Steve Kaufman of Takoma Park, Md., wrote about his frustration with an area plumbing company.
“Two years ago, I had a tub faucet that was leaking significantly, called in an emergency to a certain locally-based company, and took off work so I could let them in,” he said. “They sent two employees who didn’t have the right tools. They went out somewhere to get them, came back an hour later and said they couldn’t help me and that I’d have to reschedule. After I begged them (it was seriously leaking and taking off work is a big deal for me!), they miraculously fixed it in all of 10 minutes, and then they sent me a bill for the time it took for them to ‘get their tools’ as well as the actual labor. For all I know, they were out eating during that time period since it was around lunch. I sent a check, but with a note describing my poor service in detail. Not only did the company cash my check and not reply, but they bugged me for a year saying I hadn’t paid the bill, despite me having the cashed check as proof.”
Robin Ann Horner of Strasburg, Pa., needed some painting done. She did what experts tell you to do. She shopped around and interviewed three companies. She still got bad work.
“It was a small job by all standards, what could go wrong, or so I thought?” she wrote. “I allowed the painters to do the job without my me being on site. When I returned home not only did they have paint on things that should not [have been painted]. They did not remove a chair rail that we had discussed. They neglected to fill any nail holes nor did they repair small cracks. There were total areas where the old paint came through and it was light beige! I sat down and cried and then called the owner of the business. He came to review the mess and filled a notebook page with all of the areas that needed addressed. When he sent new painters the job was even worse. I ended up calling a contractor and having the walls sanded and repainted. It was a very sad experience.”
Tia Lewis contributed to this report.
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