Hi all. Firstly, here's some background, as faxed on Sept. 30 to local consumer protection agency. I sent it with an accompanying request that they hold off on definite action until I see whether I get my money back within a reasonable period from [John Doe] a handyman who defrauded me.

Not mentioned on the fax, is that this handyman was referred to me by a very reputable service guy (who many people recommend locally). He sometimes uses this guy as his assistant, due to his brawn, though I later found out the two are also cousins. It was because I didn't want to second-guess the crook (due to wanting to stay in the good graces of his cousin who'd recommended him) that I'm in grief now. It's not so much due to gullibility as the latter reason. Note that this cousin had bailed me out on two occasions, with crucial jobs. Dare I risk getting on his bad side, by informing him that his cousin is a crook?

FAXED TO CONSUMER PROTECTION:

Preparatory to installing my wood stove, [handyman John Doe] kept asking me for various sums of cash, or checks made out to cash, which he claimed was for the cost of supplies.

On Aug. 20, 2009, I'd given him check #102, made out to [the wood stove company] to pay them when he went to pick up the stove.

Then, he asked me for $400 cash to cover any supplies he may need for installation. So, Aug. 21st, I made two ATM withdrawals of $200 to prepay him.

Then, on Sept. 1, he claimed that when he went to pick up the stove parts at the wood stove place, they didn't include the ceiling support (flange), so he asked for a check made out to cash to reimburse that.
That was check #104.

Later, I found out that was a lie, because everything, including the flange, was included from the stove dealer, as listed on the invoice mailed me by the wood stove place.

Then, on Sept. 9, he asked for another $400 (check #105) made out to cash, for his labor.

Total of his charges: $1,200 (including a heavy pack of shingles I personally had to haul out of the basement where he left it, unused. In fact, prior to purchase, when he was reciting to me the stuff he may need, I had questioned the need for so many shingles, since I knew the chimney was only 6" diameter.)

When, after lots of procrastinating, he finally showed up last Wednesday (Sept. 23) to fix various mistakes he'd made during installation (as instructed to him via phone by the stove dealer, upon my insisting that the handyman phone him), I then confronted him about his aforesaid $400 fraudulent charge for the flange.

Whereupon he [in a very-grudging tone] agreed to mail me a money order. I wrote down my address and gave it to him, to make sure he had no excuse of "forgetting my address".

As of yesterday (Sept. 29), when I still hadn't received the money order, I phoned you [consumer protection agency admin.] to update you re: the situation. Then a few hours later, I reached the handyman on his cellphone and asked about the money order. To which he (par for the course), made up yet another story and said with emphasis "I told you that I'm waiting to get a digging job, and then I'd pay you, but I still didn't hear from them". I told him that he'd never said any such thing, and besides that had nothing to do with his owing me the money. He then raised his voice and said "You'll get the money!" and hung up on me.

Well.. that remains to be seen. I'll keep you informed regarding further developments.

==================
END OF FAX
==================

Well.. as of now, I still haven't received the money order, and lately, he hasn't been answering his cellphone. My question is, how to proceed from here. The guy way overcharged me, but frankly, he's prone to tantrums, lies, and gives me the creeps.

Do I now contact the buddy/cousin who'd recommended him? Who's to say he'd support me & get after his cousin to pay me? Despite his status as "well-liked guy" he might still choose to support his cousin whom he uses as his assistant.

Furthermore, it would be at risk of angering the unstable handyman if he hears I contacted his cousin. Knowing his modus operandi, I've no doubt he'll lie through his teeth, and say he only got $800 from me rather than also the $400 additional in cash.

If I go ahead with Consumer Protection, I may risk angering both the handyman & his cousin, never mind that I'm justified.
:confused: :(

This is the legal forum so the advice is to take him to Small Claims Court - you will present your info, he will present his, the Judge will decide.

As far as Consumer Protection - I'd go ahead with it if you want to but it's most probably not going to get you any money.

Court is the place for a monetary claim; Consumer Protection usually simply vindicates you.

Consumer Protection or the BBB is fine and all for complaints about workmanship but as Judy pointed out it's not likely going to get you any money.

