Are Products and Services Really what they are Advertised to be.

Lets start with a simple project like getting the exterior of the house painted. Should be simple, you get estimates, you choose what you feel is the best value for you money, they come to do the work, you pay them and everyone is happy or not.
It all started in August of 2007. The exterior of the house needed to be painted. My husband and I thought about it, talked about it but never did anything about it. Well here comes a knock on the door it's a young girl (lets call her Jessica) she wants to know if she can give us a free estimate on painting the house. Of course we said yes. Jessica gave us an estimate that we thought was pretty high however her presentation was very good. After getting more estimates we decided Jessica's estimate was high but her presentation and passion were so good we would go with her company College Works.
Now for all of you who have never heard of College Works it is a company that hires college kids across the U.S. to run the company and paint house during the summer only. (I didn't know that until it was too late).
Jessica sent a crew out to paint the house it took a little over a week. As soon as they were done Jessica came to do a walk around and collect the check. I was a little disapointed because they did not use drop clothes like they said they were going to and there was paint all over the rocks, garbage cans, patio cement and soft water container but you know what that's just how things go. So we did the walk around and Jessica got her check.
The next moring I got up and went outside to look at the house much to my dismay I noticed with the sun not shining on the house the old color paint on the house was showing through. I did not realize the extent of the problem until later. Anyway I called Jessica and she said that my house had been here last and she did not work for College Works anymore, however she would try to get another crew to come and fix the problem. A couple days later Jessica called and said her and her boyfriend were going to come to fix the problem. Jessica and her boyfriend did come and spent about 3 hours doing touch up, when they left they gave me a 1/2pint size bottle of paint with a spayer in it and said if I saw anything else to fix it myself. Like an idiot I said OK. In November I decided to get up on the ladder and paint the trim on the house. Much to my horror up on the ladder I saw that the whole top of the house was missing paint, the old color was showing through everywhere. I immediately called College Works main office and they directed my call to the Vice President of the Phoenix Area (lets call her Jane ). Jane called me and said she would come to inspect. Jane came and concluded there was a problem then explained to me they were seasonal workers and it was not the right season. Jane said she would see what she could do about getting someone there. I didn't hear from Jane again for a long time so I called the main office again. They got in touch with Jane and she called to say someone would be calling me in December. A gentleman called (lets call him David) and said he would come on Dec. 26th to inspect the house. David came and confirmed there was a problem. David ask to take my can of paint so he could go to the paint store and match it up. I gave David the paint and never saw David or the paint again. In February when I was sure David was never coming back I again begain the process of calling Jane - no return calls, calling main office - they would call Jane and she would call me back. Jane called and I explained my concern about waiting until summer to have the house fixed. I live in Arizona and the sun is brutle, to wait almost a year before fixing would mean the house would fade and the paint would not match. Jane assured me if that was the case the entire house would be repainted. Jane said she would try to get someone to come in February it did not happen. I made more calls to Jane more calls to the main office. Jane called back and said it would happen in March it did not happen. More calls to Jane, more calls to the main office. Jane called back and said without fail it would happen in April it did not. I am really loosing my temper now and starting to make treats of attorney. More calls to Jane, more calls to main office. Jane calls back and says she has assigned a gentleman to the project (lets call him Alex) Alex will contact me and start the project. Alex called and we scheduled a time in May to do the work. Alex said he would need one full day to complete the project. Alex came and spent the entire day however that was not enough time. Alex said he had other projects but would call the following week and schedule and time to finish. I said OK. In the days following I noticed that everywhere Alex had touched up there were spots and streaks. mmmmmmmmmh what did I say eairler about fading. Ok I figure when Alex calls me back I will tell him about the problem. Alex called back to follow up but said he was very busy and could not come that week but would call when his schedule slowed down. Alex never called me. I called Alex and he said he had forgotten about me but would come for sure the following week. Alex never came. Ok now I am really mad. I call Jane and she does not return my calls, what a surprise since she had never in the past. I called the main office and threated to slam them all over the internet if I did not get results. No results. I then started doing research on the company and found another web site that voiced very bad customer service on the behalf of College Works. I emailed the gentleman and ask if I could post as well he said yes and also gave me the telephone number of the CEO of College Works. Wow!! I spoke with the CEO of College works and he seems embarased and was very appoligetic. He told me the problem would be taken care of. Jane called shortly after that . Jane assured me Alex would be at my house to finish the project on Monday and they would do an entire repaint of the house. Jane also assured me I would have no more problems.
Alex came late on Monday morning. Alex masked and taped off the front of the house, windows and front door. Jane came around noon and left about 1:00pm. Alex left shortly thereafter. Alex showed up a couple hours a day on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday he proceed to paint the garage doors with a messed up spray tip. Needless to say the garage doors looked like a blobbed mess. Alex tried to scrap the paint off but it just made it worse. Alex assured me he would take care of the problem. On Thursday Alex's helper came to tape off the rest of the house. He told me Alex would be there first thing Friday morning and finish the job. Alex was a no show. Alex called in the afternoon and said he was sorry he didn't make it but would be there for sure first thing on Saturday morning. Alex was a no show. Alex called Saturday evening to say he could not make it and would be there for sure Sunday morning. Do I have to tell you Alex was a no show, I'm sure by now you probably already guessed that. By noon I was boiling I called Alex however his phone said it would did not accept incoming calls. I then called Jane, told her about the terrible service and the mess with the garage doors. She was horrified, embarased and very appoloigetic. Jane said she would have a new crew at the house is a couple hours. Two new painters (lets call them Josh and Jason) came a couple hours later. Josh and Jason said they could start the project on Tuesday and it would take a couple days. Josh and Jason came on Tuesday as they said they would and finished the project in a couple days. By now Jane is calling me everyday to make sure things are going ok. Josh and Jason determined the garage doors were beyond repair so Jane said she would replace the doors. Jane contacted serveral garage door companies and got estimates. Jane made sure I was comfortable with the company she chose and the garage doors were replaced by College Works.
Jane came to do a final walk around on the house. There were still a few problems and she offered to have the painters come back as welll as fix other items herself. I elected to finish the rest myself however provided Jane with pictures so she could teach what not to do in training. Jane again seemed embarassed and was very appologetic.
In the end I am now satisfied with the paint job I got on the house.
My point in all this jiberous is if you want and pay for a professional job be smart enough to hire professional people and for heaven sake make sure you hire someone who is not only muti-seasonal but is based locally out of your area!