ComplaintsforBest Choice Painting Improvements

• Initial Complaint

  09/29/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 8/13/2121, I hired this company for drywall and painting work. I told Sam O******** I want the kitchen and dining room ceilings to have a smooth finish. He ignored my requests for a contract and only gave me 90 days warranty. I'm a registered nurse and I live alone, which means this project had to be done around my work schedule. I work from 7pm-7am, so I'm usually pretty exhausted when the workers are at my place. I paid 1500.00 for the drywall work (please see attached receipt.) I've contacted the owner several times telling him I'm extremely unhappy with the quality of work on the ceiling and that I want it fixed. I explained to him I wanted a smooth finish or at least make it so it's uniform. He kept saying it's skip trowel and that that's how it's supposed to look. Pls see pics. Some areas are smooth, some have the unsightly design. I sent him pictures and several texts, but he never responded. I want him to refund me 600.00 so I can hire someone else to fix it.

  Business response

  09/30/2021

  please see attached response and attached screen shot

   

  I was contacted by this woman on Friday 8/13/2021 and she explained to me that she had her cousin helping her remodel the kitchen but she had to fire him because, as she stated in a text message she's "OCD" and he couldn't deal with her. She told me that she was looking for someone to come in there immediately and finish his job because the kitchen cabinets were scheduled for installation the upcoming week. I explained to her that I was very busy and that it was Friday and I have a child and that I would not be able to do the job but that I know a drywalled that may be able to do the drywall and mud work and that I could come monday or tuesday after the weekend to paint it. I said she didn't have to pay until she was happy with the work. She agreed and I set up the drywall work to get done the following day (saturday). The drywall and texture work was completed on saturday but then saturday afternoon I received pictures of the wall texture (not the ceiling) because she said the texture was too thick/bumpy. I responded to her and told her the drywalled would be back there Monday to fix any issues she had. She proceeded to send me close to 40 messages over the weekend - everything from pictures of the texture that she wanted fixed to pictures of herself with her friends and questions about my birth sign. Mind you this is the weekend and I am a full time dad so I have a 3 year old with me and her messages are almost to the level of harassment. I keep my cool and assure her that everything will be ok and to wait until Monday so the work can be checked and fixed if necessary. The guy that did the drywall work showed up Monday and resprayed the texture to her liking. I told her to make sure everything was good to go while he was there and to have him fix whatever she didn't like so the place would be ready for paint because I was super busy that week and I was doing her a favor squeezing her job in to help her get it done before her cabinets were scheduled to get installed. On Monday 8/16/2021 I texted her and asked her if the texture was ok, she replied "it's acceptable. I think the language barrier is a hurdle." "It's ok Sam. It's tolerable at this point." I went over there Monday after I finished work that day at 4:45pm to inspect the drywall work and make sure everything was ok. It looked great. There were a few minor issues that she pointed out and I told her it wasn't a problem at all and that I would come by the following day to touch it up so I could paint it on wednesday. I also told her I needed money for the drywall work that was complete to pay the drywall guy. The drywall work was completed and she was happy with it so she paid me for that portion of the job. I took that entire amount that she paid me and gave it all to the drywall contractor. I did not make any money whatsoever on the drywall job, although I did spend multiple hours setting it up and dealing with her unrelenting text messages and complaints. After that the painting was complete and she paid me for the paint aspect of the job, minus the baseboard paint because she said she couldn't wait for me for a week to do the painting because I was out of town and that she was going to do it herself. It wasn't until over a month later on 9/19/2021 that she sent me a text message saying that "this is the most disgusting finished work done by a professional ever!" Then she sent me another message and picture saying "Disgusting!!!! My living room looks like it's done by a professional now." I couldn't tell the difference with the pictures but from the message she sent it seemed to me that she had someone else come to re-do the ceiling and it was better to her now. I then blocked her from my phone so she would stop harassing me. She was happy with the job and even stated it in text messages. It was good enough for her then and she paid me for the work knowing that she didn't have to pay until she was satisfied - I told her that multiple times. At this point its harassment and OCD issues. If she wanted a smooth finish she should have said so when the drywall guy did the work. Now she has changed her mind and wants me to pay for it. I completely disagree with her complaint and find it very discouraging that I went out of my way to try and help this woman and set up this job last minute for her so she could finish her project on time, and now she try to hurt my business by filing a BBB complaint? Amazing how low people will stoop.

