Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The contractor's office manager, **** claims that there's a outstanding balance that his accountant forgot to tell me. ******** "We seem to have an outstanding balance for your project in our system. I have attached your estimate including your contract, change orders, permit and quartz purchase. I have also attached all the payments received. If you have record of a payment not listed please let me know and I will make sure to update our records. The difference seems to be ****** Does this seem accurate to you?" I responded: After checking the payments against the contract price and change of order I found out that I over paid ******** Kitchen ******* Bathroom ******* ****** ***** ( two change orders) = $***** I paid ********* You can mail me a check for the $*******. Also, I have not received Notice of Completion from County********* Office. Then he came back with this on 2/10/2022 "If you see the photos attached, it is evident that you were aware of the purchase of the quartz, in agreement of the product and price and in agreement to reimburse us for it, which you did with check# **** So in fact what has not been paid for is the $**** change order for some various shower work." The mentioned change order was signed on 10/9/2021 and Invoice #**** (attached file) that listed the work to be done on this change order was paid with check # ***. For example, hot mop itemized as ****** I have a record of his messages that were contradicting. First claiming its the quartz that I didn't pay, now saying its the change order. I have attached a Estimate which is labeled receivable that he sent yesterday which I have never seen. He's using this amount to deduct the amount i have paid to reach his outstanding balance of $****. I've attached the contracts for the bathroom and kitchen plus the two signed change orders for your review. There are also 3D drawing for the bathroom and kitchen vent that were paid for but never received. He is denying any responsibilities.

  

