Eastern Refinishing
Reviews and Complaints

Eastern Refinishing has officially now earned "F" status on BBB, due to their plumet. Unfortunately, BBB was the only way I could go about requesting a refund because Tom, Nick Eeichenlaub, and Charlie Gayler (if he is still the owner) are all ignoring calls at this point. Nick is the only person to have texted back, but said he no longer works with the company and stated that they are likely avoiding me (I saved all of our texts). He also allowed my CashApp request for a refund, to expire. I told them via text and voicemail that I am happy to take that refund via CashApp from Nick, if they just want to reimburse him. My hope is that they take the high road, but very doubtful. I am left with cracks and dips in my bathtub and will have to spend more on redoing the entire job. This began in August of 2020 and has yet to be resolved. I just want my money back. I have proof of communication (up to September of this year/2022-- my recent texts with Nick), scheduling promises, and the full debit from my bank account.

I have recently seen that they moved to New Jersey, but now have an address in Ontario, Canada, as well. All of this seems absurdly slimy. Again, I simply want my money back and to be able to move on.

I do not recommend Eastern Refinishing because they won’t honor their warranty or do a quality job. The specifics are below.

Eastern Refinishing refinished two tubs for me a year apart (2020 and 2021). Nick, the guy who performed the work, had to return twice for each tub for issues like coarse finish, sagging paint, and peeling – that’s three visits per tub. Currently, one tub is peeling and the other has slight rust showing through after only one month’s use, which Tom Cavileer, who runs the operation, originally assured me wouldn’t be a problem. Nick was a nice guy, and I was patient and forgiving with all the return visits, including not being able to use my tubs and cleaning the dust from his sanding off of everything including the walls. I had even given Eastern a good review and recommended them to neighbors. An appointment was made for Nick to return and fix the peeling and rust spots for the fourth time. Nick didn’t show, call, or answer my calls or texts. Tom didn’t return calls either but when I did reach him, he said he hadn’t heard from Nick either, and would get back to me, which he didn’t. After more unanswered calls to Tom, when he did pick up three weeks later, he said Nick had quit without telling anyone. Tom and I had a friendly conversation where he said he had to hire and train someone, which would take a month or so. Tom told me to check back in a couple of weeks and that the warranty would be honored. As of today, it’s been five additional weeks and I’ve left NINE friendly and respectful voicemails but no answer and no return call from Tom. I can only assume Eastern has reneged on their warranty and their claim to a good product. I realize now I should not have hired Eastern because although Nick was local, Eastern and Tom weren’t, making it easy for Eastern/Tom to not honor the warranty or be obligated to do a good job.

The company Eastern Refinishing Inc. used poor materials and my tube started to fall apart. I contacted them yesterday and the agent said they would send someone from the repair department. The guy came and checked the tube, but he refused to repair and said that I wasn’t careful and it was only my fault. The representative said that they provide 3 years warranty and they would repair everything, but now they rejected their own words.

Installer forgot that there was supposed to be a non slip mat installed under the refinish after putting on an initial coat so he put the mat down and sprayed another coat. Things worked fine for 4 years 7 months and then started peeling around side of mat on bottom. Then it got worse and mat peeled off. Charlie said he wanted to see pictures before talking about scheduling work. After sending him pictures he said "1. The tub has been destroyed due to; I don't know what. 2. This kind of damage is NOT covered.
3. The tub will probably need to be stripped.
4. You are looking at about $200 to strip and redo it."
I called SOMEONE ELSE to do redo that tub and another tub that needed work. They are all about same price and offer 5 year warranty.

I hired Eastern Refinishing inc to refinish my old bath tub in April of 2009. The contractor gave me 5 years warranty and toward the end of 2013 the bath tub started to peel ( still under 5 year warranty). I called the guy who did the work many times and he never returned my call. Then I called their so call head quarter in Ontario Canada and spoke to Charlie. What a terrible Experience! He said that you did not take care of it properly and of other B Sh*********. He said you have to give me half of the money for us to come back and fix the problem! I agreed and after several more phone calls and No Shows, finally they send a guy out and he said that the other guy no longer works with the company and did a terrible job and I will fix it right. Just 2 months after that the tub started to peel again and I called the guy back. He finally came over after several phone calls and said that he needs to talk to Charlie again before doing the job. He called him about the problem and apparently he said to charge the customer again! So what good is this warranty if I have to pay for it? STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! Terrible Service, Poor quality and unacceptable so called customer service. !

