Not paying painter due to carpet stains?

[Reasonswhy]

Starting off with - I’m the most under confident person in the world so any form of potential confrontation feels so hard for me, appreciate I may be making a mountain out of a molehill.
Had a painter out this week to paint 2 rooms. He said on Monday he woolr
get it done that day, but has taken 3 days as said he had other jobs chasing him and his apprentice off sick - fine, no big deal. He finished today while I was out, and I’ve come home to an ok job but it’s patchy still in places and the carpet in one room has a lot of paint on the carpet 😢I’ve attached pics of the smaller areas - for some reason the larger patches pics have been flagged as sensitive😂The areas are damp and slightly white so he’s clearly already put something on it to soak it up which isn’t worked.
I summoned up the courage to call him and he sounded defensive from the off, said he was coming back to finish the darker blue room which had been a “nightmare” as such a dark colour. I told him about the carpet and he said oh is just a dribble? And I said no, there are lots of areas and given they are damp I’m guessing you knew about it and put something down- I just need to know how to get the paint off. He said he’ll sort it over the coming days and rang off.
What do I do? He left an invoice for £680 including materials asking politely for it to be paid within 48 hours. I don’t want to pay it in case he doesn’t come back to fix it, and I don’t think the paint will come easily unless he has a magic solution. WWYD? Do I deduct something from the amount to cover carpet cleaning? If so what would be reasonable? Or will this cause a confrontation?

ugh. TIA

Bear in mind the cost of everything has gone up so these carpets bought and fitted now would be MUCH more expensive than they were last year so don’t base your replacement cost on that

I've had similar except a painter extensively scratched up the glass of our very expensive (about £7k) sash windows, very badly, and it was impossible to repair them. We didn't pay him. I felt bad, but the scratches are very noticeable. Windows were replaced new in 2017 so really wasn't happy.

The bathroom will definitely clean off and l imagine the blue paint is water based as it's for walls and your carpets look decent quality which these days do withstand a lot of cleaning, some even claim you can spill bleach on them and won't damage, though wouldn't like to test that. It's not good but wait and see how he gets on, might be surprised. I used to have my own cleaning business and there was little l couldn't get out of anything including paint..

Carpet cleaner here. Emulsion comes off pretty easily. I once woke up in the night to find an almost full paint pot overturned on my landing and had it all off, you'd never know it happened.

You might expect a couple of drips from a painter but that's gone way beyond the realms of normal. He needs to clean it with actual carpet cleaning products and stop treating your floor like it's a paintbrush. Get a professional in and when you're happy with the walls and the floor offer him the choice of deducting it from the bill or going through his insurance. He's going to choose taking it off the bill.

Oh god don’t pay anything until it is cleaned & dry & all removed! Not one penny!

If he comes to your house tomorrow, cleans carpet as best he can & sorts out dodgy patches in paint, & then demands payment, tell him you need to WAIT until paint and carpet are dry to assess whether stains removed & paint now ok (this is true). This will get him out of the house.

If (unlikely) the problems are completely dealt with, when paint & carpet are dry, pay him less the £100 deduction.

If either carpet or paint (or both) are not completely sorted out, when dry, message him to say you have given him a chance to rectify, he’s failed, and you now need to get professionals in - and that he will be responsible for cost.

Deduct the cost of any remedial paint work from what is owed, PLUS deduct the cost of a professional carpet clean and (if necessary) the new carpets.

If you have to get new carpets, your total cost (carpet cleaner, new carpets, remedial paint work) will exceed his invoice. Then you can either make a claim against him in the small claims court, or wait for him to make a claim in the small claims court against you for his invoice, and then make a counter claim against him.

This man is a cowboy & clearly exploiting you because you’re on your own. What a complete shit. No professional would do that.

Also do NOT try & clean it yourself because if you do he will say that’s what made the stain stick, and resist your claim for new carpets (if that’s how it pans out) on that basis.

Bloody hell that’s bad! Don’t let him come over as he’ll just do a shit job and bully you to pay him. Get a quote to get it professionally cleaned, send him a copy of the invoice and then deduct from his outstanding balance and pay him the rest. No need to discuss it with him. Just tell him this is how it’s going to be.

I disagree, he won't bother to sort out the carpet and walls if he only has £250 outstanding, and a day's painting will be around £150-200. If she needs a new carpet then she'll be out of pocket

Ask him for his insurance details, as you will need them to claim for the carpet.

I had a terrible decorator who didn't cover things properly and I got my wooden units splattered with white when he did the ceiling. He didn't cover the carpet when painting the skirting board but I pointed out to him at the time drips of white on the carpet and he managed to remove them quickly. Strangely I had the wall done in what looks a very similar colour to you a dark blue. I hate confrontation and I ended up touching up a lot after he had gone as the edges were really badly done. I suppose he is not the same chap Essex/Herts border. He really shouldn't be doing decorating jobs and sounds like yours shouldn't be either.

This happened to me and the decorator deducted the cost of a new carpet. He offered to pay for professional cleaning but I said to him that if it didn't come off, he'd then have had to pay for cleaning and a new carpet. He agreed that professional cleaning wasn't going to cut it. Just prepare yourself for this to be offered and say no as it won't resolve it.

I didn't add the charges for taking the old carpet away (I should have) or for the rooms he got paint in that he hadn't even decorated. The whole thing was bizarre. It was so awkward.

Bottom line, do not pay the invoice. Provide a quote for the carpet and ask for his insurance details or how he'd like to resolve it. If you're not happy with the decorating, tell him you'll be getting quotes to get that rectified too if he's unreasonable about it. Whatever you do, don't pay. He owes you.

