fix it (again) but after a single level paint that took over 15 weeks and being told multiple times he will and it never being corrected, that is not an option for us and frankly we do not want him back on the property. I have heard similar experiences from others who have used him. It's a consistent issue with the company. I dont want to deal with his lying or any more delays, I fully believe he scams people, and has taken complete advantage of us. I dont feel it is absurd to expect the refund for the jobs that were not completed or done correctly.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/28/2025

                  First,I want to point out that I have known **** for many yearsshe even used to cut my little girls hair. I also employed her fianc when he was out of work.Thats why they chose to hire mebecause they knew I go above and beyond for every homeowner.
                  This complaint and the way it was handled came as a complete shock. Originally, we signed a contract solely for an interior painting project after the homeowners were dissatisfied with work done by a previous contractor. Upon their request,I then helped them find a company to refinish their hardwood floors, which meant we couldnt be inside the home for 34 weeks while the floors were being completed.
                  During this time, the property owners (the homeowners parents) asked if we could also replace the roof, soffits, fascia, gutters, and downspouts. Due to the homes advanced age and lack of maintenance, everything required custom fabrication as nothing was square or properly designed. Additional repairs were also needed on the garage and carport, which added time to the project.  What began as a simple interior painting job quickly expanded into a significantly larger project. My team and I were willing to take this on despite the holidays closing in with several other projects to try and wrap before Christmas. 
                  Upon completion of repairs on the roof, gutters, etc mentioned, we moved on to extensive exterior caulking, oil-based priming, and paintingincluding refinishing all their wrought iron patio furniture and fencing. Since cold weather was approaching and there was a limited amount of time for decent temperatures remaining, we focused on the exterior work first while the hardwood floors were still being finished inside. However, ******************** delayed their completion by at least 3 weeks due to their extensive travel distance for this job (1.5 hours each way) and scheduling conflicts, which further pushed back our timeline. 
    I hired additional crew members specifically for this job to get the work done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
                  Once inside we experienced more delays while working out specific details -refinishing the dining room windows four times attempting to bring them up to an aesthetic standard the homeowner would be pleased with, but ultimately having to meet with the property owner to show/inform him that the windows had in fact been painted shut for many years; they would require a lot more work.  He stated that leaving them as they were was perfectly alright with him and that they had no intention of opening them. We appreciated his understanding but had already lost significant time.
                  Toward the end of the job, my family and I all came down with Influenza A, which took me out for over a week before the holidays. Then came Christmas break, and my family had plans to visit grandparents out of town.
                  While I was out of town, I maintained communication with the homeowner and promptly responded to her messages regarding the details in her complaint. She shared photos with me which showed that one of my newly hired employees had done some painting work on the interior around the windows and trim that was not done properly, so I let her know that as soon as I returned I would personally come back right away and finish the last two days of work myself -correcting his work and tying up any remaining loose ends. The homeowner however began demanding a refund for $7,383.80an outrageous sum considering the only remaining work was etching the glass, fine-tuning the glazing, and finishing trim painting. As it turned out, their doors also needed proper weather seals to prevent the paint from sticking and peeling which was a contributing factor to why my painter had trouble with the trim around the door frame - replacing weather seals was not something that was included in my contract.  I was willing to care of it, however, once it was brought to my attention. 
                  I take great issue with being accused of scamming people in this complaint.This is blatant defamation and slander. In 20 years of business, this is the first time I have ever received a report of this nature. I made multiple attempts to resolve the situation and have proof of those efforts. The claim that the homeowner knows other people I have scammed is completely false,unkind, and unnecessary. I never walk away from a job that isnt finished correctly and is up to my personal, high standards.  I love what I do and I deeply value my customers and their happiness with each job - this is the reason why I am still in business and have nothing but positive reviews. 
                  I absolutely agree the items in question were not done up to my standards and as a result, I promptly terminated the new employee who was responsible for doing a less than quality job and immediately made arrangements to take care of things myself.  After being out from sickness and the holidays, I tried to make plans with the homeowner to return and handle the matter firsthand to make sure everything was done right and looked great.  This was denied by the homeowner, and then the refund amount was demanded that does not remotely align with what is needed to be done.  I want to make it perfectly clear that regardless of all this, I am still perfectly willing to return to the job site, fix the issues at hand, and make sure the work is done properly.  As I previously stated, I dont walk away from jobs until they are finished and would prefer not to leave this one unfinished, either.

