Was I unreasonable?

[youhadmycuriosity]

Full Disclosure: Long and semi boring.

Long story short, I signed a contract with a solar company that had a 10 day cancellation policy. I repeatedly told the rep that I was unsure about the situation and not to process the paperwork till I gave him the go ahead. (I shouldn't have signed the damn contract in the first place, but I was assured repeatedly that if we cancel in 10 days, no big deal at all! And the 10 day cancellation policy was written into the contract). After much discussion with H, I called the rep asked him to cancel (he hadn't processed the contract yet). He was a little argumentative (I though it was "no problem at all!", buddy ) but finally said, "Ok, I'll cancel, have a good day" and hung up on me. Half the reason that we canceled was because I was feeling uneasy about their business practices and after reading up on the internet, I did not want to have a contract with them. This was the text exchange that ensued:

SUNDAY

Me: Hi ____! I'm really sorry for the change of heart. Do I need to send a written cancellation notice? Since I don't have the contract, I don't remember what the wording was and online it seems that people were required to submit something. If not, could you please send me a confirmation to (email address)

Rep: No worries YouHadMyCuriosity I will send you an email this week once I set up the cancellation.

Me: Thank you, we really appreciate it.

WEDNESDAY

Me: Hey, just wanted to check whether you had tried to email me yet - my inbox was flooded the last couple days so I  wanted to make sure I didn't miss it.

Rep: Aloha YouHadMyCuriosity nope. you said you wanted to cancel correct?

Me: Yes, please. Just wanted a confirmation of the cancellation since the contract was not executed and I never had a copy.

Rep: yup never executed. you're all set. to be clear, no net metering application will be submitted to _____ on your behalf as a result.

Me: Understood, thank you. Can you please send a confirmation of cancellation to (email address)?

THURSDAY

Rep: YHMC there is no confirmation of cancellation because it was never executed, never submitted

Me: Ok great. In that case, could you just shoot me a quick email stating just that for my records since I never got a copy of the contract when I signed it? Just a sentence saying no contract was submitted?

Rep: Seriously? I just sent you an email.



Was I a total ass for requiring email confirmation? I started to have a bad gut feeling about the whole thing, and did not feel comfortable with the fact that there was a contract, signed by me on Docusign, floating around. I feel like he was annoyed that I requested email confirmation, but when I first asked about it, he said he would provide it. I usually try to be very mindful of not being an annoyance to people, but I don't feel like wanted written confirmation of a cancellation is unreasonable. I doubt a text message would hold up in court in case of something, KWIM? I thought I was being polite with my request, and him throwing the "seriously?" in there struck me as unprofessional.

What does MM say? Was I being an obnoxious hosebeast?

[moolarkey]

You were correct in requiring this. I would have and he can get over himself.

[Deleted]

This was all by text? I probably would have not distinguished much between text and email but I guess it may be easier to retain email. I think you sound a bit obsessive, and normally in that circumstance I would send a letter by registered mail and not ask the agent for an email, but I don't think it's totally over the line.

[tripleshot]

I would've done the same thing and pushed for written confirmation.

[youhadmycuriosity]

Jan 29, 2015 20:31:34 GMT -5 elle said:

This was all by text? I probably would have not distinguished much between text and email but I guess it may be easier to retain email. I think you sound a bit obsessive, and normally in that circumstance I would send a letter by registered mail and not ask the agent for an email, but I don't think it's totally over the line.

I do completely concede that I sounded obsessive. I usually tend towards the "too breezy" side, so I absolutely hated bothering him about it, but I was concerned after reading on Yelp that someone had called to cancel their contract and later were on the hook because the company stated it did not honor verbal agreements. Since he did not give me a copy of the contract on the spot, it was entirely within the realm of possibility that was somewhere in the fine print. My insistence was purely due to the fact that I was cancelling based on a growing distrust of the company's business practices after doing much research, so my reaction was very much colored by that. I probably would have not thought twice about accepting a text as valid confirmation if I was cancelling for any other reason.

[candyland]

I would have done the same thing! It was the right call to be persistent and request written confirmation!

[audette]

I would have pushed for the email.

[msmerymac]

I think that's fine, although I'm wondering what they would hold you to. Would they claim they never got the cancellation and make you pay via court order? You don't have a deposit with them, right?

[youhadmycuriosity]

Jan 29, 2015 21:01:06 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I think that's fine, although I'm wondering what they would hold you to. Would they claim they never got the cancellation and make you pay via court order? You don't have a deposit with them, right?

No deposit. I was admittedly being overly paranoid due to all the factors combined. In my line of work, email confirmations are a fairly standard and necessary business procedure, so I didn't think I was asking anything extraordinary. The fact that he grew semi irate and hung up on me when I canceled made me additionally weary.

[youhadmycuriosity]

Jan 29, 2015 21:31:27 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

I thought text messages were used in court as evidence? At least you have it in some form of writing, but no, I don't think you were being obsessive. Especially since you didn't have an actual contract, I'd be paranoid by any fine print/loopholes to screw you.

