Buyer Beware

We have been talking for a while about having the exterior of the house painted. Talking to Amy, our next door neighbor, she told me they were painting their house too, and at my request, gave me the card of the painter so he could give us an estimate. The estimate for her house was $2700.00.

Then the other day I got a call from a woman that said we had been referred by somebody in the neighborhood and they could come and give us an estimate. She said it was a company in La Mirada, called Family Builders, and we may have seen their trucks? So we  made an appointment for Wednesday.

He showed up and checked the house, and wrote stuff down, and asked exactly what we wanted...etc. He (Shawn) was very personable, spoke with an accent..Marvin asked him where he was from, he said..guess. Marvin said Middle East, I said Jordan? he said he was not a Muslim, Marvin guessed Israel, he said yes.

Anyway he kept on talking, getting personal asking how long we'd been married, showed us a picture of his son, said his wife was pregnant with a girl, etc. He also offered to bring some falafel and hummus next time (if we hired him/his company).

I asked him where was he located in La Mirada, he said the home office was in Riverside, and offices in Ontario, etc.  The company was called Dream Builders. And he started showing us papers of  insurance, California license, etc. I was annoyed because that didn't match what I was told on the phone.

Anyway since he was here I thought it wouldn't hurt to see his estimate. So he  wrote down everything they were going to do, like patch the cracks (he said quacks instead all the time and it made me giggle silently), sand blast, cover the windows, fix the wooden sills, etc. It would take about 10-12 days, with 5 or 6 men working!? I kept on asking what was the estimate. With much fanfare, he wrote down a number and showed it to us: 

                                   $ 16,950.00

Marvin and I were speechless. I said no way. That was way more than what we were planning on spending which was around $3000.00. He smirked and said theirs was quality work. I said well thanks for your time and got up. But he wouldn't take no for an answer. He made a big deal out of calling his boss, and gave us 20% off. He stayed almost an hour trying to get us to sign in. I already had made up my mind that the whole thing seemed like a scam so I kept on saying no, no way, goodbye.

Finally after much writing, calling his "boss" etc etc. He said he would do not only the exterior painting, but also stain the wooden posts in the patio, paint the ramp, put gutters, etc. etc. His lowest price then was $9750.00. Marvin perked up a little but I said NO right away. He wanted  me to talk to Marvin and told me he (Marvin) seemed happy with the price and I was denying him the happiness of having the house painted. WTF!

He went outside while Marvin and I talked. I didn't want to, but  it seemed the only way he would ever leave. Marvin was wavering a little but I said no way. I mean the last amount was almost half of the original amount and on top of it he was adding all that extra stuff. Really?

So I went outside and told him, sorry the answer is still no, he kept on trying, saying we could put  just $500.00 down and $50.00 a month for like 20 years. I said no again and again and I was getting extremely annoyed. So finally he left but was not happy at all.

So that's the story. By the way, there is such a company, I checked reviews in Yelp, and other people had bad experiences with them too. Some even said they preyed on seniors. Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffft!