The Bathtub Man

I am the General Manager of a hotel here in Columbus, GA....and due to the age of the property, I decided to put a plan of action together to help "brighten" up our bathrooms in August of 2008. We decided to look at a Bathtub renovation company, and called The Bathtub Man. Floyd Thomas stopped by the hotel the same week I spoke with him, and he said he could take care of any refinishing needs we may have. He told me he would refinish a tub in one of my guest rooms, at no charge, so we could see the quality of his workmanship. His workmanship was pretty good...however spraying the re-finishing product over old damaged caulking was not the renovation solution I was looking for. I spoke with Mr. Floyd Thomas, as he stopped by the property about a month later, to tell him My Regional Vice President (My Boss) did not get approval for capital money necessary to renovate our bathtubs. This was the last I heard from Mr. Thomas until I was doing my weekly grocery shopping November 15th 2008 at the Supermarket, when I "bumped into him" and he said that I owed him for the "FREE WORK HE PERFORMED in August." I was in a slight rush at that moment, gave him my business card and asked him to stop by the hotel anytime during normal business hours and we would discuss payment arrangements. He stopped by on 11/18/08 with an invoice in the amount of $350.00. Mr. Floyd's body language and tone of voice was unprofessional, and I figured if I submit his invoice for $350.00, and pay him I could wash my hands of the whole situation. I explained to him we pay invoices on a net 30 basis....meaning he submits an invoice on 11/18/08...he would have payment within 30 days. When speaking with our accounts payable department, the check was mailed on 12/12/08. I was out of town the week of 12/17/08 thru 12/21/08, and Mr. Floyd Thomas stopped by on 12/18/08 wanting to speak with me, and my two front office employees informed him that I was not in, and he left. My front desk clerk stated Mr. Floyd Thomas's wife called the next day 12/19/08, speaking with my front desk clerk, demanding she speak to my boss because we made him wait at the hotel for 3 hours and I never showed up, and how we had basically mistreated Mr. Floyd Thomas. The whole situation was very strange, and I feel that it is necessary that Mr. and Mrs. Thomas's business practices should be communicated out there somewhere since there are only 2 bathtub re-finishing companies to choose from in the Yellow Pages of the local phone book. I hope this information is useful to someone in Columbus, Georgia wondering who they should hire to refinish their bathtub. I feel as if I was "taken for a ride," and things could have gone really bad if I had decided to not pay Mr. Thomas for the free example of his workmanship.