ContractorJaxFL
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? FL
Sorry for the long post but we need some serious advice which is greatly appreciated!
We gave our client a quotation in October and she accepted to have the work done right after Christmas. She paid the down payment per check (mostly used to buy materials) and we performed the work on thursday (12-27-07) - installation of approximately 180 linear feet of aluminum gutters all around her house. After she inspected the work she gave us the final payment check as agreed upon in our quotation "final payment is due upon satisfactory completion of the work". The first check was for $700 and the second one for $480.
She called saturday (12-29-07) and said that she was not happy with the work and we suggested to come out on monday to fix what they thought was wrong with the gutters. Her roommate called also a little bit later and DEMANDED that we came out the same day (saturday) to fix the gutters RIGHT THEN OR ELSE - she was very rude. We bought material that is intended for PVC gutters (to angle the gutters more) since they don't make those things for aluminum gutters and fixed only a small section because it was getting dark. Aluminum gutters are different from PVC gutters which are angled already, aluminum gutters are very hard to install perfectly level. We also pointed out BEFORE we started the job that there would be seams every 10 feet and that we would seal those. Both women agreed to that and didn't seem to have any problem with the seams. While we were performing the repair, 3 guys were constanly around us and acted very intimidating and pointed out issues we were going to address later. We said that the homeowners needed to take a look at the work and let us know on sunday during the day how they liked the section we fixed and we would come back out on monday to do the rest of the gutters the same way.
They never called us on sunday. We called back on monday (12-31-07) and the demanding one of the two women said that they wanted a FULL REFUND of the money for the whole job (including the money for the materials - adding up to around $650). So basically, we would pay for the gutters that we cannot use in the future and the work we've performed. We suggested to get together face to face to resolve the issues they are having a few days later.
On 01-03-08 the nicer woman called and we set up a time to meet that afternoon. Later in the morning the demanding woman called and threatened to take us to court if we would not agree to their demands, a whole refund. We met for coffee with the nicer of the two women and we suggested to her to come out and redo the work completely. She said that she was not going for that and that she had lost confidence in us completely. All of a sudden the demanding woman shows up and gets very hostile and confrontational with us. Again, she threatened to take us to court and to destroy our good reputation if her demands would not be met.
She also mentioned that she put a stop payment on the second check (she only mentioned the second check, we don't know if she also put a stop payment on the first one which we used for the materials). So that means that we are going into the hole with our bank and that the money we paid to our workers is out the door as well.
Did they breach the contract and what legal consequences follow? Can we take them to court for non-payment for services performed? We offered (free of charge of course) remedy of the issues the clients have with the performed work numerous times but they simply declined - we feel that we have done what we possibly could to fulfill our end of the contract and to resolve the issues. Do they have a legal leg to stand on by threatening to take us to court? The mean woman also mentioned that she is considering to have someone else take down the gutters for $7 per linear foot and bill us for that work even though we offered to take down the gutters for free - can she do that?
Thanks for any advice!!
Sorry for the long post but we need some serious advice which is greatly appreciated!
We gave our client a quotation in October and she accepted to have the work done right after Christmas. She paid the down payment per check (mostly used to buy materials) and we performed the work on thursday (12-27-07) - installation of approximately 180 linear feet of aluminum gutters all around her house. After she inspected the work she gave us the final payment check as agreed upon in our quotation "final payment is due upon satisfactory completion of the work". The first check was for $700 and the second one for $480.
She called saturday (12-29-07) and said that she was not happy with the work and we suggested to come out on monday to fix what they thought was wrong with the gutters. Her roommate called also a little bit later and DEMANDED that we came out the same day (saturday) to fix the gutters RIGHT THEN OR ELSE - she was very rude. We bought material that is intended for PVC gutters (to angle the gutters more) since they don't make those things for aluminum gutters and fixed only a small section because it was getting dark. Aluminum gutters are different from PVC gutters which are angled already, aluminum gutters are very hard to install perfectly level. We also pointed out BEFORE we started the job that there would be seams every 10 feet and that we would seal those. Both women agreed to that and didn't seem to have any problem with the seams. While we were performing the repair, 3 guys were constanly around us and acted very intimidating and pointed out issues we were going to address later. We said that the homeowners needed to take a look at the work and let us know on sunday during the day how they liked the section we fixed and we would come back out on monday to do the rest of the gutters the same way.
They never called us on sunday. We called back on monday (12-31-07) and the demanding one of the two women said that they wanted a FULL REFUND of the money for the whole job (including the money for the materials - adding up to around $650). So basically, we would pay for the gutters that we cannot use in the future and the work we've performed. We suggested to get together face to face to resolve the issues they are having a few days later.
On 01-03-08 the nicer woman called and we set up a time to meet that afternoon. Later in the morning the demanding woman called and threatened to take us to court if we would not agree to their demands, a whole refund. We met for coffee with the nicer of the two women and we suggested to her to come out and redo the work completely. She said that she was not going for that and that she had lost confidence in us completely. All of a sudden the demanding woman shows up and gets very hostile and confrontational with us. Again, she threatened to take us to court and to destroy our good reputation if her demands would not be met.
She also mentioned that she put a stop payment on the second check (she only mentioned the second check, we don't know if she also put a stop payment on the first one which we used for the materials). So that means that we are going into the hole with our bank and that the money we paid to our workers is out the door as well.
Did they breach the contract and what legal consequences follow? Can we take them to court for non-payment for services performed? We offered (free of charge of course) remedy of the issues the clients have with the performed work numerous times but they simply declined - we feel that we have done what we possibly could to fulfill our end of the contract and to resolve the issues. Do they have a legal leg to stand on by threatening to take us to court? The mean woman also mentioned that she is considering to have someone else take down the gutters for $7 per linear foot and bill us for that work even though we offered to take down the gutters for free - can she do that?
Thanks for any advice!!
