Customer ReviewsforCollar City Painting LLC

I contracted with Collar City Painting in 2021 for the exterior of my home and plan was to do it at the end of the season. Unfortunately the weather was horrible so our project was moved to 2022 which we understood. We'll worth the wait! I don't think our home ever looked this good. The entire process was a pleasant one, Ed the owner was very informative and explained the entire process and checked in regularly. The team leader Jeff was amazing and gave us daily updates on where they were. The crew was very pleasant and did an amazing job cleaning up daily and protecting our new landscaping we had recently done. They exceeded ALL expectations and it was definitely worth the wait. To say we are extremely pleased is an understatement. We highly recommend Collar City Painting **** and *** Troy NY

Thank you very much for the great review and for your patience and business. We will see you soon for your interior project. Thanks Again Collar City Painting Team

My wife and I have been homeowners since 1989, and over the decades we have hired many different contractors to undertake myriad jobs. The vast majority were good to excellent; a small minority were poor to fair. But we never felt compelled to lodge a complaint against any of them – until now. Edward M. McAvoy of Collar City Painting is the most unreliable, irresponsible and disingenuous contractor we’ve experienced in 33 years of home ownership. We contracted with Mr. McAvoy in the summer of 2021 to paint our house, providing the requisite one-third deposit. He did not get the job done in 2021 due to weather, promised us we would be his priority for 2022, assured us that our house would be painted in the spring and well before our daughter's wedding in July, kept telling us we'd be his first exterior job of the season and then goofed and revealed he could not do the job on schedule because he had to complete a job he didn't finish the prior summer. He misled us repeatedly and, when he failed to show up or call on several occasions in August, we finally put an end to it. To his credit, he did issue a fuil refund (however it bears mention that we had already engaged our attorney and threatened to file a complaint with the attorney general if he did not promptly return our deposit). I wrestled with whether to post this. On the one hand, I don’t like to disparage people or their businesses. I didn’t want to harm Mr. McAvoy’s reputation in the community, embarrass him in front of his family and friends or damage a small local business that he admirably built from scratch. On the other, and from a consumer protection standpoint, I felt an obligation to warn other unsuspecting customers. I am sure he treats other customers similarly, and I wish someone had warned me. Caveat emptor. Spoiler alert: Here come the excuses. He's good at that, but cannot be relied upon to keep his word.

Mr ***** contacted Collar City Painting in 2020 for an estimate for the exterior of there home. We showed up took pictures of the home discussed the process and said we would email his proposal which we did. A year later with covid going on they reached out to me and said something had come up and was wondering if the price was still good. Prices on everything had risen but I said no I would honor the price. They sent a deposit in the mail with the signed contract and we received it. We were shooting to get them done that August of 2021. It then rain the entire month of July plus some absolutely devastating out schedule for the rest of the season. I explained that we would have to move it to the following season and they agreed. This season started with the warmer weather but the evenings were cold and this is an issue for exterior coatings to cure. We ended up doing more interior work as if we do not keep our crews busy they will go elsewhere as everyone is hiring and having issues finding help. Once we finally started outside work we had a few that we couldn't finish from the year before because of weather which we had to do. I explained this to **** and he was upset and got very nasty. He insulted me as well as my business via texts it got ugly. I did get mad or mean or anything I just kept apologizing. I wasn't sure what to do so I spoke to my wife about it as I was afraid the relationship was too damaged and it would just get worse. My wife agreed as said I should just refund the deposit and everyone move on. I sent a text to **** explaining my concerns that it would get worse and I wasn't sure if we could move forward. **** assured me we could and we decided to. I did another walk through with his wife who was wonderful and discussed everything. I had my lead supervisor with me and plan was to start that following Monday but I also explained that we were on a house in ****** that we were finishing and hopefully everything goes according to plan. We ran into a minor issue on the Job we were finishing and Jeff my lead guy sent a text to ****** wife explaining it and it would just be a few more days and we'd be there. I received a certified letter 2 days later demanding the full deposit back by that following Saturday or he would file a BBB complaint, Attorney General etc..... We have a process that we follow to return deposits if someone cancels as we need to show where the funds went. I filled out all the paperwork to do that but couldn't get the funds released fast enough (in 48 hours ) so I took money from my family's savings account got a certified check and personally delivered it to their home to meet his demands. So it seems after I did what he asked he went ahead and posted one of the worst reviews I've ever seen. I apologized over and over and over to ****. The last few years with covid and then the wettest season in decades took its toll on us and we will clean it up and get back to where we were before all this mess. Our work speaks for itself and my entire team is amazing and works incredibly hard and long hours and we all love what we do. We only wish **** and his family the very best.

