Vintage Professional Painting & Decorating

Review: A 4 ton tree hit my home October 29, 2012 (H.Sandy)& of course my home suffered a substantial amount of damage with water, cracks, gaps & so forth. During the first week that [redacted] was working in our home, my children & I noticed that one of my corners in my LRm was not true & looked wavy. I have cathedral ceilings in my LRm that are 25-40 ft high. When we asked [redacted] about the corner, he immediately lashed out at us. He told my son, "It is not worth it for me to go up there & try to fix this again, your house is 8 yrs old & that is the fault of the previous contractor." This did not make sense to us because our home is 7 yrs old (in August) & he ONLY indicated that he could fix the entire home back to what it looked like before so we were confused & shocked at his behavior & lack of professionalism. Stunned & intimidated we said nothing because where we live something is better than nothing. In other words, we were afraid that if we fired him, we might not be able to find someone for weeks or months. [redacted] showed up everyday & we felt we better stay with him. This would prove to be a huge mistake in the weeks to come. While he was working, either him or one of his workers was in my LRm & the individual stepped onto my dryer causing the panel on the top & the control panel on the face to come away from the unit forming a huge dent in the machine. When we asked him about this, he refused to admit any wrong doings until he had a conversation with one of his workers. (He actually had the nerve to tell my daughter that the dryer looked like it was dropped off a truck)[redacted] assured us that he would order the necessary parts which we later found out would be 1 part instead of 2 & bring his representative out to my home to repair the damaged dryer. He estimated that it would take a week for the part to arrive & now it's two wks later. To date we have paid [redacted] 5000.00 & have noticed a lot of shotty craftsman shift, scratched furniture & scratched hdwood floors & chunks of drywall missing.Desired Settlement: I'm not sure a settlement would occur since [redacted] is hostile & volitle and we really do not want him in our home since he roundabout threatened that "I'm going to get my money one way or another." He wanted an additional $1,382.00 for a total of $6,382.00 and we paid him $5000.00. Since there was no written contract,he is fortunate that he received what he received especially since he left a lot to be desired. We have enough repairs that need to made after he damaged numerous items in my home

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,

Concerning ID # [redacted].

First off let me state that I've been working in peoples homes for 33 years and never had any complaints about my work.

In regards to [redacted], first I never lashed out at her or any one else, second I never said "its not worth it for me to go up their and try to fix this again." I told her I don't think I could improve on straightening out the comer and I believed it was from the original construction and the height of the room. The comer was wavy either from settling or when the tree hit the house. I truly did the best I could with it. I never intimidated anyone, she called the insurance company to see what could be done, I spoke with them on the phone as well and told them I didn't think I could improve on the situation. She said she would call in a contractor and see if someone else could take a look at it. She called [redacted] ([redacted],when he showed up he try to explain to her how due to the height of the wall it was likely built from separate studs- not one piece of lumber, how lumber dries out after the house is built, settling etc.

He said the job I did ,did not look bad to him. If she wanted he could try to straighten it out a little. [redacted] ask me if I would be ok with that and I said yes. I moved the furniture away from the wall, put down drop cloths and a rubber mat under my ladder ( which have rubber feet) so when [redacted] returned on Saturday everything would be ready for him.

I also had him do the rest of the drywall repairs on the job as I thought [redacted] might not be happy with any other [redacted] repairs, for example where the tree hit the house was on the rear exterior wall in her bedroom, which buckled the drywall at the ceiling comer inwards. After her concerns about the living room repair I thought it was best if she had her contractor fix her bedroom comer and someone fell through her bedroom ceiling while working on the air conditioning before I arrived .She had that repaired but was not happy with that either ,so I asked ace drywall to skim coat the ceiling again and repair a stress crack in the upstairs hallway ceiling as well, and I would pay him out of my pocket for his time instead of my time which would about break even and I could continue painting in other areas while he worked, by the way his bill was $ 300.00 for the day . I did not charge her an additional $ 1382.00. The $ 1382.00 was the balance due from a total estimate of 6382.00 which she agreed to from the start.

As far as the dryer is concerned I don't know what happen to it but I agreed to pay for the damages. I called a repair service THAT DAY and had him order the parts . He said it would take about a week and cost $ 300.00 installed but before a week went by I was finished with my work. I told [redacted] that when the part came in I would come back with the repair man, show him where the house was and stay with him and make sure she was satisfied with everything. She told me she "forgot all about the dryer" and "no problem". So I thought everything was fine with coming back next week. When I handed her the finale invoice her brother said thiers a problem - "a big problem thiers a scratch on the living room floor " ( about four inches long) he showed it to me and I told him that it was not from me, that I used sliders to move the furniture and placed drops on the floor like I always do. [redacted] said she would have to get a price on how much to repair the floor and walked away. It was clear to me I was being set up and was not going to get my money due. So I left and I did say I would get my money one way or the other, meaning she would pay me or through legal channels. I think she filed this complaint to preempt any legal action I might take. Prior to the last day I received daily praise several times a day from [redacted] ,[redacted] and [redacted] about my work ethic, the quality of my work, how much was being completed each day etc. Her drywall contractor ([redacted] drywall) said to [redacted] she got" one beautiful paint job and one of the nicest jobs he's seen ( he's been in business for 40 years). Each morning when I arrived the millers would have something for me to touch-up. these items where not their when I left the night before, they looked like damage done by them when they put the completed rooms back together after I left for the night( I move the large pieces of furniture not the breakable or personal items). They tried to spackle the damage and then pretend that I missed something, I knew that was going on but touch up everything they asked me to every day for two weeks.

