ComplaintsforCollar City Painting LLC

• Initial Complaint

  12/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  On 11/4/2022 my husband and I signed the contract with Collar City Painting and Ed M***** and provided a down payment of $2916.67. We anticipated the work to be completed in summer of 2023. After we initiated all communication about the project from March 2023-August, and receiving poor communication back from Ed, we decided to request a refund as stated in our contract terms. The painting project had never started. We requested the refund on 9/14/23 and as of 12/9/23 have not received the check. We have reached out via text, email and phone to Ed and his office and been repeatedly told it’s being processed. No refund should take 3 months to receive.

• Initial Complaint

  10/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  I hired collar city painters and placed a deposit of 1165.50 deposit on 9/15/2920. Then of course Covid hit the next year so nothing was done. Nothing was done the following either2022. Finally, after many contacts they started the project in 6/23. I pd another 1165.00 for them to start. They worked on and off from July thru 11/22/23. I had so many problems starting with them painting the window trim the wrong color, to not painting 2 full coats with primer. Knots visible on replaced clap board, sloppy painting on trim, no paint under window sills, paint drips and over painting on trim and the reverse on the clapboard. Paint drips on porch floors. Calking cracking severely. I have spoken repeatedly to the owner about these issues .Eddie M******, the owner has continuously said he would correct these issues after doing an in person inspection more times than I can count. Unfortunately, although they came back after being paid in full they only corrected some of the issues, created more of the same issues and did nothing to correct most. Although, Mr M****** has continuously agreed that all the issues I outlined were valid and has promised to rectify them he has not. I have contacted him numerous times and he says he is coming yet never shows up. He provides a 5 year guarantee which has meant nothing due to not even completing the job correctly in the the first place. Probably, the most concerning part is Eddie sounds like he really means that he is going the fix the issues, for the more part is very pleasant. However, no actual action is taken just a lot of empty promises. Although, prior to hiring him I only saw and heard good reviews of his work, since then he has several complaints that are similar to mine that were not posted at the time I hired him. At this point the painting season is pretty much over and as a disabled person the stress of dealing with him has not been great for my health. I am hoping your agency can help me. I have included some pictures I have many more if needed..

  Business response

  10/20/2023

  Hello Mr ****** had one thing correct in his entire complaint,  we signed our contractin 2020 then covid hit.   Everything was delayed because of covid and we finallystart the project in 2022 not 2023.  I informed Mr ****** that he had only paid half of the agreeddeposit which he insinuated I was not being truthful but then agreed. Duringour walkthrough I pointed out what repairs we would do and it was agreedupon. Our carpenter did 5x the carpentry work that was originally agreed upon and I have the original notes describing what was to be replaced.  Now becauseit was a huge delay in the project I offered $500 off but he refused that amount so after going back and forth I was done and agreed to $1200 off which is a lot on a $6000 + job   I also agreed to repair a huge homemade entry gate and paint that would've cost about $800.   The place was painted the same colors and the colors were supplied by him. He gave my team 2 colors not 3 so they painted it those colors. He told us there was a 3rd then supplied the color and my team repainted the 8 window frames.   The night before they finished he did a walkthrough with the lead guy on site Jeff. He pointed out a list and they addressed it and they were paid.  A few week later he contactedus and said he found more issues so we returned with 5 guys for 4 hours for 20 hours of labor. He then contacted us again with more issues stating his neighbors pointed out more stuff so again we went back.   He then contacted us again .   Mr ****** has showed up to my home,  he suggested in text my 8 year old couldn't or shouldn't be proud of me and has sent snarky texts and insults after insults. Now duringthis time I was personally dealing with medical issues and an employee **** ***** 41 years of age had a heart attack on a jobsite and passed away a few blocks from Mr ******* and it was well known it had happened and we were all devastated but Mr ****** kept on non stop.   Its perfectly clear no matter what we do this man will not be happy.  Mr ****** has already received about $2000 off betweenthe discount and the repair and painting of the huge custom gate.  

