Casablanca Painting

On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 11:20 AM, [redacted] <[redacted]> wrote:
I have an update for you regarding my complaint with Casablanca Painters. We have received the refund from Casablanca and we are now satisfied that  this issue is resolved.
I want to thank you all for your help. If you should need anything further from me please let me know.
 
Thank you,
[redacted]

The customer readily accepted our proposal.  Because it is outside work, we never include a beginning or ending date in our proposals because weather plays a critical factor that can cause us to be unable to honor specific dates.  Instead we verbally set a time frame when work can begin...

and provide an estimate of the amount of time that will be required to complete the job.  In this case we agreed with the customer that work would begin in July.  Prior to accepting the proposal the customer said they wanted to pay by credit card.  I spoke with the customer over the phone 2-3 times and explained that we no longer accept credit or debit cards because the cost for the machine and service was cost prohibitive since so few customers pay by credit.  The customer then accepted the proposal and made the 50% down payment.  The customer then requested that we paint 2 sides of the house in July of this year and the other 2 sides in 2015 and we agreed.  It was also agreed that Casablanca Painting would accept the down payment to be used for the work on the first 2 sides of the house. 
In July, as promised, [redacted] of Casablanca Painting and one of his crew went to the customer's home to power wash.  The customer and his wife came out as they were unloading the truck with the power wash equipment and told them to stop.  [redacted] spoke with both the customer and his wife at that time and they reached a mutual agreement that we would wait and do the entire house as soon as the weather broke in the spring of 2015.  The customer did not mention or request a refund of the down payment.  During the conversation, [redacted] mentioned that he had planned to finish the job before he had to travel to Europe on the 21st of July for a family emergency.
Only a few days after his departure I began receiving e-mails from the customer demanding their deposit back.  They provided no reason for their demand.  I promptly returned their first e-mail and asked politely why they were asking for a refund.  Their response was that I was to never contact them again in anyway and return their deposit.  Since I do not have authorization to make withdrawals of that size from the business account, [redacted] was overseas and unable to make adjustments to the business account and because I was unequivocally instructed by the customer not to contact them, I was unable to explain the situation and was forced to wait until his return to address the problem.  After his return, [redacted] promptly spoke with the customer and they told him they did not have the money to pay for the job and wanted their down payment back.   He agreed to refund their money by the end of the week of September 5.  On September 1, they filed a complaint with the Revdex.com.  Needless to say, we are very upset by this customer’s actions. 
We feel we did everything possible to assist this customer.  The customer's statement that we did not do the work in July is blatantly untrue.  We arrived to begin work in July and were stopped by the customer.  No mention of a refund was made at that time.  Had the customer requested a refund, we would have gladly and immediately honored their request.  Instead, they agreed for Casablanca to hold the money until the work began and to wait until spring when they would have the money to make the final payment.  We are also upset about their negative comments that we refused to refund their deposit and provided poor customer service.  AFter being specifically instructed never to contact them in any way, all avenues to resolve whatever issues the customer had were closed to us.  As our actions in this matter prove, we make every effort to assist our customers with payment options.  We also fully understand that sometimes things change for people financially and they must adjust their plans, however, this customer's rude behavior and unfounded attempt to damage our business has caused us to inform them that we will no longer accept contact from them and will inform those businesses in our vast network to beware of working with them.   
Despite this unfortunate situation, we will continue to provide the professional level of service we have given to all of our customers over the last 16 years and will continue to assist our customers by offering payment options whenever necessary.  Our reviews from customers on the Revdex.com and [redacted] rating and reviews as well as the number of return customers and referrals we routinely receive speak to our professionalism and responsiveness to our customers needs.

Review: we contracted for a paint job to be done in July. Casablanca cashed our 50% deposit check of $1,600 on June 10. We were not contacted with start date details, after repeated requests for same. We then found out that they do not accept credit cards , which was not discussed with us and is not on our contract. As we intended to pay the balance of the job with a credit card, and with the poor custom service we had received, we have cancelled the job and have repeatedly requested our $1,600 deposit back, with no results to date.Desired Settlement: we want our $1,600 deposit back, we would prefer a cashiers check at this time.

Business

Response:

The customer readily accepted our proposal. Because it is outside work, we never include a beginning or ending date in our proposals because weather plays a critical factor that can cause us to be unable to honor specific dates. Instead we verbally set a time frame when work can begin and provide an estimate of the amount of time that will be required to complete the job. In this case we agreed with the customer that work would begin in July. Prior to accepting the proposal the customer said they wanted to pay by credit card. I spoke with the customer over the phone 2-3 times and explained that we no longer accept credit or debit cards because the cost for the machine and service was cost prohibitive since so few customers pay by credit. The customer then accepted the proposal and made the 50% down payment. The customer then requested that we paint 2 sides of the house in July of this year and the other 2 sides in 2015 and we agreed. It was also agreed that Casablanca Painting would accept the down payment to be used for the work on the first 2 sides of the house.

In July, as promised, [redacted] of Casablanca Painting and one of his crew went to the customer's home to power wash. The customer and his wife came out as they were unloading the truck with the power wash equipment and told them to stop. [redacted] spoke with both the customer and his wife at that time and they reached a mutual agreement that we would wait and do the entire house as soon as the weather broke in the spring of 2015. The customer did not mention or request a refund of the down payment. During the conversation, [redacted] mentioned that he had planned to finish the job before he had to travel to Europe on the 21st of July for a family emergency.

Only a few days after his departure I began receiving e-mails from the customer demanding their deposit back. They provided no reason for their demand. I promptly returned their first e-mail and asked politely why they were asking for a refund. Their response was that I was to never contact them again in anyway and return their deposit. Since I do not have authorization to make withdrawals of that size from the business account, [redacted] was overseas and unable to make adjustments to the business account and because I was unequivocally instructed by the customer not to contact them, I was unable to explain the situation and was forced to wait until his return to address the problem. After his return, [redacted] promptly spoke with the customer and they told him they did not have the money to pay for the job and wanted their down payment back. He agreed to refund their money by the end of the week of September 5. On September 1, they filed a complaint with the Revdex.com. Needless to say, we are very upset by this customer’s actions.

We feel we did everything possible to assist this customer. The customer's statement that we did not do the work in July is blatantly untrue. We arrived to begin work in July and were stopped by the customer. No mention of a refund was made at that time. Had the customer requested a refund, we would have gladly and immediately honored their request. Instead, they agreed for Casablanca to hold the money until the work began and to wait until spring when they would have the money to make the final payment. We are also upset about their negative comments that we refused to refund their deposit and provided poor customer service. AFter being specifically instructed never to contact them in any way, all avenues to resolve whatever issues the customer had were closed to us. As our actions in this matter prove, we make every effort to assist our customers with payment options. We also fully understand that sometimes things change for people financially and they must adjust their plans, however, this customer's rude behavior and unfounded attempt to damage our business has caused us to inform them that we will no longer accept contact from them and will inform those businesses in our vast network to beware of working with them.

Despite this unfortunate situation, we will continue to provide the professional level of service we have given to all of our customers over the last 16 years and will continue to assist our customers by offering payment options whenever necessary. Our reviews from customers on the Revdex.com and [redacted] rating and reviews as well as the number of return customers and referrals we routinely receive speak to our professionalism and responsiveness to our customers needs.

Consumer

Response:

On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 11:20 AM, [redacted] <[redacted]> wrote:

I have an update for you regarding my complaint with Casablanca Painters. We have received the refund from Casablanca and we are now satisfied that this issue is resolved.

Paint job not done as described, will not submit quote as promised. No follow up.