  Business response

  06/17/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/03/18) */ Below please find attached my last email to *******, which he neglected to share in his complaint. Not only does it address all of his questions, but it attaches all supporting documents. *******, This email is in response to your text, which I have attached as a word document. 1. The statement in the contract addendum regarding appliances, if they have not arrived by time of installation, does not apply to your job because the installation of appliances was not included in your contract. Your contract explicitly states that you will hire a 3rd party certified appliance installation company to install them. You were not charged for this scope of work. 2. Your 3d design was posted on your wall for the entirety of your project. We have record of it being emailed to you. If you'd like we can resend it. No job begins without a 3d design being approved for us to work off of. 3. Your contract states we will install a vent if possible. It wasn't possible because you changed the elevation of the unit and the joists were in the way. We gave you an option to have a vent with a soffit which you declined. That's why you have a self circulating unit. Credit was given in a change order. In conclusion, please find attached all of your contracts and change orders, where you can see and confirm the **** payment for your change order for your bathroom where it was also included your deduction. You can crosscheck that with the images of your text conversation with ***** where you agreed to pay **** for your quartz slab material and we agreed to forward that cost for you. You seem to be confusing the payment for that slab with the payment for your **** change order for your bathroom. As of now that change order payment is outstanding. The document "total receivables" lists all of your contracts and change orders, along with your permits, discounts and materials. It accounts for everything, and the total at the bottom is what we should have collected from you. The document "**** Payments" shows all the payments collected. I know this can be convoluted via email, which is why I'd like to schedule a sit down with you, me, ***** and potentially your HOA's contractor's accountant so we can really hash all this out. I do believe this is something we can come to a conclusion on ourselves, and I would really like to not involve our lawyer in such a small matter. Please let me know what are some suitable dates for you and *****. This is the last email sent to *******. He did not share this with you or the attachments here, because it clearly shows that he failed to pay for $**** of either a change order of ****, or a **** piece of quartz countertop that we paid for on his behalf after he agreed to reimburse us. The check he gave us for **** was applied to his change order, but he told me it was for his quartz. I informed him, that if the payment is applied to the quartz as he claimed, then he owes us **** for the change order he signed. This situation is either getting more and more convoluted with each attempt to clarify it, or ******* is being intentionally disingenuous. This is why I am requesting a sit down with him and his ***** (the other person on the construction contract), along with any other 3rd party he would like to have present. The numbers will be very clear for all to see. He is apparently refusing to sit down. It seems like this is all a disingenuous ruse to save ****. I will attach all contracts and change orders, a total receivable amount which includes discounts applied as well as permits and materials paid for, along with all payments received and the text communication in which ******* agreed to pay **** above his contract for his extra countertop material, which we paid on his behalf. All of these things were included in the email which i posted above, which he neglected to share with you. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated in this matter. The next step is a lien on his property and small claims court. There is no reason for this to reach that level, just as there is no reason I should be footing the bill for his extra $**** of countertop that he now has installed in his house. I did the work, I have the liability, I paid the insurance for that work, now I am also paying for the privilege of doing him the favor of paying upfront for his materials. We generally do not pay for customer finished materials, as it states in our contract explicitly because of these issues. This was a favor that now we are paying for. I think he fails to understand this. Please call me ************ -**** Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/03/23) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) From day one I requested accounting document such as an itemized invoice for a $**** payment request, and work performed. Since then he has repeatedly contradicted himself and made false accusations. Instead of apologizing he tries to make up a "receivable list" to fit this amount. This person whom I've never met and never showed up on job site, and never handled my billing account is now trying to ask for money. Here is the contradiction: He informed me on Feb 9, 2022 that I have an outstanding balance of $****. I asked him to itemize the work and he responded on Feb 9 that it was for a quartz slab. I told him to check the message record because I handed a check to ***** the interior designer/ project manager on Dec 2, 2021. On Feb 10, he replied, "If you see the photos attached, it is evident that you were aware of the purchase of the quartz, in agreement of the product and price and in agreement to reimburse us for it, which you did with check# ***. So in fact what has not been paid for is the $**** change order for some various shower work. Now 3/22 **** writes here "He did not share this with you or the attachments here, because it clearly shows that he failed to pay for $**** of either a change order of ****, or a **** piece of quartz countertop that we paid for on his behalf after he agreed to reimburse us. The check he gave us for **** was applied to his change order, but he told me it was for his quartz. I informed him, that if the payment is applied to the quartz as he claimed, then he owes us **** for the change order he signed." Clearly he has no idea how billing was processed in his company. That change order was listed in invoice #**** and paid for on Dec. 3, 2021 with check #*** in the amount of $*****. The slab was paid for with check #*** as **** stated above, and can be verified with *****. **** repeatedly contradicts himself in regards to the $****. His phone records between me and ***** indicates that ***** personally received check #*** for the quartz slab AND **** stated this as above. There is no either/ or for the $**** amount as BOTH the change order AND quartz slab were paid with check #*** ($*****) AND check #*** ($****). He states that no work starts without a 3d drawing, that was false. Because I never received it and he still can't provide evidence of delivering it. Another contradiction is that if it was the change order that I didn't pay, the project would have stopped in November when it was invoiced. They placed obvious priority on getting paid over checking the quality of their work. Every time they showed up it was always to ask for payment first and not check on the progress or the workers. If a lien is filed, I will be forced to sue 5 Blox for his contractor license and everything else in the process of lifting the lien. Without proper documentation acceptable by the court the lien becomes unjust lien and I will sue for my cost and everything 5 Blox owns. I urge 5 Blox to send someone with accounting background to check on ****'s accusations and book records. We can deal with the breach of contract after this amount $**** is settled. ***** emailed a final invoice to me and everyone in his company dated Jan 13. Now **** makes up a receivable list with a total amount different from the contract so that he could fit this $****. It is apparent that the work for this change order were itemized in the invoice so the payment was completed. In this invoice it itemized: Hot Mop- Bathroom ********* In the change order it itemized: 12.hot mop new frame around drain vent. Now he is trying to charge me twice for this hot mop that was done once. If this is not a scam then I don't know what to call it. All we need to resolve this are: 1. Accounting documentation indicating that the $***** paid by check #*** for invoice # **** did not include the change order of $****. 2. Evidence for the delivery of the 3D drawing of the BATHROOM that **** claims was hanging on the wall. Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2022/04/25) */ ************ agreed to a construction contract in the amount of $******. The last change order of that contract is for an amount $**** for various scopes of work. Later, when choosing his countertop slab, he texted us agreeing to pay for the slab in the amount of $****. The job is complete, passed all inspections and closed. *******'s balance is -$****. He is confusing his payment for the slab as his payment for the change order AND slab. The numbers are simple and straight forward. In addition to the contract, he paid his permit in the amount of $******* and received a discount from us of $***. He has paid in total so far, $********* His total with permit and discount and slab should be ******+****+*******-*** = *********. Leaving an open balance of $*****. I have included printouts of his signed contracts, reports of his total payments, proof of his discount and confirmation of his permit cost, along with texts with ******* agreeing to pay **** for his countertop slab material, and an image of the check he is confused about. Consumer Response /* (4200, 12, 2022/05/04) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) It is evident **** is trying to scam money by trying to trick me to pay again for the slab. ***** knows he took the check for the $**** slab. He came the next day it was ordered to collect payment. And he sent me a picture of the check. There's no doubt the slab was paid by this check. By denying having received payment and asking customer to pay again is very unethical business practice. Even more ridiculous is trying to convince anyone that this check was for parts of a bathroom job done 2 months before. The reality is staring at you and you are still making baseless claims and harassment. Just remember that your previous statement proves your acknowledgement that this check was applied to the slab. By contradicting your own statement further reduces your credibility. Anyone with basic accounting knowledge would understand that all my payments had been applied correctly to each invoice. You CAN NOT TALK your way to change these facts. Business Response /* (4000, 14, 2022/06/01) */ Unfortunately, and only because ******* is unwilling to sit together, or unable to the math properly, it appears like this will have to be settled in court. As always the ***********************s help in this matter is greatly appreciated. Consumer Response /* (4200, 16, 2022/06/12) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I refuse to be the victim of a fraud attempt by someone I've never met. It is evident **** does not have any basic accounting knowledge and is trying to talk his way to cheat money from consumers (by asking for "sit down talks"). I had been paying ***** and **** from this company and **** initially stated that I paid for the slab but now goes back and forth in his statements. ***** sent me a final invoice which was also paid so there is obviously no outstanding balance as claimed by ****. It is apparent that **** is trying to scam money on his own. Not only is **** trying to scam money, he has refused to take any responsibility for not fulfilling three work items listed on the contract that cost much more than the $**** he tries to scam. This unethical and irresponsible criminal behavior should be made public so no more consumers fall victim to their prey.

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