  Customer response

  11/06/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. There are still many discrepancies in events.  The contract was signed in Sept 2020 and an initial  deposit was given. I was told I was number 5 on the list of homes to be completed from that point on. The next time I heard from him was February 2022, leaving 2021 with no contact whatsoever. I was told he would begin around April 2022, and then when he did not contact or show up, I reached out again in June and July of 2022 to be told he was still busy. We connected in mid-August of 2022, and he began the work in late Sept 2022. There was confusion regarding the initial deposit as 2 years had gone by since I made it and I didn't recall what the amount was. I looked in my records and made good on the deposit as half, of the previous half.  I had supplied three partial cans of paint with all the color information on them, which were labeled and clearly put out for use. They included a grey/blue color, a dark grey color and white. The third color that is being mentioned is in fact white. The two grey colors were the exact same color as the house was painted initially, it was a paint over job. It was very concerning that 10 windows were painted the completely wrong color, and yes, that was rectified and what the extra man hours mentioned is referring to. There was an exorbitant amount of trim paint on the siding and siding paint on the trim. Paint on the trex on the porch, just essentially a sloppy job with little attention to detail. Some of the work was redone, and much of it was not and has not to date. I was assured he would return to complete this work since I made the final payment in October of 2022. I have numerous text messages from him saying the paint mix up was his error, the gate was not a problem, because I had to wait so long, he would do it as a courtesy. While I am sure it would have cost up to $800 to do, that was never in our agreement. I also supplied the stain, not paint, for that. So, there is no confusion on what paint was for the gate as it was stain. The carpentry repair was a huge factor is why I hired Mr. M****** to begin with, as I knew there were some runs of siding that needed repair as well as window, trim and sills. This was clear in the estimate and discussions and not an add on or favor. This part of the job is also in need of repair. The caulking was not done correctly, and the seams all cracked. The paint is cracking as well due to the caulking not being done properly. There is also no way 2 coats of paint was used on many parts of the house, as the wood shows through much of the white paint. The bottom line is I was told after making payment I would be made whole on the job in the form of repainting the errors. There is trim paint on the white clap board, white on the trim and areas that are completely missed. This was all documented when we did a walk around both in November of 2022 and again in June of 2023. Since that time, I have been patient and been given excuse after excuse as to when he will complete the job. To date he has not come, and the home is still in a state of being incomplete. The mention of Covid, medial issues and the untimely death of his employee, while all unfortunate and understandable, have no bearing on the fact that from November 2023 to now I have been waiting for the job to be completed. I made good on the final payment as the employee was waiting for it and it was already evening. Mr. M****** was out of town and asked him to get it from me the night the job was "completed". It was not until daylight the following days I could clearly see there were many errors and areas that needed repainting. I had every confidence that Mr. M****** would complete the repairs and repainting as he told me numerous times through out this past year he would. However, I have not had anyone come to my home to begin any such work. I have waited almost a year with promise after promise of a return and no one has come.   Regards,  ***** ******  

  Customer response

  11/16/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  There are still many discrepancies in events. The contract was signed in Sept of 2020 and an initial deposit was given. I was told I was number 5 on the list of homes to be completed from that point on .The next time I heard from him was February 2022, leaving 2021 with no contact whatsoever. I was told he would begin around April 2022, and then when he did not contact or show up, I reached out again in June and July of 2022 to be told he was still busy. We connected in mid-August of 2022, and he began the work in late Sept 2022. There was confusion regarding the initial deposit as 2 years had gone by since I made it and I didn’t recall what the amount was. I looked in my records and made good on the deposit as half, of the previous half. I had supplied three partial cans of paint with all the color information on them, which were labeled and clearly put out for use. They included a grey/blue color, a dark grey color and white. The third color that is being mentioned is in fact white. The two grey colors were the exact same color as the house was painted initially, it was a paint over job. It was very concerning that 10 windows were painted the completely wrong color, and yes, that was rectified and what the extra man hours mentioned is referring to. There was an exorbitant amount of trim paint on the siding and siding paint on the trim. Paint on the trex on the porch, just essentially a sloppy job with little attention to detail. Some of the work was redone, and much of it was not and has not to date. I was assured he would return to complete this work since I made the final payment in Nov 2022. I have numerous text messages from him saying the paint mix up was his error, the gate was not a problem, because I had to wait so long, he would do it as a courtesy. While I am sure it would have cost up to $800 to do, that was never in our agreement. I also supplied the stain, not paint, for that. So, there is no confusion on what paint was for the gate as it was stain. The carpentry repair was a huge factor is why I hired Mr. M****** to begin with, as I knew there were some runs of siding that needed repair as well as window, trim and sills. This was clear in the estimate and discussions and not an add on or favor. This part of the job is also in need of repair. The caulking was not done correctly, and the seams all cracked. The paint is cracking as well due to the caulking not being done properly. There is also no way 2 coats of paint was used on many parts of the house, as the wood shows through much of the white paint. The bottom line is I was told after making payment I would be made whole on the job in the form of repainting the errors. There is trim paint on the white clap board, white on the trim and areas that are completely missed. This was all documented when we did a walk around both in November of 22 and again in June of 2023. Since that time, I have been patient and been given excuse after excuse as to when he will complete the job. To date he has not come, and the home is still in a state of being incomplete. The mention of Covid, medial issues and the untimely death of his employee, while all unfortunate and understandable, have no bearing on the fact that from November 2023 to now I have been waiting for the job to be completed. I made good on the final payment as the employee was waiting for it and it was already evening. Mr. M****** was out of town and asked him to get it from me the night the job was “completed”. It was not until daylight the following days I could clearly see there were many errors and areas that needed repainting. I had every confidence that Mr. M****** would complete the repairs and repainting as he told me numerous times through out this past year he would. However, I have not had anyone come to my home to begin any such work. I have waited almost a year with promise after promise of a return and no one has come.  Regards,  ***** ******

