Woman claims painter left her hanging

WASILLA — Jill Rodamer is planning to file suit against Picasso Painters for the material costs she paid upfront for painting the interior of her house.

Rodamer said her husband hired Picasso Painters from a flier left on their door weeks ago. Mike Marion, the owner, said he was an out-of-work engineer from Florida taking up the trade of his father, and the flier claimed there would be no upfront costs, Rodamer said. Her husband made an appointment, cut a check for the agreed upon price, and went back to his job on the North Slope.

On April 25, Marion came to the Rodamer’s house. He said he needed $800 for material costs, Rodamer said. She gave him the money, and Marion gave her a receipt.

The next day, Marion came back to get the color choices. He then called from Wal-Mart to tell Rodamer he found a good deal on paint even though she said she did not want paint from there, Rodamer said.

On Monday, Marion finally got to the house at 12:30 p.m., saying his ladders had been stolen, said Rodamer. He asked Rodamer for another $100. She said she was hesitant, but conceded and had it added to her receipt. He left and did not return until the next day.

Tuesday, Marion showed up around 7:20 a.m., Rodamer said, but then left again at 8:20 a.m. He taped one window, a baseboard heater and one wall, she said. He came back at noon, and then left again around 3:00 p.m.

“He comes with a ton of excuses on Wednesday,” said Rodamer. “I tell him it’s not going to work. He said he only needed five days, and he hadn’t painted one wall yet.”

Marion started to collect the ladders, but Rodamer told him she was going to keep the ladders until he brought at least half of the money back — $450.

He started pleading with her, Rodamer said, and she finally called her husband on the Slope. Marion reassured him the work would be done by Saturday at the latest, and Rodamer agreed to give him one more chance.

He proceeded to work on the vaulted ceiling in the living room, and painted only the outside edge, Rodamer said, claiming he did not want to drip on the furniture stacked and covered in the middle of the room.

By 10:20 a.m., he said he was leaving to go have breakfast with his family and he would be back in 20 minutes, Rodamer said. He finally came back at 1:30, she said, and continued work on the room.

“I had an emergency and had to leave at 2:15 p.m.,” she said. “I was back by 3:30 p.m., and everything was gone.”

She did not call him Wednesday because she said she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. She called Thursday, and said he expressed no intention to give her money back even though she was willing to negotiate on what he was owed for the work he did do.

Rodamer said her husband burned the flier that said there would be no upfront costs, but “as soon as he knew the husband was out of town, he started hitting me up for costs,” she said.

She is now making up her own fliers warning her neighbors about Picasso Painters, she said. She said she was planning on filing a small claims suit against him today.

“I’m not in this for money,” said Rodamer. “The main gain I want out of this if for no one else to be screwed by this guy.”

Rodamer said she contacted the state troopers to see if they would investigate.

For his part, Marion gave a brief explanation of his side of the story. He said Rodamer made it impossible to do the work. She did not want any dust, she made him take his shoes off before coming in every time, and his socks had to be clean.

“We did everything we could to make her happy,” Marion said. “She says she wants her money back. We’ll probably give her $100 or something. She just made it impossible.”

Marion was unwilling to comment further or respond to specific questions.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.