This was a special Angie's List deal - $199 for 8 hours of wallpaper removal. The kitchen was the most important job, and when he finished that room early, he also removed wallpaper from a small bathroom as well. The technician was friendly and very nice, and only took a quick break for lunch. No problems there. Unfortunately my husband didn't check the work carefully enough because we found strips of wallpaper that weren't removed from between the stove and pantry as well as on either side of the window. Some obvious chunks and strips of paper were left on larger walls as well, and we had to ask him to remove them, but  he didn't get them all. We still have to remove a bunch of remnants ourselves. Also, the ceiling on the working side of the kitchen was left splattered with the removal chemical he used, whereas he cleaned up the ceiling on the dining side. It does save us time in the long run, but we would have preferred one thoroughly complete job in the kitchen. 

Ricardo came to do the work - he was prompt, efficient and cordial. He worked fast and did a good job. Rossy was available to help answer questions and guide us when we discovered mold under the wallpaper. Would work with him and the company again.

This company is operating illegally in violation of the Contractor?s Registration Act, N.J.S.A. 56:8-136 et seq. Try entering their "license" from their profile on this website: https://newjersey.mylicense.com/verification/Search.aspx?facility=Y

I have also attached photos of their expired license to this review.

If you want to get a sense for the integrity of this company, look at their response to my review. I supplied facts and photos, and they respond by calling me a liar and a "clown," without pointing out where I lied or addressing the photos showing their sloppy work. Real class acts ? not exactly worthy of being entrusted with your next home improvement project.

No wonder 40% of their most recent jobs for wallpaper removal are rated either "D" or "F."

I ended up having to hire another vendor from Angie's List instead (click "View all reports for this member" to the right for their contact information - they were amazing). The owners initially present well on the phone, but are unwilling to accept responsibility for any inferior work that you may experience from their employees, even when confronted with photos like the below.

Photos:

• Photo 1 - picture of the wallpaper "removal" after 7 man-hours (I paid for 8, but they disappeared early without notifying us)
• Photos 2 & 3 - close-ups of the sections of the wall that "Worry Free" Painting considers "completed"
• I hesitated to even write this thorough review, because I am a busy guy and the amount of money at stake here is completely inconsequential to me. However, I really feel that pointing our this company's bait and switch tactics and holding them accountable for their behavior is a form of public service to others who might not be as well prepared to deal with their antics.

What started out as a decent experience with "Worry Free" Painting turned into a real disaster from a performance and customer service standpoint. I actually believe the "A" reviews ? if nothing out of the ordinary happens, you get one of their better employees, and the company feels like the job is profitable enough, I don't doubt that they are capable of doing good work. However, if you get a rookie, or anything at all should go wrong and you ask them to rectify it ? you're in for a ride. Essentially, you will be told some combination of the above as they attempt to back out of their work commitments:

• "This is the hardest wallpaper we have ever seen" 
• "This job is not profitable for us, so we can't come back." 
• "Angie's List swamped us with orders, so we don't have time to start/complete your job." 
• "We'd be happy to complete the work if you pay us more money?" (for the job they already promised would be completed within the specified time). 

Therefore I must highly discourage people from doing business with this company. You learn a lot about a company by how they react when you're unsatisfied. This was a test buy for me, we have a lot of other work, and so I'm glad I saw their true colors before I entrusted them with a larger job.

Personally, I often discount negative reviews when I read them, because I sometimes get the feeling that they are written by people who have no flexibility or empathy for the vendor. So for those who are interested, I have painstakingly detailed my experience with the company below so you can decide for yourself whether you would have been happy with the experience (based on my call with the owners, I'm sure the company's reply will be some sort of thinly veiled personal attack that attempts to deflect any responsibility from themselves):

1/23/2012 - I purchase the Angie's List Deal for Wallpaper Removal, which promised exactly the following: "Every room/house is different and some projects take more time than others but they can typically get around a 160 sq. ft. room's wallpaper removed, walls washed and completely paint-ready in 8 man hours. Additional hours are charged at normal rates." The room I hired them to complete is only 100 sq. ft., so I figure that even if the wallpaper is more difficult than average to remove, the job will be complete, or at least near-complete after 8 man-hours. Later that day, I send an email to Rosario ("Rossi") Palmieri, one of the owners, providing my payment receipt and asking for a call to schedule the job.

?[crickets chirping]?

1/24/2012 - I then call into the office and speak with his partner, Nick, who indicates that they were swamped with responses from Angie's List, and he asks me to call him back in a week to see if they can schedule the job at that time. I was a little annoyed at point that I was being tasked with the followup job, but as a business owner myself, I was also empathetic that they were struggling to keep up with demand.

?[7 more days of cricket chirping]?

1/31/2012 - A full week came and went, so I called Nick again who said he would call me back by the end of the day with a confirmed appointment.

?[more crickets]?

