next steps? am I the crazy one here?

[Anonymous]

Bought house out of town. Before we moved in, we got a few quotes and chose a company to remove the popcorn ceilings. All work was done with us living in another city. To get estimate (which was a firm estimate) I provided about 30 pics of the house, the square footage, and was available for questions. Quote was based on sq footage and then $150.00 extra per closet. We have 6 closets.

Work is done, and I paid the bill.

A month later, we move in. The work was done really nicely, and I have no complaints.

However, the 2 bathrooms (the Master being fairly good sized) didn't need work.
The closets didn't need work.

So, I call the company and ask for a refund for the $900.00 for the closets that didn't need work plus a re-assessment of the sq footage price, since the two bathrooms didn't need to be touched.

I get a long-winded answer stating that they did great work, they didn't know how complicated it would be before they got in here (said the vaulted ceilings took a ton of work), and they didn't want to call me to renegotiate price since that would be uncomfortable. They think it all evens out in the end (his words).

We've left it at the project manager discussing this with his partner to come to a mutually agreeable solution.

What would you do now?

[Anonymous]

I'm confused. You'd never even been to the house and yet you hired this company to do work on it and provided an inaccurate summary of the job? That sounds like your fault.

[Anonymous]

I would let it go. You agreed upon the price before any work was started, and then signed off on the work and paid for it when it was done. It's not like you have some new information now that changes things, so I don't really understand what you feel the basis is to demand a refund of any money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bought house out of town. Before we moved in, we got a few quotes and chose a company to remove the popcorn ceilings. All work was done with us living in another city. To get estimate (which was a firm estimate) I provided about 30 pics of the house, the square footage, and was available for questions. Quote was based on sq footage and then $150.00 extra per closet. We have 6 closets.

Work is done, and I paid the bill.

A month later, we move in. The work was done really nicely, and I have no complaints.

However, the 2 bathrooms (the Master being fairly good sized) didn't need work.
The closets didn't need work.

So, I call the company and ask for a refund for the $900.00 for the closets that didn't need work plus a re-assessment of the sq footage price, since the two bathrooms didn't need to be touched.

I get a long-winded answer stating that they did great work, they didn't know how complicated it would be before they got in here (said the vaulted ceilings took a ton of work), and they didn't want to call me to renegotiate price since that would be uncomfortable. They think it all evens out in the end (his words).

We've left it at the project manager discussing this with his partner to come to a mutually agreeable solution.

What would you do now?

Was it obvious from the pictures or from what you told them that the house had vaulted ceilings?

The second part of the bolded made me laugh, uncomfortable! Would they have been uncomfortable if the house ended up having more closets than you specified and they all had popcorn ceilings? I'm sure they would have notified you of the increased cost.

I'd try to negotiate a partial refund (on the lower end if they honestly didn't know about the vaulted ceilings when they gave you the quote) and then call it a day since you were satisfied with the actual work. But see what they come back with first!

[Anonymous]

You paid the bill, it's done. If you were there to inspect prior to payment, I would renegotiate. But not a month later.

[Anonymous]

Yes you are the crazy one. There are no next steps, it's over. Next time be there if you want to verify.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you are the crazy one. No refunds, a contractor isn't Macy's.

[Anonymous]

You're wrong. They did the work requested for the price you both agreed to. They agreed to do all of the ceilings for you. The fact that a (very) small part of it was already done is not their problem. Even if they did finish a day early because some of the work wasn't necessary, it's not like they can suddenly fill that day with new work. Especially in hindsight when you are asking for money back long after the work had been done. Comfort yourself by knowing that they spent the extra time doing the best job they could on the remaining ceilings.