[LOCKED]WTF

Many years ago I got a call from an architect I never met before. He said he had a customer that needed work based on plans and specifications he had made for them. He told me he was considering several firms to submit bids....

He names several contractors, one at a time, and asking me what I though of each of those firms. I never said a single negative word about any of them. In 1 case I said something like "Yes, I know them. They've been in business for X years doing this type of work. Their main office is located at________, they have access to the scaffold and equipment necessary to do this sort of project..."

About a week later he calls back saying he's inviting 3 contractors and I'm one. He asks if I want to know how he came up with the list. I was thinking 'I don't give a shit, just send me the plans.'

He said he felt he could find out more about a company by asking what their competitors say about them. He told me that all of my competitors spoke highly of us- except one. He asked if I wanted to know who that was and I said no, I can figure it out.

He laughed and said that contractor had absolutely nothing good to say about any of the other contractors but I was the only one who didn't say something negative about him- I only made neutral comments. Yeah, I know that guy. He writes fake, glowing reviews about his company at various places on the Internet.

I was the low bidder and did the job for less than my when I showed the architect we could achieve something without removing and resetting some windows and part of a wall like his drawings indicated.

I had a bad experience with a contractor not finishing a job. Even though his bid was competitive, in hinsight both the labor and materials were heavily padded to boot. Some amount of this was my inexperience dealing with contractors since I generally do most/all of my own work. I simply did not hold back enough money to make it worth the effort for him to finish.

The short story is I did reviews on a couple common sites. It was nothing but the facts, which spoke for themselves. I KNOW my effort cost this contractor at least one job. A person seeing my review emailed me and said he had work he wanted done down to 2 contractors, and due to my review, he went with the other contractor.

This is just the one job I know that it cost him. Unless he changed his company name, that bad review will follow him indefinitely.

I had some horrible work done by a roofing company.

My first call is to the Better Business Bureau.

After they point me which route to go, I'm posting pics and videos on Facebook. They should have been ashamed to do that paying customers.

I should put signs on my yard to say avoid them as well.

To be clear not all attorneys are/were a problem. I had several customers who were attorneys, but the worst customer (for paying) was that collections attorney.

I can neither confirm nor deny that contractors talk amongst themselves about problem customers they've dealt with. An attorney once told me it's pretty easy to prove slander.

Getting fucked out of due money, sucks. It has happened to myself, as well.

I know when dealing with a contractor, you're allowed to post a review of their work in numerous places (i.e. Yelp, Angie's list, Google Reviews, etc). This flags them as a contractior to avoid.

It's too bad you couldn't do the same for jerks like that. Next time they needed work done, they'd not be able to find a contractor to do it. Either that, or the estimate for the work would be bumped up accordingly in anticipation of this happening. Either way, it would cost them time/money for being scum.

An issue with an attorney or a lawyer (there's a difference) is that most of them know, or should know the "tricks".

A customer signed a contract, we performed. Customer paid significantly less than the contracted/signed amount. We call the customer about the balance with no resolution. I contact our attorney, send him the file and ask him to look into it.

My attorney contacts the customer and then calls me. The customer claimed substandard work, it looks terrible/is unacceptable and said he had hired an architectural/engineering firm to review the work. The customer was only willing pay the amount he did send us for the terrible job.

My attorney tells me to accept the money paid and walk away because...

Turns out the customer's "day job" is a collections attorney and knows all the "angles". He knows how much I will spend to pursue it, he knows he can file multiple times to get it delayed, get more information, claim an "i" wasn't dotted, etc., etc. My attorney said I would win but it could be years and I would be out-of-pocket more money (my attorney ain't cheap) until it gets settled. The customer might be able to appeal and drag it out even longer and then of course getting a Judgement is fine, but you still need to collect the Judgement amount.

Oh yeah, I eventually saw the A/E report long after this was over. I knew the firm that inspected the work. At the time this was going on the A/E didn't know whose work they were inspecting- our customer never divulged that to the A/E and never told us who the A/E was. I distinctly remember this sentence from the report's conclusion : "The quality of the materials and workmanship exceeds industry standards."

Yeah, I wasn't supposed to see the report but after the length of time had passed, my friend at the A/E's office let me look at it when that building came up in a conversation for another reason many years later.

FF: An attorney is required to tell the truth when they're sworn in as a witness in a courtroom. Elsewhere, not so much.

I feel for ya Melvin, I used to own a body shop and my customer base was oil men, bankers, lawyers and doctors. The oil men were going broke so the bankers were suing the oil men to get the money for the loans they gave the oil men. Neither the oil men or bankers had any money left so the lawyers representing both of them didn’t have any money either. That left the doctors and they’re the cheapest SOB’s you’ll ever do anything for!