2/1/2012 - I call the office again, receive what I felt was a genuine apology from Nick, and the job was scheduled for 2/7. I was appreciative. However, I was a little put off at the end of the call when Nick provided me with a shopping list of items he wanted me to buy for the job ? "Dif" brand wallpaper removal solution, and spackle. There was no mention of this in the original advertisement for the "Angie's Big Deal," so I guess I wrongly assumed that they would come prepared for the job. I remember thinking after the call, "should I buy them coveralls and drop cloths as well?" Didn't plan on a Home Depot run ? not exactly the turn-key deal advertised. (Note, even the "A" review from 2/16 on the same deal corroborates that he was asked to buy certain items. Also ? I sure do wish I got Julio and Gloria from that job, it sounds like I would not have to write this review!).

2/7/2012 - The day of the job the contractor, Angel, arrived on time and seemed like a nice enough fellow. After an hour, I checked in on him, and he said that everything was proceeding well. When I asked him if he thought he could finish by the end of the day, he said "absolutely" and added that the office only recently told him that he would "have to be [at my home] all day" and he seemed a little frustrated with the process.

About 90 minutes or so later, his boss Nick appeared in my kitchen (without announcing himself or ringing the doorbell, apparently after being called by Angel) and explained that they would not be able to complete the job. I was annoyed by this, but frankly would have been happy if they got at least 3/4 of the room paint-ready. I figured I could then pay them or someone else to complete the remainder and then paint it.

After Nick left my house, everything really slowed down from a productivity standpoint. Lot of phone calls, back and forth to the truck, leaving for a long lunch, etc. The best way I can describe it is that he was approaching the job with the same lackadaisical attitude of a toddler who had just been told to eat his vegetables. No effort to get it done on time, or even to complete one section completely ? just running down the clock and lots of phone calls.

What I was left with was about 1/2 of the wallpaper partially removed, with large sections of glue still remaining on even the "finished" walls, along with lots of bits of paper everywhere. Generously speaking, I can say that the job was about 25% complet

I contacted Rossi and made the appointment for a Friday about 2 weeks out. Rossi called the night before to confirm and his worker showed up at 8:30 the next morning as promised. Rossi came about 2 hours later to look over the job. The worker completed the job and had everything cleaned up by 3:00, even with taking a lunch break. I was very satisfied and would recommend.

Let me preface this that I am a HUGE fan of Angie's List, and have used them for a number of services over the last year. Thanks to member feedback I have been able to confidently select quality service providers, and they have all been excellent. So I was thrilled when I saw that Angie's was featuring a "Big Deal" for 8 hours of wallpaper removal for $199.

Without hesitation I signed up for the service, and disregarded a few negative comments from other members, as I assumed that Angie's had done a thorough screening of Worry Free Painting. Unfortunately I did not have a good experience. It started out well enough- after purchasing the Big Deal,the next day I was contacted by a representative of Worry Free (WF) who explained the services and also asked about expanding the services beyond 8 hours of wallpaper removal. I said that if i had a positive experience with the initial service, I would certainly consider them for other services. That's where things started to go downhill.

I was told that i would be contacted within the week to schedule the appointment. Two weeks went by without contact, so I left a message with WF. My message was never returned. The following day I left another message, which once again was never returned.
Finally, I decided to use email to contact WF, and indicated that if I didn't receive a response promptly I would have no choice but to ask for a refund and provide negative feedback on angie's list on the lack of customer service. It was then that I finally received a response from Rossi.
I then scheduled my appointment with Rossi, who apologized and said things were really busy, as he had a "big job in Pennsylvania", and he provided me with specific instructions on what I should purchase prior to his arrival. I indicated that I arranged for the service to coincide with a vacation day I was planning, so that after it was complete I could paint the area and surprise my wife as a gift to her. He understood and told me that "Oscar" would be there since he only works on Fridays.

The night before the appointment I had a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong, since most professional service providers would leave a confirmation the day before an appointment. I called Rossi, and he said "Ummm...I don't have any record of the appointment...let me call you back". A few minutes later, he apologized and said, he messed up, and saw that he wrote the appointment down, and that he called a few people to see if they could cover the appointment, but he didn't have anyone. Once again he mentioned his big job in Pennsylvania as part of the problem.

He offered to have someone here on Tuesday, and I told him that was unacceptable, and that if he didn't have someone here as scheduled, I would have no choice but to cancel the service and leave negative feedback on Angie's. I was not going to take another day off from work on a company that had been nothing but unreliable up until this time. Rossi said I was "bullying" him, and that if wallpaper removal is the most important thing going on in my life, I've got issues.  As you could imagine, I was furious at this comment- this wasn't about the wallpaper, this was about common courtesy and valuing your customers who rearrange their schedules based on the basic assumption that when a company makes an appointment they show up. To blame disorganization on a "big job in PA" means that he values the big jobs over the rest of us.

Needless to say, I'm following through on my promise to provide accurate feedback on the experience to forewarn others, and have begun the refund process with Angie's. I also used my vacation day to remove the wallpaper myself, with the supplies I had purchased for Worry Free to use, so that I could still surprise my wife.

While I will continue to use Angie's list, I would ask that they do a better job of screening providers, and get some kind of assurance from the provider that they can handle the increased business before a participating in the Big Deal.

See above.

I could go on about the quality of work they have done and their respectfulness in our house. They are professional and took care of our issues very quickly. They wouldn’t stop until we were satisfied. Their prices are reasonable, as well.

