Wilson Painting and Contracting

DO NOT hire this painter, even if you are limited on options! We hired Phil Wilson to paint several rooms in our brand new home back in late March. He started the project 2 days late. He originally quoted it to be a 2 day project and it turned into a 4 day project. I met him at the house to review the work and to pay him at the end. I noticed paint shavings all over the tile surrounding the walls. He and his helper cleaned it up when asked. His helper at the time was painting the stairwell leading to the upstairs as I was inspecting the downstairs. Everything else looked fine at the time. I paid him. As his helper was finishing up the stairwell, he removed the covering and I noticed there was blue paint on several spots on the carpet. Phil already left to go cash the check. I stayed at the house until he returned and showed him. He said he would get goo gone and that should take it off. He applied the goo gone and it did not take it off. Later on that evening, my wife went to the house and noticed there was blue paint on our brand new tan couch. The nearest wall that had blue paint was 18 feet away. Later on Phil said that the house was supposed to be empty. This couch was sitting in the middle of the room. A professional painter of 35 years cannot navigate around a couch in the middle of a big room? After a few days of going back and forth he said that his friend owns a carpet business and he will have him come out and replace the carpet at his expense and he will pay for the cleaning of the couch. I called out Stanley Steamer and they were not able to get the paint out of the couch. Luckily they did not charge me for that as Phil stopped answering my phone calls after Stanley Steamer came out. In one of our phone calls after the project was completed, he advised me that he would have a quick resolution on the issues. About 2 weeks later, I receive a letter stating that he is going to issue me a refund for the costs of the labor within the next 45 days. After patiently waiting for 45 days, I did not receive my refund. I tried calling him several times and he blocked my number on his cell phone and would not answer or return any of my calls or messages. I had to call the St Cloud Chamber of Commerce and asked them to call him on my behalf and he picked up immediately and informed them that he will not answer any of my calls. I then got a letter in the mail 2 days later advising me that I would get the refund by June 30th. It was roughly 2 weeks away. I did not receive the refund by June 30th. I called him and he did not answer. My sister got through to his wife that evening and she sternly told her to stop calling and harassing them and that they would call the cops. All we wanted was the money that was rightfully ours. 10 days later, we get a letter in the mail from him again with a money order for less than half the amount. He said that he will send the rest of the money shortly. We then corresponded through email over the course of the next 2 months and he kept saying that he would issue the remaining part of the refund soon. His last email communication was in mid-September and he did not specify a date. In mid-October, I had to hire a lawyer to try to get a hold of him. I tried cashing the first money order at my bank on Nov 2nd only to find out that he did not properly sign the check. He wrote "1/2 refund" on the signature line. He finally sent the remaining payment on 11/03. I found the letter with the money order for the remaining part of the refund minus $50 which he said was for "handling, processing, paperwork, estimate and contract packages etc and my time spent handling this..." He also said it was standard procedure. When we first hired him, there was no mention of any of these charges. I cashed the first money order at Amscot after explaining to them the situation. It took 7 months for this to be resolved. DO NOT HIRE HIM! Spend your money elsewhere! He is beyond unprofessional.