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Comments, suggestions, and corrections are welcome. WebGuy @ barnabas.com.
©1995-2007 Barnabas MultiMedia, all rights reserved.
There were many things that went wrong, most of it was bad communication at many levels. Nevertheless, in the end, College Works Painting came through and made everything right.
I meet with an Independent Branch Manager for College Works Painting in Raleigh, North Carolina, and signed a contract with him to paint my house. He said that they should start working the first week in July.
Independent Branch Manager is what they call the college students they get to spend a summer painting a group of houses. The Independent Branch Manager learns all aspects of running a business, and then he gets to sell his services to the customers, and then manage a crew of painters for the summer.
The first week in July comes, and since I did not hear from my Independent Branch Manager, I called. He said that they were running behind and would start the following week. I would have liked a phone call telling me that they were not going to paint on the projected date. They actually started the second week in July.
The contract says: "Full TSP + Power wash of entire house prior to start." I had remarked to the Independent Branch Manager that the whole house needed a good cleaning. They power washed around the windows before removing the storm windows, which means that the trim between the windowpanes was never power washed. The "entire" house was not washed. They only washed around the windows, which left a very clean area of brick around the windows. This makes the dirt on the rest of the house stand out in some areas. This is not how I interpreted "Full TSP + Power wash of entire house prior to start" in the contract.
The power washing chipped the bottom edge of many pieces of Masonite siding on the vertical surface above the garage roof. After I pointed it out, My Independent Branch Manager said that he would fix the damage. Later I discover that they used window glazing to repair the damaged Masonite. I do not believe that this is the industry norm. There were still obvious chips in the siding. Some of the patched areas were sanded, but still stood out. Two patched areas were sanded after the final coat of paint and had dull circular sanding marks, which stood out from the rest of the siding.
Picture of the damaged siding. Notice the many patched areas. On the left are two areas that were sanded down after the final coat of paint was applied.
Eventually College Works Painting paid to have a local siding company remove the damaged siding and replace it.
I gave my Independent Branch Manager a paint sample that our relatives had used on their house, and we thought it might look nice on our house. Since College Works Painting uses only Duron paints, and this was not a Duron paint sample, I asked him to find a match and have one gallon made to try it out. I told him that I would pay for the gallon if we decided to change the color. He agreed, but went to the paint store and ordered seven gallons anyway. He painted a test area on the house, and we decided to go with a lighter color. We picked out two lighter colors and had one gallon of each made up. We paid for these two extra gallons. We picked the one we liked, and he ordered seven more gallons of that color. He informed me that he had run out of money and could not pay for the paint. My wife went to the Duron store and paid for the additional seven gallons of paint. Eventually, College Works Painting reimbursed this extra cost.
They start painting the house. I was initially impressed with the quality of work. They were really sanding, scraping and priming just like they promised. The finished coat of paint looked nice. As they progressed across the front of the house, the painting got sloppier, and there was less evidence of prep work done. Ironically, they did the most prep work on the part of the house that needed it the least (the shady side), and did the least amount of prep work on the areas of the house that needed it the most (the sunny side).
The paint crew changed every few days. Some painters were true professionals and did great work; some did not seem to know what they were doing. The first crew did the best prep work. The last painter did the best painting. Unfortunately, his paint went over un-prepped surfaces.
Despite the fact that the contract says that they would reglaze the windows on sides 2 and 3 of the house, I was informed, after the work had begun, that they were only going to glaze the areas where the glaze was missing, and not the areas where the glaze looked like it was going to fall out. This is not what I was originally promised.
Some of the glazing work done by College Works Painting was very professionally done, with very smooth lines. Other sections of the glazing looked like a first-grade clay project with a very rough finish that looked worse than the glazing they did not remove. They painted the glaze before letting it dry, which caused a black mold to form over the paint, since the moisture in the glazing was seeping through the paint. One section of glazing was never replaced, and the painter just painted the wood and glass where the glazing should have been.
College Works Painting has since reimbursed me for the cost of having the glazing redone by a professional handyman.
The work is not complete, but my Independent Branch Manager informs me that he is going out of town with the other College Works Painting Branch Operators and needs to get my check for the balance of the job. He asked me to sign the contract under the line "THE ABOVE WORK IS COMPLETED TO MY SATISFACTION." I initially refuse, but he insisted that I sign, promising that the work would be completed the following day. I wrote in the words "except for the items to be completed tomorrow," signed my name, and wrote him a check for the balance owed. Actually, it was more than I owed, since I had to pay for the paint when he ran out of money, or did I have to pay for the paint he mistakenly ordered?
It's my fault that I paid him before the work was done. I should have waited until the work was really complete before painting. My Independent Branch Manager was being pressured by the regional staff to get the money in.
