Help Ocd Customer From Hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IvegotsTILE]

There will always be customers that would not be fased by this approach, and even possible hospitalize your poor friend in the process.

Believe me the terminater wouldn't be able hospitalize my mate,his own shadow is afraid of him lol.

 

[devonmark]

get your money first ..... then get his car....Mark.

 

[pjtiler]

you used to be able to sell your debt to a debt collection agency for percentage
i don't know if you still can though
worth looking into maybe

 

[aejrd]

Hi guys and Gals.

Just finished a customers bathroom walls and floor and now he is refusing to pay and has been extremely rude to me on the telephone. Throughout the job he has been leaving me notes about tiles being out by 1-2mm, he followed me around with a spirit level, the list goes on. I finished the job on Saturday and my colleague agreed the job looks excellent. The customer was away until today and he has just rung. I let him rant on for a good ten minutes about terrible tiling, disgusting tiling etc etc, he calle dthe floor a trip hazard but then agreed he was exagerrating, he said the door bar had been cut 2mm too short(my pencil line) he said he has been sat in the bathroom for two hours with his spirit level picking fault and is now refusing to pay me, what can I do. I believe everything to be within BS tolerance but have been told that Trading Standards always side with the customer he also threatend mne by saying his daughter is a solicitor. Can I take the tiles back off the wall and get my adhesive back I wonder...... HELP PLEASE, he is not prepared to meet until next Monday either so even if I do get paid it will be over a week later, police, solicitors what can I do?.
Jim

send a letter it probably wont work but u neva no! if not just put it behind you ***** like that just make me angry an i wud hav to smack him if it came to an argument...so just 4get it. learn from it an the next time u see a post it note pack up ya tools an walk out...thats my advice anyway ..

 

[JIMBOB187]

So the customer rang me on Saturday and moved the meeting forward to 4:00pm. Upon arrival he was extremely friendly as was his wife I was obviously extremely courtious aswell. The obsessive mudda humpa had drawn every wall on his computer and grid referenced the tiles he wanted changing, 30 in total. He went along every wall with a spirit level and also complained that I had not drained his system and removed his radiator. I reminded him that I had advised a plasterer to be brought in and that I was not insured for plumbing work

I very calmly stated my position as follows.

All of the issues you have raised are either within BS tolerance or you were made aware of before tiling commenced with regards to the terrible condition of the walls and floor (I have pictures). You have no case to take me to court but I however do and will, this will also include lost earnings as your payment was to part fund materials for another two jobs that have since cancelled. I then walked out, strangely happy?

My solicitor has also advised me that I should claim for my fall in his garden whilst walking to his outside tap, I sprained my wrist quite badly.

I would appreciate your thoughts on tiling onto extremely uneven walls I am not aware of any BS for this as every rooms wwalls are of a different quality, I am aware that Trading Standards satate that if a consumer is made aware of defects or faults before purchasing goods or services than they lose the right to complain.

He left a message on my phone last night offering a proposition but I would rather not enter into any more dialogue and pursue this through the courts and with my solicitor for my fall.

 

[DHTiling]

Good luck jimbob.......you do right to keep this private now, you do not want to jeopardise your case.....

 

[GazTech]

My last job as self employed went down the same small claims route. I won the case and am still recieving a cheque from him each month for £40 until completed. At the time I was so annoyed he didnt pay what he owed in a lump sum , but now on reflection I smile every time I receive a cheque, knowing he has had to pay me. Over 2 yrs payments he's reminded of his stupidity every month.....good luck Jim

 

[MICK the Tiler]

This is what happened to me when I was faced with a similar situation. This is by no means a recommendation as a course of action but It's worth a laugh.

I'd done a job for a bloke a large floor in 600x600 polished porcelain some of my finest work IMO, well he just flat out refused to pay, the job was worth about $15000 au so quite a bit too lose. nd you guessed it I lost my temper and fair cracked the bloke several times in fact leaving him with a busted nose and one very sore jaw.

The police were called I denied the action but was handcuffed and later charged with assult.

Being charged with a criminal offence gave me acces to legal aid and a damn fine lawyer, the client or prosecuting party had to fork out for his own legal attack, as another point being the defendant I also did not have to take the stand the prosecution had to put his own client to the stand and let my lawyer cross examine first so in theroy all he had to do was keep him there for as long as the client could afford. 5 days later my lawyer still had the clown answering questions about the case, and in the end the judge found in my favour awarded me the cost of the job with pain and suffering and the other git not only had to pay costs but for the job as well, I had no conviction recorded and walked out a free man all because it was his word against mine no other witnesses present, stupid GIT!!!

