The McKenzie Company

Exact same experience as above but a lot more money (thousands) involved! He is a scammer! Never heard so many excuses to get more money! Even returned a product that I paid for when he refused to finish job and credited himself! DO NOT USE THIS SCAMMER!

Paul McKenzie of The McKenzie Company 102 Driftwood Ct. Swansboro, NC 28584 refused to complete work agreed upon in contract.Mr. McKenzie refused to abide by the terms of our contract and verbal agreement in regard to payment dispersion and completion of services. Mr. McKenzie agreed to stain/paint my deck located at [redacted] for a total sum of $1240 on October 6, 14. He required a deposit of 20% but since the stain I selected was a little more expensive I suggested I pay him 50% of the bid which was $620 on October 6, 14 and pay the remainder when he completed the work. He agreed and told me he would start the next day and would be through by the end of the week (October 10. He didn't finish on time but said he needed the other half of the payment to finish the project since he had run out of stain. I paid him the remaining $620 plus an additional $55 for the sample paints he had purchased to show me the different colors. In all, I paid him $1295. He told me he would finish by the end of the week but he never called me to let me know if he had finished. I had to call and texted him to find out the status of the job completion. He left all of my deck furniture, children's toys, etc. on the ground for about two weeks. When I ask if he was through he said he had to go out of town to see his mother and he would go over do a walk through and call me. He didn't call until I texted him twice. My nephew and sister went over and looked at the deck and they moved the glass table off the ground to prevent it from getting broken. There was a 6x12 (estimated) section on the deck that had not been stained at all. When I questioned Mr. McKenzie when he planned to finish the job he told me he priced the job too low and he couldn't finish it unless I paid him an additional $160. I told him I had already paid him $55 more than the agreed upon price but I would pay him an additional $100 when he completed the area. He replied by text saying he wouldn't do it but suggested I ask my nephew to finish the job for me since there was a half gallon of the stain left on the back deck. There was no stain that matched my deck stain (light mocho) in the can. It was empty. I had to drive to Emerald Isle at 10:30 pm alone to deliver another gallon of stain in order to have my nephew complete the deck prior to the cold weather approaching on Friday and Saturday. Mr. McKenzie's business practices were unprofessional, deceitful, and borders on extortion. I paid my nephew $100 to complete the stain job and I also had to purchase additional supplies (roller, pan, and roller pad which totaled $56. I think Mr. McKenzie used every possible ploy he had in his arsenal of deceitful tricks to take advantage of me. I would like my money repaid for the remainder of the job and for two trips to EI that would not have been necessary had he done his job as he agreed to do. Both of these trips were a waste of my time and resources. I feel he purposely delayed telling me he was not going to finish the job because he had not even seen the completed job his employee (s) had done until after assuring me it would be completed on two different occassions. Desired SettlementI want a refund payment of $456.00 to cover the additional expenses I had to cover as a result of Mr. McKenzie's refusal to honor our contract: (1)A $100 Payment made to my nephew for final job completion, (2)$56 for additional paint and supplies for final job completion, (3)$100 for 2 round trips to Emerald Isle traveling from Macclesfield NC for the purpose of a final job inspection which he never finished (10/14/14 and 10/29/14, (4)$200 for my personal time and unnecessary discomfort due to physical disability of my left leg and for putting my general health at risk as a result of his lack of professionalism and breech of contract. I demonstrated my good faith and trust in Mr. McKenzie 4 times. First by paying him 50% instead of the 20% which he asked on the day the contract was signed, (2) I paid him the remaining 50% before he completed the job in order to help him pay his employees and purchase more stain, and (3)I paid him $55 more than the agreed upon price for the sample stains that he used to show me different stain colors, and (4)I agreed to pay him an additional $100 above and beyond the contract price if he would just finish the job. He told me there was a "half bucket of stain in the corner" if I wanted to get my nephew to finish the job. Mr. McKenzie completed my work and we have agreed this incident has been resolved. Thank you for your assistance.[redacted]11/13/14