I take great pride in my workmanship, the worst part about this whole thing to me is the millers insulting my work as shotty! There was no damage to ANY furniture, NO chunks of drywall missing. I asked [redacted] for a finale punch list if any to be supplied to me on the last day so could make sure she was satisfied with everything before finale payment, and she did again damage cause my them. I touch up everything on the list and asked her if their was any thing else and she said no.

I think this is their M O ,to try and knock down the price of the job at the start and then refuse finale payment. She did it to the roofer when I was there ( [redacted] roofing). She also added damage to her insurance claim that had nothing to do with the storm damage. They also got $200.00 dollars per day out of the insurance company for food for 3 people for a total of 61 days , claiming the kitchen was damaged, mean while they where cooking in it every day. [redacted] was bragging about getting the $12,000.00 and using the money to buy a car. I was working in the next room and could hear [redacted] say now all I have to worry about is that guy out their - meaning me as I was the only other person in the house. I started to worry I was not going to get paid my money and I was right.

When I left that house it looked like something out of house and gardens magazine (when I started the job I had to vacuum my way 2 or 3 times to get in to the rooms before I could even put down my drops) I had two other painters give me a hand for a few days, they will back up my story ( names and # upon request). Also ace dry wall, who by the way called me about a week later and said [redacted]. [redacted] called and beg him to come back, someone fell through the ceiling again and could he fix it. He asked me how they were to work for and if I had gotten paid. When I told him what was going on he thought I was kidding. He thought she was happy and the job looked great and by the way their was no drywall repairs in the master bedroom or master bath room they don't know that their talking about.

Sorry it took a little longer to get back to you. I work 7 long days a week trying to support my family, not sitting around collecting disability checks and dreaming up ways to screw hard working people.

Thank you,

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: I have proof of the work that **. [redacted] never finished in pictures (I am unable to upload) and I also have a repair bill from the same contractor who **. [redacted] fondly mentions namely **. [redacted]. **. [redacted] indicated to my family that **. [redacted] is extremely sloppy with his work and it appears that he rushed. **. [redacted] also indicated after repairing the work that **. [redacted] was supposed to intially repair, that [redacted] is clearly not a drywall professional (like he claimed) and he should not attempt to do something that he can not do. The previous explanation of **. [redacted] in **. [redacted]'s rebuttal has nothing to do with the fact that **. [redacted] told my daughter, [redacted] and son, [redacted] that he could repair the home back to pre-Sandy conditions. This never happened even though he was paid as agreed. Whenever we had an issue with it, he fumed and slammed things. **. [redacted] indicated to my daughter [redacted] that we should take **. [redacted] to court to get back the money we have spent on reapirs that **. [redacted] was supposed to initially correct. No one said that **. [redacted] is not a good painter. The issue is the fact that the job was not completed, he broke numerous items and he was paid for services not rendered. **. [redacted] is nasty, extremely hostile, unprofessional, rude and to date an eavesdropper. May I also add that his temperment is shown if you read his response. I do not like the fact that he has attempted to insult my children who are legally disabled but that goes to show what type of individual he is. Maybe he has never worked for an [redacted] family because he treated us cruely. He rushed through the job, changed the pricing with my family's consent and then changed the pricing back without my consent (probably because he overheard we were getting more money). We never were able to give him a punch list of the things that needed to be fixed because he rushed out the door. Additionally, he or someone in his crew broke my dryer, broke my vacuum that he intitially did not have permission using and scratched furniture as well as my hardwood floors. Again without permission he took one of my own rugs and used it underneath one of his ladders. If he is professional like he claims, why didn't he have and use his own dry/wet vacuum? His lack of repairing the above mentioned issues is where his shottyness and unprofessionalism comes into play. My daughter never said that he could forget doing the repairs on our dryer and if you believe that she told him to forget it, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. He indicated, "I'm going to get my money one way or another and that is the reason no one showed up in a month to repair my dryer. That is the reason my floors are damaged, that is the reason my vacuum is broken and that is the reason he never did what he promised to do - fix my walls. While we are on my dryer, the dryer parts cost $479.00 this does not include installation or service fees. This can be substaintiated with a telephone call to **. [redacted] ###-###-####. You can also call **. [redacted] at ###-###-#### and he will attest to the above mentioned since he did the repairs that **. [redacted] did not, saw the damage that **. [redacted] did and saw the numerous receipts for repairs that **. [redacted] broke. Funny thing, **. [redacted] was waiting for a phone call from **. [redacted] so that he could tell **. [redacted] all the repairs he did. **. [redacted] never retured his call but submitted a bogus rebuttal to the Revdex.com.