It’s not in my nature to whine or complain online, but after reading the story below, you’ll agree with me that my wife and I were taken advantage of by what I would call an unscrupulous contractor and wanted to share our personal experience with anyone who is thinking of hiring him.
This experience has caused us extreme frustration and grief. My wife (who’s supposed to be keeping stress levels low with her pregnancy) has specially suffered in this process following Bill’s abuse towards us. All this to the point that even after a couple of weeks after all of this abuse had already transpired, she could not take it anymore and felt compelled to call him out on all the ways in which he took advantage of us.
For these reasons we are sharing our experience, hoping that this will prevent other people from going through the same.
We hired Bill to install 2 doggy doors and one mouse-proof dryer vent, seal the gaps between our foundation and the wall, plug one hole and install some metal flashings for water drainage. After researching online about the services, Bill seemed to be the best because of his reviews on Home Stars.
Things went sour after we asked for the ORIGINAL RECEIPTS used for buying the materials and to JUSTIFY, after we had naively agreed without any question, the PRICING (about $1,500) for the (half-finished) work he did (that he had sold us as a 2-full day job to justify his bills. See below).
Here below is our email exchange that well summarizes the facts (our email) and his attitude in answering our legitimate questions (his email). In brackets, I have added a few additional comments and reference to pictures showing the actual job.
While we welcome his rebuttal (we haven’t really gotten an adequate response from him, but at this point, it wont matter since it is only going to be an attempt to maintain his reputation online), don’t be fooled or you’ll end up like us, paying through the nose.
Here below you will find unquestionable proof of how he REALLY treated us.
*****Our email (2014-05-01)*****
Bill,
Let's stop playing games here. We all know here that there is no way you spent $285 for
1) one vent ($8 max [Picture 1], which btw, we will need to replace anyway because not fully pest proof according to Abell pest control),
2) caulking material ($20 per tube max, and you cant have possibly used more than 2-3 to line 10-15 meters of foundation [Picture 2]),
3) foam (one bottle to plug one hole, max $10) [Picture 1] and
4) scrap metal flashing you brought from home (0$) [Picture 1].
This was confirmed by other contractors we talked to.
The fact that we fully trusted you to the point that we would not question your pricing is NOT an excuse to screw us over [1]. Prove us wrong with solid evidence (the receipt for instance, and a justification of each and every entry of it...it's our right to receive a clear explanation as customers) and I will be more than happy to apologize for a false accusation.
So here's how it's going to play out:
- You provide us with solid evidence that $285 are totally legitimate for the work you did and I will apologize and move on.
- If this does not happen by Monday (plenty of time since we have been requesting this for weeks), you will refund us the $285 by e-transfer (you can use this email) and we will pretend this never happened and move on.
- If none of these 2 options happen by Monday, we will make sure to tell the whole story on Home Stars (and also, since we are at it, on the Better Business Bureau, in case you were thinking of joining it...having a complaint definitely won’t help your case), and in particular:
1) you were paid $500+tax for a full day of work (day 1) to only install 2 doggie doors [Picture 3] and you left the work unfinished (gaps, missing parts...you even told me to finish the work by myself)[2],
2) you were paid $500+tax for a full day of work (day 2) to line 15 meters of foundation (work that you finished in about 10 minutes, before sitting in your truck for at least 30 minutes, the time I took to walk the dog, sipping your coffee and checking your emails...), plug one hole (3 minutes?), install one vent (15 minutes?) and put some flashing on (1-2 hours max?). And consider that the foundation work was not even in your initial estimate...
and
3) after I had explicitly told you to leave the receipts here, you took it with you, and claimed that you brought it to your accountant. You never know, maybe people from the CRA read Home Stars too, and they may be curious to know why your accountant during the tax period has receipts that don’t belong to you. You either [cant use this word in Home Stars] to us and there is no accountant or you are putting yourself in a potentially delicate position.
So the outcome of this is in your hands, and whatever that is, in one way or the other will unfold by Monday. We will be expecting one final communication from you (we have spent enough time and energy going back and forth), which is either a full explanation supported by solid evidence or a full refund for $285. Pointless emails and/or silence will force us to tell the story online.
Too bad it had to end up like this, but we feel that you were not fully honest with us, and as a service provider, the onus to prove us wrong is on you, and us, as clients who paid more than $1,500, have all the rights to ask for explanation.
We are giving you the benefit of the doubt by giving you heads up with this email and not going directly to post our comments online, and this is something most of the people would not do. We don’t want to charge you with false accusation, but you are giving us all the reasons to think that what we think is true.
*****Bill’s answer (2014-05-01)*****
Your receipts have been provided [3][Picture 4]. There is a charge for your flashing which was brought from my stock [4][Picture 1]. Not scrap metal. From an actual roll of brand new product [5]. As well as hardware [6][Picture 3] used for the dog doors making up the balance. You have all receipts [3] and any usable left over product [7]
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Comments:
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[1] Bill demanded full payment in advance (more than $1,000), taking advantage of the fact that we were not aware that by law we were not supposed to pay more than 15%.
[2] you can see that I had to add myself weather stripping to plug the holes Bill left after installing the doggie doors.
[3] this is NOT the original receipt we have been asking for which shows exactly how much he spent for materials.[Picture 4] This does not show the cost breakdown of materials. As of today, since he did not leave the receipt with us and I trusted him not to check it while he was there, we do not know how he spent this money for.
Also note that in his “receipt” he even wrote 50% down payment, while in reality he demanded full payment [Picture 5]
[4] looks like scrap metal to me, as also confirmed by another contractor. [Picture 1] Also, I had to add the foam myself to seal gaps.
[5] roll of what? No idea what he is referring to
[6] hardware?!? Which hardware?? We bought the doggie doors online and the only materials he used to install them were either those provided in the box OR pieces of wood he cut from the door. [Picture 3]
[7] he only left us a pale of paint he bought for the job and did not even use
