I'm writing because of an extremely poor experience we had with Restore-A-Deck. Although I've used Restore-A-Deck in previous years, and their service/work was good (not great, but good), this year's experience was terrible and alarming! First, the company representatives who contacted us to schedule the work were difficult to deal with (no flexibility at all). We went through numerous phone calls/dates before agreeing on when work could begin. Second, the power washing crew left residue all over the side of the house and on the windows (this happened in previous years, although we did not fuss about it until it happened again this year). They eventually cleaned the house and windows ... but not without an argument. Third, the staining crew arrived early one morning without notice, and asked if they could remove our outdoor furniture & potted plants/flowers so they could stain the deck (Our expectation was that they would notify us of the date they planned to stain so we could prepare .... it had been over two weeks since the power washing so we were using our deck until notified). We reluctantly allowed the workers to remove our furniture and plants. When we arrived home that evening, the potted plants had been left on plant stands sitting on uneven mulch in shrub beds around the deck. Many had fallen over resulting in broken plant branches and potting soil being spilled all over. It took us at least two hours to clean up their mess. Additionally, they trampled and broke shrubs around the deck, and there was stain spilled on numerous plants (despite their assurances that they would cover everything). I called Restore-A-Deck and Richard Pauley came to inspect. Rather than simply admitting to the carelessness and the plant damage, he quickly tried to rationalize the damage by stating that it's impossible not to have some stain spilled on vegetation or a few broken plants. He also stated that many of the damaged plants would "come back", and therefore it wasn't a big deal. He then referred me to language in his contract which states Restore-A-Deck is not responsible for any damage to vegetation around the deck. He went on to rationalize the carelessness and lack of communication from his scheduling people stating that working around weather was the main cause. We told him the carelessness of his crew wasn't acceptable and that we spent a few hours cleaning up their mess. We also expected a few pants to be replaced. After a lot of excuses and long conversation, he verbally agreed to a nominal reduction in his price in order to compensate for the damage, but wanted a receipt to validate our purchase. We subsequently purchased two new plants, deducted the cost from his invoice, and sent a check w/a copy of the receipt. He then showed up on our property one morning (unannounced) to view the damaged plants (weeks after the job). He phoned from our backyard and stated he would not cover the cost of the new plants... because the damaged plants were fine, and went on to reiterate the clause on the back of his contract that Restore-A-Deck was not responsible for any vegetation damage (this was after he had previously agreed to a nominal reimbursement of damage his employee's caused .... we had already spent money to replace/repair plants). I can't imagine sacrificing repeat business at revenue far exceeding what he agreed to have us spend (for damage his workers caused). He just lost thousands of dollars in future revenue over $48!! The bottom line:
A. Beware of the damage clause in Restore-A-Deck's contract re shrub/plant damage
B. Beware of any verbal commitments by Richard Pauley --- he will rationalize and twist a situation until he wears you out......and most importantly, his word is worthless! read more
