Customers fight back after bathroom reno ‘nightmare’

Several people throughout the GTA claim a company advertising bathtub and tile reglazing services has left them with more of a mess, both in their bathrooms and financially.

One man, who says the company won’t respond to his messages, has been working overtime to get justice.

Jesus Fajardo recently moved into his Mississauga condo a few months ago and has been hiring contractors to update everything from the floors to the windows. He also wanted to freshen up his bathroom and came across an ad on social media for bathtub and tile reglazing. It’s a multi-step process which typically involves applying a special chemical to tubs and tiles.

“We were told this company would be using a very specific application to give it a fresh new look,” said Fajardo.

A worker showed up and finished in a few hours. Fajardo was told to not enter the bathroom for 24 hours. “They said it needed to be cured during that time,” Fajardo continued.

When Fajardo finally entered the bathroom, he wasn’t happy with the results.

“Unfortunately, they used paint. A good paint for walls but not the application they were selling.”

After paying the company $3,000, Fajardo shared pictures of the aftermath.

“It’s a mess, there was a lot of paint on the floor, it was dripping from the wall.”

Fajardo contacted the company asking them to come and correct it. At first, they responded saying a worker would return to his home to fix it.

“They scheduled a date and time but never showed up,” Fajardo said.

That was nearly two months ago. Since then, he’s been trying to get in touch with someone from the company. Fajardo shared with CityNews multiple logs of messages he sent.

“More than 20 phone calls, several text messages and nothing. They will not respond,” Fajardo continued.

Fajardo even hired a lawyer — who sent the company a letter — but Fajardo says he still hasn’t heard back. He then went to Peel police to file a criminal complaint but was told it was not a criminal matter.

Frustrated, he began investigating the company called Shiny Bathtubs and Tile Refinishing. There is no website, only a Facebook page that advertises reglazing services.

“They kept posting these ads and I would see these angry face emojis on their posts,” Fajardo said. “So I began contacting the people who reacted negatively to their posts.”

That’s when Fajardo found out he wasn’t alone.

“They told me it was the same modus operandi. I have a list of people from here in Mississauga, Toronto and Woodbridge,” he said.

Customers of the company are all sharing similar stories of sub-par work.

“It’s like they destroyed my property,” said Yelena Sobolevskaya, who lives in St. Catherines and also hired Shiny Bathtubs and Tile Refinishing.

Like Fajardo, she too came across their ads on social media and paid the company $400 as her project was not as involved.

“The finished product is crap, it was just paint they used and it spilled everywhere,” she said.

She also tried contacting the company but has not yet heard back.

Through their own investigation, Fajardo and Sobolevskaya also came across negative Google reviews posted about a separate company, not affiliated with Shiny Bathtubs and Tile Refinishing, with a similar name.

“People thought it was the same company, but it wasn’t,” Fajardo said.

That company, called Shiny Tubs, is no longer in business said the owner who did not want to be named told CityNews.

“I ended that a while ago,” he told CityNews by phone. “All my reviews, while in business were great and then I recently started to get messages of bad reviews.”

He responded to those customers by saying they have the wrong business.

“It was crazy, I’m not even doing that kind of work anymore,” he said.

“People are really angry,” Fajardo said. “We want answers.”

So much so, Fajardo asked a friend to contact the company and pose as a customer.

“They responded right away and a worker showed up at my friend’s house,” Fajardo said.

The friend then used his cell phone video camera to capture the worker, demanding answers. The worker had none to give, saying that he doesn’t own the company.

“He just kept passing the blame,” Fajardo said.

Police don’t recommend others in similar situations to follow Fajardo’s encounter, but he says he was just desperate for answers. While he didn’t get them, he claims he was threatened by a worker from the company when he threatened to go to police and the media.

“They told me, ‘Okay I know where you live, if you involve the police, if you involve the news, I know where you live.’”

Peel police confirmed they are investigating the threat after Fajardo filed a report.

“If a customer pays for a job and the contractor does not finish the job or does the job badly, the customer has the right to sue the company civilly. It is not a criminal matter,” said a police spokesperson.

Civil court is not out of the question for Fajardo and Sobolevskaya. They, along with a list of other people, are out not only the money they paid the company, but the cost of fixing what they call major mistakes.

“We have to pay another contractor to come in and not just start over, but correct what’s been done,” Fajardo said.

CityNews tried multiple ways of reaching out to the company, both through phone calls and text messages, but failed to get a response.

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