We had a contract in winter 2021. Collar City Painting (Ed M) was a repeated no-show through summer and fall. As the window of opportunity shrunk, we offered to piecemeal the project in 2; repairs first, painting second (postpone to 2022). This was agreed to but never acted on. In the end we struggled to get our deposit back, filing a report with police. When our deposit arrived (hand delivered in mailbox) we encountered ‘insufficient funds’ at Ed’s bank. Days later, we finally regained our deposit. This ordeal lasted from March 2021-January 2022. The upshot is that Collar City painting is not the professional outfit it claims to be. It is unreliable at best and deceitful at worst.

The part that is true is that CCP had a contract with *** in March of 2021 and the project was to be done towards the end of the season as we were already booked solid into August for 2022. CCP requires a 1/3rd deposit on all exterior projects it is our policy and when we received the signed contract the deposit sent was less that 1/3rd of the 1/3rd required deposit. **** explained to me that it was a rehab loan and she could only access so much at this time because some work has to be started to get more funds, but not to worry because there were lots of other things being done and there would be NO issues getting the balance of the deposit. There is an old style siding on the structure, there are some "close" siding that would work but she wanted it all to match exactly so I took an old piece of siding from the house and put feelers out and visited 3 different mills to possibly have it made. In our contract it states "client must supply water and power at the site" and on July 8th **** emailed me and stated she finally had water and power at the structure, 4 months after the contract was signed. Now anyone that lives in the 12180 knows it rained the entire month of July in 2021 except i think 4 days. In Sept **** reached out and asked me about the timeline and i explained how we lost the month of July and were playing catch up. Now its 6 months after the contract was signed and no mention of the balace of the 1/3rd deposit that we never received. The cost of everything was up because of Covid and some materials were hard to come by, lots of paint we couldnt even get but we were working on it. On Oct 11 we finally received paint sample colors she wanted applied to see if she like them, we applied them on the 15th of October. On October 18th I received a call that a vendor we use found the siding we needed and I let her know and brought up the balance of the initial deposit and never received a reply...... this siding and other materials is expensive and the amount of the deposit would get me through a week with just materials maybe a little longer. On November 12th I received a text from **** stating she wanted her deposit back in 5 days. I emailed her and stated that I needed an email formally requesting the cancelation of the contract and the contract number, name address etc as we need to show where the money goes from out account. Our deposits go in an escrow account that is overseen by our accountant, when the job physically starts or materials are purchased the money gets released to an account we have access to. Once we received the email we forwarded and waited for the check to be cut and I go and sign it. During this entire refund of deposit we received insulting emails and threats from this woman. As soon as the check was cut I personally picked it up signed it and hand delivered it to her home. As far as a police report I have absolutely no clue what she is talking about as no one ever contacted us and my wife is 24 years in law enforcement in our area and she never heard from anyone she works with. I also have no clue about the no funds in our business account this is the 1st we heard about. At the end of the day **** expected us Collar City Painting, LLC to be her finance company and pay for materials and labor up front. We never charged her a penny for my visits to the home to discuss the project, researching and driving all over to find the siding etc... applying the samples. This review is filled with untruths from start to finish. Its a beautiful home and I wish her and her family the best on its completion.

The truly unfortunate part of this experience, similar to what others have stated, is the repeated unfulfilled promises, the unwillingness to creative problem solve or admit the work couldn’t be completed as planned, and the courage to simply apologize and return deposits in a timely way. Ed is a very charming man, which makes the whole experience that much more disappointing.