Service Provider Keeps Sending Invoices..Provides no receipts

What is the name of your state? PA

We hired someone to put up blinds. In the beginning, we said, we've never done this before, what's the process, cost etc. She says depends on what we want. At the initial meeting discussing a quote on the project which is said to be 2500 or so including window treatments & blinds, but not specifics. No contract was signed; no disclosure of rates was given. We paid 1200 to get going, which she bought and put up blinds. Other items were purchased and she presented another invoice of 1500, which we paid. We asked for an itemized invoice, which she could not provide. This is about 2700, which we assumed covered everything.

She finished up and sends us another invoice for 2100. We thought we had already paid for everything. On the invoice were charges for the window treatments, installation and shopping fees (which she never told us about). We asked for receipts for everything purchased, which she rudely replied, and told us to look it up in the Pennies catalog.
Do I have the right not to pay her if she can't provide receipts? Do I have a legitimate case to defend myself if she tries to pursue this in court? All I want is proof things cost what they cost..but she won't provide it. She was never clear on anything. Again, we have never done this before, it is up to her to run the show, is it not?

Verbal agreements are binding IF the Parties had a meeting of the minds .

It doesn't sound as if there were a meeting of the minds here .

If you understood 2500 for all cost , it would be up to the Judge to decide if that amount holds .

She would have to sue you and Prove her cost .

I understand , If she bought these Items and materials , she should have receipts .

Have you at least looked in Pennies catalog to compare prices ?


This should be a Lesson , in getting any contracts in writing with specifics , signed by all parties , and dated .

PA

Well, exactly. No agreement was really made, just kind of a rough estimate. I'm not saying she didn't pay for all the items she paid for...my problem is: 1) she never said, hey, this will cost x amount, do you want to do it - she just bought it all w/o giving us an itemized quote/invoice ahead of time for us to approve and 2) she won't show us if indeed everything cost what she says they did. I can't take her word for it for a curtain that cost $600. I want to see proof. BTW, not everything came from Pennies catalog, so I have no idea where to verify it. To me, by her not providing receipts or a catalog where she ordered it, makes me feel like she's trying to rip us off.

Overall, I wasn't very happy with the process. She should be, being the professional in her field, the one telling us how the show works. I'm also not against paying for the items, since we have it, but I want to see proof they cost what she says they cost. That's my main problem. But since she's not willing to show this...would it be better to have her take us to court? Which way would the judge lean on this?

As a Professional ( if she's a Professional ) , should have had a written contract and gone step by step of the Process and cost with you .

Being that did not happen , you also had a duty as a consumer to ASK and be part of the process . After All it was YOUR money .

I realized She billed you the remainder After the Fact , but you do have these materials .

I still say let the Judge decide , let her prove her Cost .

One can not just walk into Court and blurt out numbers .

Write a return receipt requested Certified Letter , and state you need materials cost proofs .

As far as Labor cost , Etc , Again it would be up to a Judge to decide .

Have you called around to Other Professionals in the Business and get a Rough phone estimate of their Labor, shopping , Etc . Charges , to compare .

In the end the Judge just may decide the Total cost included Labor , Etc She is claiming .

No one here can tell you what a Judge would decide .

Look - and this goes for everyone else, too.

You ALWAYS have a right to simply refuse to pay a bill that someone sends to you. It's never going to be a "Crime" to not pay the bill, and the worst they can do is sue you, which, 90% of the time, won't happen. If they do decide to sue you, the most you can be ordered to pay them is the amount of the bill plus a couple hundred in filing fees and court costs. You won't have to pay their attorneys fees, punitive damages, or anything else. For an issue like this, you won't even need an attorney.

Just write this lady a letter and say "We're not paying this second bill. Your estimate was for $2500 and that's all we agreed to pay. We have paid $2700, which is all we are going to pay absent a court order to the contrary."

Just because someone sends you a bill doesn't mean you owe them the money. They are just claiming that you do.

Clearly you have some sort of disagreement over how much you were supposed to pay. It's probably the case that there was some miscommunication here, and everyone involved is probably a "good person" acting in good faith. You each probably think the other is trying to screw you. It's completely unclear whether you, legally, owe her this money.

There's no way to know what a court would decide. However, I can tell you that this lady is going to have some trouble finding an attorney to represent her for a small enough fee to make pursuing this matter worthwhile. Thus, just refuse to pay her and forget about the situation. If, later on, you get a summons, then at that time it might be a good idea to talk settlement.

Like you, she's probably quite unsure whether you really owe her this money. That makes it significantly less likely that she'll sue, and if she does sue, it means she'll be willing to accept a pretty small settlement. If you appear confident and knowledgable, and give her the impression that you are completely certain that you don't owe her the money, this will further her insecurities about the situation and decrease her likelihood of pursuing it.

PA

Thank you both for replying. Just some final thoughts on your replies..

I agree she should have been more 'step by step' with everything as she is the professional and we have never done this before. I agree also that we were not with it enough to say HEY, Wait, provide this before we do anything. Again, we've never done anything like that before.

Since we do have all the materials, I guess I would be willing to pay for at least some of it, even though we didn't authorize any purchases past the $2500 we already paid, but she won't even show me receipts. That's like a big red flag. She said she didn't even charge all the hours of installation, so she "could" send a new invoice charging more money...I don't want to pay more than I have to or more than I should too! I don't want to screw her over, and I don't want to be screwed over, so I guess in the end it's best to let a judge decide what's write given the circumstances...

Thanks again!

Since we do have all the materials, I guess I would be willing to pay for at least some of it, even though we didn't authorize any purchases past the $2500 we already paid

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What don't you get ? You didn't authorize anything , you did NOT have a signed, dated , and itemized Contract.

You're right you will let a Judge decide .

The Well "IF' or " I could " caharge you more , is just a Statetment /Threat .

Let her prove Her cost .

Now Have you writen that RRCRRl yet ?

Blonde Lebinese said:

Now Have you writen that RRCRRl yet ?

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It's going out today. Thanks again for your input.