  Finally, I think it's worth noting that the pictures that she submitted look pretty good. The work that was done come out great and she was happy with it. Why is it a month later after she paid for the job that all of the sudden she has issues? It doesn't make sense.

  Customer response

  09/30/2021

  I want this business to refund me 600.00 dollars so I can get the ceilings fixed.  The photos speak for themselves.  The perimeter of the ceilings are smooth, but the middle area have this disgusting texture that look like cracked egg shells.  This is totally NOT acceptable to me.  The THICK disgusting mud was NOT on the ceiling and that was fixed to my liking.  The ceilings are a different story.  I told him about the ceiling several times, but he just ignored me insisting it's a skip trowel.  Skip trowel is perfectly fine as long as it's done correctly.  About 50% of the ceiling is smooth.  How is that acceptable????  I asked him for the dry waller number, but he ignored that request, too.  I hired this business due to he was the only available painting company who can get the job started the next day.  The other companies were fully booked 4-6 weeks.  This man takes advantage of people, especially an  Asian woman.  I've asked him several times I want a contract, but he never gave me a contract.  I've gotten multiple estimates from other painting companies, and all of them give me 5 years warranty.  I also told him about the warranty from the other painting companies  This man handwrote the 90 days warranty when I gave him the second payment, and it was like pulling teeth!

  Business response

  10/04/2021

  please see attachments

  I have 13 total screenshots although I am only able to add 4 attachments.  Please let me know where/how I can submit all of the screenshots I have as evidence.

  Thank you

   

  I want this business to refund me 600.00 dollars so I can get the ceilings fixed. The photos speak for themselves. The perimeter of the ceilings are smooth, but the middle area have this disgusting texture that look like cracked egg shells. This is totally NOT acceptable to me. The THICK disgusting mud was NOT on the ceiling and that was fixed to my liking. The ceilings are a different story. I told him about the ceiling several times, but he just ignored me insisting it's a skip trowel. Skip trowel is perfectly fine as long as it's done correctly. About 50% of the ceiling is smooth. How is that acceptable???? I asked him for the dry waller number, but he ignored that request, too. I hired this business due to he was the only available painting company who can get the job started the next day. The other companies were fully booked 4-6 weeks. This man takes advantage of people, especially an Asian woman. I've asked him several times I want a contract, but he never gave me a contract. I've gotten multiple estimates from other painting companies, and all of them give me 5 years warranty. I also told him about the warranty from the other painting companies This man handwrote the 90 days warranty when I gave him the second payment, and it was like pulling teeth!

   

  I absolutely will not refund ****** any money for this job for several reasons. F***t, I did this job without any money down and an agreement that she would pay me when she was satisfied with the job. She hired me and asked that the job was started immediately as a favor to her so she could keep her kitchen installation on schedule. I was too busy to personally do the work at the time so I called a friend and asked for a favor and he agreed to do all the drywall and texture work. He did his job the next day on a saturday and matched the texture to what she had in the rest of the house. At the end of the day she explained that she didn’t like the texture and she didn’t want it to match the rest of the house. I thought that was pretty unreasonable but nonetheless I asked my friend to return on monday to re-texture the drywall to her liking. He did and she was satisfied. I went there Monday 8/16 at 4:30 pm to ensure that the drywall work was acceptable and that she was satisfied. She told me it was acceptable and she paid me for the drywall work. I gave all the money that she gave me directly to the drywall guy. I have attached a screenshot of her text message stating that “It’s acceptable”. Second, ****** is self-proclaimed OCD and she is unreasonable. Before deciding to “help” her she explained to me that she had to fire her cousin who had started the job. I suspect that he actually quit but either way I think it speaks volumes that she couldn’t work with a family member and issues with him. I have attached screenshots of her admitting to her OCD and another showing her claiming to have an allergic reaction and welts on her arms. The texture that was done originally was finished to match the existing texture in the home. For her to claim that she didn’t want it to match is unreasonable, especially since she didn’t specifically tell anyone that. Regardless, the texture was redone at no cost and she approved of it. Towards the end of this project when I was waiting for payment she sent me a message stating “I’ll pay you half of the remaining balance when you come and fix the issues (ceiling I'm not asking you to redo; i was just making a comment”).

