CertaPro Painters of Madison County, IL, Webster Groves & Florissant, MO

CertaPro Painters did not provide the Professional Painting Job that my wife and I contracted for or expected. The job lasted twice as long as projected. We actually terminated the job early because of QUALITY concerns. I will attach a copy of the CertaPro agreement and outline all the areas that they failed. I would not use or recommend this company to any person looking for a painting contractor. I have sent documentation to the CertaPro Painter franchise office and also contacted the National Office, without response. I waited one week and also sent pictures and a detailed description of the the issues we encountered. We hired another painting contractor to complete the rest of the job. We had to pay extra to repair a portion of the problems CertaPro caused. However, we did not have all the baseboards repainted to offset the Poor job and damage they caused.
Certainty Pledge Section #1 Actual Results Section #1
a Will begin work at approximately 9:00 AM. Our Job Site Supervisor will contact you to discuss a more definitive time. Work was never started before 10:00 AM or later. Job Site Supervisor never contacted us in regards to arrival time.
b Will Provide daily project Updates Never provided an update unless asked. We repeatedly talked to the Job Site Supervisor, *** as to when rooms were to be done so that we could return furniture to the rooms. They were well into the kitchen when they were asked again to finish areas so we could move things back into place into the 2n and 3rd bedrooms.
c We will provide daily project updates Never Occurred
d We will be on time dependable and professional Never on time, crew was semi-courteous and respectful but painting performance was not professional.
e We focus on customer satisfaction My wife would tell the crew daily about paint spatter on curtains, baseboards and fixtures. There was almost total disregard of our furniture and carpets. there was NO Improvement. Comments as "well it is latex paint and can easily be reomved". Then later one stated he "worked 3 hours cleaning up baseboards" that should have never had paint on them.
f We are the only company that provides certainty through our proprietary Certainty Service System in order the deliver extraordinary experiences. CertaPro may be the only company that provides this pledge. However, in actual results they are EMPTY words.

Section # 2 Actual Results Section # 2
a We will meet with you at the beginning of the project to review the project scope and to make sure we are on the same page. We will communicate with you daily to inform you of what has been completed, what has yet to be completed and to address any issues. We will conduct a final walk through with you to issuer you complete satisfaction. We really care about you experience with our company and we want to provide you with a positive experience. After the project is completed, you will receive a survey by email or telephone as we want to provide you with such an experience that you will rate our service as a 10 out of 10. We did meet the with the Job Site Supervisor prior to the starting the actual painting to confirm scope and colors. We did not receive a daily update. We chose at first to express our concerns to the Job Site Supervisor. However, there was NO-IMPROVEMENT. We then called Eric to let him know but still no improvement. Concerns from day 1 were Sloppy Work, non protection of our woodwork, floors, fixtures, furniture, oriental rugs and a total lack of respect for our home. i.e. the work area we afforded them during the project. Survey was completed WITHOUT ANY RESPONSE from CertaPro. I would rate the job 1 out of 10.
b Two Year Warranty We hope that we would never have to invoke this and have to have CertaPro Painters on our property again.
c CertaPro Core Values Empty Words Did not deliver what was promised Did not respect the individuals concerns or property. Only time we witness pride is when the Job Site Supervisor was painting the ceilings and had concerns with the outcome, thus causing more work. However, he missed painting around all the ceiling fixtures and lights. No improvement was ever noticed after continuous promises.

