Accuraid Painting
Jonathan M. Crone
642 Dee Street
Maple Park, N.Y.

Date of Account:  02-23-08

Account

Never underestimate the value of a Better Business Bureau listing. Identifying information has been excised:

Though this contractor was the subject of two separate BBB complaints by consumers who had hired him, we decided to use him, anyway. Very bad move--as we were to discover.

We contracted with him as shown in this scanned image of his actual work order. I have redacted identifying information:

Early on, I asked the contractor for his view on a few basic wallpaper questions, such as what kinds of materials wallpaper backing is made of, interesting and relevant information conveyed to me by a salesperson at a local paint and wallpaper store. I was told, for example, that these backings are often made of natural materials. However, to my surprise, the contractor indicated complete ignorance on this kind of topic. Still, he represented himself as having years of experience painting and hanging wallpaper, so my mother decided to hire him.

He was reasonably cooperative in providing me product information for the materials he'd be using. I was concerned in part because my 80 year old father was to be in the house during the work, and I didn't want him breathing in or otherwise exposed to harmful agents or airborne particulate matter.

The contractor began work for us, appearing twice for a period of approximately 1/2 hour each time. My mother actually remarked to him on at least one of those occasions, "Done already?" and he indicated, "Yes, it doesn't take long." He painted our sunroom ceiling and was done in about twenty minutes; the room is small. Still, surprised at the speed, my mother inquired as to whether he had applied the second coat. He indicated he had. She then said "Isn't the first coat supposed to dry before applying the second," and indicated no, it was fine.

On another occasion he came to rip down the old wallpaper in the sunroom but could not finish that work, that day, because, he said, some of the backing of the old paper wouldn't come off the wall, and he'd need his machine. However, as someone representing himself as a seasoned wallpaper man and a competent professional, shouldn't he have anticipated exactly this, and brought his machine in the first place?

The work was further delayed because the contractor told my mother that another customer at whose home he had been using the machine was supposed to leave it for him, but did not.

There's more. My mother indicates that on three occasions this contractor did not show up as scheduled, and did not call to explain--he was simply missing in action. On one occasion he claimed later that his mysterious absence occurred because he had a problem with a worker; I personally remember that particular MIA episode. Regarding that episode, my mother contends that it turned out that about two weeks passed before he restarted the job. On another occasion he did not work because of claimed back problems. Regarding all this, however, we forgave and the relationship continued (so we thought).

When December arrived suitably warm work days decreased in number, though there were some. On several occasions my mother canceled a work session because of poor weather. The next phase of this contractor comedy of errors begins with my mother's assertion that their understanding was that he was to call her when a warm day was forecast--but never called. She then called him, and he said he would, in fact, call her "after the holidays," referring obviously to Christmas and New Year. I vaguely remember my mother telling me this at the time. Little does she know that she will never see this man again.

The contractor will later assert to me that she was to call him ..."when the warm weather broke," but did not. In fact, however, my mother did call him, thrice, but he has so far not returned three phone calls my mother made. During their last telephone conversation she requested that he redo a section of wall he had already completed, which he may be unwilling to do, though in hiring him my mother told him that her standards are very high, and he accepted the job.

Strangely, in abandoning the job he was apparently willing to sacrifice some of his equipment, as well. In our sunroom where he had been working, he left two heavy dropcloths on the floor, a medium-sized metal sprayer with its box, and a small metal stepladder. Moreover, he left masking tape all around the molding that my mother had to remove, and a very large dark trash bag full of trash that she had to throw away. She had to remove all these items through the sunroom window and put them in the garage or otherwise dispose of them.

Moreover, though he completed little of the job, this man has not refunded any of our money. There's a word in the English language that describes taking money and providing little or nothing in return: "stealing."

If this gentleman decided that he wished to terminate the contract and cancel the job, he should have explained this to my mother, apologized, and refunded all or most of our money. In other words, he should have employed professionalism and courtesy.

