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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be absolutely gutted with this paintwork?

148 replies

123Holly · 04/10/2019 22:05

I’ve had a painter and decorator in to paint a hall and stairs as well as the woodwork. The woodwork was going from stained wood to white so yes it is a pain in the backside type of job, but I really don’t think this is acceptable. I was here when he did the walls which were done really well but the woodwork is awful.
Where do I stand on payment? I’ve not paid him anything yet, but he wants me to BACS him £600 tonight.

To be absolutely gutted with this paintwork?
To be absolutely gutted with this paintwork?
To be absolutely gutted with this paintwork?
OP posts:
Ridiclious · 04/10/2019 22:46

That really is a dreadful job and if you look at it like a product the item is significantly not as described! So you would want a refund i.e not pay for it. It will need completely redoing.

user1493494961 · 04/10/2019 22:46

It's shocking. Tell him to come and sand it all down for you and then you will pay him for the walls (but not £600).

userxx · 04/10/2019 22:47

Wow, thats bad. Unbelievably bad 😱.

Ohyesiam · 04/10/2019 22:49

Do not pay this man until you find a proper professional to tell you how much it will cost to put right.
He has no grounds to be telling you how low he will go, you hold all the power here. His payment should be 600 minus what it takes to put it right. And he’s lucky you don’t take more off for the bloody hassle he caused you.
Stand your ground op

Original poster
123Holly · 04/10/2019 22:49

Actually yes I think that’s a good point. Just offer to pay him for doing the walls.
Will I say how much are the walls costing and take the woodwork out the equation because it’s going to take some serious time to sand it down and put it right?

OP posts:
LemonRedwood · 04/10/2019 22:49

Who the hell is the 1% who thinks you're unreasonable?

It's awful, OP, don't give him a single penny.

Namechangeforthiscancershit · 04/10/2019 22:50

No way can you pay for that.

I paid £600 for a decorator to spend 5 days tiling, painting and putting down Lino in a bathroom recently, then £300 ish for doing odd jobs including walls. It looks nothing like that. I can't remember exactly how much it was but it looks really professional.

If I did it you would definitely know. Not least because I'd get bored half way through so it would be half badly done and half not done at all!

drinkygin · 04/10/2019 22:50

No way would he get a penny off me yet. I would get a professional in to give you a quote to fix it, then deduct this from whatever you pay him. If it’ll cost more to fix it then I wouldn’t give him a bean! And I’d plaster the pics all over his Facebook page too!

Namechangeforthiscancershit · 04/10/2019 22:51

"Your standards". The cheek.

Aria2015 · 04/10/2019 22:52

Refuse to pay him and ring trading standards. We had a similar experience. The guy threatened to take is to petty debts but trading standards said he’d be laughed out the room of we showed the photos. He never followed through with it and just stopped contacting us after we’d said we’d got trading standards involved. I was tempted to leave a bad review via Facebook but trading standards told me to keep that in my back pocket in case he tried to press us further. It's incredibly disappointing and it cost us five times the amount we’d were going to pay the orginal guy to get the job to fixed but we just had to put it down to a lesson learnt and also was just grateful it was a relatively minor thing and not a big thing like an extension.

Original poster
123Holly · 04/10/2019 22:53

It’s the ‘your standards’ comment which makes me realise that he doesn’t give a s**t!
Yes btw he is meant to be a professional!

OP posts:
Aria2015 · 04/10/2019 22:54

Also trading standards told us to get quotes for how much it would cost to put righy and because they all exceeded the original cost, they said we could take him to court for the difference if we wanted but we didn't take it that far.

Totalwasteofpaper · 04/10/2019 22:56

Absolutely shocking it looks like he hasn’t even prepped the wood properly i’d pay fuck all

I’d threaten trading standards and get a different contractor to correct

FenellaVelour · 04/10/2019 22:56

Christ, I’m a bit of a shit painter but when we moved into our new house I painted the lot and none of it looked like this. You definitely need to challenge it. Calculate how much it would cost to put right and deduct from his bill.

80sMum · 04/10/2019 22:57

Oh dear lord, YANBU! That is an atrociously bad job! It looks like there was absolutely no preparation done at all!

Painting previously dark stained wood white takes a lot of preparation, followed by several coats of carefully applied, high quality paint. It looks like your painter got hold of a cheap tin of "one coat does it all" type of stuff and slapped it on in about 10 minutes!

ButtonMoonLoon · 04/10/2019 22:57

I wouldn’t pay him a penny until it’s put right, that’s a shocking job!

Puzzledandpissedoff · 04/10/2019 23:01

Will I say how much are the walls costing and take the woodwork out the equation

I wouldn't, because then he'll say "£450 for the wall and I won't charge for the woodwork"

It's really quite simple: he invoiced you for £600, but has made such a mess that you need someone else in to remedy it, so you pay whatever the next person charges and take that off the original guy's bill

So he threatens to sue you? Let him ... your photos will give the people at the Small Claims Court the best laugh they've had all year

DoubtingMyPatience · 04/10/2019 23:02

I left my partner to finish painting the bedroom today. We’ve been redecorating and doing it on a budget, the carpet in the bedroom and the nursery are the only two rooms that were not desperate for new carpet so we could have saved a bit of money there.

But like I said, I left DP to do the painting 🙃

To be absolutely gutted with this paintwork?
LittleLongDog · 04/10/2019 23:03

Have you written on the fb posts to let everyone know that it’s not his work?

And make sure you post his actual work.

I hope no one else is taken in by him!

MiniCooperLover · 04/10/2019 23:05

Tell him he's lucky you aren't reporting him to trading standards and you'll reimburse him for paint and that's it

Justaboy · 04/10/2019 23:05

Ask the wally just how did he get the loadsa bitz of shite in the paint effect?

Tell him your going to get a professional tradesman, or woman I know one whos superb!, in to put right and then deduct that from his bill:)

donquixotedelamancha · 04/10/2019 23:07

It's really quite simple: he invoiced you for £600, but has made such a mess that you need someone else in to remedy it, so you pay whatever the next person charges and take that off the original guy's bill

This. Do it all in writing and keep lots of photos.

ILearnedItFromABook · 04/10/2019 23:09

His taking credit for the parts you painted yourself would drive me crazy. I'd definitely comment on those FB posts!

INeedAFlerken · 04/10/2019 23:10

Wow. Awful job. YANBU at all.

Wintersnow17 · 04/10/2019 23:11

Don't pay . How much for the walls? Report to ombudsman if he's using the pics of work you did.

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