I am writing this review as I am a firm believer that consumers have the right to make informed decisions. In my opinion, I wish I had read the reviews of Eastern Refinishing prior to making the bad decision to contract them to refinish my bathroom.

I initially contacted Eastern back in mid May of 2013 to refinish my tub, wall tiles, and floor tiles in my bathroom. I was given a date of May 30th for the job to be done. On May 29th I was called by the company and told that my appointment would need to be cancelled as their contractor who worked in my region had fallen ill and was in the hospital. I was very understanding. I was told that I would be called back to reschedule the appointment. As I did not hear back from the company, I called them back in mid June to reschedule the appointment for July 2. On June 22 I emailed to confirm the July appointment only to be told by the owner, Charlie that my appointment was cancelled because his manager was ill. I again emailed him to request a reschedule date and his response was that he would call me when they had hired a new manager to do the work. On July 2nd, I received a call from one of Eastern’s contractors to say that he was 45 minutes away from my house. I explained my confusion and that I had been told by Charlie that my appointment had been cancelled. I told the contractor that since I had been told the appointment was cancelled I was not ready to have the work done that day as the toilet and vanity needed to be removed prior to painting. I then called Charlie to inform him of what happened and in a not so friendly tone he told me that of course his contractor was on his way, I had an appointment. It was not until I pointed out that he had emailed me cancelling the appointment that he apologized and rescheduled me for July 5th.

On Friday, July 5th the contractor arrived to my house and completed the work. I was told not to enter the bathroom for 24 hours after the work had been done. To be on the safe side I did not enter that bathroom until Monday morning (62 hours later), when I was expecting the plumber to come out and reinstall my toilet and vanity. Prior to the plumber arriving I entered the bathroom to find footprints all over the bathroom floor. Not only were there footprints but it looked as if after the contractor had stepped on the floor and attempted to fix the job only to mush the paint into clumps. I immediately called Eastern refinishing at 8am that Monday July 8th and spoke directly with Charlie, the owner, about the floor. Charlie was very personable and told me that he was sorry about what happened and that I would be refunded $300 and would see how he could get someone out to fix the floor. Charlie also stated that he was not sure how to go about refunding money to a credit card so he may have to cut a check for the amount and put it in the mail.

After calling back several times to see what the status was of the refund and the repair I was finally told that the original contractor who completed the work would be coming back out to repair the work on the floor. The contractor came back out on August 2 and attempted to fix the floor. When I spoke with the contractor at my apartment he stated that he was sorry and that he knew when he left the day of the initial job that the floor had been messed up and wasn't right and that he knew that he would have to come back to fix it. By the time the contractor left that afternoon the floor did look better than what it did prior to the repair but you can still see the floor is now uneven and you can still see footprints. There are also now 2 different finishes to the bathroom since the 2nd time the contractor all came out a different type of paint was used, so one is more glossy that the other.

After calling several times with no return phone calls I finally reached Charlie on the phone. Charlie proceeded to tell me that he would never have offered a refund AND send someone out to fix the work. I explained that while I could not speak to why he offered that solution to the problem previously, he did. Additionally I told Charlie that while the technician did come out and the floor was better, it was not what I paid for and definitely was not what Eastern Refinishing had advertised. Charlie had asked that I email him pictures of the floor, which I did, together with another explanation of what happened. Charlie’s response was the following: “will be happy to send you a partial refund on the floor but not the entire price for it. The footprints were NOT done by us. I will send you 1/2 of your cost.” I am in disbelief that a company who promises that "every customer gets the very best quality and service available" would not only not stand by their word of good customer service, but then not take responsibility for the quality of work provided and ensure that the customer is happy. Despite his email response to my request for my refund, which was sent on August 15th, I have yet to received any type of refund, let alone the $300 I was originally promised.