On Thursday, March 13, 2008, at approximately 8:40 pm I called this man, and true to form he did not answer, letting his voice mail do his dirty work. Sounding upset but firm (I think), I left him a brief message, as follows:

This is an exact transcript of my message remarks, penned as soon as the call terminated; the only possible deviation is in sentence placement. You will note that consistent with the minimum standard of the love ethic, I was courteous throughout the message. I used no profanity, I did not raise my voice, I called him "Mr. Crone," and I said "Thank you."

(In a potentially interesting commentary on the differences in perception amongst different human beings, you will note that in his voice message he asserts that I left him a "nasty" message. His genuine impression? Or a deliberate over-reaction and misrepresentation to disarm me or shield himself, ala' "the best defense is a good offense?" I don't know.

People do, unfortunately, play these kinds of games, and when money is at stake, they play even harder.)

Update

March 14, 2008, 3:17 pm

About twenty minutes ago as I slept my telephone rang, and the heretofore missing-in-action painting contractor Joe Crone began spewing a rapidfire, angry message into my answering machine. When I picked up the telephone receiver to take the call my answering machine stopped recording, but here is what it did record.

Mr. Crone complains about what he describes as my "nasty" message. Apparently, however, a no-nonsense message is the only kind of message he responds to:  my 76 year old mother left him three gentle messages, and he appears to have roundly and summarily ignored them all.

His recalcitrant and arrogant assertions angrily delivered, such as "Deposit back? That isn't gonna happen," and, "The way we left it was your mom was supposed to call me when the warm whether broke, and the first I heard from you was your message last night," especially as the continuing narrative I was listening to began to form clearly and was at utter odds with my mother's contentions, began to catalyze my own anger; moreover, I also had the fear that this actor might be giving us a guest-appearance, not a recurring role, and I might never hear from him again. So, I pushed my tired body upward and picked up the telephone receiver.

"I'm here.", I believe I said.

The guy was obviously livid, and I was tired and thus thankful for even twenty more seconds of the repose one enjoys when tired by listening and not having to speak, so I let him blather on until spent. When he was done I spoke, and in a low-pitched, male, "just-woke-up-one-minute-ago" voice, merely said:

"A key part of the problem here is that my mother indicates she called you three times and you never called her back."

He denied this, positing that "Maybe she dialed the wrong number"; he again asserted no refund would be forthcoming, and surprisingly given the existing enmity went even further remarking "After I put the wallpaper up, even more money will be due." I asked him to hold on so I could get my mother. He replied he could not, as he was "...in a jam." I said I'll call you tonight; he indicated assent and said if there no answer we'd speak the next morning, as "I have to pick my kid up from basketball practice." I recall him having said that previously.

. . . . . .

My mother has serious hearing loss, though her hearing is often reasonable, even good, given that she has two hearing aids, and our downstairs telephone, the one she uses, has a loud setting for the handset. Now, when I called this man last evening his outgoing message was conspicuous in that his voice was loud and clear throughout, and in that ringing voice he announced his business name, Accuraid Painting. Thus, I knew the reality check--or truth test, if you like--here would be easy to administer. If my mother could immediately and easily confirm that she heard an outgoing message announcing Accuraid Painting all three times she left him voice mail messages, then we'd know that she did, indeed, call him thrice and leave a message thrice, and that she did not "...dial the wrong number."

In fact, in listening to the audio scrap available above, you can hear for yourself how clear, forthright, and loud this man's voice is. There is simply no mistaking his outgoing business message.

After hanging up with this man I immediately spoke with her, and she confirmed with equal immediacy that she heard his specific outgoing message all three times, willfully adding: "He's lying."

Update

March 14, 2008, 10:32 pm

Per my conversation earlier today with the contractor in question, I called him at approximately 9:35 pm. Here is a digital recording of the brief message I left him (allow about twenty seconds for the recording to begin, and raise your system volume as the recording is not loud). I indicated in this message that his outgoing message was loud, clear, and very identifiable, and that my mother indicated that she definitely heard it all three times she called. I also addressed his assertion that my initial message was "nasty."