• Initial Complaint

  09/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I text** ** ****** of Collar City Painting on 6/22 to paint my bedroom. He quot** $1040 & said it would be in about 5 week (end of July). I didn't receive the contract by 7/3 so I text** him. He email** it 7/6. I was out of town; but once I return** home, I wrote a $525 check (7/18) for the 50% deposit. It clear** 7/24. On 7/18 he told me the job would be "a few weeks, not long". That was still okay with me, so I waited. On August 6, I follow** up via email to see if a date was scheduled, and could be 8/14,15,16 or17. **** ***** repli** that she thought "** can make that happen" On August 13th, ** finally replied: "I will have the day for you tomorrow am it will be this week." I wait** a couple of days and on August 16th I email** him and ask** what day he was coming. **** ***** repli** "was trying to reach him at his work site." That was the last of the email exchange. On Friday, August 18, I text** ** and he apologiz** and said he will be in touch that Sunday. I ask** if he could do it 8/23 or 8/25 and said "yes, I'll make that happen" One, again, I didn't hear from him as plann** so I text** again and said "Let's make this easier...can you paint the walls in one day? I can skip the ceiling and trim." No reply. On August 22rd, I text** and ask** for a phone call. to discuss scheduling. He text** the next day "***** I'll touch base this afternoon I thought **** ***** had reach** out to you" By 9:30 that night, I text** "This afternoon has come and gone. As has Sunday, the last day you were going to get this scheduled. Please return my deposit." He repli** FIVE DAYS later "***** we will absolutely refund your deposit. I apologize for the entire situation and am actually embarrass** by everything" On 9/11, I text** "It's been 2 weeks and still no check. Do you Venmo?" 9/12 he repli** "Unbelievable. Im on it" 9/15 I ask** if a check was sent and told me he was going to run it over to my house over the weekend. Still, no check He is disingenuous. Period.

  Business response

  10/03/2023

  Refund was grant** weeks ago.

  Customer response

  10/04/2023

  I have review** the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I fil** the complaint on 9/18 and on 9/19 he left the check in my mailbox.  Regards,  ***** ********

• Initial Complaint

  05/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  Went into contract in June of 2021 for painting / carpentry project. Paid 50% down payment of $3051. Was made aware that due to Covid backlog that project most likely was not going to be completed until beginning of 2022. Spring of 2022 came - and started a multi-month series of texts to coordinate when the project would actually start. In each case, we had to reach out to get status. As the summer progressed, we were given a series of excuses for delays. While we didn't dispute the reasons, the problem was we were given dates that came and went, and then weeks later we had to reach out to get status. There was ZERO proactive communication by Collar City painting. As summer turned to fall, we started worrying that the project would not be completed. Was told that carpentry would be done before year end, and painting in 2023. Once again, dates to start work came and went. Collar City did understand if we wanted a refund. Due to lack of communication and the contract not being fulfilled - we opted to get a fund on 11/25/22. Collar city then ignored us - no responses to texts. Certified letter was sent and returned as unread. Contact the main office e-mail and got a response from Sara on 1/12/23. Was told the money was in escrow, and that the check would be sent out. Never received check. I'm simply asking for my money back.

  Business response

  05/30/2023

  ***** is correct we were unable to get there when promised. We had a death occur on a jobsite not work related a heart attack and it was very traumatic to our entire team. The barn was completely scraped and cleaned up. We will not deduct anything for the scraping of the barn and will issue a full refund. 

  We wish ***** and his family nothing but the best. 

  Customer response

  05/30/2023

  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.  The business has previously agreed to a full refund and said a check was being mailed but it was never received. It should take 6 months to get a refund.   Regards,  ***** ********

• Initial Complaint

  10/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On November 11, 2019 I entered into a contract to have my house painted. The house was painted in the summer of 2020 and for the most part I was satisfied with the work. There were a number of issues that the owner Ed McAvoy agreed needed to be redone or corrected. I have been trying since October 1, 2020 to havce the work completed. Mr McAvoy repeatedly has said he will fix the work but as of this writing has not.

