Paint Woes

December 2021

December came, and Jason and I started to really focus on working on our house.  It was such a large project that we took it one area at a time.  We focused on the upstairs first. 

Behind all of the wallpaper we found many spots that required repair.  There were not too many large holes, but there were literally hundreds of screw, nail, and pin holes in the walls.  The walls became poke-a-dot covered as we worked to repair the holes.

After buying the house we discovered that many items will ship to Ocean Falls for free delivery from Home Depot, and so, we began to order many items from them.  One item that we were very happy to discover had free shipping was one-gallon cans of Behr paint, so we placed our first order for six cans.  Two cans we ordered were to be white for the trim and doors, and the other four were to be tinted to a colour for the walls.  

In about two weeks time our delivery of paint arrived, and we were almost ready to begin painting the upstairs.  However, when we opened the boxes, the paint ships with two one-gallon buckets in each box, we noticed that none of the cans had the typical tinted paint colour sticker on the lid.  We weren't too worried because since we had never ordered paint from Home Depot before we figured that they simply did things differently than what we were used to.  Nonetheless, it made us worried enough to open up the cans and give them a stir.  We were dismayed to find that all six gallons had come as pure white.  All of our excitement instantly evaporated and changed to disappointment and frustration; frustration with the fact that we had waited two weeks just to get the wrong colour.  We consoled ourselves with the fact that we were not quite ready for the wall colour anyway. 

I got in touch with Home Depot's customer support, who were very helpful and apologetic, and it was agreed that since they could not give us a return label for Canada Post from Ocean Falls we would simply hold onto the paint until we went out with our truck at New Years, at which time we would return four gallons of the pure white.  They gave us money off of our new order and we re-ordered the four gallons of tinted paint.  I suggested that they put a note on the order bringing extra attention to the tint colour so that the mistake would not happen again and we waited another two weeks in eager anticipation for our paint. 

Finally, about two weeks later, we were excited to pick up our paint from the post office on mail day.  At this point we were fully ready for our wall colour, because the trim and ceilings had all been painted.  A couple of days later, we pulled out our painting supplies and opened up the boxes.  Our high level of excitement faded quickly, as once again no tint stickers appeared on the cans, and once again we opened up the cans and found only pure white paint.  We were frustrated, how could this mistake happen twice in a row, eight gallons of wrong paint had arrived and this last time there had been a clear note on the order.  Why?

The next day, I contacted Home Depot's customer support again, and once again they were very sorry and very helpful, but their reassurance that this time it would work out held little assurance to us.  I inquired further as to where the paint came from and I learned that it did not come from a Home Depot outlet, but instead came direct from a Behr paint distribution centre in Ontario.  The lady said that this time she would not only put a note on our order, but that she would also send an email direct to the distribution centre explaining the situation and asking that they take specific note of the colour request.  And, I also asked if she would provide me with a phone number for the distribution centre so that I could contact them directly.

Having the phone number to call, our order number to reference, and the other notes in place, we were once again optimistic, although somewhat sceptical this time.  It confused us as to how this mistake was happening.  So, I called Behr Paint and ended up having multiple people give me different numbers to call.  I finally got the right number, but then the people at that number took turns patching me through to various departments, and each time the people who answered the phones were very sympathetic, but unsure as to how to help me. 

Finally, I got in touch with the correct person, and from her accent I correctly assumed that she was working in the US.  When I once again explained my story she was most apologetic and asked for my order number and address.  Once these were provided to her, she had the answer for me, “Behr’s policy is to not ship tinted paint in Canada”.   

I was stunned, but quickly I realized that she must be confused.  I explained that I was not ordering paint from the US, and I told her that it was shipping from Ontario.  She acknowledged my explanation, but she repeated herself.  “Behr’s policy is to not ship tinted paint in Canada”.  I stumbled and stuttered for a minute as I wrapped my head around what she was telling me. 

“You're telling me that the distribution centre in Ontario cannot tint paint and ship it?” I queried. 

“No”, she clarified, “I am saying that it is Behr’s policy not to ship tinted paint in Canada.” 

I told her my story.  I explained how Home Depot's website allows paint to be ordered online, and how they have a full system for selecting colours and requesting tint.  I explained how I had been in touch several times with customer service and that they were as confused as I was as to why this mistake was happening. 

Once again she repeated Behr’s policy.  She was quite understanding, but also matter of fact about the situation, and when I suggested that someone in her company needed to talk to someone at Home Depot to explain the situation, she agreed and told me that she thought that talks were already in the works to change the policy. 

Mystery solved.  We had now received eight gallons of pure white paint, which were supposed to have been tinted, all because Home Depot’s website and their customer service team were unaware of Behr’s Policy “not to ship tinted paint in Canada”. 

Needless to say we were disappointed, as we would not be able to finish painting the upstairs.  But at least we were taking the truck out on the ferry on December 31^st and we would be able to take our paint to the Home Depot in Victoria to get it tinted, and return the surplus gallons of white paint.

All was not lost, as we were still able to finish our master bedroom.  We had gotten the paint for that room brought in from Port Hardy on one of the Mowi charters before resigning from our positions, so at least one of the upstairs rooms could be completed. 

Jason was also able to get the hard wood floor all sanded, and we applied four coats of an oil-modified polyurethane. 

It turned out beautifully.

We set up our bedframe and moved in our dresser.  Now, all we needed was a mattress.  We had ordered two bed-in-a-box mattresses back in November: one double mattress for one of the spare rooms, and one California King to fit the bedframe that we had been given and had set up in the master bedroom.  We had been hopeful that the mattresses would arrive before we left at the end of the December, but they did not.  Either way it didn’t really matter as we would not need them to sleep on until we got back to Ocean Falls in mid February. 

Given that we wouldn't be around when the mattresses arrived, Dorothy was willing to collect them for us from the mail plane, and take them up to our house so that they would be there when we returned home.  She is a wonderfully helpful post lady.