Left me with thousands of dollars of damage, would not restore my home to its original state despite promising to "make it right," and accused me!
First Due helped me with a large move into a new construction home and came highly recommended. The crew was hardworking and friendly. As they finished, I pointed out numerous grooves, indentations, and marks on all of the walls in my stairwells (which were not there previously - the home was in pristine condition as it was new). They said I should call my homeowners insurance. I also noticed several items that were broken, including a precious family item that has been in the family for generations and moved many times (even globally) without incident.
I called First Due's office to follow up and see if I should go through my insurance and they said absolutely not and that they couldn't believe their team told me that - they said we will take care of it and make it right. They sent someone from their office to fix the damage (not a professional painter). As I showed him my home, he was very disappointed by the amount of damage and said he would talk to the crew because they should have been more careful and that this was unacceptable. I showed him where the paint containers were that the builder left behind and said I didn't know which one was for the walls. He looked carefully and chose the paint that he said matched the walls and began touch ups. I never instructed him to use this particular paint because again, I did not know which one to use. A few days later I asked him if it was still drying as the touch ups were darker than the rest of the walls. He later realized he accidentally used satin paint rather than flat paint, which is why it was darker and didn't match. The container he chose was labeled "satin" but he missed it when he chose the paint. He apologized and promised to make it right. He came back and used the flat paint, and told me the satin paint would act like a great primer. A few weeks later, I reached out as the paint still did not match the walls. Now all of my stairwells looked even worse than before due to huge areas of mismatched paint, on 11 different walls.
Then Kristie at the office reached out to me and told me not to contact him again. She told me that it was my fault as I provided the wrong paint to him (untrue). She said he went above and beyond and fixed the issue (again, untrue). In fact, they made it worse. I brought this up and she said it would've been fixed if I didn't hand him the wrong paint and essentially, everything was my fault. She was extremely rude and I could not believe the accusatory emails I was reading. Who treats a paying customer this way, especially after causing that much damage to their new home? Again, I told her I never handed him the specific can of paint and said "use this one here" She said that I did. I sent photos to show how bad it looked. It did not matter. She also said I asked him to repair other areas of the house - another blatant lie. Kristie said they were not responsible and everything that was left was my fault due to MY mistake. The only mistake I made was hiring them!
They never sent out a professional painter which should have been the first step. Their employee chose the paint labeled "satin," not flat - yet somehow that is my fault? Not only that, but due to the unprofessional paint job (nothing was wrapped) I now have paint splatter on my railings and floor, which were not there previously. My 5 flights of stairs look horrendous and are a massive eyesore due to all of the mismatched paint. Multiple people have seen the walls throughout my house and said "wow, what happened?" The damage is absolutely devastating and extremely noticeable. It really ruined the excitement of moving into a new home. I had a professional painter come out and was quoted just over $2k to fix the damage that First Due caused. A customer should not be left with $2k in damages due to a company's errors (this does not even include the broken items either). I was extremely insulted by how Kristie spoke to me, accusing me repeatedly and not following through with First Due's promise.
TLDR: First Due caused significant damage to my home, promised to make it right, made it look even worse, accused me instead of taking responsibility for something that was their fault, lied, and said they fixed the problem when they did not. They left me with thousands of dollars worth of damage (to the walls, railings, and floors), broke multiple items during the move, and would not restore my home to its original state after repeatedly promising to make it right. I will never, ever recommend them to anyone and deeply regret hiring them. I see the damage all over my home every single day and it's upsetting. Absolutely horrible experience and the most appalling customer service ever. read more