Guess most SLS folks dont know about the new dated photo system.. amazing how many have profile photos 8 plus years on there profile page.

Speaks volumes on how often they change photos ...

LOL Pass the popcorn!

Lawyers expect money in incremental payments from you to do their service for you. But, when you do something for a lawyer, they want to stall as long as possible for payment to you.

Whoda thunk that concept?!?!?! :-D

"if I read your post correctly, your contract was with them NOT their client. "

Correct.

It's not uncommon for their client to pay their bills, but our clients have generally understood that when push comes to shove, it's their bill to pay.

Yes, it's a law firm.

"Their position is that the bankruptcy Court is in charge."

Maybe Florida law is different than Minnesota law, but if I read your post correctly, your contract was with them NOT their client. Unless there was language in your agreement with them stipulating that you don't get paid until they get paid by their client for your work, they lose in court.

As a contractor, my typical subcontract (standard AGC subcontract) with the General/Prime contractor on a project had a clause that stated that we don't get paid until the GC/Prime contractor received payment for the value of our work that was included in the General Contractor's Pay Application.

One General Contractor we did business with habitually told subcontractor's that something was incorrect in the sub's invoice to the GC so they didn't apply for the amount the subcontractor had invoiced. Redo it and submit next month. WTF? There was nothing wrong- they were prepared and submitted exactly as the subcontract stated

BUT, come to find out that they were including the amounts. They would get paid and then sat on the subcontractors' money. When we subcontractors found out, it wasn't pretty. The VP of that very large company came in to my office one day inquiring as to why we didn't submit bids to them anymore.

As a contractor on real property we had a very powerful tool- file a lien on the property. That made the owner responsible to pay the subs who hadn't been paid.

I'm sure if they made EXTRA money on it, they'd send you your cut. Cause it sounds like they think you are partners

If they don't pay you then their salaries and bonuses are less vulnerable - I'm guessing you're dealing with a law firm.

Right.

I paid my contractors for the work they did for me months ago. I don't get to not pay them because our client hasn't paid us, just like my mortgage lender or electric utility won't accept my non-payment excuse being that these assholes haven't paid us.

"Our position is that our signed engagement is with their firm, not their client, and the terms explicitly spell out that they are responsible for payment."

I worked for a commercial printer and we HATED accepting jobs from advertising agencies because they always trotted out the "our client hasn't paid us" crap when they were past due on invoices. Personally I think it should be a slam dunk for you but it seems that nothing is logical when you have to get the courts involved.

Hope you get paid in full sooner rather than later!

For only the second time ever, we are preparing to sue a client for non-payment for work we did.

Their client filed for bankruptcy and can't pay them. Their position is that the bankruptcy Court is in charge.

Our position is that our signed engagement is with their firm, not their client, and the terms explicitly spell out that they are responsible for payment.

So I guess we will see.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

"... they cannot repossess completed dental work..."

Until Tony Two Toes shows up with a hammer and pliers.

I had that once...

A dental office kept sending me a bill for work the dentist did, that had been previously authorized by the dental insurance to do the work. The dental insurance company was trying to reneg on their authorization to the dentist. I sent certified letters to both the insurance company and the dental office stating that the dentist requested the authorization and the insurance company approved the work. I stated that the dentist and the insurance company has to fight it out between theirselves, as both of them fucked up and that they cannot repossess completed dental work. I lastly stated that if I were to receive one more bill from the dentist, that I would sue them both for harassment by communication.

I got no more bills from that dentist office and that office shut down shortly afterwards. I want to believe that I had a part in that dentist office's closure, because the hammer fell on them after they fucked with the wrong person.

Our insurance on our house and 3 vehicles all come due the first of January.The polices all went up more than they should.No claims ever.So we checked around and got better coverage at a cheaper rate that was worth canceling with our insurance we had then.So we changed insurance company and nearly 3 months later our original insurance company is still calling and sending us a bill for our insurance.We have told them several times we canceled and no longer have insurance with them

Yes Melvin, they are……

What the fuck... I received a call on my cell phone at work today from a number I've been doing business with and the caller was very absent-minded.

I will save the details of what I am dealing with, but, I am fighting with an insurance company to get something resolved. The caller today literally asked "did you have your surgery yet?" I said to the caller that 'surgery' was done on January 17th, 2024 and that claim was closed as of mid-February 2024. I then said to the caller that the previous closed claim has nothing to do with the current issue at hand. I said to the caller of what the issue at hand was and the caller said "oh... I will have to talk to my supervisor."

Why the fuck are insurance companies that fucking stupid?

Not yet, the shitter's full.

No pictures of that, you'll just have to trust us.

Did you flush his inquiry?