ComplaintsforImperial Paints LLC

• Initial Complaint

  07/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  To whom it may concern, Attached is the email communication between the customer and Ecos Paint after receiving the order. Ecos Paint selected “Deep Base Paint” for the three light colors—light green, light yellow, and light orange—instead of the industry-standard medium base paint. As a result, the paints are watery, provide poor coverage, and require 5-6 layers to cover adequately. Deep base paints, meant for deep colors, also show imperfections easily. Ecos Paint's customer service suggested ordering primers and insisted they did not make a mistake. This solution would cost the customer over $500 in extra paint and primers, triple the labor cost, and still not achieve the desired result. The correct medium base paint would have avoided these issues. Our request for an exchange was rejected, with Ecos Paint claiming it was their standard. We believe this is a scam to make customers purchase extra paint and are requesting a billing adjustment of $287.88 for the incorrect base. Thank you for your assistance. Best regards, Xi

  Business response

  07/15/2024

  ECOS Paints has been manufacturing award-winning products for over thirty-five years. These products comprise unique formulations and pigments designed to provide a more-healthy option for discerning customers – who include homeowners, painting professionals, DIYers, and owners of famous buildings, and businesses.
  Our choices of bases and pigment combinations are the result of decades of production and scientific evaluation. Moreover, if a customer has questions about a specific color, or product, we offer chat, email, and telephone correspondence to help them to make an informed decision. 

• Initial Complaint

  05/31/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ordered 202.05 dollars of paint products from this company on May 22, 2024. They claimed to have shipped this product to me and that it was delivered on May 26th, but it was not. I have searched my building and asked all my neighbors and no one knows about this supposed shipment. I do not believe it was ever in our building despite what the company claims, using some low quality photo of a floor with a package on it. I reached out to **** ******/Imperial Paints LLC immediately but they are refusing to sent a replacement or issue a refund although I never received any products that I paid for. Instead they suggest I order the products again and pay them half price which I have refused to do. At this point I just want my money back.

  Customer response

  05/31/2024

  There was a tracking photo consisting of a package on a floor. I could not be sure it was my building or my package. I have let *** ** know already that the package was never received. 

  Business response

  05/31/2024

  The customer ordered products from ECOS which were delivered by *****. The ***** tracking number demonstrated the package's transit and the photo of the package on the customer's doorstep was the regular package delivery photo provided by ***** to their customers as a proof of delivery. There is no doubt that the package was delivered precisely where the customer requested. 

  The customer chose the delivery option "no signature required" which means that ***** simply leaves the package at an appropriate location at the customer's address. The customer could have chosen a "signature required" option which would have meant the ***** driver would have been required to hand deliver the package, or the customer could have had the package shipped to a secure ***** ship center where they could have picked it up at their convenience. These options were available at no additional cost.

  The package was not found by the customer and is presumed to have been stolen. 

  Despite the fact that the package had been delivered exactly as requested, we offered to send a replacement at a 50% discount. The customer demanded that a free replacement be sent, including free shipping, entirely at our expense. Ultimately, we decided to refund the customer 100% for the original order.

• Initial Complaint

  04/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased primer, semi-gloss white paint, and semi-gloss green paint from this company. I have ordered numerous times in the past without issue. Order purchased 2/13/2024 and shipped to the cabinet guy that built our shelves. Invoice #155784. The carpenter that built our shelves did one with white paint and one with green. White semi-gloss turned out great. Green semi-gloss paint had a matte finish, the paint wiped off with a rag, and it scratched horribly. It had no sheen or gloss and felt very unfinished. We contacted the company and after a month of back and forth they refuse to refund my $299.85 for the green paint only. I’m not asking for them to pay for labor or the additional painter we had to hire and paint cost. At this point, I would really appreciate that money back as well. If it wasn’t for their faulty paint, we would have saved $2000 in additional costs. Both the cabinet maker, who is well known and reputable and a former tv show co host on hgtv, and the next painter we hired said the paint was too dry/chalky and hoped we could get a refund. It was water thin and had no viscosity. Despite the application conditions and specifications for the white painted shelves and green being the same, they still blame the application. Our painter followed all specifications on the website, waited the allotted time between coats, and even did a 3rd coat of the paint without any changes to the end product. I provided them with all the information they asked. Despite being a returning customer that’s spent plenty of money on their products with no previous complaints, they won’t budge. Customer service is great on the front end, but once you have an issue with the product they change their tune. I saw several very similar reviews on google. It is nearly impossible to leave a review on their website.

  Business response

  04/01/2024

  The customer had an application and wearing issue with this product. 

  The application issue was simply that the product cures over a period of time (just like all water-based paints) and sufficient time was not allowed for this to happen. Scraping at the new finish almost immediately after it has been applied is not recommended.

  In terms of the wearing issue, as is seen in the photos supplied by the customer, the damage caused was not simply to the finish itself. The damage includes deep gouges into the shelf surface as well as structural damage to the door edge. Neither of these impacts would be mitigated by a coat of paint. 

  The customer did return a small amount of paint for testing, which was undertaken. The results (picture included) were excellent, with a smooth, durable film, demonstrating good adhesion and sheen build-up - even on the roughhewn board used. Additional paint was offered to remedy the application issue, but this was not accepted, and another painter (not the original one) completed the job with a different product. Why the original painter was not engaged to remedy the initial issue was not made clear.

  As the customer stated, she had bought many products from us over the past few years without issue. We would have been more than happy to address this application and damage issue with some additional free product.

  We encourage all of our customers to leave reviews and have over 11,000 of them on our website. 

  Customer response

  04/02/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 
  

  I have email records with this business. The original painter did not order the product, so we communicated on his behalf. It is not an application issue. We waited a week after the paint was finished until we put books on a bookshelf which is reasonable. Paint should not wipe off a cabinet. They NEVER offered to send more product. I have full communication records of this. They also never refunded me for the can we returned. Touting over 11,000 reviews shows they only care about the big picture versus true loyal customers. I just cannot understand how the same painter, with the same conditions, had two very different outcomes when the only difference was the paint. This is unacceptable. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** *****

  Business response

  04/03/2024

  There are several application issues that can cause low adhesion between a paint and a primer, including sanding the primer and then not cleaning off the dust residue before painting, not letting the primer dry properly before applying the paint, and contaminating the paint when applying it using a sprayer. We were unable to talk directly with the original painter (the customer communicated on his behalf) so we could not explore these, or any other application details.

  The small amount of paint which was returned to us was tested and it performed perfectly. The paint bonded securely with the primer and, less than a week later, it is not possible to scratch it off at all.  

  As previously noted, the damage shown in the photos is not evidence of paint “wiping off”. The damage shown includes score marks from a sharp implement, a large scratch caused by contact with a rough object, and the destruction of an edge, presumably by a heavy object colliding with it. (See the attached photo with the major damage to the substrate edge).

  We are sorry that this issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction but firmly believe that it was not the result of any product deficiency. We would have happily provided additional paint free of charge to remedy the application/damage issues.

  Customer response

  04/06/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 
  

  It is in no way an application issue as it was applied the same way as the other semi-gloss paint. They never asked to speak to the painter directly. Had they, with my painters permission, I would have happily made this happen. His direct comments we copied and pasted to the review. The painter that came in after him said there were indeed no fish eyes when I mentioned that to him. The scrapes are not deep. They are surface level. They are from placing books on the shelf and removing them. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** *****

*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. ↩