RELIABLE FLOORING

Ed the owner was very convincing during the estimating process. He gave his word we would be happy with the job if we chose him and his crew. When asked if he would be on the job he said "Yes I will, unless I have to go get materials or supplies." Ed was not on the Job! Ed was only on the property to pick up the checks. He demanded we pay up front for the oak flooring wood from the lumber yard. So we cut a check. He delivered the wood and told me he would start the next day. The crew did not show up the day after. When i contacted him he said he was waiting for another job to dry?? As far as I was concerned at the time this setback was alright and not a big deal. However I was counting on him to be done with the floors so the plumbers could finish the installations in the bathrooms the next week. The day the job should have been completed as to the estimated completion time given by Ed his guys began installing the wood. He said the job would be done "early next week" and thats when they started! They started work at 1pm and Ed was knocking at the door of the office at 1:15 for an "installment" check for $1500. Although no work had been complete we wrote the check. I asked Ed "Where are you going today and what are you doing? Will you be up at the house working for most of the day?" He said "No I promised my sister I would take her to the beach." WOW. I was onboard with understanding up until this point. The crew did a good job and told me others have not paid for work completed but I was not happy about the timing, the owner not being present, or the distrust in my family and business to pay for the job once complete. We decided to go with a waterbased coating instead of the oil. I asked what type they would be applyinging and Ed told me "Bonakemi Mega" I went on the website and cant even find that one. I asked to use the traffic and he said "traffic will be 650 more but we can do the mega for 350 more". I said the mega was fine. The next day the crew went to start applying the coating and double checked with me that we were doing water based. I looked at the water based coating that they were going to use and it was NOT Bonakemi mega. I contacted Ed right away. He said they were going to use Absco which was a compareable product. I felt taken advantage of. I was specifically informed not to put down cheap water based coating. It looked like they had the five gallon buckets of coating already opened and had not purchased new materials for this specific job. This is dissappointing and unprofessional because this leads me to believe that Ed lied about what product he would use to get me to agree to a specific price increase and then planned to apply a cheaper product. I was off site for the next three days. When the crew came back to finish the floors Ed came with them and demanded a check. He had contacted me the night before to tell me to have the check ready. I told him we would have the exact amount for him but please not to ask the office secretary or staff for the check until the job was complete. He made a scene and demanded the check. I got voicemails and messages while I was at work about him and from him about what was going on at the office. He told the staff that I had promised him a check and he messaged me to call him. The office personal said it was a mess. This is not the way you want a job to end. My father told him that he would write the check when the coating on the floor was dry. I think that all in all that is fair payment schedule for someone in this line of work. I cannot believe how juvenille the payment collection process went. I must not know all the details of past jobs and non paying customers but out here on the North Fork of Long Island we do things a little different. We trust our fellow businessmen, we have accounts with the local stores and collect invoices from businesses and pay bills accordingly. We have ran a family business for over 50 years. You know who we are and where to find us. Ed does not even include an address on his card. These are all things you wish you could have forseen before you hired someone and thats why i took the time to write it down. Overall I would say the work done was performed correctly by the crew however managed improperly by the owner. I would NOT recommend doing business with Reliable Wood Flooring!