ComplaintsforExpress Yourself Paint, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  07/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had my house painted by this company ,work that was to be done was not ,they came out again to finalize I signed paper once the painter and owner assured me it was infact completed. I later noticed it was not ,the painter had lied to me and after contacting owner i showed him photos he agreed to get someone out to rectify regardless of signed paper ,they showed up next morning and said they would be back in 2 days..no one showed and nobody completed job . They are refusing to make good on this ,im not asking for additional work just completion of what was to be done.

  

  Business response

  07/19/2022

  This is the email I sent to the customer yesterday.

  From: ***** *******
  Sent: Monday, July 18, 2022 11:24 AM
  To: ********************** <**********************>
  Subject: Project Completion
  
  Mr. *******, 
  I am writing to let you know that we appreciate your business and to inform you EYP's contractual obligations are complete. 
  We completed your project on 7/6 but you fused to sign off on your project completion because you wanted to perform the walk around with Brent, your sales person.
  This was not requested nor set up in advance and does not follow the process as provided to you.
  (See Project Instructions provided multiple times to customer)
  
  We scheduled your touch ups via our contractual obligation and at your request a member from management showed up to review any concerns you may have had on Friday 7/15. The person who showed up was me. We reviewed your concerns, and I left instructions with the painters that addressed those concerns. 
  The painters completed the touch ups and you signed off on your project completion.

  (See project Completion sign off signed off by customer)

  Later on, that evening, 7/15 you sent me photos of the tops of your windows where they were not painted. This was definitely an item I promised we would do while I was there to review your project. I completely understand these window tops were not visible to you from the ground and you noticed them when you decided to inspect them latter with your ladder. I sincerely apologize for this oversight. 
  I had the painters return the very next morning 7/16 to paint the tops of the windows and the action was completed. 
  This concludes your paint project. 

  Sincerely, 
  
  ***** * *******, President
  Express Yourself Paint
  ******************************
  919.219.3111 

  Additional Information: The customer while there had scrapped paint off his home to the bare wood. I was there the day before and there was no peeling paint to scrape off and there we no areas of missing paint down to the bare wood. It is quite bazar that the customer did this. This is what we are now refusing to rectify for him (damage he did). Now he is also saying he has more touch ups but based on my review on Friday I don't see how that would be possible. Basically, he signed off on his project completion and we went back and completed the one he communicated we missed. 

   

  

  Business response

  07/30/2022

  This makes no sense. Why would anyone drive 40 minutes to the customer's home and do nothing? I spent more than 5 minutes on the phone with them while they were there, and the scheduler confirmed they did not arrive back home until 3-4 hours later. 

  I walked the customers home personally and there was no peeling paint. In fact, I am in possession of the photos sent by the customer and the photos do not represent peeling paint. These are areas where the customer scrapped the paint off to the bare wood. He did this after I personally told him that applying a fresh coat of paint weakens the paint underneath and that it takes 30 days for the new paint to cure. Upon the tech's arrival the customer showed them the areas he had damaged and had told the techs they needed to repair them. This is why the techs called me. We have been in business over 12 years and serviced over 5,000 customers and I have never had a customer scrape the paint off to bare wood directly after we painted it. It is not normal. 

  EYP will not be repairing the areas the customer damaged after we completed their project. 

  A contract begins when both parties agree to a particular work scope at a particular price. The contract is completely executed once the work scope has been completed and the customer acknowledges completion by signing off on their job completion stating the work scope is complete the customer's satisfaction. The customer signed off on their job completion. Of course, for customer service reasons, if we blatantly missed something major, we would come back out to correct the error, but we are not contractually obligated to do so. During this project, EYP has already performed hours of work at the customer's request that was not in his contract. We did this to provide great customer service. 