I feel that the experience I have had with Eastern Refinishing was not the wonderful experience their website promises. The whole process took well over the 7 days the website talks about. I think that I have been more than patient, given that the first time I scheduled an appointment was back in May of this year. I patiently waited while I was rescheduled 2 times due to the illness of one of their technicians and later again when the floor was not completed properly. I have patiently awaited call backs from Eastern’s, only to find that I have to do repeated calling as no one ever returns my phone calls. This entire process has not only delayed my ability to put my Condo up for sale but the quality of the work on the floor very well may impact the sale of my condo. If I were to start this whole process again, I would choose a different company to complete the work, even if it were to cost a little be more. The customer service and quality of Eastern Refinsihing’s work is not worth the small savings because in the end, repairing the damaged floor will cost me way more than what I thought I was saving.

Thank you,

Jessica Yepez

I just want to let everyone know to Be Aware of eastern refinishing ! Charlie, the owner of this so called "business "He is a scam artist! He is thee most Unprofessional business"owner" i have ever encountered.I recently worked for charlie for about roughly 6 months and have witnessed first hand the scams he pulls. I heard about several" costumers " that he needed me to see who were potential customers needing repairs too their bathrooms, sinks, etc. He specifically told me several times to get there do a 1/2 ### job, get their money and bail. Whatever isnt done or any damages will no longer become mine or his responsibility and if they call and complain simply tell them " it was like that when I came in", as long as we have their money. His joke of a buisness is based out of Canada because I had soon found out after quitting there because he basically stslked me and refused to pay me for over 2 weeks of working everyday that he has no lisence to sub contract people that live in several different states nor any buisness lisence for any stste or country! When I had workED FOR HIM MORE RECENTLY I was NOT aware of this until working for him for only about 2* 3 months . When I had refused too take a bathroom reglazing because Charlie wanted me to cut corners in order for him too not have to spend any of the money he was making off of her he continuously called me ( I live in new jersey) over and over leaving rancid messages stating he'll rip me off just like he does with everyone else that doesn't do as he says. He would hang up on me every time I tried to ask him if im now going to be paid for over a 2 week long " excuse. I also found out he hires these guys here in the States and don't run background checks and some of them I met were ex convicts and the reason he works out of Canada is so people won't find out where he is in case something wrong happens with the job and because he don't pay taxes here in the USA so if you need it to hire a company to do a professsional job in your house please do a research and make sure they are local . THIS GUY CHARLIE SHOULD BE IN JAIL !
In the Estates and don't run a background check

Poor quality. Had my bath tub refinished they made it sound so good and durable. It lasted less then a year before it started peeling off the tub. The contractor that did the work was Jim Dunkleman of North American Refinishing what a scam. I had them come back to see it and he told me it would cost me $400-500 to have it redone. He said they don't cover chips. More then the original job. I have had 2 other companies take a look at it and both said same thing it was not done correctly. It should of not pealed Evan if it gets chipped. So do your home work...do not give them your money

Eastern Refinishing refinished our tub in late 2009 and by early 2011, it was already peeling while it was still under warranty. I called the company and it took several attempts to get them to set up a repair appt. with Levi. They set one appt. and Levi never showed. I called the following week to set another appt. and, again, Levi never showed, even though I had called the Friday before to confirm and was assured, he would be there. Needless to say, I was left with no choice but to hire another company to repair the shoddy job done by Eastern. Do not pay this company to do any work for you as they will NOT stand behind their work and will string you along just to shut you up and get you to stop calling. They had no intention from the get-go of repairing the tub. The owner, Charlie, does not have an ounce of professionalism or integrity.

I called Charlie to ask how much it would cost to have my tub refinished. He asked a few questions about my tub and quoted me $479. He assured me that it would include everything, including recaulking the tub.

I shopped around some more online and found a $100 coupon on the Eastern Refinishing web site. The coupon actually says that the normal price is $479, but it's only #379 with the coupon. Perfect!

