Devlin's Painting Inc

I am the owner of the company, and personally spoke with the customer last week regarding the issues of the complaint. The only work completed by my company for him directly was the grounding of the outlets. I am disappointed that they were not completed correctly according to another electrician....

The $240 will be refunded. The office manager wanted proof that they were not done correctly before issuing a refund of any sort. will I take the customer's word for it in good faith, and will refund the full amount requested.All of the other work mentioned (with the exception of the wiring of the hot water heater, which was not done by my company) was completed for the previous owner before it was sold to the current owner. All of that work was signed off on from the previous owner and was deemed satisfactory. I aplogize that one of my former employees did not complete the job correctly and caused this inconvenience.

Review: I purchased my house in December 2014. After my home inspection we had the homeowners complete some work before I would purchase the house. This work was the result of the home inspection report and this work was completed for me and not the original homeowners. As Devlin's painting told me this was done for me to get a loan is an inaccurate statement as it was done for me to complete the purchase per the inspection report. The homeowners at their agents request, used devlin's painting to complete the other items. These items included installing a sump pump (also hooked up electrical for this), put in glass block windows in the basement, clean the gutters (although I never agreed to this my agent said to just pay for it), remove an old heating unit, and to replace the basement door with a new steel door. My agent [redacted] and I went to see that these items were complete at the beginning of December before I signed the papers on the house. When we arrived they were still completing some work and they were installing the garbage disposal and wiring the hot water tank as well as painting the new basement door and installing the glass block windows. As far as it looked to me these items looked good and decided to get a business card from them so that I could have some work completed which was to have some outlets in my house grounded. BIG MISTAKE

Before we moved in I contacted Devlin's painting as I wanted the outlets grounded right when I moved in on 12/8/2014 at 12:31 pm. I left a message and I got a return call at 5:38pm on 12/8/2014 but missed the call and they left a message. I finally spoke with them when I returned their call on 12/8/2014 at 6:06 PM. We set up a time for them to come out to ground the outlets on December 18. I purchased the house December 17 and moved in on December 19, but wanted them to ground the outlets before I moved in. On 12/10/2014 at 4:25 PM I called to confirm the time and got a return call on 12/11/2014 at 9:37am confirming that they would be out. I also got a call from the owner mike on his cell phone stating that they would charge me one day or half a days work, the cost was $200 and some dollars.

After closing on the house I noticed that the sump pump was not cycling water out of the cistern and told my agent who can back up this claim. Devlin's painting sent out an employee by the name of [redacted] to do the outlets and I mentioned the sump pump to him and he disconnected it. Jack then proceeded to "ground the outlets" and stated that the upstairs outlets could not be grounded and one outlet downstairs because of [redacted] and tube wiring, but he grounded the other outlets. I paid him that day for the gutter cleaning and for grounding my outlets. He stated that he had to get a piece of pipe to fix the sump pump and gave me his personal number. Well I called and he never showed up to finish the sump pump. After this I had other repairs in the house and didn't think about the sump pump. After awhile I also had some electricians to the house to get estimates on getting rid of the [redacted] and tube wiring in the house and bought a tester myself as I started to learn more about wiring. We noticed that none of the outlets that were supposed to be grounded were and one outlet upstairs that he said couldn't be grounded was already grounded even though he said it couldn't be grounded. So I had to pay to have a new electrician rewire these outlets as well. I called to solve this issue and explain the sump pump issue on 4/1/2015 and again on 4/15/2015. Devlin's painting would not take responsibility for these issues. I also had my agent talk to the homeowners agent who is a friend of Mike (owner of Devlin's Painting) and was told by my agent to call and they would give me a refund, which of course never happened. After this we found that the wire used for the sump pump and hot water tank were also wrong. The sump pump wire was not in an outside box and a regular plug was used which could have easily electrocuted somebody and the hot water tank line could have melted and a potential fire. I called again on 5/20/2015. At this point I was asked if when I have an issue with the house I just call devlin's and that is completely wrong because if that was the case I would have called every other day. Furthermore, I was told they would send me a refund for part of the outlets, which its been a month and haven't received anything and they stated that they did not wire the hot water tank. This is false because I was there before I bought the house with my agent and saw them wire the hot water tank (hot water tank was not wired during the home inspection). Also why I waited so long to contact them is because I am not an electrician and assumed that what I paid for would have been complete until I had to pay someone else to correct the issues. I was also told that the employee jack was fired and was doing side work and poor work. He was also the one that was putting in the glass block windows, which I also fixed because they were not sealed properly and just started leaking into the basement and the cement used is crumbling away.

Its sad that a company doesn't take responsibility for poor work of an employee. I understand that things like this happen, but at the same time there should be a warranty on work or a responsibility of a business to correct their mistakes. Things might look good at first, but not being an electrician or have ever installed glass block windows or a sump pump I am not an expert. I only find out about these items until I have actual experts look at these issues. At least send a refund for the grounding of the outlets like I was told. I was actually told as well "no need to call again" in a rude unprofessional manner and I haven't called again but at least stand by your work.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for the outlets as stated during our phone conversation on 5/20/2015. If you actually say you are going to do it then send the refund. I would also like the contact information for [redacted] including last name and a contact number. If Devlin's doesn't want to take responsibility for sending [redacted] out to ground the outlets and his poor work with the other issues in the house then I will be happy to show pictures and assist them in getting their money back/ go after him in court or I will go after him myself. If this information is not received I will have no choice, as per my lawyer, to list Devlin's painting on a complaint in which case in order to clear themselves they would need to list [redacted] on as a codefendant. I think this is fair considering I wasted time and money to get all these issues fixed that were supposed to be completed in the first place. I will look for my refund check in the coming weeks and the contact information for [redacted]. As I was trying to tell on the phone but couldn't get a word in I do blame the employee [redacted], but as a company you did send him out and should take some responsibility for his mistakes as you have with other clients and stated as much on our phone calls. Thank you.

Business

Response:

I am the owner of the company, and personally spoke with the customer last week regarding the issues of the complaint. The only work completed by my company for him directly was the grounding of the outlets. I am disappointed that they were not completed correctly according to another electrician. The $240 will be refunded. The office manager wanted proof that they were not done correctly before issuing a refund of any sort. will I take the customer's word for it in good faith, and will refund the full amount requested.All of the other work mentioned (with the exception of the wiring of the hot water heater, which was not done by my company) was completed for the previous owner before it was sold to the current owner. All of that work was signed off on from the previous owner and was deemed satisfactory. I aplogize that one of my former employees did not complete the job correctly and caused this inconvenience.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I spoke and met owner Mr. [redacted] and there was just some miscommunication from myself and the business. Mr. [redacted] was polite and courteous and went above and beyond to make sure I was completely satisfied. I really appreciate Mr. [redacted] taking care of this issue. Once he was informed of the issue he promptly resolved everything. I would still recommend this business to future clients.