Response from CertaPro Painters® of Spokane
I am very sorry for the accident that happened years back at this estimate and feel genuinely sorry for the member. This is a story of a simple un-intended accident that has turned into mischaracterization and misrepresentation of the facts, all that could have simply been avoided. As we all have experienced in life with in any public forum misinformation can paint a picture that is not always accurate or as it actually occurred and unfortunately this is the case in this example. Hopefully, the plethora of excellent comments and postings from our customers will paint the true picture of who we are and what we do. However, I will explain the unfortunate accident and paint “no pun intended” a more accurate picture of what happened on this summer afternoon. Some years back I did give an estimate for painting the exterior of this home. Normally, we park in the street during an estimate, but this home is in the country and their driveway is very long, hundreds of feet off the road so anyone visiting needs to drive up the driveway to the front of house. The area the homeowner is referring to as a sports court appears to anybody visiting to be a small additional parking spot to the right of the garage. PLEASE NOTE, it is sealed with the SAME blacktop as the entire driveway. In no way shape or form is this a true sports court with the special material used on a sports court. The area being referred to as a sports court was not marked off or blocked but is a perfect extension of the long blacktop driveway. When I pulled in the long driveway I drove to the front and then turned around to face the other way to drive out straight. Unfortunately, it turned out that sometime that week before I came for the estimate, the homeowner must have resealed and spread new black top on this area. Again, it was not blocked off and was not a true sports court but part of the driveway appearing as additional parking, so I nor anyone would have had any idea this was recently sealed. We drive to ~5 homes a day for estimates and back in and turn around constantly in these types of long driveways. In this case I honestly had no idea this was recently sealed because it wasn’t distinguishable from the rest of the driveway apart from it being slightly set off to the right. To an unsuspecting visitor it could have been a spot to park a boat, 5th wheel, additional space to shoot hoops, or additional parking as I thought. I did personally apologize to the homeowner and felt bad for the tire tracks. Her characterization that anyone would have known this was a sports court that no vehicle could drive on is just not intellectually honest or fair. Had the blacktop been fully cured another day any vehicle could have driven on it because it’s just blacktop like their entire driveway is. Or had it been blocked off or marked it wouldn’t have appeared as a parking spot. This was a very simple accident that anyone pulling in could have made. We try to be very respectful of people’s property and as she actually made note of that while I was waiting for her to arrive I walked around and turned off a running hose. It is interesting that we were also rated a C for punctuality and responsivness given I was waiting for her and walked around before anyone came home. Those ratings have no bearing on true punctuality and responsiveness. I do understand how they are upset because it must have taken a few hour to do this work. I conclude by stating again I’m very sorry and would ask that the rest of my posts speak for themselves regarding our professionalism.