Quality Hardwood Floors of Spokane, Inc.

This is in reference to ID #[redacted]
We installed, sanded and stained #1 common red oak hardwood flooring for our customers.  This is a 4 day process to complete the job.  I personally spoke with the wife in regards to the work being completed.  She stated that the hardwood flooring...

was professionally installed, but had some issues  regarding picking out stains.
Our process is to install, sand, stain and an additional (2) coats of oil based polyurethane be applied to the flooring.  We customize stains and show the customer samples applied to their flooring in an area to get their approval.  None of the stains shown were an exact match to what their desire was so we sent them to Sherwin Williams to pick out the dark stain of their preference.  We have the customer see the stain on a section of their hardwood floor before applying to the entire area.  Once applied, if the stain was not the desired color, the only way to remove it would be to re-sand.  We had the husband there talking with his wife and approving of the stain color before it was ever applied.  The stain had been applied but was not completely dry by the next morning or afternoon.  I had requested that we would complete the work over the next (2) days to apply the finish over the dry flooring (Friday & Saturday). Our crew would come in to finish the work over a day off to make sure we are accommodating our customers and making sure they are not inconvenienced.  A phone call left on the answering machine after hours of Thursday 5/5 and a with a returned phone call the next morning on 5/6, customer asked for us to not return.
The only thing we can think of is buyer’s remorse for the stain color chosen. However, we did receive two phone calls (5/6 [redacted] Contracting & 5/9 [redacted]) from (2) different callers asking for (2) coats to be applied to a job for that location and recognized the voice on the other line.  They may have forgotten who they had been working with.  In both of these phone calls, no re-sanding was ever mentioned, only finishing coats.
As a way of educating our customers, a customer information letter is sent out that states  - Be aware that some touch-up will be needed for baseboards, before any job begins. 
As for the settlement, the original billing was for $11,949.39 includes tax.  To settle up the billing we gave them a bill for $8,953.19 includes tax (this is minus the stain and last two coats of finish). We had already discounted the price from the original job and only what had been completed per the contract.  Being a family owned company and in business for 63 years, we take our customer satisfaction seriously.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
Complaint: [redacted]I have read your response Wendy. The $250 deduction is not acceptable to me. There is one key item missing - the floors were not done up to standard. I work very hard for my money as you do. I am also aware enough to know when I am wronged. It may come down to the tactless approach Paul took in interacting with my wife and I. Interestingly, the interaction I had with Royce was very minimal in that, I showed him the floors, I told him how dark of a stain we wanted and off he went. 72 hours later we have beautiful floors and Royce is our hero.  There was no argument, he did not insist on using a stain he had in his van, and he certainly was much more professional than Paul was.  Remember, we accepted your bid and went with your company with the full intention of paying the full amount of the bill. I do not install floor and would not pretend to know anything about that. However, one thing is very clear, when Paul was done the floors resembled a poor rendition of a Zebra and when Royce was done they appeared professionally done. Since you have spoken with Royce and have discovered that he had to resand the floors, I can not pay you for sanding job Paul did. This I am ready fight in court - even if I lose. 
I will once again offer to pay you the bill submitted to me less the sanding job. I'm not asking for anything else and not even the $250 deduction you offered (my wife and I took us about 3 hours to clean all that up). If this is acceptable to you then let's move forward. If it not then please proceed with the lien and We will go to court. If judgement is against me I will come to your office immediately and pay you that day. If the judgement is against you then I will file my own law suite for the hard ship this caused me and my family including the cost that I incurred due to a delay in moving out of the rental place where lived into our new house.
I will not be calling Walt to discuss payment  I will anticipate your response telling me wether you will accept my offer of payment or you choose to proceed with filing a Lein against my house. Both are acceptable to me  
Sincerely,[redacted]
Sincerely,[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
My responses to each of the critical points mentioned in your response are enclosed in brackets [ ] for your reference.  I encourage you to read through and see my summary statement included in the last paragraph.
We installed, sanded and stained #1 common red oak hardwood flooring for our customers.  This is a 4 day process to complete the job.  I personally spoke with the wife [What is her name? I know yours. Paul is the man that did the installing, Walt is the owner of the business and Bonney is the pleasant lady that answers the phone. Do you know our names aside from "the husband" and "the wife”? - Very poor form]
We customize stains and show the customer samples applied to their flooring in an area to get their approval à  [You NEVER CUSTOMIZED the stain. You wanted us to pick what you had stocked in your van. Similar to going to a doctor with an ailment and being told "I only have these 6 medications. You HAVE TO CHOOSE one of these medications. If you want a different medication you have to go get it elsewhere."] . . . . .
The only thing we can think of is buyer’s remorse for the stain color chosen à [No, not buyer's remorse. Rather, a poorly executed staining job. You guys did a fantastic job putting down the new hardwood floors. I will give you credit there. The sanding and the staining were poorly executed.]
However, we did receive two phone calls (5/6 [redacted] Contracting & 5/9 [redacted]) from (2) different callers asking for (2) coats to be applied to a job for that location and recognized the voice on the other line.  They may have forgotten who they had been working with à [I or my wife have no idea what you are referring to here. We asked Blue Ribbon Hardwood Floors and D’Angelos Wood Floors to come and help us from this predicament in which Quality Hardwood Floors had placed us. Sadly, both of them knew, before I even mentioned your company's name, that this was a job likely done by Quality Hard Wood Floors. Neither my wife nor I know anyone by the name of [redacted] Contracting or [redacted]].
As a way of educating our customers, a customer information letter is sent out that states - Be aware that some touch-up will be needed for baseboards [“some touch” up? I have pictures of what you did to the baseboards. We will have to agree to disagree that what was done to the baseboards was not by anyone’s imagination, perhaps except yours, a “some touch up”]
As for the settlement, the original billing was for $11,949.39 includes tax [if the job was completed to our satisfaction – but this was not the case. Therefore, you cannot count the bill of $8,953.19 as “discounted” price].  To settle up the billing we gave them a bill for $8,953.19 includes tax (this is minus the stain and last two coats of finish) – [Yes, because you did not do the stain appropriately and two coats of finis were never applied]. We had already discounted the price from the original job [How did you discount this? You are not asking that I pay you $11,949.39 are you?] and only what had been completed per the contract.  Being a family owned company and in business for 63 years, we take our customer satisfaction seriously [I sincerely beg to differ here. If customer satisfaction was your concern we would not be communicating through Revdex.com].
Summary:
I had Blue Ribbon Hardwood Floors complete the job that Quality Hardwood Floors left half done. Mr. Royce B[redacted] did a phenomenal job. The floors had to be resanded of course. We are very happy with our floors now and they are exactly what we wanted. There are no light or dark spots on the floors. They even taped the baseboards. The biggest difference between Paul (Quality Hardwood Floors) and Royce was that Royce listened to our concerns and what we wanted. Paul wanted us to go with what was stocked in the van and told us that we had no other choice because those were the colors they had in the van. He even adamantly recommended “gloss finish” even though we asked for “satin” finish. I have never had such a bad customer service experience especially on a job that is carrying a weight of $11,000.
Once again, I am willing to pay you $6,880.35 + Tax (for materials & installation of the hardwood floors and Prep). I can not pay you for the sanding job you did which was done poorly and I had to have it redone.  This is a fair offer. I have included pictures of the floor the way they looked when you considered the staining "done" and were ready to put the polyurethane coat on, as compared to, the way the look when completed after Blue Ribbon Hardwood Floors finished the job. 
Sincerely,[redacted]

