ComplaintsforAccent American, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  01/25/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Date : Jan 15 Transaction amount : $3468.23 The contract was to polish and seal travertine floors the maintain floor quality and make them esthetically shine. After the service the floors are worse. The travertine has been striped all over, looks bleached and has lost shine. The work is not finished after I called the owner out on the shabby work. The whole house has streak marks and sealer droplets on doors, floor standing cabinets, base boards. The bathroom tile is unfinished with no sealer to seal the tiles. Now I have to spend more money to repair the floors and pay a maid a clean all, stream marks, clean cabinets and base boards.

  Business response

  03/22/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 13, 2022/03/04) */ Contact Name and Title: Lisa J. Owner Contact Phone: 813-621-6015 Contact Email: *******@earthlink.net The original contract was to clean the floors and apply a finish, not polish the floors. A "shiny" finish was not only never promised, the owners were both told repeatedly, by at least four different people from at least 3 different companies that we know of, that in order to get the shine they wanted the floors would need to be honed, and we never promised to make the floors shine. We provided an estimate in April 2021 to clean the floor throughout the home, and apply a finish/sealer. The owners obtained a bid from another company for honing the floors after our initial walk through and estimate in April 2021, and the cost was out of their reach. After several months we heard back, and the owner wanted us to clean a portion of the floors. We collected a deposit on 1/6/22, and scheduled for 1/15/22. We had 3 techs at the property, 2 from our company and 1 from another local company, who was working with the owners from the beginning and brought us in. On 1/15, we arrived to begin the process. We did a walk through so the owners could show us what areas they wanted done, and what areas we were not doing, and review any concerns. Both owners were present, and we reviewed AGAIN that in order to get the reflective mirror shine they wanted the floors would have to be honed, and that we were going to deep clean and apply a finish only, and we would not and could not guarantee that the floors would be "shiny". We completed the cleaning, and had yet to apply the finish when the wife came in and mentioned the floors looked "bleached". This is because they were clean. We had removed 10+ years of build up and filth from the floor and the finish had not yet been applied. We then applied 2 coats of finish throughout, which darkened the colors back to where they were, including the master bathroom. The wife would walk through and repeatedly ask about getting the floors "shiny" and it was reiterated to her repeatedly by all 3 technicians present, that the floor would need to be honed to get them to look "shiny" like she wanted. The owner didn't like the results, even though it had been explained repeatedly that the floors would not be "shiny", so we returned a few days later, and spent an entire day polishing the floors. The wife again repeatedly asked about getting the floors to look "shiny" and repeatedly pointed out a section of floor. The polishing process produced a deep, reflective shine on the floors, which was pointed out to her As we were nearing the end of the process, our lead tech was polishing a room off the master, with the master bath being the only area not polished. Our other female tech was working on cleaning up stray spots of polish on the floors and cabinets. It was at this point that the wife again asked the lead tech about getting the floors "shiny". The lead tech asked her "what part of what I have been telling you do you not understand" at which point the husband became belligerent and began yelling at our lead tech. The husband then began verbally attacking our female tech, making threats to "ruin your business" and "destroy you". The lead tech began packing up to leave, the female tech spoke to the wife, who again asked about getting the floor "shiny". The wife pointed to a section of the floor with the inlay area that was not cleaned, that had a reflective shine. Our female tech stated "this area has a reflective shine, you can see the blinds reflected on the floor, that's what you want", the wife stated yes, and the female tech pointed to the dining and kitchen areas, which had been cleaned and then polished and pointed out that there was a reflective shine and you could see the reflection of the blinds in the floor, just like she wanted. You can see in the attached pictures the floor has a near mirror like shine after our work was completed, and you can see the reflection of the window treatments in the floor. At that point, due to the hostility of the owner towards our techs, the techs left the property. The only area that had not been polished was the master bathroom floor, which had 2 coats of finish applied to it a few days prior, and there were a few areas of stray polish that had not been addressed, which wipe off with a little water and a towel. The polishing of the floor is an additional service that was provided after the initial contracted service of cleaning and applying a finish was performed, and was not included in our estimate of $3468. The polishing service for their floors would be approximately $4700 if we had charged for it, and that is taking into account the master bath not being polished. The owners have not been charged this additional amount. In fact, we initially offered them $500 to have someone else come out and finish the small amount of wipe down and polish the bathroom floor, and even offered to give another company the product and process we used. Our offer was refused, and has been rescinded due to their attempting to dispute the credit cards charges. The owners then proceeded to dispute the 2 credit card charges, and provided false information. The first charge on 1/6/22 was the deposit, and the owner claimed to the credit card company that it should have been for $1. We provided the cc company with the emails proving that the amount was correct. The second charge was for completing the cleaning and sealing, and was paid when that portion was completed on 1/15. The owners falsely claimed that they had cancelled the service on 1/11/22, and we provided e mails and text messages that clearly indicate that the service was never cancelled, and that it was, in fact completed. We provided the services that we were contracted for, and we went above and beyond in providing a full day of polishing the floors, at no additional charge. The owners were told repeatedly, by at least 4 people, that they needed to have the floors honed and we could not make them shiny by cleaning and applying a finish. The wife asked the same question again and again and again and again, and was repeatedly given the same answer. Our techs left the property without completing a 100 sf area and some minor detail cleaning due to the hostility directed at them by the owner. A partial refund was offered, and refused. The owners disputed the credit card charges and lied about the reason for the dispute to the credit card company, which could be considered fraud. They wanted shiny floors, we told them we could not promise them shiny floors, but they got them anyway. We have shown these pictures to other floor contractors who are stunned that we were able to get such a beautiful shine without honing. The finished floors have a beautiful, reflective finish. If you look at the before and afters, you can see that the floors are not "bleached" out. The color from before to after is consistent, and there is a high shine in the after pictures. It's impossible to "bleach" stone. We also repaired several small scratches in the floors, at no additional charge. The owners should be thrilled with the results. They have shiny, clean floors without having to pay the $10k or more to have them honed. The homeowners have had their floors professionally cleaned, with 2 coats of finish applied throughout, plus the floors were polished using 2 coats of polish plus a dry pad polish, which resulted in a near mirror like shine on their floors. They got more than they paid for.

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