College Works Painting

College Works Painting targets only young college students in an attempt to lure them into working unpaid labor. They visit lecture halls and promise significant income if you sign up. I recently concluded my experience with them, and I'll keep it brief.

Every weekend from February to May, I drove approximately 150 miles to my 'territory' and marketed for 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday (unpaid). I would have been terminated if I hadn't. During this time, I was urged to collect down payments on painting jobs by conducting estimates and signing contracts that were *supposedly going to get done around summer time (no commission for selling).

By May, approximately 75 percent of my colleagues had quit. I took on their work in addition to my own, and it was time to now gather more people to become my 'painters.' They then required us to take on debt between 1,500-2,500 dollars to afford our equipment, which we were obliged to transport hundreds of miles across states back to our territory. The equipment included 28ft ladders, sprayers etc.

I generated 50,000 dollars worth of gross income for them and received less than 10% of that. These individuals visit lecture halls and promise 15k or at least 6k if you complete the 'internship'. This is a lie. I received two paychecks over the 8 months I worked for them.

Do not be deceived. They might reply saying 'I lack ethics' or I am 'lazy'. I am an engineering student, near the top of my class, and not acquainted with laziness. Do not be deceived.

Do not use College Works Painting unless you want poor workmanship, poor customer service, and want to throw your money away. The representative that came to my door - that talked me into using the company - made promises of "we will make sure and do the job right," "I work hard and will make sure you are happy with the job," "we guarantee you will be happy; I promise you that." I believe he meant everything he said, but the company exploits these young people by making them believe they are going to make LOTS of money with this company for very little work.

These young people have no experience and think all they need to do is talk someone into using College Works Painting, spray a house in a day or two, and become rich. The young men who came to paint the house had NO experience (even though we were promised they would be experienced painters). They planned to spray the paint on the house without the promised prewashing and scraping. They showed up the first day ready to spray the paint and be done in 2 days.

The lead person promised they would be working with scaffolding and drop cloths. They had none of that. They had one ladder. My husband and provided the paint and looked forward to getting our house painted and helping out young college kids who were just trying to make some money over the summer.

We were told they had experience and would do a good job. Instead, we had to spend every day they worked overseeing the work, trying to get a semi-decent job. But the guys who came to work on the house would wipe off a few boards and then say, "we are going to spray now." When we explained that painting over a house with dirt on it would make the paint NOT stick, they acted like "what are you talking about??". I don't blame the young people doing the work, they were actually doing the best they could without training, experience and leadership (which we were promised they would have all of that).

The company from California - College Works Painting - exploits these young people and then makes the money off the work. When homeowners like me are unhappy with the work or have concerns, there is no local company or contact to help make things right because the only contact phone number is in California with someone who says, "I will have them call you back." - which never happens. If you choose to use this company, you might as well take a lighter and burn your money now. Hire a company with experience.

When I tried to reach out to the foreman who talked us into using College Works Painting, he said he no longer works for the company, and he didn't make any money for the 8 months he worked for them. He doesn't have anything nice to say about the company either. He was misled by College Works Painting. So, the money we paid ended up going to the company in California and we live in Kansas.

We now know we will have to hire an experienced painting company to repaint the house next year. Buyer beware.

I wish I had read a review like this before I chose to try this company. An expensive lesson learned on my part.

Our local representative was unprofessional at best, discriminatory at worst. Here are several examples:

1. He was three hours late to do our paint samples and did not update on his Estimated Time of Arrival until we called, after waiting an hour. He spent the entire visit complaining about his previous customers.

2. He asked, 'Do you want to keep the extra paint?' to which I responded, 'Yes' and held out my hand. However, he walked around me to hand the paint to my husband, who was several yards away, and never spoke directly to me during any of our interactions.

3. He was two hours late to the paint job. The painters arrived on time and had to sit and wait to begin.

4. He told us he would walk the property with us daily to ensure satisfaction, but he did not do this at any point.

5. When he finally decided to collect payment a full month later, he called us four times consecutively within ten minutes, not leaving a message at any point.

6. When he finally sent the payment information, he had our address wrong and wanted us to 'just pay for this other home,' which would make it appear as though our home was unpaid. We refused until he corrected the issue.

