ComplaintsforFive Star Remodeling LLC

• Initial Complaint

  06/26/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  5-Star ******************************** painted my kitchen door & rebuilt roof by fireplace for $5150. Owner gave 5-year warranty on job. I had painted my door a very light yellow many years ago & wanted it painted white. Owner assured me my kitchen door would be removed & would be laid flat to assure that paint job would not run. He also said door would be primed before final coat applied. Fall of 2022, the painter removed door, propped it up against his truck bed outside, took a wide paint brush & rolled on the white coat of paint without prepping it. Now door has coat of white paint which ran & has shadows of yellow paint in some areas on inside. The owner came out & said he would make it right. He mentioned sanding metal door & repainting it or will pay half for a preprinted door. The owner then sent someone out and he said door was piece of junk & should never have been painted. The owner now says door is a piece of junk & should be replaced. I do have 2 small dents on garage side of metal door but otherwise the 6-panel metal door is in good shape except for his paint job. I also just sanded the 2 small dents to apply metal filler. The white paint that was applied to door by Five Star peeled off at location of **********. I called the owner today. He now says door is a piece of junk & should never have been painted. He said he will return $200 to me to get another painter to paint it or pay half on new door that is already painted. I now need to decide which path to take. Regarding leak on ceiling near fireplace. The ceiling drywall seam opens when it rains & closes when drywall dries. He said he could correct leak by building cricket on roof near fireplace. Again 5-year warranty. Now opening in ceiling is wider than before cricket was built. The owner came out & said he would correct it. Owner now says total roof is in bad shape and needs to be replaced. New roof was done on 10/07. Mainly he isn't going to honor his 5-year contract. Having problems uploading.

  

  Business response

  07/06/2023

  We take any acknowledgment of dissatisfaction very seriously. The facts on ********************** are the following: we were called out last year in October to investigate a leak in the living room through a recessed light. We found the leak was near the existing chimney. The ****** had called out a different contractor that was recommended by their neighbor, who was the building commissioner, to repair the cricket and leak. They indicated that the work performed by that contractor did not fix the issue. We noted the cricket attached to the chimney was too shallow and was causing water to pool at the base of the chimney. We removed the previously existing cricket and constructed an appropriate cricket with a taller angle to allow proper drainage. We installed the recommended underlayment, flashed the chimney with aluminum, and then sealed it with silicone. We have done projects like this many times over the past several years with successful results.
  
  The ****** went away for the winter. They had not wanted us to repair the stain in the ceiling until after they had returned. When they returned we received a call from *************** stating that she believed there was a leak. We immediately dispatched our project superintendent to investigate the issue. He has 30 years in the building trades and was most qualified to examine the issue. He found no evidence of any leak nor of water staining at the site of the purported leak. Her rationale for believing that there was a leak was that the hole around the recessed light appeared larger to her.However upon our examination, we found that it was the same as it had been in the fall. Even though it was not something that was originally contracted, we would be willing to repair the area of the ceiling around the recessed light that is stained. We offer this as a sign of good faith.
  
  The second issue she stated was her dissatisfaction with the painting of the steel door leading into the garage, which we also did last year..The door is extremely old with several dents, scratches, defective weather stripping and a stippled finish. We said in order to paint it, the door would have to be lightly sanded, primed and painted with paint made for metal doors. Our painter made the determination that he could lightly sand the door without removing the door. We added a primer and repainted the door. However, nothing could totally improve the condition of the door unless the door was completely stripped down to a smooth bare metal finish, which for this door was impossible. She complained, so we attempted to paint the door a second time, this time removing it and laying it flat while painting.Once again, the result was that she was still not satisfied with the results. The type of finish *************** is looking for is unachievable on a used door. So when she called and complained just recently, we offered a remedy. We offered to return the money she had paid for the paint job or, alternatively, to allow her to select a new door which we would install at no cost. We even offered to pay for half of the cost of the new door, which we feel is a very generous offer.
  
  The next day, without any response from them to our offer, we received this complaint. We were saddened to see the ****** feel they had to take this step, as we believe that with our offer and discussion, we were working toward a remedy that would have left them satisfied. It is still our intent to remedy the situation. The offer still stands,as it is always our attempt to be fair with our customers.
  