So if you do happen to lose your temper and do something you think you'll regret do it with no witnesses present and deny everthing.

 

[IvegotsTILE]

Mick the Tiler.......my man:hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

 

[Pawelzik]

A sad story but it brings up a question for me. In Germany, when the customer refuses to pay the tiler as he claims the work to be too bad, somewhen this comes also up to court.

But before that someone has to verify the quality of the work, this is the basic for the court´s decision. We over here have consultant agencies for that, accredited for verifying tile works.

- The consultant agency is choosen by the customer together with the tiler, each party can regret the proposed consultant (e.g. if there is relationship to one of the parties or other circumstances) until a consultant is found who meets both parties interests.

- If the tiler has proposed a consultant several times and the customer had refused to take one this will be a plus for the tiler at court.
- The consultant is finally paid by the loosing party; and if the tiler is sure that his work is okay and inside the BS tolerances he doesn´t need to worry.
- Sure both parties are represented by their solicitors but the consultants result is the important independant 3rd party voice.

Is this also practice / typical in the UK ?
Regards, Martin

 

[JIMBOB187]

Evening all.

So just an update and a request. The non paying customer is defending the claim in court and has had another local tiler visit and quote for what he calls repair. I know this because the tiler in question rang me the same day and siad for two days labour he would fix it (about 4 tiles lipping up approximately 2mm) and keep the matter out of court, no way I said and I explained what condition the substrate was in and that luckily for me I have pictures to prove it and advised self levelling and plastering to the customer. I have an interesting relationship with this tiler as he is very adverse to competition, not a problem at all and no reflection on his integrity after all it is business but he has not seen the pictures before and after so the customer is probably thinking that he can present this quote in court and win hands down,.

I have another more well known(probably the best in the area) tiler who has seen the pictures and has made a statement and is prepared to come to court aswell my question is would any of you peeps be prepared to write a brief statement on headed paper and post it to my house. I will post the pics for you all to look at, it should say something like given the condition of the substrate a showroom finish would be impossible, the customers expectations were unrealistic and self levelling and reskim would have been beneficial, don't all write the same though eh, if anyone feels like helping I will PM them my home address or you could email it on your letter head.

Let me know. I am so gonna stiff this dude.

Can't upload th eimages they are 3meg so I will email them to anyone interested in helping.

 

[sWe]

Documentation is a-ok :yes:

 

[JIMBOB187]

Evening all.

So just an update and a request. The non paying customer is defending the claim in court and has had another local tiler visit and quote for what he calls repair. I know this because the tiler in question rang me the same day and siad for two days labour he would fix it (about 4 tiles lipping up approximately 2mm) and keep the matter out of court, no way I said and I explained what condition the substrate was in and that luckily for me I have pictures to prove it and advised self levelling and plastering to the customer. I have an interesting relationship with this tiler as he is very adverse to competition, not a problem at all and no reflection on his integrity after all it is business but he has not seen the pictures before and after so the customer is probably thinking that he can present this quote in court and win hands down,.

I have another more well known(probably the best in the area) tiler who has seen the pictures and has made a statement and is prepared to come to court aswell my question is would any of you peeps be prepared to write a brief statement on headed paper and post it to my house. I will post the pics for you all to look at, it should say something like given the condition of the substrate a showroom finish would be impossible, the customers expectations were unrealistic and self levelling and reskim would have been beneficial, don't all write the same though eh, if anyone feels like helping I will PM them my home address or you could email it on your letter head.

Let me know. I am so gonna stiff this dude.

Can't upload th eimages they are 3meg so I will email them to anyone interested in helping.

Anyone else want to help fight for the tilers cause I gaurantee that when I email you the pics you will be compelled to help.

 

[sibs]

Anyone else want to help fight for the tilers cause I gaurantee that when I email you the pics you will be compelled to help.

Hi jimbob I'd love to help but I think I'm a bit too new to the trade I think you need the opinion of a seasoned tiler best of luck though I hope you stuff him out of sight lol

 

[pjtiler]

if my 45 years in the trade can help jimbob give me a shout

 

[Grace'sDad]

I will help - I can pen a good letter and I have nice letterheads!!!

 

[JIMBOB187]

Thanks guys just sent you a pm with my email on, really appreciate any weight I can take to court, I'm not that worried but my wife is, any more good samaritans want to give an unbiased professional opinion after viewing the substrate pics, not asking much just to reiterate what I told the customer, ie plasterer and self leveller needed, finnish would not be like he has seen in a glossy magazine, the crazy thing is it looks bloody brilliant. Come on people.

