f/u: what my roofer did with my credit card pmt.

[hereonceagain]

So I was excited to pay my roofer with credit to earn free points.

I paid by Visa.

I looked at the charge and the roofer used my credit card payment to pay off his vendors!! I'm taking it this was his way to avoid losing the credit card fees.

Would you be mad at all? I don't really care but if I get any credit card fraud in the future, I will likely blame them (unfairly likely) for sharing my credit card info with their vendor!

[Deleted]

How does that work?

[mrst2]

What? He used your CC #/info to pay his bills? I would NOT be ok with that. That is really odd IMO.

[madringal]

Um yes, I would be pissed!!! 1 - he made an unauthorized transaction against your card. 2 - you have no recourse if something goes bad with your roof (can't make a complaint to your CC company) 3 - because you "allowed" someone other then you to use your card, you can lose your ability to make legitimate fraud claims. I would raise holy hell!!!!!

[hereonceagain]

He gave me a form to enter my info and sign. I did that. It was a generic form. They faxed it to one of their suppliers and basically my $17k was used to pay down their vendor bill. Then the roofer marked me paid in full. After seeing the charge I asked for a receipt. They emailed me one forwarded from that vendor.

[hereonceagain]

Nov 27, 2012 16:58:27 GMT -5 madringal said:

Um yes, I would be pissed!!! 1 - he made an unauthorized transaction against your card. 2 - you have no recourse if something goes bad with your roof (can't make a complaint to your CC company) 3 - because you "allowed" someone other then you to use your card, you can lose your ability to make legitimate fraud claims. I would raise holy hell!!!!!

ohhhh, VERY good point!!! ....about the recourse/complaint. That is another reason I used the card, for protection.

Going to call them...

[vanillacourage]

I would immediately call your credit card company and put a hold on the charge, then put in a call to the vendors and let them know it was an unauthorized purchase.

[hereonceagain]

I thought it was too good to be true to put the whole thing on credit, and earn all those points. I was thinking they wouldn't like the fees. ugh.

[pamela]

Not okay, especially since they didn't tell you that's what they were doing. I may be okay with paying vendor dircectly if that's what was negotiated, but it needs to be discussed.

[Deleted]

Yeah... that is shady... I would not be okay with it..

[imojoebunny]

It is pretty standard practice here to pay for things like that on my credit card. I have gotten discounts for paying cash before, but generally pay by credit card. If the amount is right, I would not sweat it. If the total is off, I would complain to your credit card company and have them deal with it.

[minniebee]

Yeah, that's not ok. He used your card for a payment not authorized by you.

If the roofer doesn't like the fees he has to pay when taking credit card payments, he should either 1) not accept credit card payments, or 2) adjust his prices so the amount he's charging his customers covers his fees.

[SJ]

I don't like the sound of this.

I also wouldn't have signed a blank generic form though.

[madringal]

It is all kinds of fishy. Think of how easy he could get by with not paying income tax on this sale. If he never shows that he took the payment in, how do they trace it back to him?

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2012 17:52:43 GMT -5 madringal said:

It is all kinds of fishy. Think of how easy he could get by with not paying income tax on this sale. If he never shows that he took the payment in, how do they trace it back to him?

This is my issue. My company works with a lot of construction companies and contractors. I often use credit cards to pay tens of thousands of dollars to our vendors for different materials. I would never, ever, EVER use a customer's credit card info to pay these bills. That would make my accounting books and tax payments an absolute mess. This is really shady. He could essentially completely wipe the transactions off his books like he never received any payment from you.

[ckinla]

That's sketchy. I would probably claim fraud.

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2012 17:52:43 GMT -5 madringal said:

It is all kinds of fishy. Think of how easy he could get by with not paying income tax on this sale. If he never shows that he took the payment in, how do they trace it back to him?

Of course.

Why do you think so many small businesses give hefty discounts for paying with cash instead of a credit card? It isn't just to avoid credit card fees...

