Post by ellipses84 on Aug 23, 2022 14:14:18 GMT -5
I’m sorry you had such a terrible experience! I feel like online reviews are such a double edged sword because they are great for potential consumers to read, but there’s so much manipulation by businesses who will do anything to avoid a bad review or unreasonable customers (not you; you’ve been more than reasonable and have tried everything to just get the work that you paid for).
Post by hbomdiggity on Aug 23, 2022 14:40:14 GMT -5
Certain states require contractors to be bonded (called a license bond) which is intended for consumers like you to be able to file a claim against. If this is the case, your state license board should have info about the process online.
Otherwise, it’s about being the squeaky wheel and threatening action. It sucks but I’d reach out to a lawyer.
I don't have experience with this. Our contractor fell through before they started work, and they returned our deposit. Ultimately it was for the best because it was clear that they no longer wanted to do the job and they were shady.
I went to pick up the permits to have someone else do the work, and I was not allowed to pick up the permits because the contractor was different. I was told by the permit office that there is someone whose contractor bailed and left their house completely demolished and not rebuilt. There is some framing and that is it. Not livable at all. They are suing, but I don't know the process. Our kids were friends with their kids because we are neighbors, and it's been 2 years like this for these poor people. I drive by the site at least once a month, and nothing is happening there, and they have been living with family for 2 years.
What is the payment plan? Are they still going to charge you for the work? If you all settled on no payment then I would just let it be. You say the card is not charged. If they are still planning to charge the card, then you may want to sue for a different amount. Also, is it possible to file a claim with their bond insurance?
That is terrible. At least our house is habitable. Though, we are nervous to find out how poorly the windows were installed when winter comes.
We have paid them zero money. Contract states the full total will be submitted to financing whenever the work is done. They actually submitted it once and then reversed it when we complained. During the weeks nobody responded to our messages, accounting called me about settling the bill. She wanted me to sign or re-sign some things. It was weird and I was irate and not thinking clearly. I told her we were not signing anything more until the work was complete. I don't recall all of the conversation, but I'm wondering if the original financing agreement was only for 12 months and lapsed. We're missing some paperwork that was supposed to be emailed to us and never was.
I started watching reviews more closely when the trouble began back in March. The less positive reviews look a lot like our experience. They disappear quickly and/or have defensive, snarky responses from the company. They've shown their asses, unfortunately not before we hired them. Great marketing, toxic company. No wonder she's fighting so hard to maintain the online image.
I don't know how hard we're willing to fight to get some of our money back. We just want to be done with them and were willing to write it off as an expensive mistake. However, I'm not backing down on the reviews. I took a photo of her order with the defamation accusation before the PM took it back unsigned. You can bet I'll be updating my review and including this information.
lucybrown, I would only pursue a lawsuit if there is a dispute about the money owed. Otherwise, if you are not interested in the money aspect, I would pay the 25K minus the door credit and any additional credits for the work that wasn't done, leave the social media reviews up and call it a day. Surely, the would want to settle on an amount, but I wouldn't sign anything about reviews.
That being said, if you need a lawyer simply to write up a new contract or send a letter, we've gotten letters in the $500 range, so I would use them for that but not file a lawsuit. Have the lawyer write something up that says you are paying X amount for X work and leaving social media reviews up and see if you can get them to agree and call it a day.
If you have ever taken legal action against a contractor, I'd love anecdotes, advice etc. I have a lot of this documented. At this point, we just want this to go away and were willing to take their credit and live with the wrong door to not deal with them anymore. They have strung us along for most of this year.
I have limited experience with this. Our builders were supposed to come back to fix a number of things that fell within our builder's warranty. They kept pushing us off and finally I went to see a lawyer to discuss my options; that initial consult was free of charge (I might have just been lucky; I did offer to pay for their time afterwards but they never sent me a bill). After that meeting I sent a final email to the builder, cc'ing the attorney, saying if I don't hear back from you in x days, I'm filing suit. Seeing the attorney on the email was enough to have the builder show up at my door on a Sunday morning.
We never did get everything resolved but a lot of the issues were cosmetic rather than structural so I ended up letting a lot go. The spiteful part of me wishes I had sued them because they suck and deserve it, but ultimately it wasn't worth my time.
In our state, there is a way to pursue this through mediation. It's a state-sponsored program, so if you can prove that the work was not completed and you are owed money, and they refused to pay it, the state guaranty fund covers up to $10K. Then the state goes after the contractor, suspends their license, etc.
We went through this process after a contractor demo'd our kitchen and disappeared. In February of 2020. So no kitchen for early COVID. We had worked with him several times before and we never had an issue. It took over 2 years, but we finally got reimbursed part of what we lost. The contractor has since let his license lapse, so I don't know how the state will handle that.
waverly, this is good advice. Thanks. I need to learn more about the bond stuff.
We want the door mistake corrected or compensation for it. And to not be silenced. I’m not backing down on that. If they agree to that, we’ll pay our bill and be done with them. If not, we’ll start the legal process.
We’re going on vacation tomorrow and my dog died a few days ago. I’m going to try to set this aside until we get back. I appreciate the advice.