Certa Pro Painters of Humble/Kingwood

I will no longer be responding to this customer through this forum.  He is again stating false information about my hiring practice.  My crews are professional and find them through multiple sources whether that be craigslist, paint reps, or other contracting companies.  I'm sorry that painters don't use [redacted] or [redacted] to find work.

Mr. [redacted] and I have come to a settlement on the disputed amount but I will still address some things that Mr. [redacted] states in his complaint.  I’ll start with that fact I have never met Mr. [redacted] and he was never at the house when I was there.  My only communication was with his wife...

until I spoke to him for 1 minute on 9/9 when he cancelled the project. 1.    Talk to company on 9/7, 9/8, and 9/9 a.    I’ve attached my call log from 9/2 to 9/13(Item 1).  I have highlighted all of Mr. and Mrs. [redacted]s phone numbers.  You will see that I was only called on 9/8 then again on 9/9 twice.  The first time was Mrs. [redacted] calling about some issues that she wanted fixed and the second was Mr. [redacted] calling to asked if I was offend by him calling my Hispanic painters unprofessional.  When I responded yes he cancelled the project.   2.      After daily complaints to the franchise owner, Bret [redacted], who only came to get crew started and when we had major complaints regarding substandard painting and quality of work we were compelled to stop CertaPro painters from further work. a.      See answer to number 1. Also see attached Item 2. I use a mileage log app and item 2 show that I went to the house to start it on 9/6 and on 9/8 after a call from Mrs. [redacted].  This call from Mrs. [redacted] was the first call I received after starting the project on 9/6.  She said there were some nails that were not removed and nail holes that were not filled in as well as a rag used to wipe their hands left on a cabinet that she would like me to look at.  I went to the house spoke with Mrs. [redacted] about the issues, reassured her that we would get them fixed before the project completed, and then spoke with my painters.   3.       Communication was poor and the paint crew could not speak English. a.      The crew had 4 members: job site supervisor/painter, senior painter, and 2 painter/helpers.  The jobsite supervisor and 1 of the painter/helpers speaks English.  Mrs. [redacted] mentioned when I went to the house on 9/8 how much of a help Joseph (painter/helper) was.   4.      Most paint lines were very uneven and it was very clear that at least part of the crew Bret had sent had little or no experience. Nails were not removed, holes were not patched, a room and partial bath were completely painted in a random color we did not choose, as well as ceilings sprayed when they should have been rolled. a.      The paint crew was made up of multiple years of experience. As for the paint lines, the crew goes through the house on the final day and straightens any lines requested. The nails and hole patches (nail holes) were going to be taken care of on the final day as I mentioned to Mrs. [redacted] on 9/8.  A bedroom and sink area was painted the wrong color.  My crew did not check the paint can when they went to get additional paint from the store.  I can’t answer to why they didn’t notice it was a different color while applying and stop.  What I can say is that Mrs. [redacted] told me about this and I reassured her that it would be taken care of.  These areas were removed from the price of the project.  As for the ceiling, it was sprayed and then rolled.   5.      Switch covers off in most of the house, missing doorbell cover a.      The switch covers were off and in a bucket which they were going to be installed on the final day of the project.  When Mr. [redacted] cancelled the project he stated that he didn’t want us to do anything else so when we went to get our supplies we removed the paper and plastic, made a spot in the dining room for the paint that was left over, and left the switch covers for them.  As for the missing doorbell cover, this was accommodated for in the final agreed amount.   6.      We are willing to pay a fair price to resolve, but the explanation of charges from CertaPro mostly inflates the cost of the work completed and generalizes what was not completed. We have asked for a detailed bill with a breakdown for each room showing the cost and if it was completed or not completed. Bret said that he has it on his computer, but after repeated requests he has not sent it. a.      I did not inflate the cost of the work and actually reduced the total cost of the project.  See items 3.  In item 3 it shows that the original invoice with the total charges before discount was $5914.13 then an invoice from 9/15 with the total labor/materials plus the amount deducted for the unfinished part of the project was $5743.74. b.      Item 3 also shows on the invoice from 9/15 and the final invoice from 9/22 what rooms and surfaces were removed from the bill. Mr. [redacted] has not repeated asked for a detail price breakdown by room.  He only asked for it one time in an email at 10:36pm on Friday September 16th (see item 4).  He submitted this complaint on Monday before I even had a chance to respond to him.   7.      Finally, since we are about $850.00 apart from what we both feel is fair in the final billing, I offered $250.00 more to close the difference to $600.00, which Bret declined. I finally came back with an additional $250.00 to close the gap to $350.00 so we can just get this over and move on. That is apparently still unacceptable, even though Bret has not provided a detailed bill. a.      See response for number 6 above.  Mr. [redacted] gave me no time to respond to his email as it was sent in the middle of the night before a weekend.   8.      While it is exceedingly clear that Bret was highly offended that we terminated his services (certainly for cause), he will not work with us to resolve, only inflating the cost of work completed, a.      I was not highly offended that he terminated our services, I made it exceedingly clear I was offended that he was yelling in the background that my Hispanic painters were unprofessional while I was speaking to Mrs. [redacted] on 9/9.   As for the painting contractors that Mr. [redacted] has solicited for bid.  In an email Mr. [redacted] stated that he has gotten bids from “licensed painting contractors”.  In the state of Texas there is no governing body that issues licenses to painting contractors so it is impossible to have received bids from a licensed painting contractor In conclusion I will say there were some issues with the project which do come up from time to time as my painters are only human.  They are painting pretty much every week of the year so it is impossible to believe that they will never make a mistake.  When they make a mistake they are more than happy to fix the mistake to make the customer happy. In this situation I reassured Mrs. [redacted], which was my only point of contact during this project, that they would be fixed the issues as she wanted.  My crew takes pride in their work and only wanted the chance to fix the issues but they were not given a chance to do so. NOTE: I didn't show Mr. [redacted]s address or parts of his or others phone number as I wasn't not sure if this was shown out to the public.