Very disappointing experience – I would not recommend Finness Flooring Specialists

I engaged Finness Flooring Specialists to sand and refinish the wooden floors in my home and paid R72,450 for the work.

The entire job was completed in approximately three days. Having never had wooden floors professionally restored before, I accepted that the work had been done correctly. When I subsequently noticed a number of badly finished areas, I contacted Shawn Wright and sent him photographs. He returned to work on these areas, but the improvement was limited and the marks remained clearly visible.

It was only later, during the sale of my home, that I discovered the extent of the problem. The purchasers commented that the floors did not appear to have been recently sanded and refinished and wanted them redone.

I therefore engaged another flooring contractor. Once they started properly sanding the floors, the difference was immediately apparent. After just the first full day of sanding, it was clear to me how much further the floors needed to be taken back before refinishing. Their complete restoration took approximately two weeks and cost R100,000.

In practical terms, the work I paid Finness Flooring R72,450 for had to be completely redone.

I contacted Shawn and gave him the opportunity to resolve the matter amicably. Despite believing that I had received very little lasting value from the original work, I offered a compromise whereby he would retain R20,000 and refund me R52,450.

Shawn rejected this and proposed a 50/50 split. Rather than continue negotiating backwards and forwards, I asked him to reconsider and come back to me with his best and final proposal.

On 17 August he told me to give him a few days and that he would get back to me ASAP. After receiving nothing, I followed up again on 8 September. He responded that he would “let you know soonest”. I subsequently gave him a final deadline to respond.

He has not responded at all.

I have deliberately waited before posting this review because I wanted to give Finness Flooring every reasonable opportunity to resolve the matter directly.

Unfortunately, based on both the quality of the work I received and the way my complaint has ultimately been handled, I cannot recommend Finness Flooring Specialists.

My advice to anyone considering having wooden floors restored would be to obtain several quotations, understand exactly how extensively the existing finish will be sanded back, establish how many days the work is expected to take, and agree in writing what standard of preparation and finish is included before proceeding.