Customer says the dirty floor looked better than the clean floor?

[boho44]

In a rather odd term of events, I have a client who is holding back payment because he thinks his floor looked better dirty than cleaned.

It was a relatively simple job. Limestone floor to be cleaned, resurfaced to a matte finish and seal. There were marble mosaic inlay that I also did the same process to but he is upset with the mosaic outcome. Loves the rest of the floor but claims I ruined his beautiful mosaic and is holding back pay till I fix it? I am not sure what to do here, thinking of just walking away. Some people will never be happy.

 

[wandwizard]

You customer is a cheap skate who is trying to deceive you into getting a free job. That is exactly what I think. He is claiming fault that does not exist except in his head. It is clear as a bell that the cleaned mosiaic looks a 100 times better and you did absolutely nothing wrong. I think your customer is trying to get over on you and I would not be a bit surprised if he doesn't have a history of doing it to other services when he can get away with it. You have nothing to fix. From the looks of it the job was done right and he just doesn't want to pay for it. He's being a total jerk. He should pay for the job.

 

[Mass-Steamer]

We do a lot of tile and grout cleaning and have similar results with stone.
IMO, you client became used to the look of the dirty.
Explain to him you've lifted embedded grime that probably included grout from the installation.
I'm happy to share of a few of our photos that show a similar significant color variation after cleaning.
Time for your client to pay up for a job well done.
Don't walk.

 

[JWB]

Try a color enhancer on the mosaic, or rub some dirt on it…

 

[wandwizard]

Try a color enhancer on the mosaic, or rub some dirt on it…

I say let him wait another 10 or 20 years to clean it and it will magically return to normal.

 

[rob allen]

Try a color enhancer on the mosaic, or rub some dirt on it…

Little color enhancer is a good idea. However they seem unreasonable and in this case waking maybe the best option.

 

[Joe cool]

A lot of detail jumped out after cleaning , tell the client to go get there glasses