He needs to finish the work and rectify the carpet because you may need to replace carpets which far outweighs the cost of the work he has done.

I had a similar issue with a gardener who was supposed to refit loose flagstones and regrout the whole patio. Sent me an invoice 'to pay within 24 hours' (always a red flag) and I knew at the time that this was not long enough to see what the lasting damage was, since none of the grout was setting hard, and there were damaged flagstones with grout resin all over. I had a gut feeling I'd regret it if I paid, yet I went against that gut feeling.

I paid under pressure and two years later, the grout has still not set and the flags are loose again! Do not pay until everything is right.

I had this navy done 9 years ago when it started to become popular, I would imagine any busy decorator has been doing this style for years as it has been consistently popular and it's no excuse for the mess. As other have said, I would say you will pay him when the carpet is fully sorted, if he doesn't make arrangements to have it sorted you will have to get someone else to professionally clean all the bits he messed up and deduct the cost of that and the time, effort and hassle from his invoice. I would also say no money will change hands until the paintwork is also no longer patchy. I think unfortunately you'll not hear from him again. I had a similar situation with a rough caster who made a total mess of my garden wall, kept asking for money for materials and I said (I think fairly) I couldn't pay him until I knew what the price was going to be to remove his shoddy work and redo it, he'd actually left me worse off than I started as I saw it so I wasn't parting with cash until I knew where I stood. He told me to forget it when he knew I was getting another tradesman out to look at his work. You could also say you're considering having someone come to look at sorting the patchy work.

This! If you do that he will be gone for good and you will be left with a stained carpet and no chance of getting it replaced if a professional cleaner cannot remove the stains. Not one penny until it is 100 per cent rectified.

Update: He has been in today and touched up the patchy areas and spent time scrubbing the carpets, they are damp now so hard to assess but definitely not clear. I was on a call when he finished so sent me this:

Ok have painted up the remaining bits now I’ve left the tape on the back because of the colour I would take off in a couple days let dry out completely first and touched up the other room and bits and pieces too I’ve shampood and scrubbed the carpets best I can too hopefully they come up as they were I’m going to take £200 of the job so If it did come to it that would do you for cleaning the whole carpet I’m extremely sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you and apologise sincerely for it my fault with colours like that you need to be more careful again apologies thanks

I was going to send this back- please tweak as no idea if it’s ok:

I appreciate you trying to put it right but the carpet is still very stained in multiple areas and it was fitted only last year so really unhappy. I will get a quote to get it professionally cleaned but if we need to replace the carpet, what do you normally do in this situation? Do you claim the cost of this from your work insurance?
I will wait until the paint is dry to check it all. Thanks.

Looks good but I'd also ask what happens if the cleaning quote exceeds £200. Do you know if he actually has insurance?

I wouldn't pay him until you resolve the stain.

I don’t know this 😔

Ok revised version! Thank you for helping me
I appreciate you trying to put it right but the carpet is still very stained in multiple areas and it was fitted only last year so really unhappy. I will get a quote to get it professionally cleaned, but what if the cleaning cost is greater than £200? And if a professional cleaner can’t get it back to how it was, what do you normally do in this situation? Do you claim the cost of replacement carpets from your work insurance?
I will wait until the paint is dry to check it all. Thanks

Your message looks OK, however don't be tempted to pay until the whole situation is resolved to your satisfaction. It's all very well him saying he'll take £200 off the bill, but you need to be COMPLETELY satisfied that you've got what you paid for BEFORE you pay him a penny more!

I note you don't appear to have answered my questions about where you got this guy's details from, etc.?

Waiting until the paint is completely dry to pull the tape off will potentially pull of some paint..

Your message is far too soft. You're livid. Stop being a wet lettuce.

You want the carpets professionally cleaned, him to pay out of his quote and pay him nothing until it is all rectified.

And don't say thanks. Why the hell would you?!

I would be furious about the paint marks on carpet. He has tried to get rid of them unsuccessfully.

Love the colour of your walls.

Op be firm on this. Do not pay a penny until the carpet is fixed. He should have covered the carpets. Lazy not to do so

Is he asking you to remove the tape in a couple of days? No. No. No. What happens if you remove it and it lifts the paint? This is all part of the job you agreed to pay for. You don't do some of the work.

I would reply:

"When I booked you to paint the rooms, I was expecting a professionally painted room. I am not willing to lift the tape as that is part of the job. You need remedy the damage to the carpets. You are welcome to arrange a professional carpet cleaner if you would like to, but unless the result is a stain free carpet, I will be expecting them to be replaced."

I agree with others and you should not pay his bill at all, even if he is knocking £200 off it now that won’t be enough if the carpets need replacing and you’ll be out of pocket.

I wouldn’t start asking what if the carpet cleaning cost is over £200 as that is only an issue for you if you pay him which you shouldn’t be doing until you are satisfied with all his work and cleaning up.

His offer of £200 off is irrelevant. Do not pay until he’s sorted out the issue. He thinks you will be happy with £200 off but he should be putting everything right and will need to arrange professional carpet cleaning at his expense and then replace them if it doesn’t work.

You should reword your message to say something like -

I will wait until the carpets are fully dry to see if the paint stains are still there. If they are then you will need to arrange professional cleaning and if that does not work they will need to be replaced. I will pay the remaining balance when this issue has been fully resolved.

also say that you expect the painting to be finished by him and he needs to return and remove the tape etc.