To whom it may concern, Williams Painting was contracted to provide an epoxy basement floor ( 750 square foot ) for the members. When I met with them, I explained that there are several different types of epoxy floors. There are solid color epoxy floors, painted floors with an epoxy top coat, with or without aggregate, with or without paint flake, flake to rejection, which is multiple colors of paint flake blended and there is concrete staining with and epoxy top coat. The staining with the top coat is what they decided they wanted. I told them about a new method of blending two colors together to make a marbling effect. We would put down squiggly lines, all cut slightly different in length and slightly different thicknesses to looks more natural. We did use duct tape to put these lines down and then cut the design out of them. It is done this way because the base stain will not penetrate through the tape. After the base stain is applied the design strip are taken up and the marbling color is added to make the design. Since the base color runs up to the design color, they will blend at the edge causing a blend or mix of these colors at the edge of the design, or a feathering effect from one color into the next. The Base color was Potter’s wheel brown and the accent (marbling effect) color was Lido blue. This was the floor they decided on, and he commented as to how much he liked the idea because he thought the effect would have a coppery look. SHe did not seem to have a problem with the decision. After we had done this she was not sure she liked the way it looked and asked us if it could be changed. She wanted the blue taken out and re-stained with the Potter’s wheel brown. I told her it was no problem and removed the blue stain and re-stained the spots brown again. After doing this I was asked to stain it again because it wasn’t dark enough, so I re-stained it again at which time they seemed happy with the results. After the staining was completed, the floor was mopped using two different mops, both new. I have receipts for the mops. I mopped the floors 4 times changing the water at least 4 times each mopping. This took at least 6 hours in total and the last mopping yielded clean water. There was no residue left on the floor. The floor was then left to dry. They claim was a that I used straight muriatic acid creating a huge acid cloud that took 24hours to finally clear out, this is preposterous. Firstly the use of muriatic acid for epoxy floors is normal. This acid is diluted 4 to 1 for acid etching the floor. It does put off a slight chemical smoking effect, but not to the degree they are claiming. We had the basement windows open and a fan venting it out it, and it was not the huge cloud they are making it out to be. Also, this was explained to them before we even started the job, and I asked them to stay out of the basement while we were working on it. This was not an issue when we were, and was not even mentioned as such by them until they wanted their money back. I have used muriatic on every concrete floor I have done in the past 3 years. It is commonly used for acid etching concrete floors, and this is the first time anyone has ever complained. I would think if it was as bad as she claimed it was, it would have overwhelmed me and my workers, and that did not happen. Once the staining was completed, I mixed the epoxy and applied it the same way that I have done on 40 other floors prior to their floor. I know it was mixed properly because none of those floors failed after they were all laid out. There were some bubbles and she did ask me about that. I told her that I had only had one floor in the past that had that happen on, and I would check with Epoxy Coat Company to see what I could do to fix the problem. On the last floor that had bubbles, I tore it out and replaced it and didn’t just try to fix the bubbles. She took it upon herself to call the Epoxy Company to find out what could be done to fix the bubbles. They told her you can use a leaf blower to blow the bubbles out while the floor was still wet. I told her this method would create an even bigger mess in her case, due to the fact the leaf blower runs air out at about 90mph and would circulate a lot of dust from the clothes dryer and rafters that would settle in the finish and make the floor worse. The actual fix would be to wait until the epoxy dried and lightly sand the bubbles smooth and re apply a thin coat over the floor and this would take care of the problem. Epoxy Coat gave her this as a solution as well, and she admits this in an email that was she sent me. We would have gladly taken care of it at no additional cost to them and I told them so in an email as well. The real problem that we were not aware of at the time, was that Epoxy Coat company, the company that I have been buying the epoxy through for nearly 3 years now, had recently changed hardener in their product and did not tell me this when I ordered the epoxy, nor did they change it in their literature for their instructions The literature states the floor can be walked on in 18 hours and heavy traffic in 24 hours but this batch did not harden. I understand the frustration they have and I am just as frustrated with how things have turned out. I was more than willing to completely re-do the floor to correct the problem. I conveyed this along with a sincere apology to them and told them I would do this at no additional charge to them. We have a contract that states I will give them a beautiful epoxy floor and due to a product failure which truly is not my fault, I should be able by law to fix the problem. Christine at Epoxy coat told me they were switching back to their old hardener, I was not the only one having problems with this hardener. She told me that one of their main customers