# Really angry customer...now what?



## petedownload (Aug 5, 2011)

I have a problem that I have never had before. I did a kitchen install for a LOW LOW bid. Customer couldnt afford to spend more and really needed it.

Any way I vaguely remember the sink being a pain in the neck for some reason...2 years later I get a message telling me that due to my half-a##ed install the sink backed up and sent water to the basement?? She called a plumbing company to fix it and was charged almost 2,000 to redo something.

The problem I have is that, I was never notified of any problem until this happened and never given any chance to rectify or work with her.
Anybody deal with this scenario before? I have a consult with a lawyer just to see how to deal with this.
And yes I made multiple attempts to contact her to try to resolve the issue.


----------



## cabinetsnj (Jun 10, 2012)

petedownload said:


> I have a problem that I have never had before. I did a kitchen install for a LOW LOW bid. Customer couldnt afford to spend more and really needed it.
> 
> Any way I vaguely remember the sink being a pain in the neck for some reason...2 years later I get a message telling me that due to my half-a##ed install the sink backed up and sent water to the basement?? She called a plumbing company to fix it and was charged almost 2,000 to redo something.
> 
> ...


If you are lucky, she just wanted to call and complain. Probably it will blow over. However it is wise to discuss the issue with a lawyer.


----------



## rjconstructs (Apr 26, 2009)

What else can you do? You tried to contact her several times...document it. All you can do is wait until you hear from her. She will have to prove it was something you did that was negligent. No fun going thru things like this though.


----------



## lawndart (Dec 3, 2006)

What type of installation warranty do you offer to your customers? Is it in writing?


----------



## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

rjconstructs said:


> What else can you do? You tried to contact her several times...document it. All you can do is wait until you hear from her. She will have to prove it was something you did that was negligent. No fun going thru things like this though.


Prove? Where do you live?..... On the set of Judge Judy?!?!?

She doesn't have to _prove_ anything. This ain't a court of law. This is reality. The customer needed to spend $2000 and now wants to find someone to blame. In this case, the most convenient scapegoat is the OP.

The best one can hope for in these situations is a chance to talk (reasonably calmly) to her and manage to get some damage control out of it.


----------



## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

Don't sweat it. Dissatisfied customers come with the territory and you pretty much did the best that you could under the circumstances. After 2 years, there's no telling whether it was your workmanship or something else that might have happened. That's part of the reason why you carry insurance. But my guess is that if the sink worked perfectly fine for 2 years and then all of a sudden it started backing up, chances are that it's something else in her plumbing that had nothing to do with you.

Now of course we always want to do good work and keep our clients satisfied and do whatever it takes to keep them happy but sometimes it's impossible to do that if you didn't charge enough for the job.. which in hindsight is easy to say knowing now what we wished we would have known then.


----------



## svronthmve (Aug 3, 2008)

Betcha won't take anymore LOW LOW work.......


----------



## AmeliaP (Apr 22, 2007)

If it took 2 years to back up I would doubt it had much to do with you.


----------



## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

Got to love customers like that :thumbsup: Now she got a few extra dollars, so she figure with a few grand she try to get from you, she can have a real kitchen now. Ask her if she recognized any of the plumbers who did the work on her house in THIS VIDEO?


----------



## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

petedownload said:


> I have a problem that I have never had before. I did a kitchen install for a LOW LOW bid. Customer couldnt afford to spend more and really needed it.
> 
> Any way I vaguely remember the sink being a pain in the neck for some reason...2 years later I get a message telling me that due to my half-a##ed install the sink backed up and sent water to the basement?? She called a plumbing company to fix it and was charged almost 2,000 to redo something.
> 
> ...


Don't even worry about it...it's been two years. Call her and tell her you suppose to wash dishes in the kitchen sink not dispose diapers.


----------



## bob_cntrctr (Jan 30, 2008)

Hmmm - trying to imagine the scene...

Two years later, a simple clogged trap, maybe an imperfect slip joint - the sink drain backs up and floods. It was probably an older place so the drain and suppply pipes came up through the floor prior to modern code requiring they go through the wall. Since you were just replacing the sink and counter top, and trying to do it inexpensively, you didn't -and weren't required to - re-plumb them entirely. For someone with more budget, you might have suggestted bringing this up to code, but you knew she couldn't afford that. So you just connected to existing, as you are alllowed to do. When it backs up, the water of course pours down those holes - the reason for the modern code - into the basement and ruins something.