Update

March 24, 2008, 9:10 pm

This situation is apparently becoming juvenile.

About five days ago I had an extended conversation with my mother to pin down all the detail associated with this man's hire and execution of work.

I was prepared to call him the Friday before Easter Sunday but my mother directed me to wait until after Easter; thus, I called him tonight, about thirty minutes ago. I left a message.

Recall that in my last phone message to this man I observed that his outgoing business message is loud, clear, and very identifiable, and that in conferring with my mother about the possibility of having called the wrong number, which this man suggested may have happened, she confirmed that she definitely heard his outgoing business message all three times she called. However, thirty minutes ago when I called him, I noticed that he has modified his message--he is now announcing his business name as Accuraid Painting Plus, and his voice was more restrained in volume! I was actually wondering if was going to do this, to perhaps later attempt the assertion that there was nothing inordinately identifiable about his outgoing message, thereby increasing the plausibility that my mother may have misdialed those three times. This would obviously strengthen his claim that he did not ignore my mother's attempts to contact him, and therefore was not abandoning the job while keeping our money.

In my message of tonight I indicated that I had a compromise proposal, and that I hoped we could agree on it to obviate lawyers, small claims court, and his accrual of a third complaint against him with the Better Business Bureau, which is the last thing he'd want prospective customers to see, especially during this recessionary period when jobs would be harder for him to get. My tone throughout the message was serious but mildly amicable. When introducing the prospect of the BBB complaint I even used the word "respectfully," as in "Respectfully, Sir, the last thing you want is another strike against you with the BBB, especially a fresh strike."

I requested that he call me back tonight, or perhaps tomorrow afternoon or evening. I left my telephone number again. In starting my message I re-introduced myself and stated the time and date.

To be Continued.

Analysis

In conversation with this contractor regarding when the work would resume as cold weather began to set in, my mother spoke of "warm days," meaning those that were still occurring every week or two even as Winter geared up, not "warm weather" as in the start of Spring--four months away.

This man's assertion that the work was not to resume until the warm "weather" broke and my mother called him to tell him as much, is absurd. He contracted for this job on November 02, 2007. That was just under 4 1/2 months ago! Does this lapse in completion of the work suggest a contractor who intends to finish the job? Especially given that very small contractors like this man generally need the money they earn and are thus usually eager to complete the work they start?

I have to say this man seemed very genuine in his remarks and assertions. However, the problem is that such an ability is what makes a good liar what they are.

The world is full of two-bit operators and con-men of every variety, and whether we refer to this category of undesirables or those such as Enron and Worldcom that operate on a global or otherwise grand scale--capitalism provides them all a rich and fertile soil to grow, strengthen, and reproduce, thus ensuring the existence of the next wave or generation.

Yet one more in a long string of hack local contractors my family has had the displeasure to deal with. Given this particular man's multiple missed work days with no explanatory call, string of apparent lies, and miscellanous string of apparent problems of one kind or another (he has claimed, variously, at various times: I had a problem with my worker; my back is out; I don't have my machine, I can't get my machine, I'm in a jam right now), we have speculated that he appears to have a problem with, honesty, at least, and may perhaps also suffer personal, family, financial or other problems.

I am personally familiar with how difficult and complex life can get under the crushing load of a multiple problem set. However, I still try to live my life with love and respect toward others; all the more were I a vendor of a product or service upon whom people were depending. However, we don't get the impression this man approaches things this way.

In all, our experience with Accuraid Painting represents another shining example of how simply wonderful "free enterprise" is:  a system where the consumer is "free" to be exploited and abused by every pea-brained, two-bit, narcissistic contractor who comes down the pike.

Organized as one human family, both the economic and personal dynamic, caused in large measure by the normal operation of capitalism, that creates and fuels these realities will completely disappear, thus solving all these problems, completely and forever.