Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  We made a contract to have our house exterior painted for $18,800 on July 13, 2021. The paid $5640 deposit. The painter they sent started working but using cheaper paint than the contract specified and doing some unauthorized and shoddy repairs. When we complained, he got mad and walked off the job, later sending us threatening text messages cursing us to "burn in hell" which we took as a threat of arson. Letendre apologized and sent a new painter but not until June 26, 2022, at which point we paid another $3760 as called for in the contract for the start of the work. The new painter took almost full month to do one wall and when he got close to half completion demanded the halfway contract payment of $4700, which we paid. He announced he had lung cancer and would not be able to complete the work, and could not offer any plan for its completion. Today he abandoned the job completely, taking all his equipment and even the company lawn sign away without explanation. The front of the house was left in terrible condition, the west side is unfinished and the east side is untouched; the north side is the only part that is close to completed. We have now paid a total of $14,100 (75% of the total price) but have only gotten about 40% of the work we contracted for. We consider this a gross breach of contract and would like nothing further to do with this company. We seek a refund of $6580, which is the difference between what we paid ($14,100) and 40% of the original contract price ($7520 of the total $18,000).

  Business response

  08/13/2022

  We are aware of this situation,
  
  The original painter who started this job last year, worked well with us for many years. Unfortunately, his wife passed away last year leaving him with depression and a drinking problem which we were unaware of until this job. As soon as the customer contacted us about that, we removed this painter from the job and our company until he can get the help he needed and we apologized to the customer for his behavior. We sent our master painter over to meet with the customer to look over the job and see if we would continue together. They both came to an agreement in October that our master painter would take care of this job in the beginning of the warm weather of 2022, which was originally the plan when the contract was signed.
  
  I talked again with the customer in April, mentioning that we would be able to start his project mid to end of May. He replied asking us to start after June 7th, which we agreed to. However we can not keep our painter without work, so he took care of another project while waiting, this project took two weeks longer than expected so we were only able to get on the job towards the end of June.
  
  The customer knew since the autumn of 2021 that we would be painting his home and that he would need a ********* before then, and yet waited until we started to hire the *********. The ********* tied up the use of a lift that we rented and paid for, for a total of 9 days. The customer also had his ********* remove flashing and shingles that exposed rotten wood, all of which needs to be replaced before we can finish the work. Also, the customer decided to change the color of the trim after the backside of the house was completed (which was the most labour intensive side). If not for these complications, the work would already be done, as he has more than half the job completed now.
  
  During this time, our master painter was diagnosed with lung cancer and is in need of an urgent operation. Even before telling us, he told the customer and promised that he would return and finish the work after his recovery. During that time, the ********* will be able to finish his work so we can paint. Three weeks after talking to the customer about his coming operation, the customer told him he didn't want to wait and that he would be bringing us to court.
  
  As our painter is going in for his operation next week, he removed his tools and materials for the time being.

  We stand behind our work and are still willing to complete this project as soon as our master painter is recovered, there is an estimated 3 weeks left of work to be done.

  Customer response

  08/17/2022

   
  Complaint: 17704796
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  First, this complaint has nothing to do with the first painter sent by the business. He was incompetent and rude and sent us threatening texts. Whether his wife died or he has an alcohol problem has no bearing on this case, and is certainly no excuse for his outrageous behavior. In an email dated October 12, 2021, ****** ********************** apologized and offered to replace the first one with his "master painter" *************************, which we accepted.

  
  Second, at no time that I am aware of did Mr ********************** set foot on our property to review the issues or speak to us in person. We have never met, nor have we, to the best of my recollection, ever spoken on the telephone, although he left me a lengthy voicemail (which I have retained) apologizing for the first painter's bizarre behavior. All contact with ********************** has been via email.In the hopes of meeting face to face with him, I drove on August 11, 2022, to the supposed offices of ********************** Painting, given on the contract as *******************************************************************, only to find that the address is actually a *** store at which ********************** presumably has a post box. None of this inspires me to have confidence in this business.
  

