Kellco, Inc.

Review: On Dec 6, 2013 I signed a contract with Kellco Inc for some interior painting & electrical work. The charge for the jobs was combined so there was no way to know what I was being charged for each job. A few days later [redacted], the owner of Kellco, convinced me that I should have almost everything painted & I agreed but I was refused a new estimate. The painter arrived a week later & had his workers start painting before he would give me an estimate. [redacted], the owner's son, told me in an email the job would be completed by Friday Dec 20th but when the painter arrived he said it would not. Since they had already started painting I had no choice but to agree to whatever they wanted me to pay & accept the time required to complete the job. I was told the only way they could finish by Monday (instead of Friday) was if they worked every day from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm, including Saturday. Based on that the price for the additional painting was $7,250 but because I was not given an initial price I had no idea what the total amount was. They painted part of that day & the next day they painted from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm as they said they would. The next day they didn’t come until after 9:15 am and the day after they left about 1:00 pm, which took seven hours off the time I was told was needed to complete the job by Monday. The next day, Saturday, they were done at 1:00 pm, which means the job was completed in 12 hours less than the estimate & the job could have been completed by Friday as was originally promised. When I spoke with the owner's son about why the job wasn't done on the date promised, which included other work besides the painting & totaled over $45,000, he told me no one liked me & didn't want to work for me & therefore were not inspired to get the work done. It is obvious they intentionally refused to give me an estimate before they painted & intentionally didn't complete the job by the date promised & lied about how long it would take to complete the job.Desired Settlement: I would like to know why a business is allowed to refuse to give an estimate before starting a job. I would like to know what I paid for the painting job and if I was charged a fair price when they based the price on a false estimate of how long it would take to complete the job.

Business

Response:

The week of 7/29/13 we [redacted] came to our office at [redacted]. We have been doing work for Mr. [redacted] for the last ten years. He explained to us that he had a leak in his 2nd floor shower and would like us to come out immediately to repair. We sent three of our employees out on 7/30/13 to cut open the damaged sheetrock in dining room that was directly below the 2nd floor bathroom. At that point in was discussed with Mr. [redacted] that the shower had reached a point where the grout had begun to fail and we suggested that it might be time to renovate the shower stall of the Master Bathroom.

Due to Mr. [redacted]l’s busy schedule we did not resume workuntil a later date. We wrote up a contact for the Master Bathroom which wasgiven to Mr. [redacted]l on 10/17/13. Mr. [redacted]l agreed to the contract and during the following month arranged for his daughter [redacted] to stay at his home to oversee the work due to schedule and the fact that he would be traveling. It wasunderstood that [redacted] would be able to sign contracts, checks, and act as Mr. [redacted]l’s agent in his absence.

Work at the [redacted]l’s residence resumed on 11/11/13. During that time we assisted [redacted]l in selections for the shower stall renovation. [redacted]l also approached us about expanding the scope of work to include other areas at Mr. [redacted]l’s residence. A second contract for maintenance work was signed by [redacted]l on 11/19/13. There would be an additional two change orders for painting and electrical work as signed by [redacted] on 12/6/13 and 12/18/13.

From the moment [redacted]l was brought into to oversee the work to be done she has asked many questions about the how the work was to be done, when the work was to be completed, and various details about the work items. From around 11/13 until the present we have received and answered 26 emails from [redacted]. We have met with her countless times, and our employees have stopped work to explain exactly what we were doing and why.

[redacted] has made numerous verbal changes in the agreed upon contracts which we diligently tried to stay on top of. As we explained to [redacted] only the maintenance contract signed on 11/19/13 stated a completion date of 12/20/13. It is my understanding that those items were completed by the agreed upon date. We have also completed all items of the original bathroom contract except for the shower door which we have stated the payment of the shower door

can be held back until completed.

As far as the changes orders 1 & 2 painting and electrical work the items agreed upon in those contracts have all been finished. Change order 1 was for the electrical repair in the basement and painting in specified rooms of the house. In the following days [redacted] expressed interest in having the interior of the whole house painted. I explained to her that the painter would start the room already agreed upon and at that time review the increased work requested and give an updated price. The next day I presented the updated price in change order 2 to [redacted] at which time she signed the contract. She had indicated at that point she would like to know a completion date if possible. I explained to her with the added items we would not be able to have the work done before 12/23/13. [redacted] stated she understood but still hoped we could be her deadline of 12/20/13.

