ComplaintsforRockin Robyn Drywall, Plaster, Textures, & Painting

• Initial Complaint

  05/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I contracted with this company to paint the interior of my house. Work began 10/18/21 and I gave the company **** down payment, supposedly for materials but I provided all of the materials. The paint job is horrible - many unpainted areas, dribbles throughout. They ruined the hardwood floor in my foyer, there were 44 paint spots on my carpet, paint on all of the hardware on doors and specks of paint on almost every piece of furniture in my downstairs and a floor lamp was destroyed. In addition to that, a bank with close to *** was missing after they left. I'll stop short of saying one of the painters stole it. . I had to pay another company come out and repaint 2 ceilings and try to fix much of the sloppy work. Pictures attached - one or two from each room. I have many many more. The owner came to inspect and also took many pictures and seemed to be appalled. I asked for a refund of **** and the owner agreed to mail it to me but has not done so. That was 4 months ago. I am asking for the **** refund so that i can continue fixing their terrible work.

  Business response

  07/08/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/06/04) */ First the original estimate was given a year prior to her hiring us and I didn't revise the estimate to 2021 inflation, I also only charged her for 1 coat but applied 2 coats and wasn't charged for that either. She may of purchased the paint but I purchased the sheetrock, easy sand, joint compound and PVA Primer used for patches that wasn't included in the original estimate. I asked everyone who worked at her house about the missing money she accused us of taking and everyone's response was " why would we take money when all they had to do is ask me for an advance, we all think her son who lives with her took it and knew she would blame us. We also showed up to fix all complaints she had, but she wouldn't let us in to do it. When she 1st called me about a refund she asked ********** which I agreed to pay, but then sent me an email demanding ******** which I seen as her wanting the job done for free. As far as us ruining her hardwood floors, we had drops played out throughout her entire house. Paint on her doors hardware was old existing paint, but said we were to blame for that also. I've been in business for over 25 years and have showed nothing but a professional job, and respect for each of them. I feel like no one could of made her completely happy. Consumer Response /* (3000, 8, 2022/06/12) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Miss *******'s response to my complaint has many inaccurate statements and facts, which I will address in this rebuttal. She is correct that the original estimate was provided in fall, 2020, and we agreed on a date for the work at that time. Covid then surged and I postponed the job. I contacted her in September 2021, letting her know I was ready to reschedule, and asked if she was still interested in the job. She replied in the affirmative and we set a date. At no time did she mention an increase in the quote because it was a year later. She did, however, state that she would need 1/3 down payment to "cover the cost of materials". I reminded her that we had agreed that I would purchase the paint but that giving her a down payment would not be a problem. Miss ******* replied that she would deduct the cost from the estimate, and on Oct 13 provided a revised quote that removed the paint charge. A copy of our emails discussing all of this is attached, as well as a copy of the original quote, the revised quote minus the paint, and a final invoice adding the cost of the two patches. I did question the addition of 2 patch units, as we had discussed the patch in the den ceiling in 2020 when she came to measure the areas to be painted. I assumed the ceiling patch had been factored into the original quote. The patch in the kitchen was not discussed ahead of time and so I fully expected to be billed extra for that. She stated that the den patch was not included in the quote. In the event that she wants to say that the den patch was not discussed up front, I can confirm that on day 1 when she and her crew arrived, the first thing she had one of them do was prep that area for the patch and apply the sheetrock. It was clearly her negligence in not adding that item to the original quote, but I chose to let it go. As for applying two coats of paint and not charging me, that is totally inaccurate. They may have applied two coats on small areas of the some rooms, but they did not do so on all surfaces. If you look at the quote, she showed 10 gallons of paint would be needed to cover the walls and that is what I purchased. I did have to purchase another gallon towards the end, but not another 10 gallon which would have been required if they applied 2 coats. Further evidence that this company did not apply 2 coats - there were multiple areas on the walls that did not get covered by the painters. Had they applied 2 coats, it is highly unlikely that they would have missed the same spots both times. Regarding the bank that Miss ******* has blatantly accused my son of taking, what she doesn't know is that the bank was a household bank with both my son and I tossing in our loose change, and occasionally a dollar bill, and both of us using that change periodically when going to the store. I also dispute her statement that I accused her crew of taking the money. When she came to do the walk through, before she left I told her that a bank that was in my front room, with ******* in it was missing. I very specifically said "I am not accusing anyone of taking it, I'm just telling you