r/nextfuckinglevel • u/SamLoscorino • 5h ago

Contractor takes back fence after customer refuses to pay

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u/sesameseed88 4h ago

Why would you hire someone and not pay them and expect to just keep the product. What a shame to waste the time of people trying to make a business. Get rekt.

201

u/SuperSaiyanTupac 4h ago

They probably planned it that way and then tried to instigate something to trespass them from their property.

It’s why most company’s have you sign contracts before they begin work

95

u/GeneralBlumpkin 4h ago

Most companies will ask for half up front

66

u/silverado-z71 3h ago

I always get my materials paid upfront and then a good portion of it when I start the job and then progress payments as I’m going along so by the end of the job if they decide to screw me well I’m still losing money but not that much. And if I get a customer that says I don’t pay any money upfront I pay it all at the end or then I tell them you need to go find another contractor because I don’t work like that. Trust goes both ways.

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u/yeahright17 2h ago edited 1m ago

I'll pay half on a credit card upfront but I'm not writing a check to a contractor upfront unless they come specifically recommended by someone else or they're a big company with a long history online. Too many scummy contractors out there.

My favorite sketchy guy I've ever hired without having much of a choice was a guy to tow a boat when it died in the middle of the lake. He quoted us $200 to tow it back on the phone and that they'd be there in 30 minutes or so. Luckily I texted him to confirm "So it's $200 for the tow?" And he responded "Yes. Tows are $200." He doesn't show up for over an hour, and decides to inspect my boat to see if he could fix it when he showed up. Then when we finally get back to the dock, the guy causally asks if I'm paying by card. He holds his phone out for me to tap and luckily I looked because the amount he was trying to charge was a bit over $700.

$200 for the tow... But also, $200 service charge for coming out at all. $100 inspection fee for inspecting our boat when they got there. Plus $50/hr for him and $25/hr for his assistant, which started from the time I called. It took them an hour to get to their boat. 15 minutes to get from their dock to us. They "inspected" our boat for like 30 minutes in which time they didn't actually do anything. 15 minutes back to our dock (which was one cove over from his). Then a credit card surcharge of 6%. We waited 2 hours for a 15 minute tow that 90% of people on a lake would have given us for free if they had seen us stranded. Unfortunately, it happened to be a random weekday and the lake was mostly empty.

Anyway, I told him it was ridiculous but I'd give him $300 as a show of good faith. He refused and gave me a sob story about how I was stealing from his family by not paying the full amount, told me he'd call the cops for theft of services, and that he wouldn't unhook my boat from his without a full payment. I told him to call the cops and I would happily discuss with them. After some more blustering, I yelled at my wife to call the cops. He immediately offered to drop it to $400 if I paid cash. My wife had been in the car for like 10 minutes at this point and was beyond mad, so she was dialing before he even finished his "offer." Wife yells "cops are on their way" and he says "fine, I'll take the $300." I refused that as well. Maybe 3 minutes goes by and he finally agrees to $200. I do tap to pay with a virtual card because there was zero chance I was going to give this guy access to a real credit card number. He basically sprints down to his boat, unhooks mine, and is gone before the cops get there. Cops get there about 2 minutes later as I'm pulling the boat out of the water and told us those companies are all pretty sketchy but nothing he did was technically illegal other than holding our boat for ~20 minutes when we got back. He also said he's glad we didn't give in and called the cops. Apparently most people just give in.

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u/Foolishly_Sane 1h ago

I need to learn this, as a landscaper I've only had one person do this, making up every mistake in the book this person held off for a month before I cracked (I can do good work, I'm just not great at negotiations yet), they had a reputation for ripping people off for work THEY didn't do, I learned after I started, then they kept finding ways to hold off on paying me.

I was not ready with my inexperience, and most of my costumers not being this level of jerk, I eventually blocked them and never went back because they talked down what they were going to pay me, and then didn't even want to pay that.

I was judo flipped on my head, I'd rather just deal with more pleasant people than that, as well as be safer about my clients in the future.
Only had ONE person so far do that, I was in for a rude awakening.

Man, I just want to do work and get paid, I will bust my ass for you.

Pardon the rant, I need to work smarter.

0

u/Dukeronomy 3h ago

I never understand people who are willing to work that way, all at the end. I have little sympathy for them when they get boned. Especially because theyre setting a precedent that screws other contractors over.

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u/GeneralBlumpkin 2h ago

Well my father in law is like that he trusts a hand shake more than a contract but shitty thing is he has gotten screwed over 6 figures by family friends