Tri-State Deck Cleaning, LLC

If you and the business have reached an agreement and compliance is set for a future date, we trust the business will comply Please contact us after that time if the matter is not resolved as agreed and we will review the complaint and proceed accordingly.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***. I am not going to respond to each point in the business' reply other than to state, in summary, that what I wanted accomplished by the project was and continues to be misunderstood. Primarily because of the past miscommunication about the project, I wanted future discussion about possible solutions to be face-to-face and arranged the Saturday, 10-Oct appointment. However, the business valued expediency over improving communication and took a unilateral action on 8-Oct and informed me of the action after-the-fact via email. This does not meet my understanding of and expectations regarding good communication. I also do not give permission for photos of my deck to be posted on any web site. I do wish to put this incident behind me and therefore I accept the suggested resolution. I will mail a check to the business in the amount of $at the address they provided. I will also leave a sample board and can of stain left by the business near my garage doors if the company wishes to pick these items up sometime in the next week.
Regards,
*** ***

Attached are pics of the deck after completion as well as after completion email communication Attached communication emails are for the Revdex.com only and aren't intended to be public A full assessment of my side of this situation is below And if possible I would ask the Revdex.com to post
the photos of this job on my response page so potential customers can view them.Here is my responseI'd first like to state that to my knowledge, this is the first complaint that we have received in years through the Revdex.comIt is the first time for sure that I've had to respond to one Which is a shame because it should never have come to this! All of this is a result of the fact that the deck in question turned out slightly more of a cedar tone than the customer expected. I was in direct communication with the customer throughout the process until she terminated it once the deck was completed I agree that this is a situation of misunderstanding and miscommunication In 2001, I received a major in Speech and Communication from *** and was taught how important good communication is and as a small business owner for over years, I have always strived to find common understanding and do my best to present honest expectations of what we can achieve In this particular situation I failed to reach a solution with this customer that would meet her needsAnd for that I regret Prior to beginning the project, the customer's deck had two different color tones The deck had one color on the uncovered portion and one color on the covered portion My plan that was laid out in the original quote (attached) and over the phone, was to strip off the failing, flaking uncovered (decking only) stained area and then seal all areas with a color tone that would best match the existing color of the covered decking that was only cleaned and not stripped So the goal was to use the existing color tone of the covered deck and make everything look as close as we could get itThe covered portion did have a cedar brownish tone and that is what I tried to matchWhere we differed after the fact was that she thought the covered portion was more brown to begin with and we thought it had more of a cedar/brown tone But prior to this we were both on the same page or at least I thought we were.When we were cleaning the deck we took the two colors that we were custom mixing to match the covered porch and put it on a new board to show her the color tone that we thought would best match the covered deck She signed off on the color through email so on a separate day we sealed the deck We were able to blend in both deck sections really well.However, because of the existence of pre existing stain on the covered decking and all rails, the colortone of the finished product was a bit darker and more reddish/cedar toned than the customer expectedI could not control this and still get a good blending! and I obviously failed to convey through the sample exactly what the color tone would actually look like on the wood and I wrongly assumed that the customer would understand this We did not use a different stain color as the customer is still under the impression we did It's just that the color sample looked lighter and slightly more brown because it wasn't previously stained....it was a new board and was meant to give an idea of the color tone There was no way possible to make the covered portion lighter than it already was She may argue that she told me that she was okay if they weren't the same color but I took that as an understanding on her part that we may not be able to perfectly match both decks given the existing darker stain on the covered deck. When the customer called me after the deck was completed she told me that the deck was quote "Horrible and Ruined"(see photos) I still fail to understand what she meant by thatSo to me, these comments made me suspect of the customer's full intentions, since I knew that the deck did not look horrible nor was it ruinedTo me and my crew, the deck looked rich, natural, and blended in well with the brick colors. I tried to explain as I did above what we had done I suggested that we could try and take more of a light brownish colortone in the same product line and try to slightly change the hue(And I think it would have worked well, but she expects it to be lighter and again that was never possible given the circumstances) We did agree to meet on Saturday so I could show her what I meant to propose Two days earlier though, I was working nearby so I decided to find two areas that are under the deck and out of the way to leave her a sample on her actual posts so as to try and find a reasonable and possible solution to the situation My only intention was to be expedient I had no ideal that she would react in the way she did, frankly, because a situation of this nature had never happened to me before. After stopping over on Thursday and putting together samples I sent her an email explaining that I stopped over and directed her where I put the sample Over the phone upon hearing me say this, she gasped and abruptly just hung up on me and then sent me an email (attached) explaining that she didn't want me on the property ever again I am still perplexed and distressed by the whole ordeal.Prior to hanging up on me, the customer told me that she was now wanting the covered portion of the decking stripped I tried to explain that it was not currently possible to do safely nor did I deem it necessary Another misunderstanding- The customer told me prior to starting that she didn't care if the two decks matched I took that as, she understands that it may not be possible to match both decks exactlyI was in no way aware that she didn't want a cedar tone on the deck If I had, I would have been unable to take on the project without stripping everything which wouldn't have been smart given how well the existing stain on the covered portion was bonded to the woodNot to mention even if we could strip the covered deck, the costs would have been at least double.Customer also states that I threatened her in the complaint After she had emailed me the last time in all caps, stating that she didn't want me on her property ever again, but failed to offer any reference to payment, solution, etcI sent her a response (attached) simply telling her that I've never had a situation where we weren't compensated for our services and that if she did refuse payment that I would not hesitate to take this issue up in small claims court Again, It should have never needed to get to that point And again it was the first time in my career where I felt the need to even state that to someone I was upset by what I considered to be an unprofessional nature of the customers actions and behavior and felt at that point that there was nothing more I could do to remedy the situation.At this time, I simply wish to be compensated for the expenses, time, and hardwork that went into transforming and fixing the customer's deck I always regret an unhappy customer and will always work towards 100% customer satisfaction Reality however doesn't always allow for this outcome every time. It was stated by the customer that she feels she should not have to pay the full amount for the work done Although I disagree in this situation, in an effort to find common ground, and to rectify this situation I will offer and request that the customer pay for just our expenses of labor to clean and seal, fuel, cleaner, stripper, materials and sealant that were used for the project That total would represent less than the original quote bringing the total due to 1185.00The customer has my contact information and mailing address Please advise what else I can provide to help in this situation And please advise how the customer wishes to proceed.Thanks,Adam B***Tri-State Deck Cleaning***