Renovation Exchange by J & R

I hired [redacted] and Renovation Exchange (J&R, LLC) to power-wash and stain my deck as well as fix some of the boards and replace the nails with screws. The deck stain was $225 and the repairs $75 totaling $300. The deck was power-washed and due to Renovation Exchange's schedule and some weather issues, there was over 2 weeks of lag time before they came back to stain. I paid [redacted] half the amout owed, $150, at that time (even though half the work had NOT been completed). The day [redacted] finally came to stain there was 60% chance of rain in the weather forecast (which any "professional" will tell you that if it rains while the deck is being stained or shortly after, it will ruin the job). I asked [redacted] to come the following day when the weather was supposed to be sunny, but he showed up anyway and began staining my deck. Sure enough, it began raining and he left. When he came back the following day, I asked what the plan was to make sure the deck was sealed. [redacted] immediately became defensive and rudely told me that he did not intend to fix the rain soaked deck and laughed as he told me it was supposed to rain that day too. I didn't say another word and walked inside to make a call to figure out how I should handle this situation. When I returned, [redacted] and his partner were packing up their stuff (I DID NOT ask them to leave). At this point, the deck was less than 1/8 of the way completed. As to avoid a confrontation, I let them leave. Before they were even out of my neighborhood [redacted] and his partner sent me an invoice for work they absolutely DID NOT COMPLETE and threatened to send me to collections if I didn't pay. I had to go to the store, purchase supplies and do the work myself.Desired SettlementI should not have to pay [redacted] and Renovation Exchange another dime for work they DID NOT DO. They added a note on the final invoice that said I requested them to come stain the day it rained (which is untrue). The final invoice they sent needs to be dropped and I am requesting a refund of the $150 I already paid Renovation Exchange, as that money was paid with the intent the job would be completed.Business Response We were initially contacted by Ms. [redacted] at the end of May, beginning of June to come and look at her deck for a quote on pressure washing and staining the deck. During the consultation it was also recommended that the boards on her deck be screwed down, since the nails on over 50% of the flooring were popping and allowing the boards to curl up. She agreed at an up charge of $75. Including the screwing down of the boards, pressure washing, and then staining the deck, the total quote came to $350. After quite a bit of negotiating we agreed to give her a $50 discount, making the total quote $300.A $150 deposit was paid and the deck was pressure washed and all boards were screwed down and reattached to the frame work. This work was completed on 05/23/14. On the day that work was completed we advised our customer that the deck needs to dry for 24-48 hrs prior to applying any stain.During the next 2 weeks the weather was uncooperative and therefore we advise our customer that we could not stain the deck until it was dry. This did not sit well and she became aggressive, yelling from her second floor patio. From there it continued until we had a break in the weather, although not 24 hrs rain free the customer kept harrassing us to get over there and finish here deck. We did finally meet her at which time she enforced that she wanted her deck stained even though rain was forecasted during that time. We advised her that would not be able continue to stain if it started raining nor would we warranty or re-do the work. The deck was 1/2 stained when the rain began. The next day when we went back to finish the flooring we were told that we would be re-doing the work from the previous day since the rain left blotches. We replied that we would not be restaining the deck since she insisted that we do it against our advisement.. We were them told to stop working and leave. She has paid for 1/2 of the project and 2/3 are completed. Had she waited like the others in her neighborhood there would have been a time that weather would have permitted the completion without issues. We do not feel that any type of refund is owed, especially since on a prior occasion when she became aggressive regarding the weather, we advised her that we did not want to work with her anymore and we would even refiunded 1/2 of her $, but she called and apologized for her behavior and asked us to stay on the project.In closing, had this customer just followed the advisement of our team, she may have had to wait another week or so, but she would have had a beautifully stained and useable deck.0