Last month I posted a question here regarding a landscaper who did snow plowing for us. Topic can be found here for those not familiar.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=9620309Long story short. We had an ice dam on our roof and heavy snow. We called landscapers to get quotes,including the guy who did our snow plowing. We were looking for the best price and tried several. Well, about a few days later temperatures began warming up and we saw snow slowly melting. We were relieved because due to the forecast with temps going up, we no longer needed this service. Our landscaper without calling or confirming came to the house when he knew we would not be there and removed the snow. We were furious.We spoke to him just the day before and he did not mention one word about this.
Well, my Mom works for a company with a 'in house' lawyer. Her boss encourages employees if they have any questions to ask him. Mom asked the lawyer and he basically said what everyone here at DU said. He said he had no case at all.
Well, at the beginning of the month he sent us a bill. Not only did he charge us for the snow removal on the roof but he has charged us for days we have already paid him last month. We paid him what we owed him(we owed him $60 + 6% sales tax,he charged us $120 for just the plowing) We sent him a check for what we owed him plus a simple letter. We only stated the facts. We assumed he might show this letter to a lawyer so we gave details such as him not confirming,him accepting cash from us,speaking to him the day before,and us asking him for a quote,etc. Mom is gonna ask the lawyer for more advice but he will not be in the office until Monday.
Any further advice would be helpful. I'd like to add two things. Today we got a priority envelope from him with delivery confirmation. We were not home and I thought we had to sign for delivery confirmation. We have not opened it up and I would like to take it back to the post office and have it returned to sender.
The second thing is this. In our letter to him with our check we asked that he not call us. Any communication be in writing.(this could explain the envelope we got today)However,he called and left a message anyway.He said here is what he is gonna do.He is going to keep sending us a bill for 12 months. He charges $25 a month as a late fee. After 12 months he will take it to his lawyer.Now,If we made it clear to him that we are not gonna pay, isn't him sending us a bill for 12 months at $25 a month dishonest? IS this a way to bring the price up? He charged us $200 for the snow removal. The entire bill he sent us was $339.20
We are bringing all this up with the lawyer but since I got so much helpful advice last month I thought I'd see if there is any more advice I can get.Thanks again!