ComplaintsforTidy Up NYC

• Initial Complaint

  02/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Transaction dates 12/2023-2/2/2024, work for popcorn ceiling removal/finish/paint on all areas, bathroom shower/tub wall tiles replacement, bathroom sink/toilet/floor tiles replacement, medicine cabinet and light replacement, painting of all trims/doors/walls (except kitchen wall), wood floor sanding/stain/refinishing, tub reglaze work Crooked floor tiles/herringbone design bad layout (I'm told the walls were not straight causing the crookedness), uneven grout for floors (I'm told the tiles were not even), shower wall tile uneven/grout uneven, caulk uneven, wall and floor grout dissimilar color (when it should be the same), living room and kitchen ceiling have unsanded plaster areas and lines/unfinished/bad quality/workmanship, general contractor blames me for not checking - when I pointed it out numerous times and I was ignored, even told to not turn on the light at night, blames the concrete foundation as being not even. tub reglaze resulted to overbleeding glaze to existing caulk/grout line where it meets wall tiles Contractor claims it is finished work when time was given to fix it, up until my move day. Ceiling was still not fixed. I'm already moved in with my daughter and contractor knew the inconvenience to get work corrected is difficult. Work started since mid December, I had to rent somewhere else to allow time for them to work on the ceiling which he claimed will be 3 coats of plaster. I'm told the imperfections were due to concrete foundation, not the workmanship. I'd like BBB to assist in how to resolve this as I am stuck with the bad work. In order to fix the floors, it will require the entire tile work redone.

  Business response

  03/05/2024

  Hi BBB,
  
  This is in response to complaint #********.
  
  Please see below the response of the 3 complaints from the customer and our responses
  
  1.  Ceiling Complaints:  Customer was shown three different units (same building) the way the ceiling would look before we started and she approved the work based on what she saw.  Please note that the ceilings are concrete and has concrete beams as well.  The building was initially built with popcorn ceilings in all apartments and because of this, the ceilings were not initially done correctly and have imperfections (not level).  The job was to remove the popcorn ceiling and plaster and paint and this is what we did.  
  
  2.  Bathroom Floor:  Customer designed and bought all the materials.  Customer bought herringbone tiles for the bathroom floor.  These tiles were pre-attached to a mesh bottom with already predetermined spacing and leveling.  We could not make any adjustments to the spacing of the tiles.  She is complaining about the spacing of the tiles, but she is the one who bought the tiles with this spacing.  We showed this to her but she didn't seem to understand that this is how the product is made and keeps blaming it on our workmanship.  You can see from the attached pictures how nice this job was done.
  
  3.  Painting:  This building is over 20 years old with numerous layers of paint.  The pictures she is attaching is of old layers of paint and of one square foot out of 700 square feet.  She is now saying that she wants to remove the old paint, but that was not the scope of the work for the painting.  It was to paint the apartment and this is what was done.
  
  The job was scheduled and done in good faith.  We have done many apartments in this building (since 2008) with zero complaints at any point.  We are very familiar with how the building was built and told her that were wall and ceiling imperfections within the building.  She understood this.  We met several times while the job was being done and everything seemed to be fine.  There were some things that were brought up that we corrected during the process.  Please note the following facts:
  
  - Customer took some pictures with some imperfections, which I visited her and discussed each one of the issues.  I explained to her why the tiles were the way they were.  I did notice 2 very small tiles that were uneven and would be a quick replacement fix that we could do.  I asked her several times for us to fix those tiles, but she denied access to us.
  - The ceiling (for the whole 700 sq foot job), we also noticed a couple small areas in the ceiling that we could redo.  This happens in a lot of popcorn ceiling removals.  Once the job is over, there is often times we need to go back and touch up some areas due to the settling of paint in combination with temperature fluctuations (this was winter).  We offered to her several times to come back and touch up those areas, again she denied us access to do so.
  