 

[sibs]

Thanks for the msg jimbob I will be in touch. If you think I can help I will. :grouphug:

 

[JIMBOB187]

Just a quick thank you to the guys and girl that dropped me an email with an offer of putting pen to paper for me, greatly appreciated, pat yourselves on the back, all these people on the site and your where the only four that offered so well done I really appreciate it and so does my family. Thanks again, if you ever need any help and think I can, then just ask.
----
Thanks to the fifth person that just offered to help, greatly appreciated. To save any new readers the chore of reading the whole thread I am asking for people to put a letter together stating that the condition of the substrate can greatly effect the finished look of wall and floor tiles, obvious to us but when in court you have to evidence the obvious, unless the judge is a tiler of course(unlikely), anyone interested in helping pm me and I will forward some pics. Have a good week all.

 

[sWe]

I can't help you afaik, as I'm not a resident of the UK. I'd suggeset you get that letter signed as an affidavit though; that gives it more weight in court than a simple signed letter.

 

[vince1]

sorry about what your going throw mate. just tell him look i do not want to fall out over this. but at the end of the day i have done the work i want my money if not i will have to come round and take all the tiles off. p.s forget all that go round with a bat and smash f**k out of him lol lol lol

 

[JIMBOB187]

Just a quick thank you to the guys and girl that dropped me an email with an offer of putting pen to paper for me, greatly appreciated, pat yourselves on the back, all these people on the site and your where the only four that offered so well done I really appreciate it and so does my family. Thanks again, if you ever need any help and think I can, then just ask.
----
Thanks to the fifth person that just offered to help, greatly appreciated. To save any new readers the chore of reading the whole thread I am asking for people to put a letter together stating that the condition of the substrate can greatly effect the finished look of wall and floor tiles, obvious to us but when in court you have to evidence the obvious, unless the judge is a tiler of course(unlikely), anyone interested in helping pm me and I will forward some pics. Have a good week all.

Just a quick update the customer has got a local tiler who would like to see me closed down to quote for what he calls sub standard work even though he hasn't seen the substrate beforehand, I have two letters from members here and hopefully more on the way, it's just a simple letter people but it will strengthen my case alot and thanks for the ones I already have(Great letter Mark, great).

 

[Brindle]

PM me your pics Jimbob if you want another letter?

 

[sibs]

Just a quick update the customer has got a local tiler who would like to see me closed down to quote for what he calls sub standard work even though he hasn't seen the substrate beforehand, I have two letters from members here and hopefully more on the way, it's just a simple letter people but it will strengthen my case alot and thanks for the ones I already have(Great letter Mark, great).

Mine's on the way jimbob... should be with you tomorrow. Hope it helps

 

[JIMBOB187]

Thanks Sibs:grouphug:, appreciate it, the pics are quite large 3meg+ but I have reduced them and created an album called OCD CUSTOMER FROM HELL(original eh), check them out, just click on my user name to see my profile and then click on the album and read the thread, what a world we live in. Keep em coming folks.

 

[sWe]

Judging from the pictures, it looks better than one would expect when the substrate is in such a condition.

 

[JIMBOB187]

My point EXACTLY mate

 

[sibs]

Its no good! I've looked and looked and looked and then I looked some more so can someone please point out where these faults are supposed to be because I can't see any. I would have been over the moon if it were mt tiling and gutted to have seemingly fictitious faults picked with it! :huh2::36:

 

[JIMBOB187]

Thanks to all the new letter writers.

 

[SnipSnap]

Sory to read of your trouble. I understand what you are going through.
On the 2nd of this month I lost a job that was agreed to be started, with corrispondence starting last November (to make sure I would have been free), only to find out (the night before) that the ******* got someone else to do the work. I am now considering legal action myself.


Trading standards will tell you that the work will need to be of REASONABLE QUALITY and the BS standards are far over the rasonable quality. I have not seen the photos but think (from what I have read) that you should have no problem through the small claim court.

I was helping a friend of mine (support) when a court jujdment was delivered for some plumbing dispute and I can tell you that the customer did not win because of the "reasonable quality" let me know if I can help.

 

[JIMBOB187]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:hurray::hurray::hurray::hurray::hurray::hurray::hurraySIZE=5]I won every penny I was owed, and costs and a days labour, I feel completely vindicated and releived. The judge was completely on my side and the other old bugger was completely at a loss for words when I won, he though he was so clever, smuggy smugson.

A big thank you to everyone that helped me with letters it really helped to have professional opinions as all he had was a character reference, so a big, big thank you from me and my family.