ComplaintsforProfessional Floors of St. Louis, Inc

• Initial Complaint

  04/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Our 2-story, home built in 1996, is estimated to have between $60,00 - $80,000 worth of ¾” thick red oak wood flooring. Originally the builder installed 2 ½” X 3/4'” red oak wood floors in the family, kitchen, ½ bath, front & back halls, and carpeted the living and dining rooms. • On 3/29/07, Professional Floors of St. Louis installed 3 ¼ X ¾” Red Oak in our living and dining room, sanded, stained & finished floors in living, dining, family, kitchen, ½ bath, front & back halls (the whole bottom level of our home). Cost = 5,936.00 • In January 2022, we asked Professional Floors of St. Louis for a bid to refurbish some of our flooring due to the finish wearing off. They gave us a bid to screen and recoat the family, kitchen, ½ bath, front & back halls. Cost=$1156.00 I did ask if this would take care of a little bit of damage from kitchen chairs and baby gates. They assured me it would. • On 5/23/22, They came in screened and recoated the 2 ¼ X ¾” red oak wood flooring in the family room, kitchen, ½ bath, front and back hall. They used a satin gloss, not matching the semi-gloss used in the living and dining rooms in 2007, AND MISSED RECOATING A SMALL PORTION OF THE FRONT HALL ENTRYWAY AND THE SMALL DAMAGED AREAS WERE STILL EVIDENT. We immediately asked them to come back and “fix it”, SO THEY CAME BACK AND PUT ANOTHER COAT OF SEMI-GLOSS URETHANE. • All furniture & baseboards were removed by the owner & all new baseboards were replaced and installed by the owner at owner’s expense and time. • In January 2023, the recoat began to lift and peel. It was noticeable first in the kitchen and as the weather has turned warmer all rooms that had been screened and recoated revealed damage, even those floors coved by an area rug. • On 1/12/23, I contacted Professional Floors of St. Louis and ***** ********** came out and looked at them and said he would get back to me. I did not hear from ***** so I contacted him. • On 1/26/23, ***** ******* came out and said he would speak with ***** and get back to me. Again, I did not hear from either ***** or *****. • On 2/9/23, I contacted ***** and he promise ***** would contact me after he got back from vacation. Again, I did not hear from ***** or *****. • On 2/28/23, I called ***** and he texted me on 3/3/23 and made an appointment for 3/9/23. • On 3/9/23, ***** came out and said the cause of the damage was from a contaminant under the recoat. He insisted the “contaminant” was something we caused. Professional Floors of St. Louis has been the only entity that has worked on/affected our floors. • On 3/10/23, ***** ******* emailed a bid of $5279.00 to sand and refinish the living, dining, family, kitchen, ½ bath, front & back halls. (The living and dining rooms are not damaged at all!) • On 3/11/23, I responded asking them to correct the recoat without additional cost to me. (I believe this would mean sanding, staining and finishing the family, kitchen ½ bath, front & back halls without additional cost.) • On 3/16/23, ***** ********** emailed an offer to “put another coat on the kitchen. . .. There would be no charge.” • On 3/17/23, ***** *******, *** ******* ****** *******, a Certified Claims (flooring) Inspector came out and evaluated the damage to the floors. He was recommended by the Flooring Industrial of Greater St. Louis. ***** *******’S REPORT IS ATTACHED. • Currently, we have bids between $4525.00 - $10,760.00 (Includes furniture removed & new baseboards installed). • Summation of Dispute: Professional Floors offered to “fix” the problem by either (1) Sanding & Refinishing the whole first floor of our home (fam,kitch,bath,liv,din,brkfst) and applying 1 coat base polyurethane. Taking the baseboards on/off for an additional $5279.00 (cost to us) or put another coat of urethane on the kitchen (at no cost to us) which would only exacerbate the peeling and lifting problem in one room and leave the other rooms to continually get worse. Of course, both offers are not a viable solution for us and we do not trust them to perform satisfactory, professional work. In fact, their work is sloppy, unsatisfactory and unprofessional. I rate them an “F” as they not only failed to provide a quality product, but failed to pursue a satisfactory solution to the problems they created. From a real estate stand point, we would have to disclose the damaged wood floor and it would devalue our home should we want to sale it in the near future.

  

  Business response

  05/05/2023

   

  Response:
  Professional Floors of St Louis was contracted to screen and recoat various rooms in the ******* residence. A screen and recoat is a method where we etch the exiting coat before applying a new coat of polyurethane. It is always stated at the time of consultation that this process has limitations and expectation. We were contacted by Ms ******* to see why her floor was peeling in the kitchen area. Our assessment of the floor was to take further actions to resolve the problem. The recoating process does have some limitation. The finish may not adhere to the floor that may have been contaminated or cleaned with a wax base product.
  
  We offered Ms ******* a full refund for the recoat and submitted a price for sanding her floors down to the wood and refinishing. Ms ******* stated that the refinishing and various other expenses should be at no cost to her. Her asking for this at no cost is like getting your car waxed and then wanting a full paint job at no cost.
  
  In conclusion for a solution, Professional Floors has involved their insurance company to resolve the above complaint.

  Customer response

  05/05/2023

  We dispute this statement by Professional Floors of St. Louis, "The finish may not adhere to the floor that may have been contaminated or cleaned with a wax base product."  Professional Floors of St. Louis has continued to put the blame on us as to why their finish is not adhering to the floor, yet ***** *******'s report (included) states that in his professional opinion, "it was 99.99% caused by improper preparation of improper application of the urethane coating".  His report identifies his justification for this opinion quoting National Wood Flooring Association Technical Publication C200 dated 2018.  

  

  Business response

  05/05/2023

  My insurance has been notified and is involved with this complaint.
  

  Customer response

  05/09/2023

  Professional Flooring of St. Louis has chosen to turn our dissatisfaction and confirmed damage done to our floors by their screen and recoat process to their insurance company, United Fire &  Casualty Company.  Therefore, this complaint has not been resolved, and will be up to United Fire & Casualty to accept or deny the claim. Please leave this complaint open until it is resolve. I am very dissatisfied with the path of resolution that Professional Flooring has taken and would never recommend this company to anyone.

*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. ↩