  Business response

  10/24/2022

  To Whom It May Concern

  Everything Mr ****** states is absolutely correct, Collar City Painting LLC finished Mr ******* job and a walkthrough was done with the site supervisor. Mr ****** was happy with everything and made the final payment by check. I believe it wasy a few weeks later (i could be wrong) Mr ****** reached out to CCP and said he had found some areas that needed touch ups, I met with him and walked through and looked at the items and agreed they needed to be addressed and would schedule it.  We as a team dropped the ball on this and Mr ****** has been nothing but patent waiting for this to be done.  Mr ****** reached out to me last week letting me know how unhappy he was, I was out of the area and had my Lead Supervisor contact and meet with My ****** and review what needs to be done.  Our plan it to correct these issues ASAP as long as weather allows.  I would like to apologize to Mr ****** and his family for our failure to address the situation and I promise it will be rectified asap weather permitted. 

  17 years in business we have had a great record with really no issues we really love what we do at Collar City Painting, LLC. When Covid hit a few years ago we lost some employees and struggled to keep up and last year was the wettest on record so we were behind and are digging ourselves out to get back where we once were. I am in NO way making any excuses this should have been taken care of. The only thing we can do is correct the situation and move forward.

  Edward M McAvoy

  Owner

  Collar City Painting, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  01/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I contracted with Collar city painting in the spring of 2021. I paid $2000 as a deposit. We agreed to get the work started in April. They came to pick up the storm window frames to have them painted and took them to their workshop. The contractor postponed. And postponed. We made at least a dozen schedule changes to our own work lives to accommodate the many postponement. This was time and cost consuming for my wife and I. Excuse after excuse after excuse all year. At the end of July we agreed that we would wait until right after the Labor Day holiday and then he promised 1000% the job would get done. Labor Day came and went and as usual no contact and no explanation and no job performed. I have this all documented in texts and emails. They showed up in October for three days working only three hours each day doing some painting. They removed several windows and then disappeared. I begged the contractor to please come back and install the six windows that were removed from my home so that I could get through the winter and we could pick this up and finish the job in the spring of 22. They refused and finally I got an email from the contractor saying that they would do the job on November 18, 19th, 20th and 2I No show, no explanation and I didn’t get my storm window frames back until late December. I asked for a partial refund and have not heard anything back. With the storm windows removed from my home, my heating bills have gone up astronomically. We are facing single digit weather for the next few weeks and I expect that I will be out several hundred dollars by the time the winter is over. When it is all said and done I will probably be out all of the money( $2000 )in the deposit. I want a full refund. please let me know what the next step might be. I will find a way to upload the original contract. I’m not sure how to download and print out and save all of my text messages from the contractor but I will if this goes further. Thank you.

  Business response

  01/19/2022

  Hello My name is Edward M***** and I am the owner of Collar City painting, LLC and yes I was under contract with **** to prime and paint window frames, paint the rear of his home and some other odds and ends. I thought about this overnight and i am glad I did. At the end of the day we failed to deliver what we promised on this project and it honestly keeps me up at night as I built this business from nothing over the last almost 17 years and its very personal to me.This was the worst exterior season we have had in my almost 17 years in business, between the rain which cost us to lost 64 days of exterior work in a 6 month season. In addition were dealing with the Covid Virus, my home was flooded and our septic system collasped (which I sent pictures to ****) and I was dealing with some health issues that are public knowledge in our area that I would rather not get into.  Now that being said none of these things are ***** problems they are mine and I 100% own that.  I could sit here and poke holes in ***** account of things but I do not have the time or the energy and bottom line we failed. Now obviously I can not do work for free the work we did do is done   / This is the breakdown for the materials and the labor:Wash and painted the rear of the home: $850  (CCP cost materials & labor)25 Storm window frames wrapped, transported, sanded, primed and painted : $50 each = $1,250 (CCP cost) Remove 5 old storm windows, scaped window sashes and primed: $340.00 (CCP cost)This is what it cost CCP to do the work (material and labor) $2,440.00  / When I say our cost that basically means my business made $0 with these numbers. The back of the house is painted as well as the frames so should CCP do the work for free?  **** sent me an email requesting $1000 back I thought I responded saying yes I would agree to that but I never hit send and Thats what I am willing to do. I will be taking a loss of $1,440.00 and accept that as it was our fault regardless of our situation we failed **** and his wife.I would also like to say that we did another Job for **** before this, painting the front and side of his home, lots of carpentry repairs, jacked the corner of his beautiful side porch up and restored it and he gave us an outstanding review. At the end of the day I offer **** and ******* my sincerest apologies and I wish you guys all the very very best. I have had 3 unhappy clients in 17 years and its very personal to me and we really try to make every single client feel special and here that did not happen and I am very very sorry and the only thing I can do today is be better than I was yesterday. Sincerely,Edward M M*****Owner / President Collar City Painting, LLC      

*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. ↩