Reno Moreno

On 4/30/18, I received a quote/bid from Reno Moreno (who goes by the name Renee) to prime, caulk and paint BY HAND a screened-in porch and prime and paint BY HAND a small portion of an interior wall in my living room. This quote/bid was for $2,700. I met with Mr. Moreno on or about 5/18/18, to go over the quote line by line. He quickly agreed to reduce his total quote/bid to $2,200 (representing an 18.5% reduction). It appears to be of benefit not to accept the first quote from this individual. I decided not to paint two walls on the porch and do no caulking and he agreed to do the remaining work for $1,700. He said he would start no later than Thursday, 5/24/18. He called the day before work was to begin and said he would start on Monday, 5/28/18 (Memorial Day). NONE of those start days proved to be true. He called on Sunday, 5/27/18, the day before his “second” start date and said he could not start until Tuesday, 5/29/18, as the paint would cost him double the price he was promised if he purchased it that day or the next. I seriously doubt that to be true. I believe the national paint store involved generally backs its contractor quotes so this excuse seemed to make no sense. I can only assume that he had another one day job to do, in which he would make more money than he was making on my job. Possibly this continual change of start dates should have made me suspicious enough to cancel the work but I did not. Mr. Moreno said the work was to be done over a 2 & ½ to 3 day period. He finally began work on Tuesday and worked for less than 2 days. Instead of painting BY HAND as promised, most of the work was done by roller. I was expecting to pay $1,700 for at least 2 & ½ days of work. I feel that I was therefore shortchanged on the amount of work for the amount I paid and that the work would have been more thorough had it been done BY HAND as promised. During the work, he or his father tracked mud/dirt through my kitchen and hall. After I pointed out this was happening, he said he would put down paper on my floor. He only put it in the kitchen but not the hall or living room. He had previously told me that he would put a protective barrier on the floor but he apparently forgot or intentionally broke that promise. In addition, while I stressed to him to be extremely careful moving a ladder from my porch through my house, he was not at all careful. He chipped a piece of door trim while carrying the ladder through it. I believe he thought I had not noticed his mistake so he said nothing about it. I had to point it out to him. In addition, while I stressed that all priming and painting was to be done BY HAND, I caught him spraying primer on my living room wall without protecting the furniture, oriental rugs, flooring, paintings, piano and antique wall clocks. I made him stop as soon as I noticed the smell invading my hallway from the living room and reminded him all work was to be done BY HAND. In addition, while placing a ladder against the living room wall, he knocked a large pendulum off one of the antique clocks. Again I believe he thought I had not heard this and tried to avoid addressing the issue until I brought it up to him. He must have noticed he damaged the pendulum as he did not hand it to me to inspect but asked where he should put it. After he left, I discovered the damage which will likely have to be repaired by a metalsmith. I intend to ask Mr. Moreno to reimburse me for this damage but since he will not even furnish me an invoice or receipt, I think he will ignore my request for reimbursement. I then intend take additional steps to be fairly reimbursed for the damage he caused. I believe this man intentionally gives out as little information about himself as possible as he never gave me a business card, does not have a website and only puts his name with no address or phone number on his emails. I do wonder why he appears to be trying so hard to “fly under the radar” so to speak. I should be able to track him down since I have the license plate numbers on both of his vehicles (along with photos of them) and believe the police can help me find this individual should I need his address for any reason. Also during the work, Mr. Moreno allowed his father to stand on the absolute top of an a-frame ladder to paint part of the ceiling. I consider this extremely dangerous as all of the ladders I have purchased come with warnings never to do that. After he declared that the work was complete, my wife and I had him correct some deficiencies and he surprisingly did so. Upon paying him, I asked for either an invoice marked paid or a receipt and he promised to email it to me that night (5/30/18). When it did not arrive, I emailed him 3 times asking that he send it and received NO RESPONSE to any of my emails. I also texted him, reminding him to send it. Apparently after this individual has been paid, he feels he can break his promises and treat his customers disrespectfully. Since Mr. Moreno was not truthful several times, since he caused damage while working in my home, since he failed to produce an invoice (marked paid) or a receipt for his work and since he did not work for the full period he said he would, I should have not paid him in full. I should have prorated the amount based on the amount of time worked versus promised, should have paid him nothing until he produced an invoice (marked paid) or a receipt for the work and should have reduced the amount paid him for the damage he caused. Should one decide for some reason to deal at all with this individual, I suggest you (a) watch him like a hawk, (b) get everything in writing including a certificate of insurance to insure he can pay for any damage he causes and certify that he carries workers comp insurance as well as liability insurance, (c) not pay him until he has provided you a proper invoice/receipt, (d) not accept his first bid (recognizing he reduced my first bid by over 18% prior to the reduction for a change in the scope of the work), (e) ask for at least 3 references commending his work, which he may not be able to obtain, (f) take pictures of everything as the work progresses, especially including any damage he causes and (g) ask for some type of identification, including his drivers license, business address, phone number, his email address and his business card. Based on my experience with this individual, I would NEVER consider doing business with him again and would certainly never refer any of my friends or family to him.