who orders from them all the time, told them he would stop buying their product if they didn’t go back to the old hardener. Mike Quinn, a management tech at Epoxy Coat told me they were currently using both hardeners because some of the contractors didn’t like the longer cure time. He apologized for the miscommunication as far as no one telling me about the change in the hardener when it was ordered. I told him that that did not make up for the bad floor we currently have with their job. His solution was to give me $1800.00 off on future purchases of epoxy. If the Epoxy Coat wasn’t culpable with the hardening issue, they wouldn’t be offering an $1800.00 settlement for future purchases when I only spent $519.00 on epoxy for this job. Clearly this is an admission of problems with the hardener. As far as trying to work this out with them is concerned, I feel that they are not only being unreasonable, but they are trying to make me out to be dishonest as well as slandering both my name and reputation. The first email they sent me is condescending in nature as well as threatening, telling me they want their money back and If I did not pay them within 5 days they would be turning me into the B.B.B. as well as my B.N.I. group. Twice in their email they mention there is a way the floor could be fixed, but they also said they were exploring other flooring options. I responded to that email in a non –threatening, polite manner and apologized for the problem again. I told them I would have no problems fixing the floor at no additional cost to them, and would have gladly done so. However, there is nothing in our contract that states if they decided to switch to another type of floor covering, without allowing me to fix the floor that I will give them their money back. I will be happy to provide the email correspondence as proof. The second email from them was even more condescending than the first. They say I was messy and ruined some bedding and stained up their sink. This is not true, either the photos of the sink was taken in between when we dumped the stain and cleaning it, or they dirtied up the sink then took the photo to try and make us look bad. I’m not sure, but I assure you I would not have left the sink in that condition. We pride ourselves on our professionalism, and our customers will attest to the fact that we are very clean when we work. I can tell you the sink had rust spots between the porcelain and the metal cabinet that you can clearly see in the photos, as well as around the metal logo on it. There is also an accusation that I got epoxy on the handles of the sink that didn’t happen either. Another lie is that I left an epoxy foot print on the side of the floor that we were not working on. I wear spiked shoe platforms that strap onto my shoes and only the tips touch the floor. In addition, we had a 4 foot wide double sheeted 6mill plastic apron running the full length on the floor we were working on. Everytime I stepped off the epoxy it was onto the plastic where the platforms were taken off before I would step off the plastic. So, if there is an epoxy foot print it did not come from me. Period. I have had to explain everything about this floor now for the third time. First to the leadership of my B.N.I. (Business Network International) group, who firmly and fully stand behind me, as I have done nothing wrong and who know I stand behind my work. Second, to the Better Business Bureau who has found no impropriety on my part. And now to complaint to Angie’s. I feel that, if they would have afforded me the respect of just allowing me to correct the problems instead of just assuming I didn’t know what I was doing, I could have redone the floor and they would have been happy. I believe she simply changed her mind and wanted to switch to carpet and wanted her money back regardless of what I could do to correct the floor and regardless of our contract. This, in my opinion is why they grossly exaggerated some things and outright lied about others. At one point I almost did pay them their money back. I wrote up a legal disclaimer to have them sign. I spoke with him to set up a time to meet them at their home to sign the agreement. It was scheduled for 7:00pm on 2/7/2012. I had to wait 2 and a half hours after my shop closed just to go to their home, a half hour drive in the opposite direction of my home to meet them and give them the check. He set the time at his convenience. I showed up and he was not there. He told me he would not be there for at least another half hour. I asked if I could come in and take some photos of the floor while I had to wait. She told me she was not comfortable with me being there with him not there. I took this as an insult since I had spent 5 days working on their floor with him not there. Just the day before (when he was not there) she had sent me an email saying that I could come over with the check if she could sign it by herself and she was fine with that. How am I supposed to make a case against Epoxy Coat to recover my losses after paying them if I can’t take photos? Are they hiding something? What is she afraid of I have never been mean or inappropriate to her, and she treats me like a common thug. That to me may as well been a slap in the face. I left without making a scene and now it will be up to the court system to decide what happens. I feel I have done nothing wrong and bent over backward to try and fix the problems. For the record they are only people I have ever had a problem with that did not end with a satisfied customer. One more puzzling question remains. If I was so messy and woefully inept not knowing how to do the job I was there to do, then why when finished (prior to knowing the floor was not going to harden) did she pay me the final payment without complaint????