M & M's A Touch of Glass, Inc.

Review: M&M's Touch of Glass, painted my home on 3/28/14, with [redacted]. I questioned the brand because I was not familiar with it. [redacted], the owner, assured me that it was the best and he had been using it for 14 years with excellent results. My house was painted a light color like it had been in the past. I paid $3710. for a 2600 sq. ft. home. Within a few weeks, I started noticing that I could not get my house clean. If a bird pooped on the fence the stain would not come off, even when I hosed it. If the dirt blew, it appeared to stick to my house and look dirty. Within a few months, I called [redacted], and he stopped by to check it out. He used a scrub brush to remove a stain from bird droppings. He suggested I use soap and water, a scrub brush and a spray nozzle on my hose to wash the house and fence and get it professionally power washed every summer. He said he would return to paint the window ledges with enamel. He did call the next week, but it was not a convenient time. I did not feel the ledges were the real issue. I was washing my fence and house weekly to prevent staining, which was time consuming, wasting water, and wearing me out physically. Several professionals saw my house and said that was not right. I called [redacted] again and some weeks later, he came with the [redacted] paint representative. Neither of them saw any problems with the paint. Neither of them were concerned that I was physically cleaning with with a scrub brush to prevent the stains on the house and walls. The paint rep did take a sample of the paint, after I insisted they test it for a problem. I have lived in my house for 30 years. I never had a problem before the house was painted with this brand. A neighbor sent pictures of my house to the CEO of another brand of paint. He thought it was his brand and he said it was defective paint. Sadly, I could not follow up with him. I physically cannot wash my house weekly. The paint appears to be causing stucco problems and even plant issues. I have no answers.Desired Settlement: Because the paint rep took no responsibility for the paint issues, I do not feel comfortable using his brand of paint again. Both the painter and the paint rep continued to tell me how nice my house looked without acknowledging one single problem when they came to my home. Other paint professionals, as well as neighbors, have commented there are serious paint problems with my house. I'm not a paint expert and I'm unable to continue this kind of maintenance on a weekly basis.

Business

Response:

[redacted] is correct in most all the she has stated. We painted the house almost one year ago and when I was giving her the bid I told her the benefits of using a 100% acrylic paint such as duratec, [redacted]s highest quality exterior paint, and she agreed to have me use this paint. About a month after painting she called me and said that there was something wrong with the paint, that it was causing "pits in the stucco and it wouldn't clean up well". I agreed to meet with her and when I got there, on the back yard stucco wall was a long stream of dried, red bird poop that went from top to bottom. She said it wouldn't clean up so I took her hose and nozzle, sprayed water on it. Most came off, the rest came off with a soft bristled brush. To that she said it shouldn't be that hard to clean. She also stated that she likes to keep her window ledges clean and this paint was too difficult to clean. This is where I said I would be willing to put semigloss on the sills because it is an enamel paint and would be easier to clean.( I have never been asked to do this in 14 years of painting but I was trying to find a solution that would please her. )Although this is an easier paint to clean it is not a paint to put on the entire house because of the shine. In fact, to my knowledge there is no [redacted] that will allow a semigloss on exterior stucco. At that same trip she pointed out places in the stucco that she said the paint had damaged. She agreed to have me come back in the fall to paint the window ledges. In the fall I don't remember if she called me or if I called her but she gave the impression not to worry about the window ledges. Fast forward to approximately early February 2015, we received a long message in the office from [redacted] that recapped "She is trying to get her house refinanced but the appraiser said he couldn't approve the refinance because the house needed to be painted".I called her back to get more clarification. She said she's very stressed over all of this and I assured her I would do what I could to help. She told me she had no issues whatsoever with my company, the issue was "faulty paint". I told her that if it truly was faulty paint [redacted] is a reputable company and would stand behind it. I asked if she would like me to contact a [redacted] rep and perhaps meet at her house to which she agreed. The next few days brought the birth of my grandson in Texas. I called [redacted] to tell her I would be gone for a couple weeks but would get to it as soon as I got back. She was very excited for me and understanding. About three weeks later toward the end of February, I set up an appointment to have [redacted], manager of the [redacted] Scottsdale store, to meet me at [redacted]'s house. He beat me there and when I got there they were already walking the property. When I caught up to them [redacted] was showing "pits" in the stucco that the appraiser said was caused by the paint. To me they were just regular holes in rough stucco. She stated that the stucco was "too hard to clean" and showed dirt that was sitting on window ledges. To me this was normal loose dirt that settles after dust storms. She also pointed out the threshold of the back door saying "that dirt was never there when she used [redacted] paint". Given that this was a very light gray, almost white paint and this is a high traffic area, it looked normal for 10 months of wear. During this 30 minute conference she kept eluding to the appraiser saying it needs to be repainted. By my observation, this is a beautiful paint job and I can't see where the paint is not performing properly. At one point she changed it and said the appraiser didn't have a problem with the paint but it needed to be restuccoed to which she said she wouldn't pay that much money. I asked her if there were any other issues holding up the refinance. She said only this and that she had approximately 90 days to get this resolved or start over. [redacted] said he could have the paint tested by their lab. He took some samples. I closed out the meeting by offering myself, [redacted] or [redacted] exec, and the apprIser to meet at her house again. The goal was to hear it straight from him so we could address it directly. To this she got very emotional and said she couldn't deal with the stress. From there we left. As a 14 year licensed painter having thousands of projects behind me, this is a first. As I pulled up to the house that I haven't seen for ten months, it looked beautiful. There were two issues on the house: peeling paint and plaster in two spots on the ceiling above the front door due to a water leak, and some peeling at the lower foot of the pony wall covering the pool equipment. This wall goes approximately a foot under ground and is common to have this issue given that it absorbs water. I work very hard to satisfy every customer and if I thought "our work" was at fault I would certainly work to resolve it. Her complaint is not with my company, it is with [redacted]. If you read her complaint you will see this clearly although unjust in my professional opinion. An unjustified complaint such as this should not go against my hard earned, ten year A+ rating and I would ask that you strike any complaint against my company. I will stand behind my work 100% at this project. Thank youRuss

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. There is no resolution suggested here. [redacted] commented that it is a beautiful paint job, which is the exact response that I got from both painter and paint rep. That does not resolve the fact that the paint is peeling, cracking, pitting, chipping or flaking. He said that the wear looked normal on a door step for a house that had been painted 10 months ago. That is because it was cleaned with soap and water and a scrub brush three days before, which was his original suggestion for making it look clean. I should not have to clean the outside of my house and fence with a hose and scrub brush once a week. My house looks much worse now than it did before it was painted with 15 years of weather and sun on that coat of paint. I did not hear one word from the [redacted] Paint Rep, [redacted]ua Black. When I called the store to see if he followed up to check on the quality of paint, they told me they would call me back in an hour with some information. No one ever returned my call from March 24, 2015. The money I paid (3710.00) was good. I expect the paint and the workmanship to be good. I am not a painter, and I am not a paint expert, but I know I should not have to clean my house by hand and it should not look like it needs a new coat of paint.

Regards,