2 bits of bad news in one day.

[CJ]

Why does the vindictive hackles on my neck start twitching when I re-read this.

If no above board methods are suitable, I (and this is just my view) would be taking slightly dodgy methods to cost them more in the long run.

As I said............this is my view, because I just cannot stand this sort of thing.

 

[Pebbs]

Why does the vindictive hackles on my neck start twitching when I re-read this.

If no above board methods are suitable, I (and this is just my view) would be taking slightly dodgy methods to cost them more in the long run.

As I said............this is my view, because I just cannot stand this sort of thing.

I second this emotion, its not vindictive, its fighting fire with fire, when something is so wrong, a piece of paper doesnt hit the spot. This scumbag would have been given a good clump a few years ago...and learnt his lesson.

Lynn

 

[steve187]

Ouch, Sorry to hear, I too had to read ya post several times before it sunk in.:mad2::mad2:

Its typical of the way this country is heading, personally I would send the boys around, but this scumbag sounds like he knows exactly what he is doing, so ya gotta tread careful & as mentioned by others, from a distance.
The missus read it too & she was gobsmacked too she said same as Pebbs suggested, send final invoice registered post.
Hopefully will get sorted.
As for ya so-called mate, he'd be getting a clip big style.

Good luck with it marra

As stated above i would send a 7 day to pay final bill by recorded delivery, on the 8th day again by recorded delivery send a ''if not paid within 5 days the matter will go to small claims court''.

I would also write on a piece of paper or a notebook that you carry, the conversation you had with him at the time, as clear as you remember it, in a
''I said this'' = ............................ and
''he said that'' = ............................
fashion, also include what the police said, the fuller the conversation the better, this could be used in a court as a true conversation, a bit like police notes made at the time. the sooner you make the notes the better, (made at the time after the police left would have been the 'best evidence'), dated and timed the 'best evidence', you could include a copy of these 'made at the time notes' with your second letter about the court action, when you send it, but this could pre-warn him that you have the notes, so needs thinking about. He will not have notes made at the time, so the court should accept your version as more accurate.

I think he would have committed 'obtaining service by deception' under the theft act. or a similar offence, so may be worth speaking to local police and if possible CID, but they may be lough to take action, but it would counteract the fact that he called the police about threatening behaviour.

Don't let him get away with it, some sort of insurance to cover this sort of thing, could be worth looking into as a group cover.

all the best
steve.

 

[ScottG13]

:furious: :11: :90: :15:

 

[CJ CERAMICS]

Again i have to say a big thank you to you all for your support, the thought of repaying this customer with kind so that it costs him more than the job was worth has certainly crossed my mind on more than one occasion, but is not really something that i will do as knowing me i will get it all wrong anyway.

the good news for now is that my solictor friend of mine has constructed a nice letter and invoice for me and sent it to the customer explaining that if full payment is not made then court proceedings will actioned against him, using the 2 police officers who attended his call as witness's to the fact the work was completed and to a satisfactory standard. This is as he says just a scare tactic to hopefully push him to pay, but has on other occasions worked successfully. He is not going to charge me anything for this......but did ask if his son could be captain for football on saturday lol.

chris

 

[Mike]

a bit of good news for a change chris. let's all hope it works for you

 

[Dan]

LMAO. And Captain he shall be.

G'wan lad. Take him to the cleaners.

Keep in touch with your solicitor. I'd consider making his kid captain for the next few weeks even if nothing important is going on with the situation (like waiting for replies or whatever).

 

[user123]

Again i have to say a big thank you to you all for your support, the thought of repaying this customer with kind so that it costs him more than the job was worth has certainly crossed my mind on more than one occasion, but is not really something that i will do as knowing me i will get it all wrong anyway.

the good news for now is that my solictor friend of mine has constructed a nice letter and invoice for me and sent it to the customer explaining that if full payment is not made then court proceedings will actioned against him, using the 2 police officers who attended his call as witness's to the fact the work was completed and to a satisfactory standard. This is as he says just a scare tactic to hopefully push him to pay, but has on other occasions worked successfully. He is not going to charge me anything for this......but did ask if his son could be captain for football on saturday lol.

chris

I am SO rooting for you in this ... it would be nice to know that injustices can be fought without resorting to taking the law into your own hands... good good luck

 

[Dan]

Me too. We tend to deal with most of our issues out of court. Both parties always understand it's costly and neither normally have bad intentions.

Which is why I sort of suspect this guy is some type of law guy, solicitor, CPS, police maybe? You know what he does for a living mate?

 

[CJ CERAMICS]

Hes a janitor for local council Dave......but has made a lot of money from doing houses up and selling them (most of his profit probably came from not paying for the work).

 

[Dan]

You mean Dan, not Dave mate.

I see why he's doing that now. You should try to find others he hasn't paid and make this be his big payback time.

 

[CJ CERAMICS]

So sorry Dan i do apologise mate, I will certainly be making his son Captain this week, but in all honesty not just because of what his Father is doing for me, But for the fact Jody (his son not the father) is a new player who signed with us at the beginning of the season and although not the most technical player we have, he is already due to be awarded the MVP award at the end of the season. He is someone who will play in any position i ask him to and gives his utmost everytime.
chris

 

[hillhead]

Good to hear progress Chris, hopefully all goes well.

 

[doug boardley]

fingers crossed for you Chris

 

[ScottG13]

It has to be said Chris you did extremely well to walk away. When the old red mist comes down its not easy to switch off, hats off to you. If he palmed you off with I'll have to pay you another day, then ignored your calls etc it wouldn't have been so bad. Its the fact he pretty much told you to your face 'No, I'm not paying you'! It makes my blood boil aaarrrrrrrgghh. Anyway you have proved you are the better man in showing the professionalism (look at Scott with the big words) you did. Had it been an argument with someone in the street/pub it may have been different but this is your career so the boy did good. Looks like you are making progress though, just hope it all works out for you mate.

