Spence Painting

I'm writing on behalf of my brother-in-law because he's (mentally and physically) disabled and does not know how to use a computer.My husband and I are also the ones who "oversee" his care and his finances because he's unable to do so. But he is able to live alone.His name is [redacted]. He is trying to renovate his home.We hired ** Spence of Spence painting (919-274-4651, Angier, NC).Al had done work for 2 of my neighbors and they were happy. Al gave us a written estimate to paint the entire townhouse from baseboards to ceiling.He asked for an $875 deposit. My brother-in-law paid that.I had already spackled the walls and sanded in preparation for the paint. ** sent one of his guys in to paint the ceiling. [redacted] I believe.The guy painted the ceilings.That night I received a call from ** saying [redacted] claims the townhouse is infested with bed bugs and he's not returning to finish the job.Nor is ** returning any of the deposit.He says he spent $200 on paint for the ceiling. His words. $200.I also have much of our later conversation in text/writing. I had a pest inspector (a bed bug specialist) on site the next morning.THERE ARE NO BED BUGS.Home has carpet beetles which are no threat, and I had those treated immediately. But ** still refuses to refund any money or finish the job.I do not believe ONE man working ONE day deserves $675 labor.I do not have a problem paying him for the paint and a reasonable fee for his work.But I'm furious that he's trying to rip off a disabled man on a fixed income. I hope you can help us with this.At this point, we no longer trust ** and do not want him to finish the job, but I do think he needs to return some of the money.His guy worked 8 hours or less.Product_Or_Service: painting serviceDesired SettlementI would like ** to return 1/2 the deposit.That pays his guy $42.19--a more than generous hourly rate for what he did.Business Response Hello Revdex.com and any future customers, This is in response to the unhappy customer about the monies charged or taken for work we "Spence Painting" did at her brothers place. First let me say we do contract work and neither of us get paid by the hour. We were hired to do a turn key job from ceiling to floor! This was a referral and that is something we love. I looked,priced and got the go ahead for the job. I do ask for a paint deposit as we start to cover all paints and supplies. [redacted] did start as planed it was just a little later than normal as we had to finish up something first thing that morning. [redacted] got things ready for the next day to spray the ceilings. Next afternoon while working he discovered bugs all over the bed and corners of home. He is a little jumpy when it comes to those bugs! He finished the ceilings and took all of our tools because the odds were we would not be back. I did go over this about the money with them. Let them know we could not finish the job as planed. The paint deposit turned into paint and then the ceiling labor to complete the ceilings. They have 10 rooms as I told her and at $70 per room that comes to $700. Not a problem for that amount of work! The bigger thing was the smoke damage from smoking that causes you to double coat everything so just doing things once and pricing at 700 is still okay. But you have to multiply the price by so much when you do it twice. By 1.5 which isn't crazy came to $1,050. We were looking forward to this job as this is how we make a living. We lost two days of work that week as I finally squeezed something in. We usually have two / three weeks worth of work lined up and things were set so making something happen quickly sometime doesn't happen so easy. I believe they were mad because we wouldn't come back to finish the entire job. I'm not sure about the beetles but they looked like bed bugs and where all over the box spring mattress at edges and all over the bottom. Lots of them! [redacted] did throw his clothes and even shoes out while driving home that day. He had pictures and took a piece of tape and got a bunch of bugs stuck to it to let them see when they returned. The bugs are the reason for not finishing this job and the money wasn't even enough for the work to the ceilings we did! I just said we can live with what we got. About me as a person, I have core values that are through the roof! I don't and will not take advantage of ANYONE!! The jobs are always harder than you think and you are competing for the jobs against other sub-contractors. I'm the one that's usually getting the short end of the stick but that's just part of it. I will not allow this ONE issue or complaint to effect my business in a negative way! A very unique situation with this job.. Not the normal everyday dealings that we have and are use to. I go over and beyond for my customers and will continue to do so and this won't skip a beat for me or any potential customers. If you are reading this and thinking of hiring a honest and dependable paint company. This is it! Please let us make your paint project dreams come into reality!Thanks to all... Spence Painting / Angier NCTo Revdex.com: I know you aren't the police and are here to help us and I hope this will help you to put this in the right perspective and be assured this wasn't a [redacted] somebody for money deal.. We don't and will never operate in that manor!Respectfully,Mr. Spence Painting