  

  Customer response

  07/10/2023

   I am rejecting this response because: Yes, we did pay another contractor about $600 to repair leak in roof with 1 year warranty.It took us 1 year to decide if the ceiling leak was getting bigger. That is why we were hesitant to pay $5150 to repair roof & to paint kitchen door but we were assured by Five Star that they would stand by their job for 5 years.  Yes, we went away for winter & yes, we did not want ceiling drywall repaired until we were ********* was repaired.  We called *** right away in March when we noticed ceiling crack getting bigger. *** came out to look at our door and ceiling.  Again, he assured us he would make it right. Later *** sent out an inspector who also said Five Star will stand by his work and for us not to worry. About 6 weeks later I called *** to see what he had decided to do on our roof and door.  He yelled at me and told me he would agree to pay for half on a painted door, but he was not coming out again to address roof.  What recourse did we have. I liked *** and trusted him. I do not know what happened between ***** when he inspected it and him yelling at me later. The ceiling crack does shrink when leak dries out. We are asking for roof to be repair before major damage happens. See picture after 7/8th rain. Attached picture of recessed light also proves leak is coming from roof and not light.  About door, it was originally removed late one afternoon, propped up against their white pickup,and painted with wide paint roller.  They were concerned that the paint may not dry before that evening.  Our door is in good shape.  Yes, it has 2 small dents on the garage side,but there are no cracks and weather stripping on bottom of door was painted white by their painter. If door was so defective, why did he want to paint it?  *** told us the door would be removed, laid flat, sanded, apply primer,and then painted. *** supplied paint & I return the gallon of paint to him because he said he would repaint door. Our door was never repainted the second time. See pictures of paint runs & pealing of paint.  There is also a shadow on inside door where painter missed painting.  *** then offered to pay for on a new painted door, but we already paid $250 to have door painted.  When *** said he would repaint door, I decided to fill in 2 tiny dents on garage side of door.  But when I sanded door, Five Star paint started to peel off.
  
  
  

  

  Business response

  07/14/2023

  It is my positive intention to resolve the nature of my clients' issues and to make them satisfied. I sincerely mean that. On occasion, there are people that are difficult if not impossible to satisfy. While we have so far been unable to resolve this issue, I do not believe we are at a point where a resolution is impossible. Let us review the nature of the complaints and my attempts to resolve them. 
  The first issue is about the door. The door is a minimum of 20 years old. The client has admitted that it has dents, and upon observation the weather stripping is old and no longer serviceable. I can appreciate that the client might not want to invest the money for a new door and feels that a paint job will be best for their particular situation. With that in mind, we attempted to do that. It is apparent by the nature of the complaint that our efforts fell short of her desired expectations. In my attempt to satisfy my client, I have offered two possible solutions to this issue. The first is to reimburse her for what she paid to have the door painted and to leave her the paint. The second is to allow her to select a new door to be installed in place of the old door; I have offered to cover half the cost of the new door. 
  The second issue is about the roof. Upon reexamination we found no evidence of a leak. However, I am willing to dispatch a crew to go up on the roof, take a water hose, and run water in the area that was repaired to see if a leak occurs. If so, I will gladly repair it as necessary to fix the issue.
  I truly hope that the client will find my proposed resolutions acceptable and that we can come to an amicable agreement.
  
  

  Customer response

  07/21/2023

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I resent that the owner stated I am difficult to satisfy.  Attached are pictures of the peeling paint because it was not primed. Really, would anyone be proud of this paint job Peeling paint, runs,and area not painted.  You will notice that I repaired the 2 small dents so they are no longer an issue.  I patched them with Industrial Strength Epoxy Super Weld.  The owner knows I would do a quality job on filling in the dents.   We replaced the weather stripping once when we moved into this home.  We can replace them again if need be.  All I wanted was a paint job I paid for which was:  Removal of the door, have it lightly sanded, primed, and the final coat of paint applied.  Not the removal of the door, propped up against the truck bed, and the paint rolled on with a 6 roller brush outside.  If I accepted the refund of $250, then I will have to find someone who would be willing to completely sand off their paint job, prime, and paint the door. Remember, no one came back to sand blast their first paint job off and to repaint it like the owner said he would do. All I can think is that the painter told the owner that he came back and repainted the door, but he did not.  I ask the owner to come back to our home to see that the door has not been repainted.  The door is in good shape.  All it needed is a good paint job.  Anyway, the Owner persuaded me into having the door painted in the first place because I was not sure of having it done at the same time.  I will agree to the owner repainting my door (their coat of paint sanded off, primed, and to apply final coat of paint) as he said he would do.  Again, I invite the owner to come to my home to inspect the door.  I do appreciate the owner coming back to find the leak in the roof. That is all I wanted: to have the leak fixed.  
  

  

  Business response

  07/29/2023

  We are willing to stand by our original proposal in regard to the door as we feel that is a more than fair offer. Relative to the roof, we are willing to set up a day and time to water test the cricket area that we repaired to check for any and all leaks.

  Customer response

  08/04/2023

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

  
  

  Thank you.

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