You were persistent, yes, which may be annoying but that doesn't call for him to say "Seriously?"

I think you are correct, I am just notoriously bad with phones, and since this is something that could come back to bite me in a year or so if we never put solar in within the year, my confidence that I would still have the same phone, and all the texts on it, is not exceptionally high. After the fact, I realized I could screen shot and email myself the screen shot, but it did not occur to me at the time because I am apparently an old fogey.

ETA: The "seriously?" really bothered me! I have dealt with clients often that were COMPLETELY out of line, rude, hostile, etc., and I would have never texted that simply because it seems unprofessional. I actually would have been less put off if a "Seriously?" was uttered in spoken conversation, but written, I was a little ^o). I responded with "Thank you very much" lol.

[yentl]

I would've been fine with the text message as written confirmation but I don't think you were unreasonable in asking for an email.

[Deleted]

You are NOT being unreasonable at all!

One thing I have done with contractors (based on my dad's advice, he was a small business owner so worked with a variety of small businesses all the time.)

I request that they either (1) email me the contract before the meeting [lol, my dad told me to have them fax it to me...I was like, no one has a fax anymore dad!] or (2) bring two copies of any contract to my house so they don't have the ability to "walk away" with the only written proof. If, for some reason, that doesn't work, I've also taken digital pictures of the contract before they took it back to the office to make copies.

No one would ever accuse me of being too breezy so I think you were ABSOLUTELY NOT unreasonable, and I would have replied to his last (jackass) text with, "Yes, seriously. I require a written notice of cancellation and a scan of the contract with cancelled written on it." I am crazy about this type of stuff.

Good for you for sticking to your guns.

[tine]

Not unreasonable at all! if you didn't do this, I bet you would have had problems later on!

[Deleted]

Did you physically sign a contract? Why wouldn't you get a copy of it?
In my company we have a similar 15 day wait period and we do not send email cancellation confirmations for the same reason, because nothing is processed before that 15 days. He was an ass, but not sending a confirmation isn't that out of the ordinary.

[Emerald1486]

I do not think you were unreasonable and would have asked for the same thing

[Deleted]

you were NOT unreasonable and I would have done the exact same thing.

[noodleoo]

No, I would have done exactly what you did. I wouldn't be satisfied with texts because I can't easily print them for my records. If something happened to my phone, I could be screwed. I would have wanted written proof of cancellation either from his email (with his email signature!) or on company letterhead. You don't mess around with contracts!!!

[youhadmycuriosity]

Jan 30, 2015 7:55:23 GMT -5 @bk said:

Did you physically sign a contract? Why wouldn't you get a copy of it?
In my company we have a similar 15 day wait period and we do not send email cancellation confirmations for the same reason, because nothing is processed before that 15 days. He was an ass, but not sending a confirmation isn't that out of the ordinary.

It was Docusigned, and I was to get an emailed copy once executed. It was one of the things that originally made me uneasy, because when I have previously used Docusign, I could view the document immediately after signing.

[livinitup]

So, this guy has a signed contract from you and expects you to just be a-okay with a text chat?

Seriously?

I get that sales guys are a LOT nicer when they are making a sale rather than loosing one. But you both know that he still had the only signed contract - and you are looking out for yourself in case he submits that signed contract anyway. I'm wondering why he doesn't want to let you create a paper trail for the cancelation.

Seriously.

Don't stop until you get what you want. Have you submitted the cancelation in writing yet? Have you gotten the original contract back yet? Anything?

[af1212]

I definitely think you did the right thing. Did he send the email?

[youhadmycuriosity]

Jan 31, 2015 20:36:02 GMT -5 af1212 said:

I definitely think you did the right thing. Did he send the email?

Yes, he did. It was literally two sentences stating that there is no contract or obligation between myself and xyz company, which is all I wanted. It couldn't have taken him longer than any text he sent me, which is why I was puzzled that he seemed so reluctant to just do it when I first asked rather than texting me back.

[youhadmycuriosity]

Jan 31, 2015 19:30:14 GMT -5 livinitup said:

So, this guy has a signed contract from you and expects you to just be a-okay with a text chat?

Seriously?

I get that sales guys are a LOT nicer when they are making a sale rather than loosing one. But you both know that he still had the only signed contract - and you are looking out for yourself in case he submits that signed contract anyway. I'm wondering why he doesn't want to let you create a paper trail for the cancelation.

Seriously.

Don't stop until you get what you want. Have you submitted the cancelation in writing yet? Have you gotten the original contract back yet? Anything?

I got everything I needed and submitted a written notice just in case. When I originally talked with him, he seemed very pleasant and we were clear we may cancel, but have a friend that would be very interested in using his services and took his business card to pass along. This was before I started feeling uneasy. Having been in sales, if I were in his position, I would have not been so quick to be rude to a client who knows a great deal of people buying homes (military) because I may still have gotten recommendations out of it, even if the first person didn't decide the product was of use to them personally.