Scope of the Work I had hired Worry Free to repaint my house exactly as it was. The only reason I was having it painted is because the existing stain on the house was starting to wear thin and the paint on the wooden shutters were peeling. The agreement was that Worry Free was going to have it painted exactly as it was. We expressly discussed that they were not going to paint any areas which had not been previously painted. In fact, I was worried they might paint my garage and back door, which had manufacturer's paint on them, but had never been painted over. Rossi assured me that unless it had a layer of paint already on it -- not manufacturer's paint -- it woudl not be touched. Although not spoken, I was also of the understanding that they were going to put things back where they were and were not going to pull wires off of my house. Before I even retained Rossi to do the job, we discussed what he was going to use to paint my house. Although the quotation says "paint," I had two other painters come out and tell me to use stain. I told Rossi that I wanted to use his company, but that he's the only one who did not quote stain. I asked him about this. He said that he did not remember looking to see if I had stain or paint, but that he would look. He said that he would use stain, but that if he finds that I have paint on there, he will call me because if I have paint on there now, I should use paint. Prior Complaint Taken Down I previously submitted a complaint about Worry Free not coming back after they started the job. I actually had some comments from neighbors about how long my windows were covered over with nothing being done. Although that has now been resolved, I wanted to make mention of it, because it was typical of every dealing I had with Rossi, which always ended up in a negotiation. He left me a voicemail message saying when he was going to resume his work and did not keep to that date. I got worried he was going to leave my house with the windows blocked off, and tried calling him. He did not return my call until I put a post on Angie's List. He claims it was a misunderstanding and, while that might be correct, the fact is that it could have been avoided, and it could have been resolved with much more grace. Rossi's Selection of Paint: As indicated above, I had specifically discussed with Rossi that he should use stain. He was supposed to call me if he thought he should use paint. He didn't. In resolving the timing issue discussed above, Rossi left me some voicemail messages. In one of his messages, he made reference to picking up the "paint." In another he said his crew was going to start on Thursday. I called Rossi on Wednesday to make sure we were clear about him using stain. Although his crew was not going to start until the next day, they had already started and they were using paint. Rossi was less concerned with fixing the issue than he was with justifying that he was "right." Interestingly, however, he initially admitted during the conversation that he recalled the earlier conversation about stain, but he later claimed he did not recall that conversation. However, even after he retracted his admission of recalling the conversation, he admitted that, before he picked up the paint, he had spoken with one his men -- Angel -- with whom I had spoken after they covered over my windows. Rossi admitted that Angel mentioned to him that I had referred to stain being used. Rossi claimed that he went out to the house, felt that the house had paint on it, and, without calling me, decided to use stain. Nonetheless, ultimately, after a very long and painful conversation, he agreed to extend my warranty by two years, since my main concern was chipping. Please keep this in mind when you read the warranty section below. As it turned out, the paint Rossi selected had a sheen. Although he admits that the prior finish on my house was flat, he thought it would look nice. When I got home the day they painted, it was dark out and I could not see the house. The next morning, when I pulled out of my garage, the house looked like it was pin striped. I called Rossi about this and he said "oh, that must be the sheen I used - you don't like it?" I told him I did not, and asked why he didn't use a flat paint. His only answer was that he thought it would look good. Ultimately, he bought a stain and had it redone. Apparently, despite the other problems I experienced, he did not do anything for me on the price because he was losing money on my job since he had to buy the paint twice. Of course, had he done what we agreed to in the first place, he would not have lost money. Blown Fuses His guys blew TWO fuses on my house -- apparently they did not learn their lesson from the first one. Notably, I have used power tools in my house an never blow fuses doing it. I can't imagine what they were doing. They would not tell me. Due to the way I need to get into my house, they ended up locking me out of my house for several hours. Rossi became aware of this, and never even gave an apology. Notably, he commented that on commercial jobs, he usually uses a generator. This would have avoided the problem. Painted Gutters They were not supposed to paint my gutters because they were previously not painted. However, they not only painted them, but made my white gutters red ... that is until the roof line, at which point they remained white. They said they did that because they thought it looked nice. Now, my gutters can chip, and if they chip, they will likely be red and need to be painted. Since they were not painted before, they just needed to be cleaned. Painted Everything: I don't know if they were imposing their own taste, or if they were just not paying attention to what they were doing, but they painted the sides of my utility outlets and the side of my air conditioning unit. None of these were previously painted. The water spout for my hose (it's apparently called a sillcock) was replaced two months before Worry Free painted. It was very pretty - it was gold finish with a black handle. They painted the whole thing red. Not only that, they painted the inside. Since I had to winterize my sprinkler system before I saw they did this, I don't know whether the blocked the hole. They also started painting my back door, which is a metal door and had not previously been painted - it was white from the manufacturer. It was one of the things I had