They finished painting in 2 weeks. I saw my unfinished house. I was impressed with the paint job…read more(specifically some of the fine lines they painted and caulking), but some things were missed and both estimator and I agreed it was very unfinished.
I was out of town 1 week, during which, 5-Star had full access (with key and garage door opener) to my house and my permission to enter without me there. For that time and the next ~3 weeks, they canceled on me 6 times and nothing was done. I had to reschedule once by 12 hours b/c project took so long and to complications with roommates (near end of this timeframe)
Next, I get the rudest phone call I have ever received from a company. The call was the estimator and they start pressing me for payment because it has been so long and they haven't received the second half of the payment despite the work being incomplete(contract stated 50% upfront, 50% after completion). After about 20 minutes of trying to work it out with this guy and have a reasonable conversation, I could tell he wasn't listening to a word I was saying. My girlfriend overhead a fraction of the conversation and said "Wow, I would never talk to a customer that way" and then proceeded to apologize for the next hour because she "Didn't realize I was going through things like that."
Eventually got in contact with Craig (edit: he's ex-owner and very recently started handing things off to a new owner) and dealt with him over another week or two when things got done. Craig was nice, but I guess I never was in contact with the owner, which I specifically requested to talk to. I guess that just shows readers how disorganized this whole thing was.
As far as the 'free work' goes, during painting house curtains were taken down, doors were taken down, painted, then put back up. After put back up 2 closet doors and 1 room door no longer shut. I texted short questions like (paraphrase) "hey I noticed, these doors don't shut, also curtains still down, also tops of door trim not painted, will you fix?", got super rude phone call above. Very next conversation (first convo with Craig), I said I honestly wasn't sure and DID NOT ASK THEM TO FIX THESE ISSUES. I DID NOT EVEN ARGUE THESE ISSUES. I did have them fix 1 door (to the room) because I was confident that issue was new
Most of the rest of 5-Star's response is inaccurate. Both invoice and estimate are short (looking at it now) Invoice is 1 item. Estimate has 2 items caulking and paint, but specifically mentions an exclusions (non of which are issues with this paint job. caulking is separate line item). The overwhelming majority of items were overspray, missed or thin paint, paint trash, or things not being re-installed at all (there's even photos that prove 5-star took these things down or were the cause). So debatably, I got 1 'free' door adjustment. Everything else is well within what most people would consider a reasonable thing to ask to get rectified