Service not delivered after paying

[Moncton]

i paid a down payment to an individual to build a porch. They have dug the foundation and have stopped working on my project. I received about 30% of the service I paid for. I'm owed approx 4K. I'm now getting an estimate from his full time employer. A sales person who I am getting the estimate from says collecting the money from this person is between me and him. This is a small company located in NC.

What is the best course action to get this person to pay me back the difference?

 

[Just Blue]

i paid a down payment to an individual to build a porch. They have dug the foundation and have stopped working on my project. This person was doing this on the side, apart from his full time employer. I received about 30% of the service I paid for. I'm owed approx 4K. I'm now getting an estimate from his full time employer. A sales person who I am getting the estimate from says collecting the money from this person is between me and him. This is a small company called XYZ Corp.
What is the best course action to get this person to pay me back the difference?

You need to take this to Small Claims Court.

 

[justalayman]

If you have a contract, currently the only thing you are owed in the completion of the contract. If you wish to attempt to terminate the contract and seek a refund of any value paid but not recieved in work, that is a very different matter. If the latter is what you are seeking, you need to refer to the terms of your contract regarding a timeline, refunds for work not performed, and several other issues and deal with those before looking to head to court.


You also need to remove the name of the contractor, especially since you said this involves an employee of that contractor and not the contractor themselves. You could be setting yourself up for a defamation suit should you cause that contractor any harm.

 

[Dandy Don]

Check the county courthouse records online to see if this individual has been sued in the past by other people. File a complaint against him with the Better Business Bureau. Talk to other people who do the same type of work to ask how you can find out whether this person is bonded.

 

[Zigner]

File a complaint against him with the Better Business Bureau.

I don't disagree - but I think it should also be mentioned that this will have no bearing on the matter, legally speaking. For an upstanding business, it may cause them to open negotiations, but if the guy's a scoundrel anyway, then it won't make a difference.

 

[Dandy Don]

The difference it will make is that if other people who want to consider using this man's services have the foresight to perform due diligence and check his reputation (or lack thereof) in advance, they will be forewarned.

 

[quincy]

The difference it will make is that if other people who want to consider using this man's services have the foresight to perform due diligence and check his reputation (or lack thereof) in advance, they will be forewarned.

That is assuming the business is not a paying member of the BBB. A paying member of the BBB will often retain an A+ rating with the BBB regardless of the number of consumer complaints filed against it.

In other words, a BBB complaint may or may not have any effect at all on a business. And the BBB does little more than try to persuade two parties to settle their dispute and will then only indicate online that a matter was resolved.

A consumer should not rely on the BBB's rating system (or complaint history) when deciding whether to hire a business or not. Other rating/review sites could be (but will not necessarily be) a better determiner of the business practices of a particular business. The best way for a consumer to judge a business is through personal references from friends. Word-of-mouth reviews tend to have the most impact on a business in any community.