They did a great job, kept the place clean, and there were no surprised with the quote. They were prompt and do a good job.

4 March 2012:  Again, I did not write the comment above.  However, I agree with the statements.  We were quoted $5400 and that's exactly what we paid.  Worry Free was prompt, clean, and did an excellent job.  I would absolutely hire them again.

The exterior paint was badly peeling everywhere.  Worry Free spent several days removing the old paint and prepping the exterior for the new paint.  We expected a lot of mess from the removal of the chipped paint on our property, and there was, but WF did a thorough job removing all of it.

Apologies to WF for taking so long to post this review.

The results were beautiful. The team was very neat and they let me know when they would be finished.I was very please with the experience.

Quick estimate, fair price, good prep work, quality materials, on time scheduling and complete clean up and final walk through. 

Great quality, friendly work crew, complete job, no extra costs.

Good communication, arrived on time, did a quality job. Would definitely recommend.

Excellent professional job.

Work was professional, and complete.  I had a few comments that they addressed immediately.  

They were great. They were on time and efficient. I found that they were very easy to work with.

The were very argumentative when I questioned the work that they were doing. They came in and damaged furniture. They did a horrible job. They sanded down my fireplace that left bits of paint everywhere. I paid professional prices for a job that was not well done.


There is no 3 year warranty.  He plays phone tag with you.  I have reason to believe they are not insured.  He clearly didn't have a plan or any way to handle any kind of problems or damages that came about through this job.

They were very pleasant, prompt and they did excellent work.  The were a little more expensive, but it was worth it.  I've already recommended them to others!

The company proved to be very reliable from the first point of contact. I was contacted by Nick within 10 minutes of leaving a message. Nick and the rest of the crew proved to be just as responsive throughout the remainder of the job. The crew always showed up on time and put in a full days work, sometimes working right up until it began to rain. The entire job was complete, from pressure wash to final coat, within one week including losing 2 days because of rain. The entire crew was extremely polite and professional. At the end of each day we got a thorough review of the work that was completed that day as well as their plans for the next day. The price was extremely competitive. They even OFFERED to take care of a few extras that, although I had never event thought of them, they knew would make the job look perfect. The fact that they pointed out these things as they saw them and took care of them at no extra charge speaks volumes about the pride they have in their work and their dedication to making their customers satisfied. We couldn't have been happier with their work and would absolutely recommend them to anyone we know who is looking for a painter. Thanks so much for your close attention to detail and commitment to your customers.

Worry Free did a great job painting our living room, dinning room and hallway. There were a few areas on the ceilings that needed to be primed and sanded because of the paint peeling off from moisture and prep work for one wall and window trim. The prep work took one day to complete and the painting lasted one and a half days. The quality of the work was excellent. Two men worked on the job the entire time. They were very careful in protecting the floors during the job. We thought the price was fair for the work done. I received a lower price but decided to use WF because we thought they were more competent and were willing to pay a fair price to have the job done correctly. .

They were very polite and responsive. They were also efficient and price competitive. They are serious about providing a great service.

They did a good job. The owner was very nice, prompt and checked in on the job a couple of times which I thought was nice.

The crew was meticulous and detail oriented. They were very neat about not getting paint on my hardwood floors. They were very efficient and completed the job in 3 1/2 days. I was extremely please with their proffessionalism and the appearance of my home.

I sent in a deposit check in early July and they cashed my check but didn't contact me or respond to voicemail messages for several weeks. I finally got ahold of them and scheduled the job. Sloppy, incompetent work from start to finish. They did not cover the kitchen cabinets or granite counters and left paint splatters all over both. They used the wrong color primer on the trim, so the work had to be done over, adding another day of work. Dust, fingerprints and mess left every day. They used the kitchen and powder room sinks to wash brushes and rollers after I asked them to use the basement sink. When I complained about the mess after one workday, they sent a worker back to the house without talking to me first. When I opened the door in surprise, he said, "you called my boss?" in a menacing tone and I was terrified and nearly called the police. After the job was done, i noticed later that they did not paint above one bank of cabinets. Worst of all, they left deep gouges in the wood floor when they moved the refrigerator. Working with this company was an awful experience.

The services provided by Worry Free Painting were excellent from the start. My phone calls were returned promptly and an appointment was scheduled to provide an estimate within a couple of days. They provided a very competitive price and that included with the "A" rating on Angies List made it an easy decision to use this company. We were not disappointed! The crew that came was professional and did an excellent job. I would say better than expected especially in comparison to other painters that we have used. The complete job took three days. As the job progressed we were asked numerous times to review the progress. If we had any issues they immediately corrected them and repeated told us that they aimed to please. I would definitely use this company again.

After they power washed the house, they removed all the shutters & lights, covered all the windows, foundation, plants, door knobs, etc. , etc. The next day they sanded, spackled & caulked surfaces as needed, made minor repairs, & primed all surfaces. The last day they applied the final coat on the house and the trim. After painting the shutters & lights on the ground they attached them back to house.. Then came a thorough clean-up. A walk-thru inpection with the foreman completed the experience.