The painting work of change order 2 was completed on 12/21/13. We understood that it was important for [redacted] to have the work done as soon as possible and we did everything we could to meet her time frames. I would like to state that this was out of trying to please [redacted] not out of contractual obligation. I am also not sure why [redacted] says we refused to give her estimates before work was started as I have signed contracts for all the work that has been done. It seems that we have a different recollection of what has transpired than Ms. [redacted] which seems to be creating some of her anger towards us. We regret that it has come to this point with Ms. [redacted]. We have

reached out to [redacted] numerous times to try resolving the animosity that she has towards us. [redacted]l should be returning from his travel in the near future and we plan on reaching out to him to see if there is anything we can do make this better. The [redacted] are important customers and we value their business and relationship we developed with them for the last ten years. As of today’s date 1/6/13 the contracts have all been paid in full less the amount for the shower door. As far we are concerned the matter has been handled. Please let us know if there is anything else that you will require from us.

Kellco Inc.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: The response from Kellco covers many of the issues they had in regards to their working for me, however, they are unrelated to the issue of my complaint, which is that they refused to give me an estimate for the painting until after they started painting. I did not know that is even legal to do and it forced me to have to pay whatever they charged in order to get the job completed. The work order with the estimate for the additional painting is dated December 18th, which is the day after they started painting. They were aware for at least a week prior to that, that I was adding additional painting to the original work order and whenever I asked about an estimate I was never given a response. I am not sure why I should have had to ask for an estimate - I should have been given one when they agreed to handle the extra painting, which I decided to do at the owner's suggestion - it was not even my own idea. Additionally, my complaint included the fact that while the painter was looking at the job (while his workers had already started painting) and estimating the hours needed to complete the job - that the price was based upon - he stated several times that his workers would have to work from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day, including Saturday, in order to complete the job by Monday. However, the workers only worked one day for those hours and the next day they came more than two hours

late. The following two days they left five hours early each day, which is a total of at least 12 hours that I was told were necessary to complete the job. I was given an estimate based on the hours needed to complete the job – 11 hours per day, including Saturday, and the person who gave the estimate overestimated the job by 12 hours, which is one whole day less than what I was told was needed to complete the job. In my opinion I was intentionally lied to about the time needed to complete the job, which means the estimate was based on one more day’s work than was necessary.

Included in the response from Kellco was a comment regarding my animosity towards them, however, I have no animosity towards them at all. I was completely shocked and very upset when I was yelled at by the owner’s son telling me that no one liked me, no one wanted to work for me and thus no one was motivated to get the job done - those comments express to me that they are the ones with anger issues. I was actually in the process of preparing to make baked goods to bring to the office as thanks for all the work they had done and I had no idea I was paying them $45,000 for a job they didn’t even want to do. Once they were honest about how they felt, all the problems I had been having with them began to make sense. I was unaware that there was any problem and in fact, about one week into the job, I went into the office and spoke to the owner regarding the way his son seemed to be so stressed with the job. At that time the owner had the opportunity to let me know I was not behaving in a manner they approved of, yet the owner made no comment whatsoever so I am not sure how I could have known there was any problem. At least I made an attempt to try to communicate that there seemed to be something wrong and if they had been truthful at that time then perhaps these issues could have been avoided. I am not accustomed to being treated in such an unprofessional manner and it never occurred to me they did not like working for me.

My last comment is that I have made it very clear to Kellco that my father, who is in his 80's, is having difficulty managing his affairs and my father’s physician recently contacted the family to let us know that my father should not be living alone and needs assistance – that is why I am here getting work done on his house. For Kellco to state that they are going to speak to my father is very disturbing to me as it will only upset and confuse him – and it is completely inappropriate and shows their lack of professionalism and ethical values. I have no intention of telling my father about any of the problems I had with Kellco and I will only try to help him understand all the work they did on his home. As Kellco commented, they have been doing work for my father for many years and I am certain my father will be very appreciative of all the work that was done. Kellco has made it quite obvious that they have no respect for me but they should at least have the decency to leave my father out of this, being aware that he is having mental difficulties, and it is my hope they will change their mind in that regard.

Regards,