I called Charlie back and told him I'd like to proceed and use the coupon. He says, and I quote, "OK. Let's see, that makes it $379, plus $100 to strip the tub before we refinish it." I asked him why he didn't mention this beforehand, and he said that he assumed I already had the coupon (not that THAT explains it). He told me it needed to be stripped, "unless you plan on doing it yourself." When I told him he was being misleading, he said, "I'm sorry we can't help you" and hung up.

I called back in 5 minutes to let him know I was going to file this online complaint (which, it turns out, has already been done by many others). A woman answered and said Charlie was unavailable to take my call.

Last week, I went on line seeking a bathroom refinisher. I found EASTERN REFINISHING. They insisted on a deposit, I gave them a credit card. I asked them for a contract and all they would give me was a confirmation number. I offered a fax number and email address, they decined, this was after I had given them my credit card information.
I need to cancel the service as my mother has taken a turn for the worse. I called right away 2 WEEKS BEFORE THE WORK WAS TO BEGIN. They said - SORRY NO REFUND, they became nasty and screamed at me. I am disputing this with the credit card company, but BE AWARE they are not good business people.

I work for a GC on the MS Gulf Coast and we used this company - they call themselves "Coastal Resurfacing, " "Eastern Refinishing, " and who-knows-how-many other names - to redo a tub unit on a remodel job. This was a purely "color-change" job - the tub was in perfect condition, just a dated color. The first trip, on April 25th, 2009, resulted in Chris, the tech, hitting the just-sprayed surface with a grocery bag. He acknowledged it and stated that he would return in about a week to redo the unit. The bathroom was sealed by his wife/helper, and no one moved the plastic sheeting over the door for 6 days. When the client and I inspected the work, not only was the area where Chris had hit the surface with the bag in obvious need of a redo, but there were several areas of missed coverage, runs/drips, and lots of particles in the finish. When he finally arranged to come over, he called at the last minute and said he wasn't coming, but was sending his wife and a helper. They attempted to fix the mess, but made it worse - runs, drips, puddles, etc. and even acknowledged they missed some spots that would need a third trip. When we attempted to schedule this, we were unable to reach them for days, and when my boss finally reached Chris, Chris hung up, without saying a word, as soon as he heard our company name. My boss then contacted the "home office" and got all sorts of excuses - they are not anywhere as large as their somewhat amateurish website would try to make it seem. They have refused to fix the mess they made and the tub will need another contractor to come in, completely resand, redo, etc. or a complete removal and replacement.

We could not find any physical address (or even a mailing address) for them on the website. Furthermore, a look the dates of the reviews is pretty suspicious. My boss had our people do some basic research on this company and the results are not comforting: they have apparently been in and out of business in several states, including Florida (long-lapsed incorporation, and the people involved, the Gaylers, etc., having multiple companies, all also lapsed). There are no business licenses (or active corporations) for them in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana or Michigan. There are a number of BBBs that have VERY negative files on them.

Proceed with caution for Eastern Refinishing, Rochester, NY. Manager/owner Charles Gayler is very unprofessional. He treats customers and potential customers with zero business acumen. I will say his representative in Rochester, Lucas, does an honest job and will perform quality work. It's a shame Charles is leading this enterprise. Use another company. The pricing structure is unpredictable and the moment you have question or concern about their work, Charles Gayler will completely change attitude to borderline psychotic. I am an MS and MBA, own apartment buildings in Rochester, and am utterly speechless by his behavior.

I used an alternate company that cost a little more money, but the service was OUTSTANDING. Very personable, family owned, worked with my tenants, and performed the work very professionally (probably a notch higher than ERF and will do more complicated tub problems, like removing bath liners and tub repair. You should call Jim at [protected] for this service, I can't recall the company name).

I read the other complaints on this site about Eastern Refinishing company; they sound exactly like my experience. I found it funny that the company denied them.

Eastern Refinishing refinished my tub area in April. In doing so, they failed to remove the shower fixtures - meaning that the area behind the handles were not refinished. In July, I replaced the fixture and noticed the problem. When I called Eastern Refinishing, and suggested that they send a technician to correct the issue, the contact became indignant and hung up the phone. I'd advise everyone to avoid this company.