  Third, ****** acted unprofessional on numerous levels throughout this job. Besides the fact that she was texting me excessively on Saturday and Sunday she also sent me pictures of herself with her girlfriends and another picture of herself and her daughter. Furthermore every time I came to the job site she was wearing pajamas with an extremely low cut top with her fake breasts almost completely exposed. Then she texted me asking me what my birth sign is. It’s uncomfortable for me, unprofessional in general, and extremely suspicious. I have been in this business too long and have seen this behavior before so I did not fall for the bait.

  Forth, ****** was rude, impolite, insulting, and threatening multiple times with me and I refuse to subject myself to that. She says to me the work is “substandard” and “sloppy”. Then she started threatening me with legal action with the **** and *** (see screenshots). Then she accuses me of being “unethical” and stealing her materials that she had on her back patio. Then she tells me that “2 small companies closed when I complained.” She then started getting verbally abusive saying “you f…ng hang up on me…are you familiar with ABANDONMENT”. It wasn’t until after I was done with the work that she started texting me claiming that “this is the most disgusting finished work done by professional ever! It’s supposed to be an acceptable smooth finish. This is disgusting!!!” Finally, even in her complaints with the BBB she claims that “This man takes advantage of people, especially an Asian woman” Besides being untrue and baseless, it’s rude and racist. Finally, she sent me a message before I blocked her stating “Disgusting!!!! My living room looks like it’s done by a professional now”. This message states that she had someone re-do her ceiling to her liking and she is satisfied. She also told me that she couldn’t wait a week for me to get back into town for me to paint the baseboards so she was doing it herself. Since she stated that everything was complete I chalked this up to a finished project and a lesson learned. I blocked her because I will not continue to communicate with someone who acts the way she had and will not allow someone to send me nasty messages as she had done throughout this process.

  I have done absolutely nothing wrong on this project and actually was trying to do ****** a favor by helping her out last minute on a project so she could keep her kitchen remodel on schedule and finish the construct work inside her house. To say the least I am extremely disappointed and saddened by the treatment I have been subjected to by her during and after the job. 

  Customer response

  10/12/2021

  He claims that I said I want the texture to match the rest of my home.  What I said was match the orange peel texture in the kitchen.  After I complained, they fixed the texture on the walls.  My OCD means I want QUALITY work.  This is why I fired my cousin. I was very CLEAR and SPECIFIC that I want the ceilings SMOOTH.  This contractor also primed the ceilings and walls when the mud was still wet, so part of the mud came off.  I'm worried I’ll see many problems on this kitchen work very soon.  I'm very worried because he only gave me 90 days warranty and NO warranty on the drywall work: drywall installation, taping, mudding and texture.  Yes, his workers took some of my materials. About my clothes, I was wearing shorts and tank top.  It was SUMMER and I don’t have AC.  What he omitted to mention is that he invited me to come to his house for he was “Gonna grill some burgers.”  (see text).  By the way, I never went to his house.  Regarding my sending photos, he also sent me photos of him with his son.  About the two businesses that closed/went out of business after I filed a BBB complaint, that was absolutely TRUE.  I’m merely stating facts, not threats.  Those businesses went out of business for they were unethical.  I’m very objective, and I am willing to invest my precious time to make sure my complaints are heard.  This contractor also mentioned the ***.  He’s a LICENSED contractor, but refused to give me a contract???  To me, that’s working like a handyman and wants payment UNDER the table, which means he’s not reporting some of his incomes to the ***!  Even handymen give me a written contract.  About the **** comment. I said that after he threatened me that he’s not going to finish the job.  I told him that’s ABANDONMENT, per ****.  This contractor is planning on moving to Florida and do solar installation, instead of painting.  This is probably the reason why he doesn’t care how he treats customers here in San Diego.
  
  
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