Which of the following did the caller have decorated? [br] [originaltext]M: Hel

M: Hello, this is Mr. Montgomery speaking. I specialize in litigation. I understand you have a problem with a builder. Could you tell me about it?
S: Yes, I hope you can help me. I’ve had my living room decorated, and the painter has made rather a mess of it really. And I don’ t quite know what I should do now. I don’ t know whether to pay him or not.
M: Did he give you a quote?
S: Yes, yes he did. He gave me a quote before he started the work.
M: How much was it for?
S: He said it would be about 500 pounds.
M: Well did he say exactly 500 pounds, or round about 500 pounds, or 500 pounds plus VAT?
S: Er... it was, I think it was 505 pounds plus VAT?
M: What did you instruct him to do?
S: To paint the living room walls, and the ceiling, and to paint the sort of paint-work as well, you know the skirting boards and things like that.
M: And what’s the problem?
S: Well, he’ s made an awful mess of it really. I mean, he had to paint the walls yellow, but he’ s managed to paint them two different shades of yellow, really, so when you walk it, it looks as if one wall is a different color from the other one. He didn’ t mix it well enough so they don’ t match very well. That’ s one thing. Um, and another thing is that the line where the walls meet the ceiling isn’ t straight. So sometimes, the paint goes over onto the ceiling and sometimes it doesn’ t. It looks terrible.
M: So you’ re unhappy with it?
S: I’ m unhappy with it, yes, and he also kept spilling paint all over the carpet because he didn’ t have enough sheets to put down on the floor. So it’ s made rather a mess of the carpet and I don’ t know if I can get that cleaned or not.
M: Have you spoken to him about this?
S: Yes.
M: And what’ s he said?
S: He doesn’ t seem to think there’ s anything wrong with it. He seems to think I’ m being very fussy.
M: Right. Well, your position is this: you are in the strongest position because he wants your money, and you haven’t paid him anything yet. My advice to you is not to pay him anything, to tell him that you’ve taken advice and that you require the walls to be done again in the shade that you want it to be done, that you require him to clean the carpets and that you require him to repaint the ceiling and the wall where they meet such that the line becomes a straight line and not a wavy line. Uh, he may or may not decide to do that. If he says, " No, I’ve done a good job" , then if he’ s in your house and you’ re worried about him being there, I suggest you ask for his invoice. And then, when his invoice comes, you can write to him and you can tell him that you’ re not happy with it, and you’ re not going to pay him.
S: So you don’t think I should pay him anything, then?
M: I don’ t think you should pay him anything because he hasn’ t done what you asked him to do, and he therefore appears to be in breach of contract. But not only that, he appears to have damaged your carpet and you may have to pay somebody to have that carpet cleaned. Of course another possibility is that you could just negotiate a reduction. Get him off your hands and with the difference, employ somebody else to put it right and somebody else to clean the carpet. But you’ d obviously have to have somebody to come in to give you an estimate prior to your negotiations with that builder to agree on a reduction.
S: Right. OK, thank you very much.