# owner broke contract of $9,000



## bubbaj (Jan 31, 2006)

a home owner came and found at a gas station and asked me to give him an estimate. I went to his house and looked over the storm damaged trees and gave him a bid of $9,580 plus tax. He told me I could have the job if I did it for $9000 plus tax> I agreed and wrote it at the bottom of bid and we both signed it that we both agreed. He then said he had a bid for $10,000 and was happy I would do it for what he offerd to give me. Any ways I told him that I would not be able to do the complete job till the fallowing day do to a gulf course I had to finish. He said that would be fine butt he asked if I would clear his diveway so he could get in and out I agreed and worked 2 hrs. He gave me a check 10% be fore I left. 

I finished the gulf course that aftenoon The home owner called in the morning and started chewing me out said he called the BBB and reported me for price gouging becouse the company that bid the job before me came back and siad they would do the job for $5000 I told him that it was to late he singhed a contract and the other guy's should have given that price to begin with if that was what they could do it for. Beside3s I already started the job. 

Any ways I wasnt alowed to finish the jod the home owner told me to keep the check for the 10% when I went to cash it the check had ben canciled I got a charge for the check and lost on the work I did and the other work I could have drumed up instead of dealing with this ass.

Could I have taken this ass to court or is there an other way this could have ben delt with, Was the signeters not woth the paper they were on or what ?????????????????????????????????????


f***ing ahole!!!


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## Tree Frog (Jan 31, 2006)

Bubbaj, I'm sorry to hear about this and unfortunatly have no experience in solving this particular delema. 

This does bring up a good situation to look up in my state and see how this could be handled. I bet there more than a few people who have solved this one.

One question on the other tree service, how do you go about lowering the price by 50%. That seems unreasonable and unethical. 

In short I understand that the customer:

Signed the contract
Had partial work conducted
Paid 10%
Called BBB
Cancelled Check
Left you with fees and lost production

My first reaction (non-emotional) is to count up the time and energy to prusue your costs. Maybe a certified invoice of fees, actual work completed and a letter from your attortney for services rendered.

This is just a guess.


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## Trinity Honoria (Feb 1, 2006)

bubbaj said:


> Any ways I wasnt alowed to finish the jod the home owner told me to keep the check for the 10% when I went to cash it the check had ben canciled I got a charge for the check and lost on the work I did and the other work I could have drumed up instead of dealing with this ass.



i'm not in the tree business, but when dealing with a new customer, i don't let the ink dry on the check before i present it at the bank it was written on... if you present it at the teller's window, if it's not valid-- you don't pay a fee and walk out with the cash in hand. also, i make a copy of the check on the way to the bank for my bookkeeping... cash can seem to evaporate between the bank and the accounting system!


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## spike-columbia (Feb 1, 2006)

These type of situations occur in all businesses.

1st - does your contract have a clause for default?

2nd - you should add a clause for total value of services performed (this is very subjective - example; how much labor, gas, wear and tear on equipment, etc. name your $$$).

3rd - He invited you to his home (there is no right of rescission 3 day cooling off).

4th - The guy may be in serious trouble; how much was the check?
you may file criminal charges for bad check (even on stop payments).

5th - Send a demand letter for the full value of your service as to date (send letter USPO certified return receipt) then state in your letter you will file a lawsuit in 10 days if payment not received. Then file at small claims level.

6th - Contact me I use a collection agency out of Texas - they will collect your Bad Check and Balance due. (do you have a clause for collection or default? - if so you will be able to add all collection cost to amount).

7th - Everyone should learn from this - be careful what you sign and never sign a contract thinking - I can cancel! 

You can cancel anything, but once someone starts, it may cost you big time to get out of contract!!! 

Just-my-two=cents

Spike


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## Redbull (Feb 1, 2006)

I did a job last week for a contractor as a sub-contractor. I knew he was losing his tail on this job and I told him I wanted to be paid up front. He said when we were done he would take me to his bank to cash the check and I told him I wanted it now. When he wrote the check, I called his bank and verified the funds. 
Now, thi isn't exactly the same situation, but when in doubt, check it out. Your situation sucks, no matter what you are gonna be wasting a lot of time and resources. Good luck.


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## RandyS (Feb 1, 2006)

Consider yourself lucky. The next guy for $5000 might take a real big hit. 
We have a small landscape business and never use contracts. Not saying it's right or wrong. Just seems like they don't mean much anyway.
A few customers have done that to me in the past. Back when I was younger I'd just show up at their door with my biker friends. Always seemed to work. Now I just don't get all uptight about it, figure they must need it more then I do. 
I would just figure that I did the right thing by getting his driveway opened up for him in case there was a fire or something. 
Good luck.


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## tawilson (Feb 1, 2006)

I'd have my lawyer look at it. You've got a signed contract and a cancelled check, which is pretty good ammunition. I had a similar situation, signed contract and cancelled check, except it was only $950, but it was enough for my lawyer to take it on a 1/3 contingency fee. I only have to pay the court filing costs. It's not settled yet, but I'm not out a whole bunch if I lose.


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## bubbaj (Feb 1, 2006)

thanks guys but the only thing is this hapened last spring. I will half to just use this as a learning experence.


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## spike-columbia (Feb 1, 2006)

*Criminal Offense*

Your client committed a criminal offense - call your solicitor.


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## Monkeywitha_saw (Feb 3, 2006)

when owners try to stiff me i will put a lean on the property if not take him to court


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## BoesTreeService (Feb 10, 2006)

*Cancelling check*

Not honoring a check is agains the law. Take the check to the proscutors office in your area.


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## texasnative (Feb 11, 2006)

Take the wood from your next job and dump it in his driveway.


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## dhuffnmu (Feb 17, 2006)

Better yet dump a few of the biggest loads of chips you can get in his driveway. That gets heavy and hard for someone withouth alot of time or equipment to move. Ha ha. He will get the hint.


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## Treeman67 (Jun 11, 2006)

dhuffnmu said:


> Better yet dump a few of the biggest loads of chips you can get in his driveway. That gets heavy and hard for someone withouth alot of time or equipment to move. Ha ha. He will get the hint.



hahahahah, i liked that kind of idea.... mmmm wondering if we get trouble if we got caught..... maybe but whos care .. he owe 900 buck 

Treeman67


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## JUDGE1162 (Nov 9, 2006)

Regard less of your contract, he gave you a check for service, that is a legal contract in itself, so you can sue for the amount of the check, any bank fees you had to pay. In regard to the contract forget about it, the work is done nothing you can really do about it, besides saying your 2 hours of work was worth more then $900 (good luck with that). You can try to press charges for a bad check but most places will do nothing unless there is a pattern of bad checks.

Contact a laywer, you could try to sue for him contacting the BBB unfairly and say it cost you business and look for damages.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Nov 9, 2006)

Well, maybe he could have back in January when he posted this. It's probably too late now.  



_*ZOMBIE THREAD!!*_


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## JUDGE1162 (Nov 9, 2006)

Not really most courts will hear a case up to a 3 years later, he might have let it go by now but it does not mean that others have to, everyone on the board screams search threads, just because it is too late to help the first poster (which it is not) it does not mean it will not help the next guy that has the same problem


At the very least you should write it off as a bad debit on his taxes (saves him paying taxes on that amount of his profits) and iceing on the cake if the a-hole that screwed him will get a bill from the IRS for the taxes due on that money (say 200 bucks or so), I would still sue the guy small claims it only cost $10- $15 to file, no lawyer needed (most case not allowed), sue for the amount of the check, the fees and wrongful complaint to the BBB and sue for the 10% drop in work that you show you had (wink-wink) due to the complaint.


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