it is missing". During the walk through, Miss ******* took many pictures of the multiple areas in my house that were sloppily painted, or missed. Before leaving she offered to return and make it right. I agreed to let her do so under the condition that none of the 3 inexperienced painters come back. She agreed and we set a date. On the date, she arrived at my house with one of the 3, and I did not let them come in to do any additional work as I wanted no more inexperienced painters performing work. The one she brought with her had not only done a poor job painting but he totally broke the doorknob on the door leading from my kitchen to the garage and I had to go out after they left to buy a new one and have it rekeyed. She promised to reimburse me for the cost but never did. About the refund, again Miss ******* is not remembering correctly. I asked for **** of the **** I had paid up front. I told her I would pay **** of the additional **** she billed for the patch work and told her my reasoning was that the patch in the den ceiling was satisfactory, but the patch on the wall behind the stove was not done properly and I would hold out *** of the **** for that work. A picture of that patch is attached. On the left side of the stove you can see the line going down the wall where they did not properly finish off the area. A bonus on this picture is you can see the sloppy job next to the cabinets. During a phone call on Dec. 4, she verbally agreed to refund the ***** and said she would put a money order in the mail the following Friday, Dec 10. I sent her 2 reminders over the next few weeks, email copies attached. I also asked for her business license number and she ignored that request. At no time did I "demand" the **** and as of this date I have not received it. Miss ******* states she thinks I wanted the job done for free. If that was my intent I would never have given her **** up front. I was not obligated to give her that amount of money up front since I provided the paint, I did so as a courtesy. The hardwood floor issue - they did use drop cloths but either they didn't do so **** of the time or they were ineffective. There was a lot of paint spilled on that floor and my carpet - see attached picture where those two areas meet. You can clearly see the paint spills on the hardwood and the carpet. I'll add that on the last day her crew was her, the one female got down on her hands and knees and used some sort of solvent trying to clean up the paint on the hardwood. In those areas , you can see that the finish on the floor is gone. Additionally, there were paint specks on almost every piece of furniture in my downstairs so apparently the drop cloths didn't do any good. A picture of my sofa and 2 lamps is also attached. In fact on the arm of the sofa is the handprint of one of her employees. This is how they left my property so I would say none of them had any respect for me or my property. Door hinges - totally untrue. It is possible that there may have been an occasional speck of old paint on one or two but you would have had to look to find it. I've attached one picture and you can see that the old paint was an off white. You can only see that because her painters missed an area above the hinge and below it. And I wonder how Ms. ******* can explain why on some of the doors only part of the hinge was painted. The fact is, that is the result of her inexperienced painters. Ms. ******* states she has been in business for over 25 years and shown nothing but a professional job. I chose her company partly because she had been in business for so long and I thought she would do a professional job. That may have been the case had she not used such inexperienced painters but as evidenced by the many photos, they did an extremely sloppy job. Midway through the project I discussed with her my concerns that the crew working at my house seemed inexperienced. Her response...."they have to learn somehow". I did not comment further, but thought to myself, yes that's true but normally you have an inexperienced person work under an experienced painter to learn. I did state that when the job was finished and before I paid the balance, I wanted her and I to do a walk through to make sure that everything was satisfactory. I had another company come in to fix some of the worst problems, and he was aghast at the horrible job that was done. After he finished looking at all of the rooms he turned to me and said "was this a professional company you hired". I have attached additional photos and documents: 1. Emails beginning Oct 2020 up until the start of the job, discussing the quote, the fact that I was purchasing the paint, etc. 2. Excel file showing original quote, revised quote after paint removed, final quote for the added cost for the two patched areas 3. Emails referencing my request for a refund of **** 4. Photo of the patch job on the wall behind stove 5. Photo of a section of hardwood floor and adjacent carpet showing paint spills 6. Photo of door hardware showing a section not painted and areas missed on the door molding 7. Photo of living room sofa and 2 lamps showing paint specks and smears In closing, perhaps you can request that Miss ******* provide you with a sampling of the photos she took during the walk through. Clearly at the time, she realized that the work that was done was not professional. In fact, she spotted many problem areas that I had not seen. And I still am requesting a refund of **** to reimburse me for the damage that was done in my house and because of additional costs incurred by having to contract with a professional painter to fix some of the sloppy job done by ****** *****'s Drywall, Plaster, Texture & Painting.

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