In April 2015, we contacted John Finn to refinish the oak floors in our West Loop condo. We were moving into the unit in 3 weeks and the estimated time to complete the job was 4-5 days, so we had plenty of time. However, he kept pushing the start day back and finally stopped responding. With a little over a week before move-in, I texted saying unless there is already stain down at this point, we should probably postpone. John responded that they started that morning. I later came to find out [due to multiple confrontations between John and my neighbors/HOA] that they started sanding LATE THAT EVENING.
John met me at the condo on move-in day. The work was incomplete. John was apologetic and pointed out all the problematic areas; however, ensured me they could all be fixed once we settled in. He blamed the poor quality on the timeline and said he did the best he could with the timeline.
After settling in, I sent John an email outlining what the scope/expectations were for his follow-up. While I was on vacation, John arranged for his subcontractor to come back. When I returned, none of the work had been done.
John's subcontractor returned a second time while we were home to supervise. The touch-ups looked worse than before and he was unable to address any of our large concerns. The sub agreed that the more he tried to patch just specific areas, the worst they were becoming. HE EVEN LEFT US SAND PAPER AND STAIN TO DO IT OURSELVES! After we shared our complete dissatisfaction with the sub, he said he felt guilty and confessed that he wasn't even responsible for the damage, and that he TOOK THE PROJECT AS A SALVAGE OPERATION to fix the damage done by a previous company John had hired (John would disclosure a name of who he initially hired so that we could verify they were even licensed). The Sub went as far to say that it was the worst job he'd ever seen, DOUBTED THEY WERE EVEN PROFESSIONALS, and that he would have never accepted our job had John not been dangling the opportunity of a larger job in front of him. The Sub implied that he was bailing John out on other jobs gone wrong at the time as well. A BBB search confirmed that we are not the only outstanding claim against John at the time.
John NEVER informed us that there even was a first company or that he fired them mid-project after they applied stain to improperly sanded floors. When we confronted John, he said it "happens all the time" and that he didn't think it was necessary to tell us. John obviously called the Sub to see what he disclosed. Shortly after, and the Sub called and retracted everything he had told us earlier that day and returned to John's original alibi!
Damage included:
* Deep orbital burn marks throughout every room in the home.
* Areas throughout that were never fine-sanded and rough to the touch.
* Stain painted onto every baseboard throughout the house.
* Stain on the kitchen island side panels and toe kicks.
* Stain drips that were not wiped up, and sealed over.
* 3+ inches of unfinished flooring around the kitchen appliances and 1/2 the kitchen cabinets.
* Corners in both bedrooms and both closets that were never sanded or stained.
* Handprints of stain on the bedroom and front door walls.
* He diluted the color we picked because "that's what his other clients were liking recently". The Sub also eluded to the fact that the stain and sealant may have been mixed together and applied in one application to save time.
* Stain used as paint to disguise areas that they were not refinished.
* 6+ inches of the old flooring was unfinished when the front door was opened.
* All areas that have been retouched were never sealed.
Even though John had never even been to the condo to see the floors first-hand after the "final touch-up", he stood behind the quality of his work. He claims that the orbital burn marks, discoloration and rough patches are from the original flooring job in 2000 (not his two companies that sanded and stained), and that they are just more noticeable now due to the darker stain color.
To avoid filling a suit, and out of respect for the mutual friend that referred us to John, we simply asked John to refund the 75% we had already paid. John was hostile and said we weren't allowing him to finish and that he would not be refunding our money. Instead, he wanted to send a third company! Due to the continued poor quality and carelessness of his work, we declined and obtained a 2nd and 3rd opinion. With 100% confidence, both ensured us that the damages was a result of the most recent flooring job and could not be original from 2000, as John claimed. It cost us another $4,000+ to fix his work. The hostile email and texts from John continued for the entire summer. We eventually filed a suit in small claims court. They tried to serve him multiple times at his Manhattan "office", but he was never there. We eventually gave up and had to eat that expense as well. Terrible experience all around! read more
