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Thursday, June 23, 2005

End Of The Line

I went to the property this afternoon at lunch and discovered nothing has been done since I was there Tuesday morning. I've been leaving voicemails for Joe all day yesterday and again today and he has not called me back. This afternoon, I sent the following fax to him:

Joe,

This is to inform you that your contract to install cabinets at xxx Avenue in Glendale is terminated. You are to comply with the following terms no later than 3 PM, Monday, June 27, 2005:

  • Either: A) Refund my entire payment of $2,068.00 in certified funds or B) deliver all materials in your possession relating to my job to the property. This includes all cabinet doors, countertops, cabinets, and sinks. You have informed me on several occasions that you have all these materials in your possession and I expect all of them to be delivered to be in compliance with this document.
  • Remove the trailer and the trash that is loaded on it from the property.

Failure to complete these actions by Monday at 3 PM will result in me taking the following actions:

  • The trailer and loaded trash will be removed by myself. The trailer will not be returned to you.
  • Home Depot will be notified that, while acting as their subcontractor and installing the stove exhaust hood I purchase from them, you solicited a side job from me to install cabinets in the property, thus depriving them of income.
  • The Arizona Registrar of Contractors will be notified that you are contracting without a license. As I am sure you are aware, anyone bidding or performing construction or rehab work totaling more than $750 is required by law to be licensed with the Registrar Of Contractors. Failure to do so is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and / or 6 months in jail. I assure you I will cooperate with their investigation to the fullest.

    On a final note, you are no longer authorized to enter the property at xxx Avenue in Glendale without me. In order to comply with the above requests, you are to contact me and arrange a time that is convenient for me to travel to the property so that you may accomplish these tasks. I should like to remind you that, pursuant to Arizona law, unlicensed contractors lose the ability to sue to recover for the cost of work performed. Additionally, you may be required to pay back any compensation received for work that was performed without a license.


I called another cabinet installer today and set up a meeting for Tuesday. The reason for option B above is that the new cabinet guy confirmed what Joe has said - that there are about 3 companies in the valley that make cabinet doors and right now it's taking about 2 to 3 weeks to get them made. If I can get the ones Joe says he has, that will save some time. The cabinet guy I spoke with today was actually very helpful and he recommended the steps I can take to report this guy. He said it was unlikely I'd get my money back, but at least I can get this guy in trouble so he hopefully can't do this again.

5 comments:

Jonathan said...

You definitely have more patience than me. Just reading your posts is causing me anxiety. Joe's karma is in the crapper, I'm sure.

Anonymous said...

I've been following your contractor saga for a while. As a person who deals with contractors on very large infrastructure projects you have to nip this crap in the bud immediately.

Bad contractors only respond when getting hit in the "money belt"

I'm glad that you kicked him off the job, he was costing you money and killing your ROI I'm sure.

Tom
Sixthworld.com

Steve said...

Congratulations on getting past this guy, Shaun. As the first responder said, you have more patience than me. Hopefully, you'll get compensated one way or the other, but it's best to just concentrate on the task at hand now and add measures so that it doesn't happen again. If this venture was all "Step #1, Step #2, ..." everyone would be doing it.

Shaun said...

Hmm.. Do I have patience or was it just inertia that kept me from firing him for so long? The reason I gave him until Monday this time is that the new cabinet guy is going away for the weekend and won't be able to meet with me until Tuesday morning.

Steve said...

I agree, Shaun. It's really hard to guage things from words on a screen vs. living the reality of the situation. I can inject my "wisdom", but I could've probably done the same exact thing in your situation. I'm just glad your seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now. Hopefully, the wait has actually benifited you in the form of appreciation!

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