   

  Respectfully,

   

  **** *****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/01/2025

  Complaint: 22908951
  
  I have reviewed the business' response and am rejecting it because:
  
  I am attaching what I can in text communications for the limited number of attachments allowed

   We hired him because we assumed he went above and beyond for every home owner, which is not the case. The experience is full of delayed work and asking for more money and attempting to add more projects, small or large, as a means to over charge and make more money. The way this complaint has been handled was communicated to the business owner as a final step to resolving the unsatisfactory work. He subcontracted a floor company (see texts) who he blames the delay of the interior project on. That same company was hired privately by us to complete our entire second floor and was done in a week. I feel paying **** to pay them was our error for I do not believe they received payment on time with the first project. We had no issues when we hired them privately, and they were paid on time.

  I am so glad the exterior work has been brought up. While his crew was out there, we had a significant amount of copper stolen by crew members. We communicated we were not selling or trashing the copper and they stole a large quantity which was not fully returned (see texts to see what was originally there and what was brought back and please note the racial comment). We also told **** to stop trying to add on projects to the contract as we were behind schedule, we were tired of paying when the work for the payment hadnt even been done, but and didnt need to do extra unnecessary projects (see texts). So attempting to use add ons as an excuse for delay is inappropriate as we told him we did not want things (like the cast iron) done. He also is saying we used Harbor Floor, we used Armour Wood with *** ****. (Would probably help to keep the companies used organized but as we experienced from working with this contractor, organization is not what we apparently paid for!) He blamed the floor company for the delay due to commute, if this were true (which again we had no problems when hired privately), you would think the contractor would have communicated to his client and his crew. This was also not done. 

  Dec 9, 2024 he let us know they would be finished that day and requested a total of $25,965.00 and was comfortable just accepting the money without a walk through. After we went out to the property we noticed a list of unsatisfactory work. Between that and the 28th we were told he would fix it and only one of the issues were fixed. Upon reading the texts attached there is noticeable growing frustration with the contractor. I asked for deadlines multiple times which were constantly changed, and finally when it came down to the wire he accepted payment for incomplete work. After this whole experience it is not wrong to say I do not want him on my property and he can include himself with the employees fired because of unsatisfactory work. He was given multiple chances and frankly that money should never have been accepted until it was up to HIS standards as well. He claims defamation and slander yet the work speaks for itself that the job was not worth the amount paid. Again, at this point after theft, disorganization, over payment, unsatisfactory results, unaccountability and blame of other companies HE hired, I feel we are completely In the right to refuse him coming back to our property, risk wasting even more time for more headache. A refund is completely appropriate for the uncompleted work, but I was told he cant afford to pay that back. Which I would question deeper as a business owner.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *********

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/11/2025

  4/11/2025 PE:  Email to the consumer to inform her of status of mediation and mediator assignment.  Inquired if a resolution had been reached and if not what the desired resolution is.  Asked her to respond either by contacting me directly, providing my phone number or to respond to the email.

  4/22/2025 PE:  Phoned consumer to inform her of the mediation status.  Asked for a return call to my direct dial number.

  5/5/2025 PE:  Called consumer from the main number (called prior from my number and it was picked up and then hung up).  Left message and asked for a call back to my main number.

  5/9/2025 PE:  Left "final call" with consumer.  Provided my name and direct dial phone number.  Asked for a call back.