After College Works Painting reinstalled the storm window frames, I noticed that about 20 of the screws were missing. I asked my Independent Branch Manager to replace the missing screws with aluminum screws, which was what they had lost (or possibly broken). I told him that I would accept stainless steel screws as a substitute. He replaced the screws and left the rest of the bag of screws. They were the wrong kind of screws. They were regular steel screws, not the kind he promised. These screws will probably rust in a few years. They also broke or lost most of the clips that hold in the large panes of glass on the front storm windows. I told him not to replace them out of concern that he might further damage the windows. One storm window was installed upside down, which he later rectified.
The crew told me that they had completed the job. They told me that they would come back on Monday to pick up the ladders and tools. I pointed out a few obvious problems, and I promised to have them a detailed list of concerns by Monday. The painter agreed to fix the problems on Monday.
I inspected the painting and wrote a detailed 4-page punch list. I left the list for the painter to pick up on Monday. Most of the list described places where the old paint color was still visible, places that did not get scraped, the upside-down storm window, and concerns about the two different colors of paint that were used.
The crew fixed some of the problems and left. I was not pleased with the paint job, but was glad the ordeal was finally over so I could get the storm windows back in.
I caulked areas that College Works Painting forgot to caulk. I cleaned glazing compound and stray paint off of the windows. I picked up trash and tools they left scattered around the yard. I removed paint from the grass and a natural area where it appeared that they cleaned out their paintbrushes. I picked up the multitude of paint chips, old caulk, and old window glazing that was left on the ground all around the house. Is it possible these scraps have lead in them? Could these scraps be harmful to my dog if he eats them? Why wasn't any of this cleaned up?
I inspected the paint job and created new list of concerns.
The contract promised "Daily walk around progress report to ensure 100% customer satisfaction." The daily walk arounds stopped after a few days. At the end of the paint job, I did my own walk around making notes to leave for the crew.
On the last few days, they painted with a slightly darker color of paint. Maybe it was from one of the test gallons of paint that we decided not to use. Many of the windows have two tones of paint, where there should be only one. The painters did not seem to care when I pointed this out.
I e-mailed College Works Painting at the e-mail address on their national website asking if they could finish the paint job. I hoped the "Two Year Written Warranty Of Quality" would get someone out to complete the paint job.
I e-mailed College Works Painting again at the same address asking if they could finish the paint job
Nathan Morehead e-mails me and writes "You should be contacted around the first week of July to set up an appointment to inspect you (sic) house."
July came and went. I was not contacted.
I send an e-mail to Nathan Morehead asking "maybe next summer??"
I send another e-mail to Nathan Morehead asking "Maybe you can finish the painting next summer???"
Steven Johnson, VP of the NC College Works Painting Division, sent me an e-mail. He said that he would take care of me immediately. He left his phone number and asked me to call him.
I called at 11AM and talked to Steven. He said that he would call me back.
Steven called and left me a message
I called at 10:36AM and left Steven a message
I called at 10AM and left Steven a message
Steven called at 11AM. He said that he would meet me on Saturday, October 23 at 8AM.
Steven met me and looked at the house. He promised to fix the paint problems in the spring. I never heard from Steven again.
I called College Works Painting at 888-450-9675. I was promised a return phone call that day. I got no return phone call.
I called College Works Painting at 888-450-9675. I was told that Megan Madden was the warranty contact. I was told that she would call me back that day. I never heard from her.
Aris contacted me and agreed to meet me on July 15, 2005 at noon to look at the house. Aris said that they might start painting as early as Monday, July 18.
Aris met me at the house at noon. He inspected the house and said that they might start on Monday. He told me that I had to remove the storm windows, despite the fact that the initial contract included removing and replacing the storm windows. He said that they could not fix the bad glazing that was done by the earlier College Works Painting crew.
I removed the storm windows in the morning. I could not remove two of them because College Works Painting had painted those windows shut. The paint crew did not show up.
I had not heard from Aris, so I called him. He said that they would probably paint on Thursday.
The paint crew did not come on Thursday, so I called Aris. He said that they would be there soon to paint.
When I got home from work, I saw ladders beside the garage, but no sign of painting.
I was out of town for the week. When I got home on Friday afternoon, it was obvious that they had done some painting.
I noticed that the new paint was darker than the existing paint. I understand that this could be because the old paint has lightened up over time. This means that I now have three shades of paint, where there should be only one. Rather then repainting an entire section of a window frame, they swiped the paint over the section with the new paint, which makes it obvious that it is a different color of paint. There are stray brush strokes of the darker paint over panels that did not need to be repainted.
There are still areas that I pointed out to Aris that are not painted. I assumed that they would either come back to finish the job, or had decided not to complete all that was agreed on. I think a note or phone call would have been nice to keep me informed.
I called Aris and left a voice message. I told him that they had used a darker paint, which looked bad. (I had explained to him before the painting began that the original painters were accidentally using multiple colors of paint.) I asked him if he had completed the painting, or if they were coming back to complete the work. I got no response.
I called Aris and left another message. I got no response.
I called Aris and left another message. I got no response.
