How to confront thieving contractors?

July 28, 2015 12:53 PM

Hired contractors for a house where I am an out of town owner. They said they would buy supplies at home supplies store and I would reimburse them once they provided me with receipt. Called the store today and they sent proof that supplies were returned (supplies they needed to do the job I specified).. What do I do? Not too much longer DETAILS INSIDE

Basically I hired them for a cleaning job and they bought 3 items which would have been used if they did the job - only the receipt showed they returned everything but the paint. I paid them 1/3 of their fee upfront and covered the costs of the materials.

I am supposed to pay remainder of their balance and want to know how I should handle this? Clearly they are bad people and I am worried they may have made a copy of my key and get out o control since I am not there to monitor my house and do something in retaliation.

Do I pay them the remainder of the job and just subtract out the items that were returned?
Do I take out some of their fee since the job included cleaning and they clearly did not use the items to do the job properly?
Help

posted by soooo to Human Relations (14 answers total)

If they clean a lot of houses, they likely buy in bulk. Providing you with receipt for your portion of bulk items would be difficult. (You used 1/10 of the this gallon jug of Crud Cutter.)

I'm not sure you can make the assumption that you are making that they did not do the job. Instead ask why the materials were returned.
posted by 26.2 at 12:59 PM on July 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

Are you absolutely sure that this is what happened, since you can't see it? Is it possible that they bought those supplies but actually had their own preferred supplies to use, so returned the items you insisted they buy after the job was complete so as not to upset you? How were you planning on assessing their work? Did they send you photos of the completed job?
posted by juniperesque at 1:00 PM on July 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: I know they did the job (someone is going to walk through to see that the work is done for me) but for example, one item was bought to remove stains. They claimed they soaked the stain overnight and it didn't come out. Then i find out that the stain remover was actually returned to the store... so what exactly did they use and is the reason the stain didn't come out because they didn't actually soak it as claimed?

No, they don't have in bulk. they told me specifically which items they needed to get to do my specific job
posted by soooo at 1:18 PM on July 28, 2015

It's very very common for contractors to have their own supplies that they obtain at a bulk discount, and then charge you for the retail price of the supplies used in your project. This factors into their price quotes and expected profits. This does not make them bad people.

Do you have someone that can go over to the property and verify that the job was done before paying them? Can you ask them to send pictures?

I don't think you currently have enough evidence to justify any negative actions against these people.
posted by sarahnicolesays at 1:21 PM on July 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

I think 'clearly they are bad people' is... let's say unproven.

That said, though, getting the locks changed is expensive, and, if they were sufficiently interested in retaliation, it wouldn't even necessarily stop them. You mentioned that you are an out-of-town owner.

Can you afford to just chalk this one up as an expensive lesson? If so, that might be the approach that's best for your peace of mind.
posted by box at 1:21 PM on July 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

What kind of verification do you have the work was performed? Is this like, "they were there working" or did someone actually inspect and verify the stains were removed etc?

If they're seasoned gundeckers at this sort of thing cursory supervision wouldn't necessarily catch that they were like 1/4 assing it.
posted by emptythought at 1:21 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Did they clean to your specifications as verified by someone local? If so, I'd pay them the agreed fee without nickel and diming on which products they used. If your local contact verifies that the cleaning result isn't what you paid for, then push back at them on THAT and demand they make it right or not receive payment.
posted by MsMolly at 1:27 PM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

This might be a reach, but maybe wires got crossed and two different employees picked up supplies? And then obviously the unused stuff got returned, but they got confused about which receipt to send you?

I'd call them and see what they say before assuming bad faith.
posted by sparklemotion at 2:14 PM on July 28, 2015

As others have noted upthread, if you're happy with the work performed then pay them the agreed upon cash. If I contracted someone $453 to paint my truck, and they painted it well, to my satisfaction, then I'd give them the money, and I'd not give a damn if they used their own supplies to mask off this or that.

It's a simple matter -- happy with the job, pay them.

btw, it is easy-peasy to change out a lock, and lock prices have gone down to near nothing in recent years. You *can* still pay plenty but you need not do so.
posted by dancestoblue at 2:45 PM on July 28, 2015

I would ask if the items were returned unopened before taking action. Best you could do is either you or your viewer take up the point, saying you don't expect to find this, etc. They will probably lower some costs but you won't be able to hire them again.
posted by parmanparman at 3:26 PM on July 28, 2015

How much are we talking here? If it's 5% or less of the cost of the job, forget it.
posted by ottereroticist at 3:38 PM on July 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

It sounds like the worst case scenario is that they didn't do the work and said they did. So they are lazy, rather than malicious. Lazy people probably cannot be bothered to make copies of keys and break in later and get revenge. If they were willing to spend that much time at your house, they would have just done the job properly the first time around.
posted by lollusc at 6:22 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I guess I'm the only one "on your side" here but I think this is shady as hell and there's about a 90% chance they're ripping you off for the cost of the tools because they can. They know it's dishonest. This is not some crazy, wacky, good-hearted sitcom mixup on I Love Lucy.

1. Deduct the cost of the supplies from the final bill. Explain why. They shouldn't fight you on this. Probably knowing they got caught will be enough to make them back down. Don't be confrontational- be sweet- but say "Oh hey, I guess you guys used your own tools so I went ahead and deducted xxx dollars."

2. Judge the job separately. Forget the supplies. Does walkthrough person confirm that stains are gone? Then pay full agreed on price for stains. Does walkthrough person say molding is not up? Then do not pay for molding.

3. Change your locks as a matter of precaution.

Sorry you were scammed. (Or at least had it attempted.) That sucks and I think it will make the world a better place for them to know they were caught out.
posted by quincunx at 9:16 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think people here are overestimating the power of locks in abating vandalism. In all likelihood your locks are crap and anyone can open them after watching a couple youtube videos. And if your locks are actually resistant to bumping, then these guys wouldn't be able to get copies made anyway. So in either case, changing the locks doesn't gain you anything.

(also burglary carries much higher penalties than vandalism, which is why you don't enter people's homes and instead just smash their windows and vandalize their car)
posted by ryanrs at 9:39 PM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]