Contractor unwilling to pay for work done

[PTS]

I'm going to vent a little. I got off of the phone today with a contractor that we did work for this summer. 3.5 weeks of removing trees and grinding stumps for a large city street project something like 50 large tree and stump removals, all in the powerline, cable, you name it, it was present. We have had to pull teeth on every bill to just get paid. Then today they tell me three months late on a bill, that they are not going to pay a portion of a bill because we needed to grind a few stumps lower because they had to change the grade even though they never called to tell us that. We already reground some because of their mistake and I did it a no cost to keep the friendship going (good account). They claim they called and left a message that it needed done when I was down south doing hurricane clean-up 3.5 months after completion of the project and never called the office. The cell they called was no longer in service because of a company change and yet they couldn't call the office where my wife fielded phone calls everyday. They blame us for this because I didn't call them to tell them I was leaving town. Not that it mattered, it was 3.5 months after completion and we did our work just as they had asked and just were attempting to get paid. Long story short they are refusing to pay what is owed and I am pulling my hair out. They took our total bill minus what they paid another company for some grinding, and that is what they claim they are sending. I flat out told them if we don't receive full payment that this would end up in court. I found out later that I am not the first to be messed with by the large million dollar company.

 

[Ekka]

Large companies and corporations are out of control.

Ruthless people hide in those walls. Nobodies in the real world.

What I do is post it all on the net, like here, full details, names the lot, I dont give a hoot. Over here companies dont get the privacy laws that individuals do. Then when the thread is started and everyone has their say I email them the link ... let every company know what filth they are.

Sue them anyway, yourself, hopefully it's an amount the small debts court canb handle without legal representation. But go hard mate, no nice guy stuff, kick them where it hurts ... hard, let their directors see the crap, email politicians and let them know that whilst consumers have protection contractors do not.

Just scum, filthy dirty rotten scum, get their email address and sign up to every ???? site on the net, ask for trial versions of all the software programs you can with their email address, be a bigger pain in the ass than Gypo is to Treehosers and you will wear them down.

Ah, I feel better too now, thanks for that.

 

[pbtree]

No prisoners and no quarter - there is something seriously wrong with people like that, and part of the problem is they get away with it...

 

[a_lopa]

they thrive on it, ???????s.

hire debt collectors,really annoying ones

 

[iain]

a well written job spec + any works not specified above, will incurr further costs, Requests in written form only, via fax, post, email ( costs to be agreed prior to commencement)
at the end of the spec
works well for me, we have a saying belts and braces on the job

 

[TimberMcPherson]

If its gets real bad get the number of the head guys, find there home numbers, call there wives to remind them nicely that they owe you money. Ring em at all hours, park your truck in the entrance of there yard and fake a breakdown for a little while at start times, Put flyers around there neighbourhoods that the owe money to some honest contractors (no names of course). The company will hide behind itself, its what they do, but if you get at people, then you can get somewhere (hopefully not jail)

 

[Komitet]

Last time someone didn't pay their bill, I dumped 2 tonnes of wood chips mixed with snow in their driveway, I had a cheque in under 2 weeks.

 

[Dadatwins]

a well written job spec + any works not specified above, will incurr further costs, Requests in written form only, via fax, post, email ( costs to be agreed prior to commencement)
at the end of the spec

Ditto that on any large scall project like mentioned, A grade change on stump removal should have been agreed upon in writing before starting work. And as to keeping a 'friendship' of the account going, I say friends are friends and business is business, and they can't mix. Good luck.

 

[Ekka]

Last time someone didn't pay their bill, I dumped 2 tonnes of wood chips mixed with snow in their driveway, I had a cheque in under 2 weeks.

I bet you wouldn't be the first to have done that either ... I've been lucky and never had to go that far yet but some people are weirdo's that just want to be difficult.

 

[PTS]

Friends

I use the word friendship lightly. We did over $35,000 worth of work with them this summer. Not an account you want to loose. And for a few hundred dollars I questioned whether I wanted to raise a stink, but I thought, they got their money and we deserve ours.

Also this was a contracted deal. We bid the job. The contract required a price per inch which was measured in diameter 18 inches off the ground. They claim that this is the new national standard on bidding trees. You guys know anything about that? I figured the cost and divided by number of inches to get that number. This included stumps. That is where they get you. You are responsible for grinding the stump but no where does it say how deep. I tried to get them to put that in. and they said "as long as it is below grade it will be fine because we are just going to cover it up anyway."

 

[iain]

This included stumps. That is where they get you. You are responsible for grinding the stump but no where does it say how deep. I tried to get them to put that in. and they said "as long as it is below grade it will be fine because we are just going to cover it up anyway."[/QUOTE]


the key word is 'SAID' get in writing !
lessons learnt the hard way are the ones you remember the best

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

."

This included stumps. That is where they get you. You are responsible for grinding the stump but no where does it say how deep. I tried to get them to put that in. and they said "as long as it is below grade it will be fine because we are just going to cover it up anyway."

the key word is 'SAID' get in writing !
lessons learnt the hard way are the ones you remember the best

I have to agree here, this is an "eye" not dotted. In residential bidding I state 8-12 inches below average grade of immidiate landscape. This includes soil crown around the basal flair.

I can see both sides of the argument, and have been on them too. Calm down, wait a while and decide if it is worth the hassle of litigation and loosing the future work. If you have not allready.

Maybe you can talk to management there and get something worked out when you are calmer?

 

[Tom Dunlap]

You could let this one go, write tighter specs next time and then add in the loss from this job into the next bid without them knowing that you're slipping them a Mickey.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I say friends are friends and business is business, and they can't mix.

Yep. Best way I've found to keep friendships friendly is to keep business businesslike.

Business can be friendly, but it's business.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

You could let this one go, write tighter specs next time and then add in the loss from this job into the next bid without them knowing that you're slipping them a Mickey.

Tom, I like your style!

 

[Chronic1]

You could let this one go, write tighter specs next time and then add in the loss from this job into the next bid without them knowing that you're slipping them a Mickey.

Oh yeah. Been there done that. Good advice.

I learned the hard way to be VERY detailed, no wiggle room. Once I didn't date a bid for expiration (good for 30 days), it was slow, the job was hairy...needed work...and wouldn't you know it...a year later when it was summer and things were hectic this customer calls me on it. EGADS !

Good luck.

 

[Stumper]

We could send Guido and Tiny around to visit the CEO.......

 

[priest]

I know what you're feeling. Any arborists still in Slidell, LA and hard up for work let me know. I need some mafia-style persuasion on a local landscaper that owes me $2200. Supposed to be two simple cash jobs based on a handshake.

 

[TipTop]

Be careful cashing the check if it states payment in full. This shows acceptance. We too have run into this situation. Now, on the back of our proposals, we specify that stump grinding shall be 5-6 inches below the original grade of the land and parts or all may not be grindable if set within any rock or hardware. Also, we sometimes throw in the grinding for free to get the job. Stumps are not always done on the same day as the trees and customers like to hold back payment until the job is complete. One job we did in the winter and told them we would be back in the spring when the snow melts to do the stumps. They were thrown in for free but didn't state so on the proposal. The customer insisted on holding back $500 until we grount them. Then, they hired another company to grind the stumps for $250 and refused to pay us the $500 for tree work. We now state on our proposals the price for trees and the price for the stumps separately. Tree work must be paid before the stump grinding. Have to cover all bases because there's always someone out to $%^&# you.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Yep, nothing is free. And you should allways collect on service rendered.

I have a client who allways has "money out there" because he is waiting on stumps. I cannot understand waiting to bill $2000 because of a $150 stump