  As to the merits of my complaint: Mr ************************ response is factually inaccurate. Their painter ********* showed up at our house, alone and unannounced, on June 23 or 24 and began working on the back/north side of the house on Tuesday June 28. On the morning of June 29, while working on the second floor of the back/north side, he fell from a ladder and sprained his foot or ankle badly. He had earlier told me he would be renting a lift for a week to reach the high gables of the house; he indicated that we could extend the rental at our own expense if needed for the carpentry we needed done. On June 29 at 2:27 pm, we texted him that our prospective ********* had declined the job and that we would not be extending the lift rental. On June 30 at 7:58 am I texted again him stating definitively that we did not want to rent the lift. But the painter's injury now meant he could not work from ladders, so he decided to extend the lift at his own or the company's expense. ********* did not return until July 6, the date on which the lift was delivered.
  On July 6 ********* texted me to say he was going to start working on the driveway/west side of the house. I immediately objected via text, saying that was the side that needed the repair work and that he should start on any of the other three sides of the house to give us time to get repairs done. He then resumed working on the back/north side. He completed almost all of that side of the house (except the two entry doors which are still unpainted). We had an issue with the trim color and so we paid him to buy new trim paint (over $300).However, to avoid further expense and delay, we decided NOT to ask him to repaint the completed second and third floor trim, and he did not do so. He had not yet applied the second coat to the first floor trim, so we asked him to apply the new color as topcoat. This delayed things very little if at all.
  

  While he completed the back of the house, our handyman worked on the west side. We asked ********* if he could use the lift to access the high ***** for repairs and he readily agreed. If it is true that the handyman used the lift (********* claimed 8 to me,********************** says 9 times), it is also obviously true that *********, as the actual renter of the device, had full control of it and could easily have told the handyman not to use it if he needed it for his own work. ************************ response makes it seem like the handyman usurped the use of the machine and prevented ********* from progressing on the job. This was simply not the case.
  

  Finally, the work done to date by ********* has not reached the halfway ***** Only one side of the house is nearly completed (the back/north side), but the two entry doors there were ignored. The driveway/west side is partially done but the replacement of the ***** siding and the needed repairs to the lower band of shakes had not been completed by the time he departed, and so these remain unpainted (see photos). A large section on the right side of the first floor body had been painted with a single coat of inferior-grade paint back in October 2021 by their problematic first painter, but ********* did not apply a second coat and there are still visible streaks and areas of unpainted primer.The only other work done so far was scraping on the front/south of the house and some spot priming on the first floor wall and front door. The east side of the house remains untouched.

  
  I told ********* at least four (4) times via texts (July 6, July 30, Aug 2 and aug 10) to work on other parts of the house and leave the west side for last so we could get it fixed. The ********* also questioned why he was painting some of the rotten wood pieces that were about to be pulled out.********** single minded obsession to be able to claim he had finished half the contract work began to seem like a ploy to get the check for $4,700 that would be due under the contract at the halfway point. He had completed about 40% of the work, and, not wishing to get into a hairsplitting argument, I gave him the check. That was the last I saw or heard from him.

  
  By this time, ********* had revealed to me that he was to be hospitalized on August 19 and did not know when he would be able to resume work given the severity of the diagnosis (lung cancer) and the uncertain prognosis for recovery from having a large section of a lung excised. He said he would continue working through the day before his surgery. I am very sorry for his illness, but the contract is not with ********* but with ********************** Painting and completion within a reasonable time is an implied condition of any such agreement. At no time, up to the present moment, did ********* or anyone from ********************** contact me regarding how or when the work would be completed.

   

  ********* did not show up to work on August 9 or 10, and he did not respond to my texts asking for an update on their plans for completing the project. On August 11 he was seen by our hired roofing contractors loading up all his ladders and equipment into a ********************** van. I personally saw ********* and a ***** assistant from behind as they made haste to leave like thieves, without speaking to anyone or explaining what was happening. It was only after they left that I noticed they had taken all of the paint cans, including the ones I paid for directly, and had even taken away the ********************** lawn sign. It seemed reasonable enough at that moment to assume that ********* had taken the $4700 advance payment, cashed it and was planning to disappear and abandon the work. Again, no one from this company has made any direct contact with me to assure me that we have not just been the victims of a *******.

  
  At this point I do not want to have any further dealings with ********************** Painting and am very disturbed by the companys attempt, in its response to this complaint, to suggest that I am a difficult or unreasonable customer and that the present situation is somehow my fault. This experience has been a nightmare since October 2021 when their first painter sent us text messages blaming us for his having been terminated and insinuating that we would burn in h*** I am seeking the cancellation of the contract and the return of the $4700 advance payment to the company which I handed over to ********* on August 5. I am also seeking the refund of an additional $1880 which is the difference between what we paid at the supposed completion of half the work and the 40% of the work which was actually completed. The total we demand is $6580. I would be happy to exchange a mutual release of claims in return for such a settlement.

   

  Note: The attached photographs are all of the sections ********* claims to have finished, showing unpainted surfaces, exposed primer, and uncorrected overpainting and dripping. The view of the west/driveway side of the house shows the large areas where repairs were underway and should not have been painted. Note the primer applied to the strip of shingles between the first and second floors, and the missing siding on the upper *****. The final photo shows the condition of the front of the house on August 10, after work had stopped.
  

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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

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