Complaint Review: Joey Whitehead

Joey C Whitehead (Peterborough and Toronto Area) - Amateur Painter Completes Half the Work and Takes Full Payment

Moving into our new home on Aug 1st of this year, we had just a long weekend to move our stuff, paint, prepare and baby-proof our new home for the rest of our young family to move in.

We found Joey Whitehead, a local painter in the Peterborough area from his local ad on Kijiji.  He told us that him and his crew could start on the day we got the keys, regardless of time, and that they would easily be able to paint 3 rooms on the main floor by end of the following day.  We had sent him the dimensions of all rooms so he knew exactly the size he was looking at.

We agreed upon the price of $400, we would purchase and supply the paint, and he would bring all of other tools and supplies.  

We got the key just after noon on Aug 1st.  We called Joey and he was at our house and had started by 2:30 pm.  He had forgotten a ladder and enough rollers necessary for the job, a slightly unprofessional yet potentially honest mistake, but I was able to pick-up those items so that it didn’t slow down any work.  He then informed us that his crew would not be coming up from Toronto this late in the day so that he would finish the work himself and would stay as late as necessary.

His initial work on the first room seemed pretty good so we left him to it.  We had decided to also paint one of the basement rooms so we were busy with that and other moving activities.  

As his work continued and time wore on, the quality of his work degraded.  By the time he was on the 3rd room, his edging skills were completely gone.  The quality of painting Joey Whitehead was doing at eding was poor even for an ameture painter, our kitchen ceiling and new cabinetry were getting a fair amount of paint on them.  Even worse, Joey wasn’t taking the time to try to wipe off or clean the mistakes, just leaving it there to dry.  (Probably because he didn’t bring any paper  towels to clean with either).

By 10:30 pm he informed me that he was done for the day.  He stated that he would be back fix any spots he missing and complete the job whenever we needed him.  I paid him the $400 for his work.  This was my crucial mistake.

In morning light we say just how poor the job was and just how much work was left.  

All three rooms needed another coat of paint.  Rooms 1 and 2 were decently covered but room 3 our kitchen, only had a very light first coat.  All edging in all rooms needed a second coat as well.  As well we say just how messy his painting skill gots as he working into the evening.  The trim and cabinetry in our beautiful new house was a mess.  What a nightmare!  The pride we had hope to share in showing off our new house had turned regret in being ruined by such am ameture paint job.  Repainting the trim and ceiling in all three rooms would now be necessary.

We contacted Joey and told him to be back at our place by 9am on Aug 2nd to complete the job. He never showed at the promised time.  Text message and phone calls went unanswered for hours, our fears of being ripped-off started to grow.  Finally he eventually told his he was having car trouble and would be there by 2:30 pm that day.  That deadline came and went.  Next, said was still waiting on vechicle, but expected to have it soon, 7:30pm  would be the time he should be at our place.  Of course he didn’t show.  He was somehow in Toronto, over an hour away from Peterborough, instead of having it fixed locally for some reason.

We inform and reminded him that the job has to be done on a deadline, this was the essence of our written email contracted arrangement.   If he was not there by 9am on Aug 3rd we would have to finish the job ourselves.  I offered to pick him up if necessary if car troubles were still an issue.

Joey didn’t show and my wife and I had to complete the jobs ourselves that day.  We put in at least 10 hours of painting.  More that the 8 hours with frequent breaks Joey had worked.  Joey did offer us to refund since he acknowledged in writing that the job was far from complete.  

Getting our refund was another scammers game.  We has in the city the week that followed but said he would delivery to us on the following weekend.  We declined a Sunday dinner invitation to ensure we would home by 4pm on Sunday, the agreed time he was to come back to delivery our refund.  4pm came and went, said he was still driving back from the city, 45 mins away.  By 7pm it was clear he wasn’t coming.  He then said that he didn’t have to give us any money back so wouldn’t.  Said he would see us in Small Claims Court.

When I told him I was going to write and publish a rip-off report, he again offered to refund us $150.  Said he would send the money email money transfer since he was in Toronto.  Big surprise money never came, just more broken promises and games from Joey Whitehead.

To anyone looking for local painting services in the Peterborough or Toronto area, do not hire Joey C Whitehead.  He showed up without proper equipment (ladder, paper towels, extra rollers), the quality of his work is very poor, and he doesn’t clean up his mistakes.  Instead he leaves them there as semi-permanent reminder of the poor labour you hired.  To top if off he’ll accept full payment for a half completed job then never come back to do the job.  But will waste you time leading you on that he’s on his way as promised.  This guy is a scammer, save your money and time, hire a real and reliable professional painter.

We have all written correspondence with Joey (emails and text messages), as well as picture of his work and the condition he left our home in  We are happy to share this factual information with anyone who is interested.