Call Kurtis: Fix My Peeling Bathtub!

STOCKTON (CBS13) -- Cindy Martel looked at her peeling bathtub and knew it was a problem, she said.

"It's just been getting worse and worse," she said.

She said her bathtub refinishing contractor doctored her contract so it wouldn't have to fix her tub under the warranty. That's when she called Kurtis.

After she signed the contract, she said the contractor penned in more wording, saying there would be no warranty.

Just two weeks after she paid $475 for the refinish and what she thought was a warranty -- the company insisted it wouldn't fix it for free, she said.

Whirlbath Refinishing's contract, emailed to her before the visit, said there's a five-year warranty on manufacturer defects.

So why did the company say she didn't have a warranty?

"They're not holding up to their end," she said.

When CBS13 contacted the company, it sent its contract reading "no long term warranty."

But in Martel's copy emailed to her ... the handwritten part voiding the warranty isn't here.

"I don't know who to turn to," said Martel, insisting technician Tim Schrader didn't give her a copy before he left.

Schrader told CBS13 the version emailed to her is different, but insisted the handwritten part was written in before she signed it.

The reason he canceled the warranty? "Multiple prior refinishes ... and a leaky faucet," which Martel said he never mentioned and her faucet never had.

"This is not a good way to operate your business," said the Contractors State License Board's Rick Lopes of not issuing copies of receipts.

He said companies should always give customers a copy of the same contract they sign -- especially if there are any updates or changes.

"It certainly does not meet the entire law as far as what the contractor is supposed to provide to the consumer," he said.

After CBS13 got involved, Schrader agreed to fully strip and then refinish her tub and worked out a deal to provide a new one-year warranty.

Martel said it shouldn't have taken so long.

"I would not use them or recommend them," she said.

Martel said she never would have gone with this company if she knew there would be no warranty.

Because Whirlbath didn't issue a new copy of the updated contract, the state said Martel's version would be considered the valid copy.