On Monday, June 20th I spoke with Mr. [redacted] and have resolved the complaint.  We have reviewed postings submitted on the better business site, however and see that the pictures we took verses what was sent in by Mr & Mrs [redacted] shows that inaccuracies are evident and additional staining had been done. As in further conversation, you had applied the custom finish we left to the floor to try to make it darker. The picture you submitted was not our work. I have attached a few pictures that were taken by our craftsman after staining and before the last two coats of finish were applied. No blotchness was evident in the staining, the other areas of concern would have been taken care of before the last process was complete (replacing the baseboards and touching up the base).
The stain was chosen and shown by applying in area of 2’ x 10’ section in the light on the floor, as samples will show differently on each species of wood.  Once approved it was applied to the remainder of the floor.  We had no opportunity to finish the flooring or address concerns as they were not communicated to us.  Just a phone call stopping the work…as stated before.  Again, we received (2) more phone calls for your address asking for additional coats of finish to be applied on the Friday and Monday after the ask for us to stop work from two different vendors ([redacted], [redacted] Contracting & [redacted]).  The phone calls also let us know, the stain work was fine.
Since we do not have the opportunity to address your concerns as you had another floor company put different stain onto the floor (Red Mahogany verses Modern Mahogany) and it does not benefit anyone to spend time in court.  We do ask for retractions for any falsehoods on postings be made on websites (Yelp, Angies List and Revdex.com) would take place however. Our letter should have been received outlining the new invoice for payment needed to close the account.  As per our conversation on Monday June 20th, communication is the key, and we are certainly here to please each and every customer if given the opportunity.

Just a quick note to let you know that we are so happy with our floors. After seven years and four kids our floors were weary and worn. Now they look brand new. [redacted] and his team did an excellent job. Thank you!

We are so pleased we read reviews and checked with Revdex.com as everything they said was ' spot on ' , they are wonderful and deserve [redacted] star rating . They did our bedroom floor and it is beautiful . I will recommend them to anyone who has hardwood floors . The owner and his son have a great team ethics and said they would be there at 9am and were spot on time .
[redacted] in the office is so kind and helpful , my husband said she was the reason why we needed to call them to get our floors done , her great personality and all the nice things she said of the company and its owners for 53 years .
The [redacted] Family

We recently hired Quality Hardwood Floors to add approximately 700 sq ft of new hardwood floors & refinish approximately 300 sq ft. I can't say enough about the quality & speed of installation. Everyone at Quality from [redacted] and her professional manner to the crew that was knowledgeable and friendly we were extremely satisfied. I would highly recommend them if you are looking to have the best looking floors in town at an affordable price. Thank you for a job well done!

Clean Job. Done as promised, on time. Looks great. Well Done! Thank you.

Quality Hardwood Floors sanded and refinished the great room, three bedrooms, and a hallway in our home May 6, 7, and 8, 2013. The third, final coat of polyurethane had bubbles in areas of all four rooms and pour (pooled finish) marks in two. QHF returned May 14, 2013 to buff the floor and apply another finish coat. The pour marks from the May 8 finish are still visible and again there were bubbles in the finish in all four rooms and this time they missed coating several small areas in the hallway. We requested a new, reduced price invoice. Again we were told that QHF wanted us to be happy with the result and offered to return after the second final coat had hardened for 30 days. We had no faith that a third coat QHF applied would solve the problems and were, by this time, weeks out of our home. We paid the full invoice amount for a job that was not as advertised.

A large part of our choosing QHF was their high Revdex.com rating. We are registering this complaint with the Revdex.com in hopes that no other homeowners will find themselves paying full price for a less than advertised result.