Go Ahead, Maytag, Make My Day

Gosh, it seems I'm not the only lonely little voice out in the blogosphere speaking out against coporate crimes of indifference - check out this site!

A landmark house under restoration in the Ridgeville Historic District in Evanston, Illinois has been badly damaged by Benjamin Moore paint. The historic home, built on land used by Evanston’s first settlers as a graveyard, and which also served as Evanston’s first schoolhouse in the late 1800s, is one of the City’s most prominent and visible buildings. Designed by the noted
19th Century architect Carbys Zimmerman, the 7,000 square foot shingle style home has been under restoration by the current owners for the last 15 years, who intend to return it to its original 19th Century grandeur.

As part of the restoration process, the home was recently re-shingled. A highly regarded vintage home specialist, professional Painters of Lisle, IL, was brought in to finish the exterior; the paint was Benjamin Moore. Tony Severino, owner of Professional Painters, in paraphrase, said, “After decades painting homes, I have come to trust Benjamin Moore paints so much that I insisted on using Benjamin Moore on my own mother’s house. Moore’s reputation is impeccable and I wouldn’t think of using anything else on such an important project as the old Ridgeville Schoolhouse. Imagine my embarrassment when, after six months, the paint began to peel from the shingles, and soon thereafter, the rich chocolate brown began to fade. Now, just a couple of years later, the house and its fence is peeling everywhere and the color has almost turned
pink! I am shocked.”

Representatives from Benjamin Moore examined the
paint and proclaimed it to be absolutely free from defect, explaining that the problem must be related to some problem in the 120 year old house itself, though the house has always had a painted exterior without incident. The suspect paint has since been sent to two independent laboratories for analysis, and, as
expected, both laboratories’ reports conclude that the paint, itself, was defective and the cause of the problem.

Despite the conclusions of two independent labs, Benjamin Moore continues to deny responsibility for the damage
to the old Ridgeville Schoolhouse, and has offered a series of bizarre explanations for the paint failure, all contrary to the lab results. The house, now a public eyesore (see photos), is adorned with banners proclaiming “This is Benjamin Moore Quality”. When asked to comment, the owners said,
“We were happy to use Benjamin Moore paint because Moore is said to be the best on the market, and this is obviously a very special house. It’s a shame that Benjamin Moore’s public image is so different from its reality. Who would have ever thought that a company owned by Warren Buffet would behave this
way.”

Astonishingly, though the paint has apparently been withdrawn from the market by Benjamin Moore, the company insists that the reason for the peeling and fading is not paint defect. To Benjamin Moore, it seems that it might be more plausible that the cause has something to do with the backyard graveyard
than with the paint!

and this:

Benjamin Moore has now sued us for “defamation and commercial disparagement” of their company, based on the content of this website and on the banner on the exterior of our house. Evidently Benjamin Moore does not think that we have the right to tell the truth about what has happened to our house,
or about their defective paint. However, the law is quite clear - the standard of defamation is “…proof that the publication was false, and that the defendant (me) either knew it to be false, or, believing it to be true, lacked reasonable grounds for that belief.”

Just in case anyone has a doubt about this, I will state my position here. We have no reason to doubt the conclusions of the two independent laboratory reports, both of which state that the failure of the paint is due to defective paint. This position is also supported by many painting professionals who have seen the house and have made the same conclusion. In the interest of complete disclosure, to this point, I have received a possibly contrary opinion from only one person, who told me that painting a house is almost always a losing proposition, especially in a climate like Chicago’s. His position seems to be that even good paint peels in these conditions – though he could not provide any explanation for why the paint failed on so many differently prepared surfaces, nor why it faded. The reports,
along with the opinions of so many professionals, easily outweigh the opinion of Benjamin Moore, especially because Moore clearly has its own interest in mind, while essentially every other voice on this matter has nothing to gain, or lose,
from their opinion.