New details emerge about bathroom reglazing company accused of cheating customers across the GTA

A bathtub and tile reglazing company that CityNews has been reporting on for several months is still in business and the list of customers complaining grows longer and longer each week.

One woman went to extraordinary lengths to get the business shut down but was left frustrated by the process.

“I’m at a stalemate and I did everything by the book,” said Mary Fielder who lives in Bowmanville.

It was last spring Fielder came across an ad for “Shiny Bathtubs and Tiles Refinishing” while scrolling through social media.

“My bathtub needed a fresh look and this place had great user reviews on Facebook, so I called.”

She got in touch with a woman named Anzhelika Venzel, who scheduled an appointment, showed up and began the process. Fielder paid her $395 through an e-transfer.

“She was in and out in 45 minutes, which I thought was pretty quick for a reglazing project.”

Days later, she said her bathtub was a disaster.

“There was paint peeling, it was dripping down the drain. This was not a reglazing project, she used paint on my tub.”

A proper tub or tile reglazing project uses products made of polyurethane and the process, when done properly, can take several hours.

“When I complained, Venzel didn’t answer my calls or messages,” Fielder said. “When I finally got a hold of her, she said she would come back to fix it but that never happened.”

Fielder was forced to rip out her tub and replace it.

“That cost me an additional amount of money I wasn’t expecting to pay.”

Fielder joins a growing list of customers who hired Venzel and had similar results. CityNews has shared other stories from customers who, like Fielder, had to rip out their tubs or tiles because the paint ruined their bathrooms.

As CityNews has previously reported, other customers filed police reports just as Fielder did.

“But I was told because this is a contractor dispute, it was not a police matter. They wouldn’t investigate,” she said.

Police told her to take Venzel to Small Claims Court, so she did.

“I did it all on my own. I filed, got the order and tried to serve her myself.”

Fielder found Venzel’s address and waited outside for her to come home.

“She did come home eventually but as soon I got out of my car to serve her, she ran inside. So I waited for her to come back out.”

She says she waited for hours in her car, parked on the street outside Venzel’s home.

“At one point she sent out her young son to ask me when I was going to be leaving. He was a nice kid but I said ‘I am here to give your mom something.'”

Venzel ran off again after a second attempt.

After waiting for nearly 12 hours, Fielder called local police to witness her delivering the court papers, which was enough to prove delivery.

When it came time for the hearing, Venzel was a no-show.

“So the judge went on with the case and ruled in my favour.”

Fielder was asking for $1,500, to cover what she paid Venzel and the amount it cost her to fix the mistakes.

The judge went even further, awarding Fielder $2,500.

“He said due to the efforts I went through to bring this case to light, I was entitled to an additional $1,000.”

But collecting it was another story.

“The judge said it was up to me to determine her assets.”

Thus began a long and frustrating process of filing papers to get that information. She was able to determine Venzel’s only assets were two vehicles in her name, one of which already had a lien against it.

“I went back to the court and started to file a writ of seizure and sale. So that’s where you get permission for the courts to take the vehicle, put it in storage, then hire an auctioneer.”

But she was told in order to do that, Fielder would have to pay $5,000 up front.

“That pays for tow, storage and the auction,” Fielder explained. “I’m not going to pay $5,000 to get back the $2,500 I was awarded. It wouldn’t make sense.”

She could also hire a collections agency but they take a cut of the money.

“At this point, I just told myself it’s not worth it.”

Venzel still in business as more complaints come in

CityNews first told you about Venzel’s business last August. Since then, we’ve been hearing from a growing list of new people who hired her, claim their bathtubs or tiles were ruined and say she stopped responding to their calls or messages.

In November, we tracked down Venzel but when confronted with the allegations, she took off refusing to answer our questions.

Shortly after each of our reports on her business was aired, Venzel changed the business name. She does not have a website and uses only social media to advertise. Her business is still actively seeking customers and now goes by the name “Like New Tub and Tiles Refinishing.”

CityNews also tracked down a paint store where she has a business account. We spoke with an employee, who asked not to be identified, but said Venzel comes in often and buys only paint for trims and doors. The employee said they have told her multiple times this is not what should be used for bathtub or tile reglazing.

“We can’t not sell her the product, all we can do is tell her this isn’t the right stuff,” an employee told us.

Customers joining forces to spread the word

Fielder, who is still frustrated that the efforts she took produced no results, is now working overtime to warn others about this business. She’s communicating with a list of other scorned customers to spread the word. They’ve created social media pages in the hopes of getting the word out.

“Because at this point that’s all we can do,” she said. “I’ve tried to go the legal route but that did nothing. Police won’t help us, small claims court awarded me money I can’t collect, so it’s really up to us to share our experiences.”

If you have an issue, story or question you’d like us to look into, reach out to us here.