  We stand by our work and have offered solutions many times (we have email proof).  She has continuously denied us access or any way to fix any issues.  Because she was not allowing us access, in order to resolve this issue to the satisfaction, we first offered 5% discount and then went up to 10% on the items she is complaining about.  She denied the offer and stated she wants everything for free because she needs to have EVERYTHING redone (which is very unrealistic on a job that was done 99% correct).  All of her issues were explained to her of why they are so (the herringbone tiles she bought and the ceiling).  The other things, if she gave us access, we would be able to fix very quickly.  
  
  Please see the many attached pictures that show the work we did.  We would be happy to share these photos to potential clients as to the quality of our work as it turned out very well.
  
  Also - Her invoice is over $31K and she has paid $22.5K.  She still owes us $9,196.23.  We did a lot of extra items that we did not charge for (light fixture installations, cleaning, walls and wood floor repairs, repainting of the bathroom because she c****ed the color)
  
  In the end, the areas for touch up were minor and very common in a renovation like this to come and do touch *** when done.  She has not allowed any of that to happen.  It took us at least 4 times for her to even meet in person to look and discuss these issues.  We are willing to either repair those minor items or give her 10% discount for the items that she is complaining about.  If she doesn't want us to come back, then the new amount due after the 10% discount would be $7,396.23.
  
  We have done our best to work with this customer, but she is unwilling to work with us on this issue.  We have been in business since 2008 with zero BBB complaints.  We would like to move past this job and feel we have offered reasonable solutions.  
  
  Let me know next steps and please review all the pictures to see the work we did.

  Customer response

  03/07/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  Here are my responses on the 3 items listed by the contractor:

  1) I was shown one apt for the ceiling work, it did not have ripples or waves or unfinished patches of plaster.  If it did, I would not have hired them for the work.  Contractor is lying.  If the living room has similar finished work like the bedroom, then I can compromise to accept the work as the bedroom ceiling has the better finish.  I do not understand why my living room did not have the similar quality of work.  The kitchen ceiling was not complete at all.

  2)  Bathroom floor-The herringbone design requires a pre gluing layout/planning to ensure grout lines will be even consistently up until the borders when it meets the walls on all sides.  Spacers are still required by which based on the finished work, it seems questionable that spacers were used.  The herringbone mesh came in sets of 2-3 rows, therefore, spacers were still needed to continue the next row of herringbone.  The crooked cuts of the tiles were also a result of poor workmanship.  The combination of all these contributed to a finished design that will require a redo because of the entire design being affected, up until where it meets the walls.  It is not something that can be repaired by chipping a few pieces of tiles off.  The building requires releveling, for floors.  Despite the contractor releveling the floor, some tiles were still uneven, which showed bad workmanship.  In order to correct the floor, it requires a redo.  

  3) Painting-Most painting requires pre work to prepare the surfaces before the actual painting, smoothing it out, cleaning - basic prepwork.  The painting I received clearly did not involve any prep work.  Had it been indicated that there will be no prepwork - I will not pay $2500 for the work or hire them for the paint job.  

  4)  Bathroom wall tiles - Contractor ignored the tiles that were uneven, tiles cut unevenly (50%) - I was told it can be cleaned and yet it was not dirt, mismatched grout color and overall bad workmanship.  Contractor did not provide a response for this area.

  5)  Bathroom tub glazing - Contractor did the glazing last and the paint went over the grout line where it meets the wall tiles.  Paint and grout color on the tubs now have dissimilar colors and material type, by which I was not expecting and it does not look good.

  Contractor was given the time he needed to finish the work, while I rented temporarily as the work required the apt to be vacant.  The contractor proved based on the work delivered, that this is beyond their skill level.  Therefore, the contractor was not allowed access, as it may further ruin what is already bad.  

  Contractor also indicated that he will take legal actions if I do not pay the balance.  I indicated that for the amount of money, inconvenience and time I need to get the bathroom redone in the future, plus the ceiling areas (living room and kitchen), I have to also vacate the premises, I shall be reimbursed for it.  The tremendous amount of inconvenience and stress caused by this situation has been difficult.  

   

   

   

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

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

*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. ↩