I contacted Mr. Sandless to do a makeover on my 35 year old oak floors. There was wear on the floors and some marks here and there and I was prepared to have them redone to reduce the discolouration and give them a nice finish.By looking at their before and afters and after speaking with the owner, I thought that I would have an acceptable finish - particularly as I do use area rugs and runners in the home.
They told me that they could effectively clean and darken my floor so that the scuffs would not be as noticeable and as there would be a nice gloss finish - it would look nice.
They showed up to my home. The owner had her 8 month old baby in her arms and had to leave to pick up her snuggler as she had to carry her baby during the process (???).. They cleaned my floors and proceeded to finish my floors. I wasn't at home at the time and left them with my husband. My husband called me at work to say that the job was almost complete and that it look pretty good (mind you he didn't have his glasses on). The owner asked if he wanted to "darken" the floor anymore. Not familiar with Mr. Sandless procedures he said sure. They called me and asked and I said I would defer to their professional opinion (not a good idea to non professionals).
I came home to see huge dark swirl marks all over the dining room floor. The owner took colourant from the bucket on rags and applying it like she was washing the floor. She wasn't going with the grain of the wood and their was dark walnut streaks everywhere.in the living room one half of the room looked visibly darker than the other - when I mentioned it - she took rags and started swirling colourant on that area as well - again making large dark patches on the floor. There was streaking everywhere and the seams where the floor and walls meet was visibly lighter as they couldn't effectively take the stain to the wall and so you see a blonde margin all around the foot of the stair and most walls. It looked bad so it was agreed they would come back to try and fix the situation.
Not knowing these people and we had given them a cheque for full payment, my husband put a stop payment on the cheque and phoned them and told them what he did. We wanted to ensure that they would return and complete the floor.
During subsequent calls to reschedule she stated "you asked for us to darken it and we can't get a perfect job on an old floor - you had previous stains (we had signed a waiver to that regard).
As the hall was the only fairly acceptable area that was done (even though it had pale margins at the stairs) she wanted to come back and do two rooms over and leave the hall. I had said that I wanted them to strip and redo the whole thing as I doubted that they could match up the areas and we would have very visible differece from the hall and the living and dining area. She then said "well this is what we have to offer... Do you want us to come back?" I have my house upside down and my floors are a mess. I didn't feel comfortable with the tone of her comments.
We made arrangement for my children to go to the inlaws the next evening and they were to return to fix the situation.
I left a letter stating that the marks on my floors were not a result of the condition of the wood but from POOR colour selection and poor application. As professionals they should have known that adding that dark of colourant on the floors would make a mess. I told them that their waiver does not cover those instances and they should redo the whole job.
They came the next day at 2pm and left the premises a few hours later. They stripped the living room down to the bare wood but this time there was dark almost black streaks on the wood from their previous job. They split stain remover on the hall (the only reasonable area) so their was large blond spots on the hall and made a mess in the family room trying to lift the colour in one area and then left it.
She then called me and told me that they had stopped the job saying she felt uncomfortable doing it as I wasn't going to pay them (we had already confirmed that we would do as soon as we saw our floors repaired), that they were going to redo the whole area but after reading my letter and they decided not to (nonsence as the letter was placed right at the entrance of the house - why did they come in a make a mess of they floors even worse and then leave)
She then said if I gave them $700 cash they would return and finish the job... I said I would give a deposit BUT not that much as after seeing their mess for a second time really didn't believe that they had the experience to complete the job in a close to passable state. I called another Mr Sandless to see if anyone with more experience could come and do the job and to stated my concerns.
She left a message 7am the next morning stating that they would not return because we didn't want to pay them & as we didn't lose any money we should go our separate ways and be done with it!
- Honestly it was surreal. I have never dealt with people less professional in my life! Of course we would pay - but if a job is done properly. They have made such a mess that even sanding is going to be a nightmare! They have 5 coats of muck on the floor that we now have to lift - prior to their arrival sanding would have been easy.
They walked from the job because they knew that they couldn't fix it and took every excuse in the book to do so. No other Mr Sandless will touch it basically for the same reason - not that I would want them to.
I have 3 children and had arranged for them to be a camp the week we were going to have our floors done. Now to arrange with another company will take a couple of weeks and we have most of our furniture in the garage!!! I have photos of the nasty job they did - what a mess.
NEVER USE MR SANDLESS - they sell francises to people who aren't from the industry and their finishing techniques are a joke.
Cate
Mississasuga, Ontario
Canada
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