  In the latest photos there was an area we applied Bondo to and EYP failed to paint. This touchup would take about 30 minutes max to complete. I have authorized a refund to the customer for $100 to cover this activity and they should receive the check via mail next week. EYP considers this matter closed and has no intention of responding to additional request from this customer.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Customer response

  08/15/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I recieved reply from EYP , aparently owner issued a refund of $100 for some bondo that wasn't painted ,which I still have not recieved ,I do Appreciate that ,but we were to discuss that amount .The owner seems to believe his men were at my home actually doing incomplete work ,they didn't do anything, the window trims are still unpainted ,aswell as paint on facia that was not compleated and was to be according to contract .if they would just respond to my emails ,texts ,calls ...I've sent multiple photos via text ,email  aswell as video of work that was not compleated and was to be via contract , I've been intouch with my lawyer and I am told with rhe photos I have ,the work description in contract and the sheer fact that work is not yet completed, I have a very good case ,we are trying to resolve before taking it to court .I was reluctant to sign off on job because I wanted to walk it with sales man and was told they don't do that, so owner ***** ******* came out and instructed ***** to do what was to be done .when ***** was finished ,I asked him if everything was compleated he assured me it was ,then I signed .shortly after ***** left ,I continued doing my rain gutters and noticed he had lied and did not do windo trims ,no calk no paint ...he also didn't calk separated seems or scrape or sand loose paint like mentioned in contract ,resulting in immediate paint lifting from wood surfaces ,he literally painted over wet damaged wood and flacking paint . I questioned ***** of these issues the whole time he was there ,saying he would take care of it ...he did not .owner is acusing me of picking and peeling paint ,why would I do that , the spots I showed them were lifting and cracking on their own ,no 30 day or longer would  cure that...owner is also not believing his men were at my house no more than 5 miniuts ..doing nothing ,one sat on my lawn firnature and the other was telling me paint peeling due to no primer used which is also noted to be done in contract..and was not . I was not showing other crew additional work, I was pointing out contract work that was not performed . I also did not make eyp do work not on contract ,I was very specific with salesman ***** ,in person as to what I wanted ,I asked if they calk glass block windows and paint under edges of siding to prevent water damage ,he said yes ,just remind crew when they arrive on my job ,exactly what I did ...I fully expected it to be part of quote ,as I mentioned to owner ***** ******* when I met him .I was also told by salesman that crew would go around and assess wood or trim, etc that may need further repair and give me options at additional cost 

  ..they didn't. They just rushed and painted of damaged surfaces . Even owner ***** ******* ,in a text said he understands I couldn't see unfinished work from ground even after signing off . I paid Neary $6500 for this job and should not have to pay another painter to finish .they are not making good on unfinishedcwork or following through with workmanship warenty ,such as a spot on upper facia way out of my reach but able to photograph which I sent to them ...of cracking paint over loose paint ...which ***** did not prepare like he was to via contract . Men told me they would return following Monday, and never did .  ***** said it took them nearly 3 to 4 hrs to return home ,if that's the case ,it was not due to them working on my house . I've been calling ,texting ,emailing ,for weeks now ,***** occasionally returns telling me. *****. ******** and **** * are working on getting crew back to finish ...I've asked John  m to please return my calls due to the fact that he's also customer service.,and does not  he received my video and texts ,when this all started and replied " interesting " no reason I'm being treated like this..Eyp did not fulfill their end of contract , im asking them to please coordinate with me a date of return to finish as I am cured receiving medical treatments as I told ***** several times and had to rearrange because they told me they would be back on Monday..still waiting .

  
  
  

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *******

• Initial Complaint

  05/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  March 14, 2022 Requesting refund for additional work I was required to pay to complete my paint project. I have detailed the events in the Attached Letter. Summary: The Agreement that Express Yourself Painting uses is misleading and written in such a way to deceive the customer – General Terms and Conditions – Special Conditions – makes one think that doors are painted on one side when that’s not the case. According to information on their website (Appendix 8) “Primary Bright Colors: Changing from or to a bright primary color such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and bright whites usually require more than 2 coats”, The dining room was green. The Express Yourself quote only included one coat of paint for all areas. I knew his was not going to work in this green dining room, so I emailed them and asked them to update the quote and use two coats of paint throughout. Why would they quote only one coat for a green room knowing that it would not be successful? The same with the bathrooms. The colors were nothing like what was already there so two coats should have been the minimum quoted. Had I not told them to change it to two coats, we would have been having that conversation during the project. I feel this is done to present a low quote knowing that the customer would have to agree to pay additional money to get the paint job expected. I would like my money back for the 2nd and 3rd coats in the green dining room. Also, if they were not going to use the brand and colors selected, they should not have asked us for color selections. Ultimately, I had to bring in another paint contractor to fix the shabby work done and finish work that Express Yourself did not do – doors, floor moldings, etc. The difference is the work done is astounding. Since this is the busy season for contractors, we had to wait an additional 3 weeks to get someone in to finish the job. So, areas of the house were not usable for the entire month of April and first week in May.

  

  Business response

  07/19/2022

  The customer paid their deposit on 3.2.2022 (see attached  "Date invoice paid and estimate accepted" )

  The estimate the customer accepted is attached titled "Estimate as accepted by customer".

  This is printed directly out of the QB online audit history.

  Line 7 reads that by paying the deposit you accept the estimate as written. You may review the terms in the attachment.

  For purposes of this response I will focus on the dinning room as this is what the customer resolution is focused on. 

  Line 6 - you will find the following verbiage pertaining to the dinning room. "We are to paint the following areas in the dining. Walls - 2 coat(s) Crown Molding - 1 coat(s) Baseboards - 1 coat(s)" 

  The dinning room walls, in fact, was quoted for 2 coats, not 1.

  Line 4 - has the following terms: "Most color changes can be achieved with 2 coats, however some colors (reds, yellows and some whites for example) may need additional coats at additional cost."

  The sales person went back to the customer's home to reconcile her expectations as they did not match the estimate. There was a follow up email produced by the customer and a response by the sales person. See attached "Reconciliation Actions Communication" In this email the sales person quoted the cost of the third coat.

  In the attachment "Customer Approval for Third Coat" you will see where the customer approved a third coat. You will also see the customer believes had we quoted and painted a primer quote originally there would be no cost for the third coat. In fact a primer and 2 coats would be three coats. There would have been no difference in the final cost.  

  The whole project was contentious from the start. The communication provided by the customer and by EYP is only a small sampling. Upon arrival the very first day, the customer informed the painters all trim would be painted wall color (just one example). This is clearly not in the contract. You can read the conversations on the last two emails and you will see the customer continues to ask for things not in the contract. 

  In summary, EYP quoted 2 coats in the dinning room. The dinning room required a third coat. The third coat was quoted to the customer and the customer approved and ultimately paid. 

  We clearly point out that all colors will not cover in two coats. (Keep in mind in most all cases during the quoting process we do not know the exact color the customer will choose for their project)

  There is definitely no BAIT and SWITCH as the customer infers. In this case it was just the opposite. The customer agreed to specific contract scope and when the painters arrived they attempted to have the painters do considerably more than what was in the contract. 

  EYP will not refund the cost for the second and third coat in the dinning room as they were clearly quoted and approved by the customer.

   

   

   

  Customer response

  07/22/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: as stated in all of the documents submitted, the entire process was very unprofessional. Workers spoke little or no English so was unable to communicate with them to gain an understanding of what they were gong to do. Would not have allowed them to start work knowing they would not be painting the entire house.  The spokesperson (Karla) never came to my house until the job was completed so while she may have spoken some English, it was after the fact the we spoke. The touch-up work was hit or miss especially in the rooms where color was changed - dining room, two bathrooms. When I had contractors come back to quote the completion of the job, they all said that the dining room have been primed and the third coat would not have been required. They failed to use the paint brand selected yet made us go through the process of selecting paint brands and colors knowing they would use their own. I do consider this switch-and-bait. As a customer, they fell to provide satisfactory services and we made that known from Day 1 via telephone calls to the office. We could not get the sales representative back out until after contractors completed the job. That was not surprising since this was not his regular, full-time job. This project was doomed from the beginning due to lack of communication. I still feel that they should refund me the costs for the third coat of paint. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** * **********

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