Certa Pro Painters of Evanston

"Marilyn requested her stairs be repainted in November (extreme end of painting season). Her consultation and her proposal cautioned her in triplicate about what to expect from repainting the front stairs (it was very late in the season). The fine point is that I make expectations for stair longevity abundantly clear 1) Verbally at consultation, 2) In Bold Blue Notes at the top of the proposal document and 3) In Bold Blue Lettering in the Warranty section of each proposal where stairs are being produced. Marilyn simply did not read (or believe) the cautions and/or want to follow the remedy provided to her. For the specifics of Marilyn's proposal, for those with interest, please see actual details from her proposal and my correspondence: 1) In bold blue letters, the very top of her proposal reads -- "We caution that decks and stairs do not endure like vertical surfaces. Please see our warranty information below with respect to decking maintenance." 2) The warranty note (also in bold blue letters) reads: "for any decking/treading surface that falls outside of our standard warranty, we will provide an annual touchup service call, if desired, within the 1st two years following project completion at a cost of $350 / per worker / day required to adequately cover touchup requirements (single-component paint / stain included)." Of course, we responded immediately upon receiving Marilyn's initial complaint in April. On April 3, 2018 I wrote her the following email w/ copy to Patti (CertaPro Office Manager): ______________________________ "Good morning, Ms. _____ and Patti: I inspected the landing and stairs at [customer's address] yesterday afternoon. Aspects of paint failure are localized, not ubiquitous, & are what we expect and predict . . . It's for this reason we discuss seasonal paint failure to decks and stairs during the estimate/consultation, [we] repeat the caution with respect to deck maintenance in the special notes at the top of the proposal document itself and provide a remedy to our customers which can be found in the proposal document (bottom of page 1 and top of page 2). We schedule annual touch-up services for decking when temperatures are steadily above 50 degrees F and there is no forecasted rain for 24 hours (generally May is the earliest that these conditions are met though rainy Springs can push rework to June). Pictures showing the conditions of the stairs are attached below along with the proposal document for the project. Please re-read through the warranty section of your proposal document and advise Patti if you wish to be on the re-work rotation, Ms. _______. Warm regards," ______________________________ I should add that I've retained the pictures taken on April 2, which demonstrate that the stairs were actually in quite good condition. I should also add that I myself have painted front stairs at my own home. Like many other people in Chicago, I recognize (unfortunately"

"We use several tools to ensure a customer is happy with any given project: 1. we do not accept payment until the customer is satisfied--an unhappy customer does not pay (we are not a pay 1st, ask questions later, painter) 2. Our Office Manager and Scheduler calls our customers to validate their satisfaction -- Patti logged that this customer was left a message and 3. We deploy a 3rd Party vendor who conducts a Net Promoter Score metric on the experience -- customers are contacted 3x via phone and via email:regrettably, we received no feedback from this customer. 4. We warranty our work where failure will be addressed at our expense."

"Thanks for the feedback: Thurs 9/29--Customer agrees to move forward. We sent a confirmation email on the following day to start that Monday 10/3 (4 days following acceptance). 10/1--Customer emails confirmation for 10/3 production. 2 days later on 10/3, production began and was completed as communicated. 10/18--Final Follow Up (we do this 1 to 2 weeks following a project): Customer confirms he's pleased with our work. While we can not always paint on a particular day, we practice solid communication. Austin received start date confirmation in the form of an email one day following his acceptance of our proposal. Thanks Austin!"