I had reached out to Landmark Services Group on Sunday, October 2, 2022, via their web form to discuss painting two sets of shutters at my home. I followed up via phone on October 3, 2022. I was told by one of the women in the office (her name started with a J) that I would be contacted the next day. I did not hear from anyone.
On Friday, October 7, 2022, I followed up via phone and spoke to Catherine Sostre. She saw that I had called in regarding my shutters but my job had not been assigned. Catherine apologized for the lack of contact. They had been busy. She sked if I had photos of the shutters. I told her I could email photographs. I did email the photographs the same day.
I followed up via email to Catherine on October 11, 2022, to see when someone would be coming out to my home to paint the shutters. A technician was sent to be sent to my home the next day. I did not think the technician had come to my home on the 12th so I sent an email to Catherine advising I would reach out to another handyman service. Catherine contacted me via email on the 12th and confirmed a technician had been to my home and took photos of the shutters. She attached the photographs the technician had taken of my shutters.
I received an estimate from Landmark via email on the 12th with a fob where I could select "approve estimate". I confirmed to Catherine via email on the 13th I received the estimate. I also selected "approve estimate" so that they could begin the work. An appointment was scheduled for Tuesday, October 18th. I advised Catherine I would not be at home but my mother would be there. I asked that the technician call my landline the morning of the 18th so that my mother would know when the technician was on their way.
The technician, Matt, arrived at my home around 8:30 a.m. EST. Around 8:44 a.m. my mother, Edith, called and left a message for me stating she needed me to call about the shutters. I was in Nashville, TN so the time was 7:44 a.m. CST. I returned the call not too long after and spoke to my mother and the technician.
I told Matt that I thought the technician that came out on the 12th would be the same one to paint the shutters. He apologized but said he could do the lower level shutters but not the top (upper) shutters. He did not have the proper equipment to do the upper shutters. He said he could come back on another day to do the upper shutters. He painted the lower shutters. We agreed I would reach out to Catherine as well to discuss. Due to the fact I was traveling I sent an email to Catherine before I got on the road. I told her in the mail I was traveling and may not check email for quite some time on the 18th. I also asked if I needed to hire someone else to do the top shutters.
Catherine responded and said I should hire someone else for the top shutters because it was too dangerous for their technician. I already knew from the technician, Matt, that he said he could do it. He never mentioned it was too dangerous to me or my mother. It was rather enlightening to see Catherine really did not want their company to paint my top shutters.
When I returned to the Charlotte area that evening I did respond to Catherine via email and relayed the conversation that my mother and I had with Matt, the Landmark technician. I went on to explain I reached out to another service given her email and they would do the top shutters. I also explained that I felt like I should only pay an hour if anything due to what had transpired. Catherine did not respond to the email the following day on Wednesday, October 19th. She also did not respond on Thursday, October 20th.
On Thursday, October 20th, in the evening, I sent Catherine an email with the pictures from Mr. Handyman showing the completed painting job to my top shutters along with the invoice from Mr. Handyman that was approximately $301.00. I told her in the email I felt their charges should be waived for the lower shutters since there was no indication that the job could not be completed by Landmark.
On Friday, October 21st, Landmark sent me an invoice via email for one hour of service which was over $146.00. I then received an email later in the morning directly from Catherine noting again that it was too dangerous so I had only been charged for one hour of paint time for the lower shutters.
I responded to her email on the 21st and told her that a job that should have been around $331.00 was now costing me almost $450.00. I also noted that nowhere did she ever say that the job was too dangerous. They had seen my home in advance. The technician, Matt, that did come out also did not say it was too dangerous. Matt said he could do the job. I told Catherine this again as well. I also let her know that I would pursue Landmark for the money they were now asking me to pay as well as the money I paid to Mr. Handyman. I gave her a deadline date and time to respond to me.
Catherine did respond via phone and left read more