The Games Customers Play

I hearya. My insurance offered $816 to compensate them for a handful of stone dust that could have been blown out of the paver cracks by a power washer. This is also bogus since I was aware of this while power washing. But they declined and want 3 grand. So, I guess I'll just send a notification to them regarding payment and that I'll take them to small claims.

I've never had to deal with this before but this is enough money to warrant my effort in the winter
 
Gorman said:
I hearya. My insurance offered $816 to compensate them for a handful of stone dust that could have been blown out of the paver cracks by a power washer. This is also bogus since I was aware of this while power washing. But they declined and want 3 grand. So, I guess I'll just send a notification to them regarding payment and that I'll take them to small claims.

I've never had to deal with this before but this is enough money to warrant my effort in the winter
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Perhaps a little more detail might help us. Insurance offering them $816 for "a handful of stone dust" that should have been gotten by pressure washing, which you apparently were doing? This needs clarification. Also, did you not offer to make things right with them before it got to the insurance phase?
 
ward said:
Perhaps a little more detail might help us. Insurance offering them $816 for "a handful of stone dust" that should have been gotten by pressure washing, which you apparently were doing? This needs clarification. Also, did you not offer to make things right with them before it got to the insurance phase?
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Yeah, long story but the jest of it is that some bark sloughed off branch tips while being dragged across a patio and made some marks on the pavers. Should have brought mats but when the job was bid the patio wasn't there and I wasn't told it was constructed. So there were marks on the pavers. I email the owner that night and let her know and told her I'd be there in a couple to power wash the marks off. She said fine.
The power washing worked fine and the patio looked good as new, I took pictures to be sure.
I billed it out and didn't hear from them until 4 weeks later I got a letter from her lawyer saying I "recklessly and carelessly damaged her patio and I needed to get my insurance involved. So I did, no problem even though it seemed fishy. My insurance had an adjuster go out and look at the patio two times to be sure and found there was nothing wrong with it but offered $800 to replace a handful of stone dust that might have blew from the paver cracks.
They have refused and want $3k for a new patio. So that bring you to date. [emoji846]
 
Some of them are sick, sick people with a lot of time on their hands. Mind fuckers that should get a dose of their own BS someday if karma comes around. I've got some doozies lately, but the scenarios are actually too complicated for me to post. Argh. Bastards.
 
Gorman said:
Yeah, long story but the jest of it is that some bark sloughed off branch tips while being dragged across a patio and made some marks on the pavers. Should have brought mats but when the job was bid the patio wasn't there and I wasn't told it was constructed. So there were marks on the pavers. I email the owner that night and let her know and told her I'd be there in a couple to power wash the marks off. She said fine.
The power washing worked fine and the patio looked good as new, I took pictures to be sure.
I billed it out and didn't hear from them until 4 weeks later I got a letter from her lawyer saying I "recklessly and carelessly damaged her patio and I needed to get my insurance involved. So I did, no problem even though it seemed fishy. My insurance had an adjuster go out and look at the patio two times to be sure and found there was nothing wrong with it but offered $800 to replace a handful of stone dust that might have blew from the paver cracks.
They have refused and want $3k for a new patio. So that bring you to date. [emoji846]
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Sounds like an instance of the Priceless Shed/Priceless Vase Game. You are in a tough spot with this one. Not even the most umbrella-like dogshit clause could be written to protect you against this kind of shit slinging. You've done your mitigation: let the insurance work it out. My 2 cents.
 
I sent a certified letter saying they have 10 days to pay before I go to small claims. I could let it go since its been a great year but I won't give it to them. By the time I go to court it will be winter and I'll have the time to waste in these garbage people.
 
Gorman said:
I sent a certified letter saying they have 10 days to pay before I go to small claims. I could let it go since its been a great year but I won't give it to them. By the time I go to court it will be winter and I'll have the time to waste in these garbage people.
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It would be great to start a thread of people's names not to work for. We could call it the Tree Buzz Black List. :mad::boxeador:
 
Gorman said:
I sent a certified letter saying they have 10 days to pay before I go to small claims. I could let it go since its been a great year but I won't give it to them. By the time I go to court it will be winter and I'll have the time to waste in these garbage people.
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Ask to be compensated for the time spent pursuing your payment too. Keep a notebook with every phone call and time spent dealing with them and your insurance company. People like this will never stop trying to scam unless it comes back to bite them in the ass.
 
I think that's something, which has to already exist as a clause in your contract. Something to the effect that, "legal and litigation fees incurred attendant to the enforcement of the contract, will be paid to the winner of said suit, by the loser."

The problem with that, is that it's a dual-edged sword. If you lose in court, then you pay all the fees for both sides.
 
classictruckman said:
Start it, charge something minimal like $10 a month, it's something so useful every business in the world would want to use it, you'll make millions. I guarantee I would be the first member!
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No need to charge, advertising income from a higher traffic site is likely to be more profitable.
 
I hate to rain on a parade, but publishing a list like that would violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and subject the purveyor of the list and anyone participating in promoting it to excruciating federal and possibly state penalties and fines.

Long ago and far away, I worked as a debt collector and was trained thoroughly in FDCPA. It's definitely come in handy a time or two in my present career.

Here's a link running down the basic do's and don'ts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Debt_Collection_Practices_Act
 
What if collecting money is not mentioned, but the overall bad experience working for a particular client is? Doesn't freedom of speech play a part in this?
 
Perhaps one of the criteria could be "vendor feels that client honored all of the terms of the contract". A lot of vagueness built into that rather than specific information about debt. It should be noted that this is a dangerous course to chart (generally speaking). Our customer service based society usually only recognizes the one way street: the customer was satisfied by the vendor. Here, the tables are turned and individual persons--not merely corporate persons (e.g. XYZ Tree Service) are being scrutinized. Cervi makes a good point about laws protecting the exposure of individual debts. I would also think this thing could really bring about some liability for a company when it ventures into the terrain of publically reviewing individual persons. They could show that other companies wouldn't work with them because their reputation had been damaged by your review and you might be held liable for the extra price they had to pay so and so from out of the area to come and do the work.
 
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