I e-mailed the national office. I detailed the problems I had with the paint job and with College Works Painting. I got no response.
I mailed letters to all five College Works Painting executive officers (Jeff Gunhus, Jason Reid, Matthew Stewart, Spencer Pepe, and Tracy Meneses) explaining my situation and expressing my dissatisfaction with the paint job, the lack of communication, and the deceptive business practices that I encountered with their company. I got no response.
My letters apparently never got to their intended recipients. I realize now that I should have sent the letters by registered mail to ensure delivery.
I called the corporate office at 888-450-9675. The woman I talked to said that she would give Matt Stark the information, and that he would call me that day. She told me that he was in charge of warranty claims. I gave her my phone number. I got no response.
I called the corporate office at 888-450-9675. The woman I talked to said that Matt was at lunch. She put me through to his voice mail and assured me that he would call me back that day. I left Matt a message along with my phone number. I got no response.
I called the corporate office at 888-450-9675 and talked to Matt Stark, the guy in charge of warranty work. He tried to connect me to Steve Johnson who is in charge of my region. Matt said Steve was being replaced and did not know who was replacing him. He promised that someone would call me back.
Matt Stark called and offered to give me $500 instead of completing the paint job. It appeared to me that it would take more than $500 to hire someone to complete the job and repair the mistakes. I refused their offer and suggested that they repair the damage they did and to reimburse me for the work that they did not do. Or just give me all of the money I paid so I could hire a real painter to come fix their mess.
I have received no communication from College Works since their $500 offer. The chipped Masonite siding that was fixed with window glazing looks bad. The poorly patched areas have let in moisture, which is puffing out the siding. It all needs to be replaced.
Matthew Stewart has been reviewing my case for a month and contacts me. He admits that there were many problems with my paint job and assures me that they would make it right. He offered to let me pick out a contractor to repair the Masonite siding and the bad window glazing. Both of these repairs are scheduled for March.
College Works Painting is paying to have all of the damage repaired plus giving me a painting allowance to make up for the missed spots.
College Works Painting has assured me that actions have been taken to keep this kind of service from happening again. They apparently had a bad bunch of regional managers in this area who were not supporting the Independent Branch Manager as well as they should.
Every time I contacted the national office, my call/e-mail was referred to the regional office and the ball was dropped. They have fired everyone and now have to start from scratch in this region. They have taken steps to ensure they hire the right people, and have enhanced their training programs to keep future customers from receiving the same initial service that I did. My saga will be part of their management textbook.
Quotes from College Works Painting marketing materials:
"My goal is to provide the customer with superior service, materials, and workmanship."
I did not initially receive "superior service." It was average service. The "materials" were good, but I had to pay for them twice! The "workmanship" was not superior, it was average. College Works agrees that my service was not up to their standards, and have since rectified the problems.
"I will work to ensure that you are completely satisfied with my job performance."
I was not completely satisfied with the initial paint job, and I didn't think that anyone at College Works Painting really cared. Now I know that I was the victim of some bad communication, which has been straightened out since,
"In order to be successful I must assure customer satisfaction. My employees and I will work with you to ensure that you receive the best paint job available; one that will protect and beautify your home for many years to come."
It wasn't the "best paint job available." Apparently, the regional staff, who have all been fired, pushed the Independent Branch Managers for quantity rather than quality hoping that they would make more money for themselves.
This is not part of the College Works Painting philosophy. They really do desire to offer great house painting through their army of Independent Branch Managers.
After posting this web page in June 2005, I have had many contacts from Independent Branch Managers, parents of Independent Branch Managers, and friends of Independent Branch Managers. Customers of College Works Painting have also contacted me.
It appears that many of the Independent Branch Managers went into their agreement with College Works Painting thinking that they were going to be making a lot of money running their own house painting business. It's unfortunate that they thought that, and even more so that they blame the company when they did not make as much as they had hoped.
The point of running your own business while in college is not to make lots of money, it's to learn how to run your own business. To learn how to manage employees, deal with customers, and make decisions based on internal and external forces on the business.
The beauty of the College Works Painting experience is that you are contracting with a national company who has a great training program and has a big safety net to catch you if you fall.
Most of those that contacted me were mad because things did not go their way. I have since found that most of those stories had "another side" of the story that they were not sharing with me.
One reader was outraged by my webpage and claimed that I was "persecuting innocent college students all over America." He claimed that there are "a few Christian students not eating tonight because of [my] actions." If that is the case, I am truly sorry.
It's almost time to have my house painted again, and who knows, if another College Works Painting Independent Branch Manager comes calling, I might just get them to paint the house again.
I know now that College Works Painting, like all businesses, has communication problems from time to time. I also know that College Works Painting really does want to give college students an incredible learning experience managing their own house painting company, and they really want to ensure a quality house painting experience for all of their customers.
Chris Droessler
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(and a couple of giraffes) have seen this page. |
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Comments, suggestions, and corrections are welcome. WebGuy @ barnabas.com.