 

[Noaksy]

Sorry dan but when you said big pay back, hope there is a good ending to this thread!! and also some info to be learned for customers like this!! hopefully few and far between, all the best with this Chris!
[video=youtube;vsOmvSlPuys]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsOmvSlPuys[/video]

 

[poynton phil]

I just read this through, and cant believe it, I really hope this turns out ok for you. I think i would of ended up getting arrested.

 

[steve187]

It has to be said Chris you did extremely well to walk away. When the old red mist comes down its not easy to switch off, hats off to you. If he palmed you off with I'll have to pay you another day, then ignored your calls etc it wouldn't have been so bad. Its the fact he pretty much told you to your face 'No, I'm not paying you'! It makes my blood boil aaarrrrrrrgghh. Anyway you have proved you are the better man in showing the professionalism (look at Scott with the big words) you did. Had it been an argument with someone in the street/pub it may have been different but this is your career so the boy did good. Looks like you are making progress though, just hope it all works out for you mate.

Yes Chris i think you did well to bite your lip, I in the past have been known for not doing this.

all the best
steve

 

[jay]

well that sucks best of luck Chris
keep moving forward

 

[jay]

well that sucks best of luck Chris
keep moving forward

 

[doit4u]

Chris

Just picked up this thread. This guy's parents obviously weren't married. Wish you luck in getting your dosh.

I think many of us work on trust; send out the quote and just do the job when the customer agrees it without getting any sort of formal agreement signed. Sounds as though it was quite a big job but hopefully under the small claims limit, which I think is £5000, but may have gone up, or else it will be more expensive through the normal county court system.

I have successfully used the small claims court on several occassions but only for small amounts. You can even do it on line now. I really dig in when I feel people are extracting the urine.

In one case I took abloke through the SMCC for £50. In the end it cost him £120, but I did have to wait to get paid in 10 monthly installments, as he claimed he was living on benefits but I knew he was running a business breaking vans and selling the bits on E-bay so he got bubbled to the Social and tax as well.

If you want to have a chat about my experiences PM me and we could swop phone numbers.

The only way I can think of that he could wriggle out of this would be if you had done the quote in his house and started work within 7 days without getting a cooling off period waver signed. I put a thread on about this a couple of years ago when it was fairly new legislation as most smaller businesses are unaware of these regulations.

My personal motto is 'Nil Illigitimus Carborundum' which translate as 'Don't let the ###### grind you down''. Or in this case perhaps you could adopt Carborundum Illigitmus', which would be 'Grind down the ######'. What's that noise - Oh its my long dead Latin teacher spinning in his grave.

I wonder If we could name and shame on this site without comeback.

Wishing you every success in sorting this and keep us posted.

Chris

 

[Dan]

Chris

Just picked up this thread. This guy's parents obviously weren't married. Wish you luck in getting your dosh.

I think many of us work on trust; send out the quote and just do the job when the customer agrees it without getting any sort of formal agreement signed. Sounds as though it was quite a big job but hopefully under the small claims limit, which I think is £5000, but may have gone up, or else it will be more expensive through the normal county court system.

I have successfully used the small claims court on several occassions but only for small amounts. You can even do it on line now. I really dig in when I feel people are extracting the urine.

In one case I took abloke through the SMCC for £50. In the end it cost him £120, but I did have to wait to get paid in 10 monthly installments, as he claimed he was living on benefits but I knew he was running a business breaking vans and selling the bits on E-bay so he got bubbled to the Social and tax as well.

If you want to have a chat about my experiences PM me and we could swop phone numbers.

The only way I can think of that he could wriggle out of this would be if you had done the quote in his house and started work within 7 days without getting a cooling off period waver signed. I put a thread on about this a couple of years ago when it was fairly new legislation as most smaller businesses are unaware of these regulations.

My personal motto is 'Nil Illigitimus Carborundum' which translate as 'Don't let the ###### grind you down''. Or in this case perhaps you could adopt Carborundum Illigitmus', which would be 'Grind down the ######'. What's that noise - Oh its my long dead Latin teacher spinning in his grave.

I wonder If we could name and shame on this site without comeback.

Wishing you every success in sorting this and keep us posted.

Chris

I'd gladly use some of the forum funds to defend against any solicitors letters we got by posting his name on here, but only after Chris wins the case. If we did it now, it could go against any claim which is the last thing we'd want to do.

 

[doit4u]

See your point. What about a trade association that tilers could subscribe to that would take on such cases.

 

[doit4u]

Forgot about the last bit about his 'mate' going behind his back.

I am often asked to recommend a plasterer. I once suggested a guy who was just an aqauintance and he asked my customer how much I had quoted for the tiling as he would be able to do it cheaper - the customer told me. He probably could have as from what i saw he had a really good earner from the plastering work.

Luckily the customer had a strong sense of fair play and stuck with me, even though it was the first job i had done for her. Subsequently I got 5 more jobs from her.

Needless to say his card went straight in the bin and his number was deleted from my mobile.

 

[CJ CERAMICS]

I'd gladly use some of the forum funds to defend against any solicitors letters we got by posting his name on here, but only after Chris wins the case. If we did it now, it could go against any claim which is the last thing we'd want to do.

Thanks guys but i would rather not name and shame this customer through the website for a number of reasons.
1. this site is a truly great place to be a member of and for people to get correct info from, i would not in no way like the forum to get a reputation for bad mouthing members of the public.
2. i would feel terrible that funds generated for the forum needing to be used to defend itself from solictors letters due to myself having a bad customer.
3. I will get my money of this i am determined.
4. Basically number 1 again. lol

chris