It disappoints me greatly to write this poor review of Jake Mayfield and Clear Choice. In providing…read morepersonal services, things can always go wrong. To me, that doesn't mean a provider isn't an honest and quality professional. The real test comes in seeing how a business person responds to a problem. Unfortunately, Jake's response to my problem was to flat-out blow me off, and never acknowledge my two requests for help.
I hired Jake to pressure wash my outdoor wooden furniture and a great deal of rock - stone patios, porches, and countertops; pavers; pool coping; plus benches, a driveway and a front walk, all of concrete. It took him roughly 7 to 8 hours including a short break. From what I could see, he worked hard. When I paid him at the end, everything looked clean, though nothing had dried fully.
I paid Jake $715 for the 7 to 8 hours. It was what we'd agreed upon and I was OK with it. It was a pretty good return for his time, with his hard costs limited to some cleaning chemicals and gas for the pressure washer (plus, depreciation of his washer). I liked Jake and we talked about the possibility of him providing an estimate for cleaning my home's many windows and glass doors.
After everything dried, I noticed white splotches on my stone patio. I'm assuming it was the anti-mildew chemical Jake added to the water. There was no particular pattern - streaks and spots, some large, spread randomly across the surface. I no longer had dirty stone. Now, I had a new and unsightly problem. The affected area is a minority of the overall job, but is nonetheless a large, visually prominent, and heavily used patio, forming a centerpiece of my backyard. In addition to being present on the stone, this residue formed heavy deposits on the soil adjacent to the patio. I guess the water that ran into the soil carried this stuff with it. The water drained into the soil and the muck stayed on top.
I tried to blast the stuff off the stone with my garden hose. That didn't work. I then got down on the ground and scrubbed it with a metal brush. That worked some of it loose, though it was going to be a grueling job. I figured if I did that I could hose it into the soil and then skim it off the top of the dirt, tossing it out as trash. But I wasn't looking forward to this and I'd just paid Jake $715 to clean my stone.
So I emailed Jake a deliberately friendly note telling him we had a problem. I didn't get angry but merely described the situation, attached two pictures, and closed with these words - "Any thoughts?" I figured the nice, attentive guy I had met would step up and finish his job.
No such luck. Needless to say, Jake had been very responsive in selling the job. But now, nothing. Three days after my email I texted the same message to Jake. I wanted to use each of the two communication platforms we'd used previously because messages sometimes go awry. But, still nothing. It's now eight days since I first wrote Jake and I've had no response.
The failure to stand behind one's work - the lack of responsibility for problems you cause - is inexcusable and disheartening. So instead of getting my window cleaning work and future referrals, Jake gets this well-deserved negative review. What a foolish choice he's made. Jake cleans things, that's it, and when nothing goes wrong I'm sure he can work hard and perform. But if you use him, you'd better hope nothing goes wrong. If it does, my experience reveals that you get screwed by a guy who's not really quite as nice as he seems and certainly not a professional. Buyer beware.
