TROUT FLOOR COVERING

They did a terrible job!!!. Here are the details: When Trout Flooring came out to give us an estimate, there were two dark areas on the floor by our fireplace, which is why we were having the floors refinished in the first place. They said it could be sanded down and stained to match the rest of the floor. We had previously replaced some of the wood in the small bathroom due to a leaky toilet and when they looked at that, they told us that that wood was not the same type of wood as the rest of the floor so ?that wood needed to be replaced completely? and that cost was included in the original estimate. No problem. We were told we would have to be out of the house for approximately one week because of the fumes and because no one would be able to walk on the floors, etc. We were told they put on more than one coat of stain. We were told they would apply 3 coats of polyurethane as well. We asked if they move the furniture and they said they would for an extra cost. We agreed on the extra cost, ordered a POD to put the furniture in and proceeded to take away all the small items in the rooms being refinished (kitchen, living room, foyer and small bathroom) so that only the large furniture remained. We did lock our bedroom door since entry into that location was not needed. We arranged for our pets to be elsewhere for the entire week and a very high cost and we took our vacation during that week so that we would be away as well, however, we were available by phone and family was in the area in case anything was needed. We were given some samples of stain actually on the type of wood that we have installed in our home so we would know what it would end up looking like. We also were given two sample boards as well. On both sample boards, we chose one off the darkest color. Saddle was one of the colors we chose. Then when the wood planks were dropped off and the colors we chose were not included in the group of boards, we ended up choosing Provincial, which still appeared to be dark, or dark enough. I could not understand why neither of the colors we were shown were on the sample boards provided. First red flag was they wanted half of their money up front. If you listen to any consumer report professionals out there, they would tell you to run the other way; we should have heeded the warning. Second red flag was, before we left town for our vacation, we received a call from Trout that there was going to be an additional $450 charge for replacement of the wood on the two dark areas near the fireplace because these two areas could not be sanded down. They said that we had these areas covered up and that they did not see them (remember this statement later on). The subcontractor Trout hired to replace the damaged floor areas was a great guy, did a great job, was extremely polite, cleaned up after himself and was very kind and even thoughtful of disturbing the neighbors while sawing, etc. So this review has nothing to do with him. While we were away, we had our grown children come by to check on the progress. We were informed by our children that our refrigerator, instead of being locked in the POD with the rest of the furniture was sitting outside on the back porch with a blue tarp over it the entire time we were gone. When we attempted to call Trout regarding some things like the extra costs of the floor, our calls got ignored. We were left messages, but when we returned the call, we could not seem to speak to a person. While we were gone, we were sent picture of the floor in progress by Trout (Kathy), while the floor was wet. It appeared to look good; it appeared to look somewhat dark, although from the picture it was hard to tell, until we got home. We returned home on a Friday and I was talking to them while we were a short distance away. My daughter has arrived before they could leave and before we got home. She found the front door open and unable to shot properly. She called me concerned over this and also there was stain on the white switch plates and she informed me that the floor molding was not finished, painted or installed well. They finally got the front door shut but you had to lift it up to do so. We ended up replacing the front door altogether. When I talked to Trout (David) on the phone I asked them if they hooked up the refrigerator and he said they did but do not turn on the water in case the homeowner does not return right away and there is a problem. I said I'm only 30 minutes away so that doesn't make any sense in this case. This made sense to us "later". We arrived home to find a big mess, floors almost the exact same color as we had before and extremely easy to scratch. They put the furniture back in the house and where they set the kitchen table, the floor was already scratched. Here is a list of what we found, although not everything was found immediately: -new quarter round not painted or caulked - now I'm going to have to either pay someone to finish it or do it myself and risk getting paint on the new floor -stained my blinds, trim work and light switches -left a mess in the bathroom (I describe it as a men's restroom a roadside gas station) -left trash in all garbage cans including outside one - all full -entire house was covered in thick dust even inside closed cabinets, our big screen TV was not even covered up. -left scraps of wood everywhere -wood shavings left on steps -top piece on top of stairs does not match rest of floor -the floors were stained the wrong color by at least two shades, our original floor was a light in color and the stain we picked out was only 1 shade off the darkest shade available. It should have been at least two shades darker than our fireplace and step railing but instead it matched exactly which is not what we wanted. We did not want to pay all that money to get the exact same color of floor we already had. -broke water supply connector housing on refrigerator when moving it, we ended up buying a new refrigerator - we only realized this when we turned on the water they "didn't want to turn on" because it leaked all over the place since this piece was broken off the refrigerator. -brand new screen on back porch was torn by pushing refrigerator against it instead of storing it in the POD we paid for and paid them extra to do I asked Trout (Kathy and David) to come out to our house so that I could show them all of these problems and voice my irritation over the floor color and other problems. Kathy replied with statements like we aren't responsible for that and oh I could see how that could easily of happened. Regarding the stain color she said o think it looks good! I said well it would if I wanted it the same color I had!!! Kathy stated that all of this was "no big deal" and my response to her was "It isn't? Well it is to me!!! She said well I'll take $50 off for some mineral spirits to get the stain off the wood blinds. I thought wow how generous of you!! I told her "you do realize that you are only as good as your subcontractors are and yours are awful. It didn?t' matter to either one of them what our problem was, they had an excuse for why it happened or simply acted like it was no big deal. When we discussed the extra costs on the floors they said they didn't know about it but when they were standing there they said they had pictures! Which is it?? At this point we did not yet know that our refrigerator was broken or the brand new screen was torn either. My husband and I had discussed beforehand what we wanted them to do to correct the problem, and we both did not want them to touch another thing. In addition, when we agreed to the job, our part was to pay for it, so we did. At that point, we were not considering small claims court because it's a lot of trouble for what it's worth. However, I can stop anyone else from having to experience the audacity and ridiculous work ethics and poor workmanship that Trout Flooring provides. I would recommend them to NO ONE ON THE EARTH. No one should have to deal with the poor quality of work and results that we received. Now we will have to find another floor company to come in and at least put something on it to keep it from scratching up any further.