specifically discussed with Rossi would not be painted. I caught them about half way done with the door. They decided to use Goof Off to get off the paint. Although it won't come out in pictures, there are still streaks of white paint across the door. Additionally, there's now a gray spot on the door where you can see the metal through -- no doubt from the Goof Off. Stray and Dripped Paint: I was not home when they painted and would never have known they used spray paint, but for the fact that they sprayed paint on everything. Attached are photos showing paint on my window, windowsill, meter, the front of the air conditioning unit which shouldn't have been painted, my pavement, a flag post and my lights. Wires They knocked off a wire on the back of my house and said they were going to put it back up, but never did. They painted one of the wires on the side of my house red. the wire used to be behind my shutter so it was not noticeable. Now it is in front of my shutter and is very noticeable. In fact, one person who came to my house, completely unprompted, asked whether the wire should be like that. Mailbox They had pulled off my mailbox so they could paint the rest of the house. When they put it back up, it looked TERRIBLE. The mailbox used to be painted with a shiny black paint. It had a window in the front. They apparently took flat black spray paint and painted part of the front of the box. The rest of the box was shiny. Additionally, they painted over the window where I can look in to see if there's mail. The foreman was nice enough to take it down and paint it fully. Unfortunately, when he came back, it was Sunday and he had no tools, so I had to give him my Goof Off to clean off the window to the mailbox. He was also going to clean off the stray paint on my light fixture next to my front door. It looks like he got off a little, but not a whole lot. I have pictures of that attached. Front Door They said they needed to open my front door in order to paint it. Initially, they were not going to sand off the chipping paint, until I specifically told them to do it. Then they dripped paint on my wood floor -- apparentlly they did not do a good job with their drop cloth. Notably, they did not paint the door jamb. I'm confused as to why they needed the door open if they weren't going to paint that. I do not use my front door often. I used it to get in after they blew my power. The storm door was fine at that time. The only time it was used since was when the front door was painted. I went to the front door today and noticed that the glass from my storm door is now separated from the frame and the door is now difficult to open as a result. I do not know for certain whether this is something they damaged. All I know is that the first time this door had any problems was right after they came to do their work. Warranty Rossi provided me with the warranty. As indicated above, this was important because he used paint on the house and I had specifically asked him to use stain because I heard that paint would chip faster. I read through it. He did increase the number of years to 6 as agreed, but the warranty did not cover anything. The one thing it should cover is normal wear and tear and chipping, which was the main issue he said he was going to cover. I called Rossi about this and asked him to remove that exclusion from the warranty. It was the only one of several listed exclusions which I asked him to remove. Instead of immediately saying he would, since it was what we had previously agreed to, he took great pains, and a great deal of my cell phone minutes, to explain to me how he often provides courtesies to his customers outside the written warranty. While this is all nice and well and good, the fact is that he is not required to do it and if he decides he does not want to do it, there would be nothing I can do to enforce it. After great pains, he finally agreed to remove that exclusion from the warranty. A copy of the warranty is attached. Customer Service Although I did not start this job with the intention of having anything reduced, even Rossi acknowledged that this was the job where "anything that could go wrong did go wrong." He says that this doesn't usually happen. Several times I suggested that, as a result of the significant inconvenience and the poor job, I would expect they would reduce the price. No one offered. The most I got was an explanation that they would not do this because Rossi actually lost money on my job because he had to pay for the paint and then the stain. However, had Rossi done as I had asked in the first instance, he would never have had to pay for both - he could have just gotten it right the first time and then neither one of us would have had a problem. As a businessman, I would have expected him to do something, other than argue with me or try to persuade me that he is right. His foreman was fantastic and, because I know he was really trying to fix what he could, I almost didn't write this. However, as a consumer, I would have liked to know if someone had a situation like this. Rossi claims the amount of difficulties and errors on my house are not typical. Perhaps this is true - since I have only deal with him once, I cannot tell you this. What I can tell you is that, what sets apart the businesses I prefer to deal with from those I do not is the way they treat a customer when a problem arises. Errors inevitably happen - we are all human. However, if there is an error or a problem, I would expect that it would be fixed without complaint or argument, and I would expect that if there are things which cannot be truly undone or repaired (such as my new spout, my door, or my gutters) I would be either compensated for them as well as for my troubles. Response to Rossi's Note I did not take photographs as the job was going along. As I indicated, the toughest part about this job, was dealing with Rossi to get anything done. You can't see that by coming to my house. If you're looking at the house from across the street, it looks fine ... now that he painted it with the right paint. However, I have attached photographs so you can see some of the things I referenced above. Some of them do not show in photographs. If you do wish to come see the house, please feel free to contact me. You can reach me at
[email protected]. Please reference my Worry Free report, so I don't accidentally delete your e-mail.