[LoveTrains]

Nov 27, 2012 16:59:04 GMT -5 hereonceagain said:

He gave me a form to enter my info and sign. I did that. It was a generic form. They faxed it to one of their suppliers and basically my $17k was used to pay down their vendor bill. Then the roofer marked me paid in full. After seeing the charge I asked for a receipt. They emailed me one forwarded from that vendor.

NOT ok.

Why does the most bizarre stuff happen to you?

[thatgirl]

1- call CC company and put the charges in dispute NOW, not tomorrow.

2- Look for a reputable company to put on your roof. I would not trust this yahoo with a pack of gum.

At least you found out this guy's a shady creep BEFORE you got further into this project.

[hereonceagain]

Nov 27, 2012 22:51:03 GMT -5 thatgirl said:

1- call CC company and put the charges in dispute NOW, not tomorrow.

2- Look for a reputable company to put on your roof. I would not trust this yahoo with a pack of gum.

At least you found out this guy's a shady creep BEFORE you got further into this project.

The roof is complete. He didn't require any deposit, just full payment at end. Roof is excellent. He is the top rated in our area. I'm not defending him in any way, just noting I'm not concerned about the roof itself.

[Deleted]

I still don't understand what happened. You paid him cash and then he charged your card?

[jenikate]

Nov 27, 2012 17:59:35 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

He could essentially completely wipe the transactions off his books like he never received any payment from you.

To protect yourself from this you could ask him for a lien waiver. This would protect you from him claiming that he wasn't paid in full.

[hereonceagain]

Nov 27, 2012 23:03:24 GMT -5 jenikate said:

Nov 27, 2012 17:59:35 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

He could essentially completely wipe the transactions off his books like he never received any payment from you.

To protect yourself from this you could ask him for a lien waiver. This would protect you from him claiming that he wasn't paid in full.

He already gave me this.

[mkesweetie]

Nov 27, 2012 23:02:26 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

I still don't understand what happened. You paid him cash and then he charged your card?

OP provided her contract a CC # for payment for the work provided. Contractor then did not HIMSELF charge her for the work, instead he paid all the vendors with OP's CC information.

So rather than 1 charge for the $10K, the OP's CC reflects five charges for $2K each. (These aren't the right #s, just using it for example.) Does that make sense?

And, yeah, OP, I'd be pissed about this.

[hereonceagain]

Actually I shouldn't have said "vendors"...it was only one. It seems he paid the vendor for products used for multiple customers, as my products would have only added up to a small portion of the 17k he paid them.

In the process of working this all out.

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2012 23:14:24 GMT -5 mkesweetie said:

Nov 27, 2012 23:02:26 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

I still don't understand what happened. You paid him cash and then he charged your card?

OP provided her contract a CC # for payment for the work provided. Contractor then did not HIMSELF charge her for the work, instead he paid all the vendors with OP's CC information.

So rather than 1 charge for the $10K, the OP's CC reflects five charges for $2K each. (These aren't the right #s, just using it for example.) Does that make sense?

And, yeah, OP, I'd be pissed about this.

Oh, ok. Yeah hell no.

[vanillacourage]

Nov 27, 2012 23:26:43 GMT -5 hereonceagain said:

Actually I shouldn't have said "vendors"...it was only one. It seems he paid the vendor for products used for multiple customers, as my products would have only added up to a small portion of the 17k he paid them.

In the process of working this all out.

He basically stole your CC. Have you reported this to your CC company yet?

After this is over I'd also report him to the IRS, what he's doing is tax evasion.

I swear to god I don't know how these sorts of things keep happening to you.

[6fsn]

So it wasn't just your materials he used the cc for? That's even worse.

[arch01]

Report it immediately.

[takeonyou]

You need to handle this ASAP. I have never heard of something like happening ever. Do you have your contract? Does it say anything about you paying suppliers directly?