7. I spoke with the manager to request a refund and was told, 'We only refund for damage.' I provided pictures of the poor paint job that was done (the gutters, wires, porch, welcome mat, as well as the brick base of the home had splotches of paint everywhere), and he said, 'We can fix those issues,' but never scheduled anyone to actually fix it.

This entire process has been a nightmare from start to finish. The representative clearly discriminates against women and his manager refuses to make things right.

After advising a guy named Andres Garza that I wanted the exterior of my house painted with semi-gloss paint, they proceeded to paint it with flat paint and ended up having to redo it all. Most of it was redone.

However, when I raised my garage door to remove paint from my door seal, I noticed large sections that were still painted with flat paint. They returned once more to fix that issue. I was left to clean up paint splatter on my driveway which was five feet from the garage door. There was also paint on the shingles and windows.

I am now on my third can of Goof Off, a cleaning product, trying to clean up the mess these inexperienced workers left me with. The caulking work looks like it was done by a two-year-old. I regret paying them; I should have taken this matter to court.

I have photos to substantiate my complaints. Next time, I might as well hire kindergartners - they might do a better job.

I was hired on as a painter with College works, but was only allowed to work one day. Actually, it was only a 3-hour shift before the homeowner changed his mind and decided to have someone else do the work on his house.

At the end of my shift I was told that I'd done a good job for my first day and that they would be in touch with an address for the next project. after not hearing from them for a couple of days I sent a text inquiring about the next project and when it might be. I was ignored. So I texted again, asking when the next project would start, I was again ignored.

Then, I got a text from them asking me to fill out some paperwork that hadn't gone through that would allow them to pay me for the first job. It has been several weeks since I worked, but I finally received an email stating what my pay was for the first job. It said that I made $16 an hour and that I was getting paid for 3 hours of work. And that the total pay was $0.

They still will not answer my texts, nor will they answer my phone calls. A horrible and unprofessional way to run a business.

College Works painted our home. They provide a 5 year warranty.

The paint was chipping off within 5 years. They came back and repainted. The job was very sloppy and disappointing. The paint is again chipping off within 5 years and they will not stand by it.

It was a total waste of money. Don't use this company!

The contract stated that the painters would do the walls, trim, and doors as well as sparkling and sanding. My husband speckled and sanded and the door in the room was left unpainted.

In addition, he left a plastic bag of trash in the room and paint leaked onto the floor which I had to clean up.

In addition, the painter seems to pull final amount owed out of thin air. I do not recommend them and would caution anyone considering working with them that it is overpriced and the quality suffers.

The prep work was shoddy. Their carpenters let a ton of water into our house.

They left an entire side of our house exposed overnight and there was a huge rainstorm.

Lots of water in our house.

Prep work was for c***. The kids painting have zero clue.

Worst experience ever! They did not 2nd cost and called for in contract, they spilled a can of paint on my patio which stained it, they got paint on a lot of my furniture and other things in yard.

But the finale is they stood on my A/C unit and fell thru it and broke that too! They tried to clean 1 of the chairs with a power washer and tore the fabric. These are young untrained college students.

Do yourself a favor and hire a professional. My 67 year old husband spends everyday trying to fix their messes

extremely poor painting and lot of damage to property. it would have been better if i had done it myself

Jun 2019 - terrible service. They Do not know how to paint smooth.

They do not remove any cello tapes on the wall, instead paint on top of cello tapes. They do not remove old paint or even wipe any visible large dirt, instead just paint over it.

Any cracks in the wall are not sealed before painting, instead just paint over cracks and said they can only do painting and all these are not part of the contract. The price is $2000 more than average painters estimate

The student manager was personable and seemed sincere. The house itself was painted o.k.

However the fellow who did the trim work was sloppy. He did a crummy job. Detail work definitely is not his forte.

So it looks like we're going to be doing some retouching, painting areas that were missed, try to clean it up some. I definitely do not recommend College Works Painting.

They will tell you what you want to hear and then not be able to offer you what’s in the contract. They subcontract like others have said to one person with a bucket and brush who is in a real hurry.

They will splatter paint on your roof, brick, shingles and patio and not care.

Your house and garage will look like it was painted by toddlers. Basically you are the jerk for not loving their half-assed or maybe quarter-assed painted job that costs way too much for what the charge.