We planned on staining our fence and our newly installed deck. We had used Renew Crew in the past…read moreand thought we would give them another shot, primarily because I liked Wayne. The prior last stain only lasted about a year and began peeling after about 6 months because an acrylic based transparent was used instead of an oil-based semi-transparent. This was about 9 years ago.
I will say Wayne, one of the owner's, arrived on time for the quote, and was super friendly as always, but I soon realized why the prior deck stain had peel so quickly. They used a transparent stain on a 20 something old deck when an oil-based semi-transparent should have been used. In addition, the deck gets direct sunlight most of the day, and the last time they stained it was mid-morning to early afternoon. So the acrylic dried too quickly which caused it to peel. When I inquired about semi-transparent options, Wayne stated they only use transparent. As said before, transparent is totally inappropriate for older fences and decks.
We had already received several other quotes, and the pricing for Renew Crew was totally out of the ballpark. Plus, we had no intention on using them again if the staining process was not going to change.
In addition, they listed out on the invoice that they charge a fee for credit cards. Charging any type of fee for credit cards in the state of Kansas is illegal. Refer to 2012 Kansas Legislature statute 16a-2-403.
When I brought it to their attention, Wayne's business partner repeatedly argued with me by text message, saying they are allowed to charge if despite referring him to the legislation. He believed because the state can charge it on transactions that they can as well. The state can charge it for different reasons listed in this article: https://www.kwch.com/content/news/FF12-Kansas-law-allows-government-to-charge-fee-for-creditdebit-cards-not-private-businesses-568260951.html. After bantering back and forth, he finally stated they would look into it. I advised him they need to proactively fix the problem, refunding the fee to all of their customers.
I didn't plan on writing an online review and calling them out on it, because I thought they would likely proactively fix the problem after it was brought to their attention. I have since decided otherwise, because I think their customers need to know that they shouldn't be charging a fee; customers need to proactively make sure the fee is refunded.
If they have not refunded fees to customers or continue to charge one, the customer has the right to dispute the fee with their credit card provider.