Richmond Decorating Center

Point of contact in Newport News, Warren, is awesome! Installer subcontractors were also very good. Demo guys from Richmond and corporate in Richmond is beyond terrible! Warren, the point of contact in Newport News, was communicative and friendly. He seemed to be very ethical and committed to going above and beyond regarding our particular issue. Backstory: Our builder used Richmond Decorating to install Shaw engineered hardwood in our home. The floor turned out to be defective and Shaw kindly decided to foot the bill for a demo and new install. We are very grateful to them. Our issue with Richmond Decorating started on day one of the demo of the old/defective floor. Three men from the Richmond (corporate) office came in and removed the floor and then brought out the machine that would remove the adhesive. The machine was broken. So they worked for maybe an hour a half and that's it. They didn't speak English so communication was difficult. They left, without saying a word or gesturing in any form...also leaving one of their poor men behind to deal with us & hand scrape the glue. Hand scraping/sanding was completely ineffective because his hand sander was useless because he ran out of sanding discs for it after maybe an hour max. The other guys were gone for 4 and a half hours allegedly to Lowe's (1 mile from our house), came back, cleaned up their mess and left. We later found out they had actually gone back to Richmond. No progress in the scraping, whatsoever. An entire day wasted. Day two: they arrive late at 11:00 with a new machine. They break it out and it doesn't work either. So they load it in their van and repeat the previous day's actions...leaving behind one person and staying gone for 5 hours this time. They said they went to Home Depot to rent a machine. Home Depot is 3 miles from my house so I'm not sure what took 5 hours. I wish I was exaggerating with these times but I honestly am not. It was so unprofessional and unacceptable. It was just befuddling. All of our complaints to management were received with an I'm sorry or I don't know what to say. No offers of compensation for the time wasted, work missed, kids' activities canceled, etc...Owner's son in Richmond (Mr. Coates) made excuses and spoke very loudly over me, determined to get the last word. He adamantly claimed he had no hesitations in using the same crew again & again, and that he cannot fire everyone that makes mistakes. I get that. I'm not tyrannical or caustic. But this was beyond a simple mistake. He also blamed the adhesive for being the problem. The owner's blasé attitude was annoying and frustrating. Our experience was plain and simple a horrible representation of this business. The impression left us disillusioned and helpless feeling. I'd like to note again that the Newport News based subcontractors did a really stellar job but realistically, I would think twice about using them again. Bottom line: Richmond-based corporate office is unyielding, argumentative, and makes questionable and unethical labor decisions. We just felt like our time was not valued in any sense and that Shaw was being taken advantage of on this particular job.

Very professional. Salesmen did not try to push me to spend outside of my budget. Helped me to choose the best flooring in my budget and recommended I keep the carpet pad I already had to save money. Installers were trustworthy. I was able to leave them alone in my home unsupervised. Punctual and finished work on time. Final price was within estimate.