Section # 3a Set-Up to be Done Actual Results Section # 3a
a Client to: Remove small and fragile objects, Remove all movable furniture., move all wall decorations., Movable furniture to the center of the room., Empty closets & or bookshelves., Remove drapes and blinds. CertaPro will cover and protect: Floors., Furniture., Cabinets / Fixtures. We did in fact remove all small and fragile objects and furniture to the center that we were able to move. The heavier objects, per your verbal agreement was to be moved by the crew. We did not remove the curtains or the blinds. We did put back most of the curtains, a stair railing, reconnected the washer and dryer, and redid a portion of the shelving in the utility room.
Section # 3b Preparation to be Done Actual Results Section # 3b
b Fill Cracks and holes in the ceiling, Fill cracks and holes in the walls caulk gaps and holes in woodwork, Seal Stains, Scuff sand Trim Certa Pro's crew did not sand or scuff any of the limited trim work they were supposed to paint.
Section # 4 Clean-Up Actual Results Section # 4
Clean Up - To be completed in full daily in each room as to allow customer access. The drop cloths, tools ladders to be placed in determined location by the customer for safety. The only time cleanup not completed in full if the customer has agreed to allow painter to leave the room in a certain state so as to allow for more efficient production. Never Occurred! The limited drop cloth's and plastic used were always left out and in the way. We did not have full use of our Kitchen for almost the entire duration of the project. Utility room was a constant pig pin, with open buckets of paint and exposed brushes and rollers. An OPEN Bucket of paint was left on a ladder when the crew left. Soda bottles and drink containers all over the work area. Painters were caught pouring old paint down the utility room drain. Spots of paint on the floors, woodwork, leather sofa, I even gave the crew a brand new drop cloth to use to protect.
Section # 5 Notes/Misc. Actual Results Section # 5
ab We are going to provide you with a professional high quality paint job that will protect and beautify the interior of your property for years to come. The scope of work to be completed will take approximately five (5) days . CertaPro's craftsmanship comes with a 2 year written warranty. We look forward to providing you with great service along with an outstanding paint job. We believe the paint crew started December 18, 2019 and believe stopped December 27, 2019 which included a few day's off for Christmas. Certainly more than 5 days. The extra day's would have been more tolerable if the crew would have cleaned up nightly as they were supposed to, came earlier to put in a full 8 hours,and had been doing a good job.
b Customer Service Commitment This project was and remains the WORSE experience I had ever had dealing with a contractor. The POOR Workmanship and Professionalism started when they got out the rollers and brushes. They were unprepared for high ceilings and lacked the equipment and the willingness to expend the effort to correct that. I realize that you were on a vacation at the time the Job was started and had poor cell reception. However, that doesn't explain YOUR lack of interest in NEVER offering to come out review and critique the sub-standard job performed by your crew, as I stated earlier 1 out of 10
c Our Certainty Services System As stated earlier: limited communication, our concerns were expressed to you and the crew, and the crews actions continued. We constantly had to mark walls with tape and leave notes for the missed spots and issues. On the semi-final inspection, the only real goal was to get them out of our house without further delay and damage.
d Ceilings Ceilings proved to be a challenge for crew. They did not have the right equipment. I finally offered my ladder to expedite. Crew painted the 14 foot ceilings from the floor with a combination roller pole extensions (So long that it required 2 crew members to manage) The crew had paint all over the fan, which I cleaned, and missed around many lights and fan base which required another painter to complete.
e PHOTOGRAPHS It would have been nice for Certapro to document for themselves the poor sub-standard job done by there "PROFESSIONALS"
Homeowners Comments
What is a professional? According to Webster is some one "conforming to technical or ethical standards of a profession". We hired a true professional to correct a good portion of the job that your crew botched. Unlike our experience with You and CertaPro we received; Daily Project updates, On time performance, dependability, professionalism, and our satisfaction. How is this possible you ask? They took as much time prepping as they did painting, work area was spotless every night, and had the proper equipment to complete the job. We did not have to clean a single spot, clean-up a single mess, or worry that our assets or belonging were being placed in peril. I.E painting over VERY Expensive oriental rugs without cover until I intervened. I.E. Not pouring old paint down our drains have total disregard of the outcome. The professionals that were hired after you to correct or try to, commented that his was a POOR job. Our house cleaners commented that they couldn't recall a messier aftermath from "Professional Painters." ( One of the housekeepers used to paint with her husband)
Woodwork /Countertop /Work Area Because of the POOR prepping done by your crew we had had to repaint some of the wood work that could not be cleaned. I probably could have justified repainting them all due to the effort we had expend to get them clean. we probably will repaint most of them in the near future. The Professional's we hired after your crew taped and protected EVERYTHING. I have calculated the woodwork that CertaPro painted around they protected only 2%. That is 765 feet of which they only protected 12 feet with tape and molding protection. The last day my wife and I taped the sunroom since they were not going to do it and to save time. The Professional painters pointed out numerous spots that they could not correct without doing the entire molding. The countertop in our utility room is now dull and rough from the abuse and attempt's by crew to clean. Paint that was left by the crew had rollers and brushes in them that were not of the same color, not sealed and was rendered useless by the unprofessional care it received my your crew.
Summation
The job performed was POOR. Not up to Certapro's advertised standards and "Certainy Pledge". No one from your office has every offered to come visit and validate the poor performace and craftmanship. Which gets back to my earlier statement of "EMPTY PROMISES" and why we are in our present circumstance.

I hired this CertaPro Painters franchise to paint some walls and cabinets for me. The start date for the job was on November 1st. When doing the research for the company, I did see they were licensed and insured so I went with them for my work. When they did the work, they did not cover or protect any of my counter tops. Due to not covering them, the counters were scratched and damaged. I contacted the company to report this to them and they said they would contact their insurance and get this fixed. Ever since reporting this, I have just been getting the run around from the company and this process has just kept getting delayed. The company wanted to see if they could fix the counter tops before having to replace them, I told them that was fine. I did talk to the counter top manufacturer about this issue as well, and they informed me that they would probably have to sand the counters down so much that they would be dull and not match the rest of the counters. They told me CertaPro probably would need to be replace the counters. I told this to CertaPro, and they still insisted they try to fix them. I told them that was fine, but they would need to be replaced if they did not match the rest of my counters and if I am not satisfied. CertaPro's insurance keeps trying to get me to sign a release which I refuse to do because I do not want to be stuck as liable if they cannot fix the counters. The insurance company also wanted me to pay for the person to come out and see if the counter tops could be fixed instead of replaced. I shouldn't have to sign or pay for anything for the damages CertaPro caused. I paid just under $3000 for this work and I just want my counter tops fixed or replaced.