She calls a local plumber, who looks it over a minute and asks if she's had any work done on it. Well, the last guy did a crap job; he should have re-routed the lines; it all has to come out and be totally re-done to modern code or it'll just happen again. It's all the last guy's fault. That'll be $2k, please.


----------



## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

$2K :blink: my neighbor just had his whole basement cut up and the cast iron completely removed from the whole house and replaced for less than that!


----------



## cwatbay (Mar 16, 2010)

greg24k said:


> Got to love customers like that :thumbsup: Now she got a few extra dollars, so she figure with a few grand she try to get from you, she can have a real kitchen now. Ask her if she recognized any of the plumbers who did the work on her house in THIS VIDEO?


Gee. Gotta love that video. There are so many "contractors" and handymen like those guys that got caught taking advantage of that woman, it's no wonder that all of us get painted as crooks. 

We have a one year written warranty on our work. We also state that any pre-existing condition, future work, other contractor or client work that affects our work and materials is not covered and voids our warranty. 

This is all spelled out simply because of situations that the OP has encountered. The old rule of whoever touched it last is responsible is applied consistently, and, by people that don't have a clue how things work. The same folks that blame the mechanic that fixed the brakes on their car for the transmission problems that happen a year later.


----------



## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

cwatbay said:


> Gee. Gotta love that video. There are so many "contractors" and handymen like those guys that got caught taking advantage of that woman, it's no wonder that all of us get painted as crooks.
> 
> We have a one year written warranty on our work. We also state that any pre-existing condition, future work, other contractor or client work that affects our work and materials is not covered and voids our warranty.
> 
> This is all spelled out simply because of situations that the OP has encountered. The old rule of whoever touched it last is responsible is applied consistently, and, by people that don't have a clue how things work. The same folks that blame the mechanic that fixed the brakes on their car for the transmission problems that happen a year later.


Couldn't agree more with you...Pricks like that give all legit guys who make a honest living a bad name... At the same time it was nice to see that allot of guys were straight up and some didn't take any money... My hand is out to this guys :thumbsup:


----------



## MattK (Apr 2, 2009)

Thanks for this thread. It re-enforced what I already knew and have been procrastinating...time to create an actual written warranty of what is and is not covered, reasons the warranty would be void, etc.


----------



## flashheatingand (May 3, 2008)

At least, the lady could have forwarded you a copy of the plumbing invoice so you could see what exactly was the issue.


----------



## killerdecks (Apr 18, 2008)

bob_cntrctr said:


> Hmmm - trying to imagine the scene...
> 
> Two years later, a simple clogged trap, maybe an imperfect slip joint - the sink drain backs up and floods. It was probably an older place so the drain and suppply pipes came up through the floor prior to modern code requiring they go through the wall. Since you were just replacing the sink and counter top, and trying to do it inexpensively, you didn't -and weren't required to - re-plumb them entirely. For someone with more budget, you might have suggestted bringing this up to code, but you knew she couldn't afford that. So you just connected to existing, as you are alllowed to do. When it backs up, the water of course pours down those holes - the reason for the modern code - into the basement and ruins something.
> 
> She calls a local plumber, who looks it over a minute and asks if she's had any work done on it. Well, the last guy did a crap job; he should have re-routed the lines; it all has to come out and be totally re-done to modern code or it'll just happen again. It's all the last guy's fault. That'll be $2k, please.


Yup, I hate butt heads who come in after someone else and just ***** about how poor the previous work was. This in my opinion is selling @ the lowest level.


----------



## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

I see a few guys who're off here... This got nothing to do with a written warranty and what covers and what not. 
This is a call, 2 years later claiming bad install because of a sewer backup, which has nothing to do with his kitchen sink installation.

She is trying to railroad this guy to get some money out of him, maybe she lost her job or need a bathroom remodeling.

I can see she calls back 6 month later and says there is a small leak under the counter, or a few doors got out of whack and need adjustment... I can understand that, that is warranty. Here is a totally different scenario and he is a nice enough guy to even call her back and try to rectify the problem.

I get a call back with an attitude like this, demanding 2k a few years later for something I had nothing to do with... that be one unhappy HO by the time I be done with them.


----------



## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

BCConstruction said:


> $2K :blink: my neighbor just had his whole basement cut up and the cast iron completely removed from the whole house and replaced for less than that!


You sound exactly like the typical customer.....


----------



## rrk (Apr 22, 2012)

cabinetsnj said:


> If you are lucky, she just wanted to call and complain. Probably it will blow over. However it is wise to discuss the issue with a lawyer.


Why would he waste money on calling a lawyer for a non issue?


----------

