AIBU - Painter has painted onto glass of windows?

[Sunandsea13]

Hi all, we had the kitchen painted and the painter has painted the wooden windows too. They are 2 windows separated into 4 panes/8 in total. In all of them there is white paint onto the glass, not even straight just sloppy at the sides/uneven. It’s about 1-2 cm. The invoice is £480.

The wallpaper is also not a complete match in places, but I can live with that.

YAIBU - remove yourself with a glass scraper

YANBU - ask the painter to fix himself

Update: I am going to email him this morning, but want to check if it’s upside down first as that will mean all the paper coming off and new paper. It seems the right way up to me, but have posted a picture in response to @SofaFromRomania :)

Over painting the window by 1-2 cms is dreadful. I'm not a decorator but I'd never do that (and if I did, I'd rectify it). Unfortunately, if the work is that slap-dash, I probably wouldn't trust them to make it right!

Looking at your photos and the photo on the link, it does look like it could be upside down.

I think it looks the same way up as the website. The mid grey flowers in the middle of the wide picture do sort of look like they could be the other way up, but when you look on the website they point downwards there too. I definitely wouldn't have thought it was the wrong way up unless I had been previously briefed it might be.

No way would I be accepting this!! I'm not a decorator but honestly my wallpapering skills are better than that! Has he gone round plug sockets? What do they look like?
Painting the window is down right laziness. Either masking tape them (takes time!) or paint with greater care.
Problem being is do you trust him to improve it to put right?

I definitely wouldn't be paying the full amount agreed. That is not acceptable work of a professional!

My husband has a painting and decorating company I've just shown him the pictures and he said fuck sake that's terrible about the paper and my god, about the windows. I'd guess the painter isn't the best skilled at papering to have done such a poor job and would be worried he would make it worse if he tried to fix it to be honest if he isn't even able to paper round a corner properly.

He could absolutely sort the windows. I personally wouldn't want him back and would be telling him what you arent happy with it and deducting the cost to get it fixed from someone else.

I was waiting for someone to question that, and here you are.

By the sound of the OP's complaints he needed reminding...but I'd like to think he wouldn't have painted the carpets or lightbulbs, surely no one woukd be that stupid....oh wait!

Omg op. That's awful, I could do a much better job and I haven't papered for years, and I'd get the DC2 (7) on the paint. What a cowboy ☹️

Take some of the great advice on emails you've had here. Whether I trusted him to get the paper fixed might depend on a conversation with him - is he the one armed cross eyed apprentice of someone decent, or is he a one man band? Don't leave yourself out of pocket for this, I would not be paying for that job as it is. Good luck!

I wouldn't have him back in my house. If a trade can't do the job correctly for the price in the first place why would you let them back?

I'm not good at confrontation but I would be offering to pay a reduced amount based on his time:quality ratio because his invoice does not reflect a professional job.

I shouldn't worry about him giving you a bad rep tbh, being local it's likely other painters already know about his shitty work.

This is why I paint myself - the last decorator I had around here did a very shit job - I'd rather fuck things up myself!

You're entitled to have the work done with reasonable care and skill (Consumer Rights Act) and he clearly hasn't. Ask him to come back and fix the issues. The audacity of these 'professionals' expecting to be paid for sloppy work!

The flowers/plants are upside down.

That’s just shoddy! He hasn’t even attempted to match that wallpaper!

I don't think it's upside down, having compared your wall and the website OP.

I agree. Some of the flowers are upside down but it's the same in the website image.

how disappointing OP, the wallpapering is terrible, no way could I live with that, it would annoy me everyday. And I would bet in a few weeks it will start lifting at the seams. The paint on the glass is shockingly bad, how did you find this “decorator’? They can’t have any qualifications, even an amateur could do a better job. No way would I be paying that invoice.

How much did you pay OP?
Shouldn't matter, but was it a mates/locals/haggled price?

Some will agree a lower price and do a lesser job for being 'shortchanged'.

Wallpaper isn't upside down.

By the way, you're entitled to 'repeat performance' under consumer laws, but don't let him try to charge you for the 'extra' time/materials or whine about him making a loss on the job:

Consumer Rights Act 2015
Section 55.If the consumer requires such repeat performance, the trader—
(a)must provide it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer; and
(b)must bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour or materials).

He’s done a terrible job. My bet is he’s not been trained. This looks like a poor amateur. We had this once and redid ourselves years ago. The guy did an even worse job, there were gaps between the paper. It was pretty expensive Laura Ashley wallpaper, probably made in England at the time and difficult to hang. We just paid him for the day and redid ourselves with family help. But we were young, our first house so we didn’t want a fuss.

I would not ask him to redo this. I’d ask for recommendations from a friend / your local Facebook community and either buy the same or new paper and wait. As for the invoice, maybe deduct the price of the paper and possibly labour, just pay for the painting. The glass is an easy fix.

DH is a painter and decorator. He has a very clear policy that the customer doent pay until they're happy. Whenever possible he does a walk around with the customer to check theyre satisfied before they pay, and makes it clear that if they find something they are not happy with after theyve paid, they should call him and he will come back and put it right. He takes pride in his work and reputation.

Those faults are unacceptable she shoddy, the decorator need to sort them out. Are you sure they are professional? Too many people set up as decorators when they actually have poor skills and no proper training.

Jesus Christ, I could do a better job at the papering than that and have done. No way I'd be paying for any of that.

Is he touting himself as a professional?

Where did you find this guy? He isn't even a good amateur. Did he charge the going rate?

I am not sure I'd want him back in the house. He clearly doesn't know what he's doing and is unlikely to be able to put it right, I wouldn't even trust him to scrape the windows.

And do I want a narked off useless tradesman in my house if I'm on my own? I don't. I'd probably send photos and request money off.

Wow, that's really bad, we wallpapered last weekend and you can't see the matches and we are amateur.

I would sort the paint out myself but it should have been masked up before it was done.

There is no fixing that wallpaper, and the mismatch would drive me mad.

How many men and how many days did the £480 cover? With decorating you often get what you pay for. I’m not being snarky but I see people round here advertising at £120 per day or less and that’s who my husband (an excellent decorator) is up against but he charges more. People often think they’re much of a muchness and go for the cheapest.

I wouldn't ask him back to fix any of it. He clearly has no eye for the job and seems similar to an electrician I had who, when I asked him to realign some plug sockets which were wonky, made just as bad a job the second time around.
I'd let him know I'll be sending a reduced payment.
Fix the paint yourself.
Decide what to do about the wallpaper. If you decide to hire someone else to fix it, then take the cost of this off the cowboy decorator's bill.