Ripped Off!

mikesewell

It’s not my fault. I got 42 bids on my rehab job; all came in at about $75,000 except for one. That one bid was for $27,900! Noticing that the contractor who submitted that bid was drunk, smoking crack, unkempt, illiterate, inarticulate, and was driving a rusted 1978 ford station wagon with bald tires, I hired him immediately! I checked him out carefully; he had worked for another contractor for several hours before he was fired, so he decided to go into business for himself.
Everything seemed fine, but before you could say “I am a greedy ********” my job turned into a nightmare. The building inspector says that all of the work has to be redone because it doesn’t meet the code (What is a code?). My contractor is nowhere to be found, and either is the $22,000 cash down payment that I gave him. I called some of the other contractors who bid on the job, but they were rude to me (Maybe because I told them that they were crooks when I saw their outrageous prices).
Won’t someone offer me a little sympathy? Please help me, I have been treated so unfairly. If I sue and win, do I get to keep the station wagon if I am willing to take over the payments?
Signed,
Mistreated and Abused

__________________
Commercial construction

Sewell Construction

Cole

LOL

Why did you go with the low ball bid.

You are so F**ED!!!

__________________
Tulsa's Leader in Outdoor Living Construction | Facebook | Tulsa Pergola Builder | Tulsa Outdoor Kitchens

magnum

Just went down that road couple months ago. Customer got 4 bids 42,500, 62,800, 65,200(mine) and 78,900. 42,500 got the job and 2 months later they wanted to know if I could finish the job because the contractor skipped out with 50% of their money. My answer sure, price 78,900 have a good day!

mikesewell

Why are you being so mean to me? I am absolutely certain that this whole thing is NOT may fault, because several of my friends hired bankrupt crack-heads and they had EXACTLY the same thing happen to them! I mean, as a home owner where are you supposed to turn? Who can you trust nowadays? I am NOT going to pay an outrageous price for my job just so someone can feed their family! That's ridiculous!

Mistreated and Abused

__________________
Commercial construction

Sewell Construction

PipeGuy

Dear M/A,
You have been SO unfairly treated. Who could have known that scoundrel would skip out with the good faith deposit you made? There should be a law to keep this from happening.
I am an attorney specializing in just this kind of tragedy and I can most probably try and sue to get at least some portion of your money refunded someday. If we win, you will definitely get to try and keep the station wagon.
I can provide you immediate service upon receipt of a substantial cash retainer fee. Then we just might get that bad man. Please forward the retainer to Bank of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland re: acct # Z2526PQ7449

mikesewell

A LAW! What a great idea! Oh, you're a savior! God bless you! I just knew that someone out there would help me.

Mistreated and Abused


P.S. Don't forget to saw off your third of the car.

__________________
Commercial construction

Sewell Construction

Mike Finley

You're stupp-id for hiring that guy, you should have gotten at least another 20-30 bids and I bet you could have gotten screwed by somebody else for a lot less.

mikesewell

Oh my goodness, I never even THOUGHT of that! I'm so glad that I found this forum! You guys are great!

Mistreated and Abused

P.S. Would you like to come to New York to bid on my job? I could get your price, "talk it over with the wife, kick it around a little bit, and then get back to you" (I would need at least 150 references, after all, I did have some trouble with the last contractor who worked for me, and it wasn't my fault).

__________________
Commercial construction

Sewell Construction

mikesewell

Guys,
Thank you for your responses.

The characters depicted in this story were fictional. Any resemblance to actual events and people that have shown up recently on these boards is purely coincidental.

__________________
Commercial construction

Sewell Construction

Bukemdano

Mike, you sure your not the one who is smoking crack ?

mikesewell

Yup.

Sorry if I hit a nerve.

__________________
Commercial construction

Sewell Construction

IHI

And here i thought it was one of the customers from my area asking for help with this situation I'm glad I'm not the only one getting PO'd with things like this happening.

__________________
Hot Rod Work Van
Car video clip
Web
The Photo Gear- Type Josh into Contact name when ordering

mikesewell

No you're not the only one.

These guys are often portrayed as "unscrupulous contractors" on the evening news. They are not contractors at all. For the most part, they only fool the greediest people. I just get tired of hearing greedy people whine so much about getting screwed, when they have worked so hard to insure that it happens.

__________________
Commercial construction

Sewell Construction

donb1959

I went to give a lady a bid on an exterior paint job. 4 bids as follows: $850; $1475 (mine), $1200, $1800. The guy with the staion wagon got the job(850), I went back a week later. Paint on the brick, all over the bushes,window panes, mildew already showing through in places, never scraped the columns (paint starting to peel). She asked if I thought the job was going to have to be redone. Yes. Ok she says give me a price, I say you already have my price....tack on $1200 and that's the new price. I then walked away shaking my head.

It amazes me how folks are ready to save a dollar to spend $20.

__________________
I fish therefore I am
http://www.shimmerz.biz

Mike Finley

I take it you didn't get the job?

If I was in that trade I would have done a lot to get the fix up job short of not making any money on it of course. Some of my best references and referals come from customers who were screwed or screwed themselves (the people who screwed themselves never know they caused it- so to them they are the same as the people who were screwed by someone else) after you ride in like the calvary and save their bacon!

You do a good job for these customers and they are a customer for life and will refer you to everybody they know. You can't pay for that type of advertising!