Hi everyone,
You may recall that last summer we had our oak floors refinished by The Sandman (Jim Williamson).  In the process of moving furniture the workmen put all kinds of articles on our newly refinished mahogany diningroom table.  That resulted in a 6 inch gouge on top of the table.  Although Mr. Willimason stated he would submit to his insurance, he never did.  Instead we received a letter from a lawyer saying he would give us a minimal amount of money that in no way covered the cost of refinishing the table.  We had two people look at it and both said they would need to take the finish down all the way as the gouge was so deep.  We ended up hiring this person as he does work for the museum.  He did a fabulous job.

We had to take Mr. Williamson to a magistrate. He showed up with a lawyer.  We won the case at that level and Mr. W. appealed that.  Yesterday we went before an aribitration panel and learned today we won again, the full amount we paid to have table refinished.  Once again Mr. W. had his attorney present who gives new definition to the term obnoxious.

Mr. W. has 30 days to decide if he wants to appeal the arbitration hearing in which case it will go to a judge.  I think it is beyond reason at this point at the total amount was $800 which he could have submitted to insurance.

In this whole process we were told that a contractor who does more than $5,000 a year in business has to provide a written contract.  Mr. W. did not.

I am writing this in the event people are thinking of resanding their floors.

Marsha Aarons