Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Refinishing Oak Stairs - Orbital Sander Gouges!!

I am looking for some advice following some work we are having done on our oak staircase. We are refinishing the oak throughout our house and when I got home last night I had a look at the stairs. All along the edges, dug into the risers, is a groove from the orbital sander being pushed up against it while sanding the stairs. Needless to say it is very noticeable. I'm not sure if this is a common occurence (or a sloppy job), and if it is common, should this be easily hidden by painting the risers, or would it be better to take some alternative action? We are planning to paint the risers white, however are wondering if we need to replace these altogether. Also, the grooves are on the sides of the stairs into the stringer board. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

As long as the risers and skirt board paint it isn't a biggie. While removing the groove by sanding is best it often isn't practical. Fill the groove with spackling, sand and prime.

Thanks for your thoughts Mark. I think that's the best we can do. I've called a few other local contractors and they've suggested the same.

That's the nice thing about painting instead of staining - it doesn't actually have to be solid wood because the paint covers the surface completely. If you were staining these stairs, the process to fix this problem would be much more complicated.