If this workman is that testy and tells so many lies, let him tell his story to a Judge and I'm sure a Judge will listen to his story and then rule against him. Only problem with that will be you trying to collect a Judgment against that guy. Anyone who only deals in cash sounds like a slippery customer. If a repairperson won't accept my check written out to either him personally or his company - don't deal with them. Lesson learned I hope on your part for future reference when dealing with repair people.

Thank y'all for the advice - seems I wasted my time contacting consumer protection.

The latest is that when I tried phoning his cellphone, a canned voice stated "no such code" or something like that.

So I next tried the nice/guy buddy, who himself is harried now (with his aunt in hospital & lots more); he said that just today, he'd also been trying to reach his cousin, and this is the first time in 4 years he couldn't. So he contacted a friend of that cousin & tried his home number - seems the jerk's mother-in-law just became hospitalized somewhere down south in the Carolinas or thereabouts.


Lesson learned I hope on your part for future reference when dealing with repair people.

I actually learned my lesson way before then, but, as mentioned above, this was a case of trying to not second-guess the guy, due to that nice guy being his buddy & not wanting to be "apolitical".

If I learned any lesson from this, it's not to use any needed "nice" service-persons as a reference ever again, because I'd feel obliged to act like sugar when I should really be a tough nut. Also, how was I supposed to know he'd haul along with him the nice-guy as his assistant?

It's also a case of extreme bad luck - which I'm the Queen of (no exaggeration here). Because I'd been scrambling like anything to get references prior to getting this guy's references. It was my bad luck that none of my other neighbors were available to give me info about their handymen when I was desperate for it. On top of that, the one reference this jerk gave me, was in California when I finally succeeded in discovering her phone number by detective work, so I gave up, & went ahead on the merit of the nice-guy's reference.

If anyone here's skeptical re: the concept of bad-luck, I can PM you stuff that would blow your mind. (I mean, just consider this: During the job, the jerk wound up in emergency room with food dehydration or food poisoning, causing delay. Then the nice-guy's aunt wound up in hospital & is still there. Then the nice-guy had huge car trouble, and the jerk's mother-in-law wound up in hospital down south.

Mind you, all this is just the tip of iceberg of my luck, wherein OTHERS are tampered with, in order to work against yours truly. I even wrote several appropos. Poems related to the topic.

So I think the advice that would help me MORE than even the legal aspect, is in the metaphysical realms, except believe me, I tried, but encountered terrible luck even there.

:o :rolleyes: well I guess I tied your tongues with this curveball.. Consider it rhetorical, k?

First who ever told you the small claims court was a lot of trouble?

You file, you show up, tell your story and they tell theirs and someone wins.

If I learned any lesson from this, it's not to use any needed "nice" service-persons as a reference ever again, because I'd feel obliged to act like sugar when I should really be a tough nut. Also, how was I supposed to know he'd haul along with him the nice-guy as his assistant?

It's also a case of extreme bad luck - which I'm the Queen of (no exaggeration here).

If I go ahead with Consumer Protection, I may risk angering both the handyman & his cousin, never mind that I'm justified.Hello j:

Personally, I've never been too worried how badly I pissed off somebody WHO RIPPED ME OFF! Plus, I suggest your " bad luck" is directly related to your management ability.

I didn't follow all the stuff, but you should know that the bureaucracy's you're dealing with have NO TEETH to collect your money. The only place where you get TEETH is the court. In spite of what you think, it's quick, cheap and easy. Take advantage of it.

excon

Thing is, as mentioned above, I won't really have TEETH, because some of the payments were via green-bucks cash (ATM withdrawals upon the jerk's request), and the one for the flange was made out to cash, because the jerk told me it would cost less that way, due to less taxes. Even the banker agreed there's no proof.

P.S. As for bad luck, to any skeptics, there's a continuation of my nightmare, here:
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/small-claims/firewood-fraud-practical-answer-409749.html#post2052429
Also, if you want more proof, I can prove it, but only via PM since it's beyond the scope of these forums.

Hello again, j:

I think you mistake us for the court. We don't care. IF you HAVE proof, show it to the judge.

excon

I have one final statement for this thread.
For future reference, can the moderator please PM me whether it's safe for me to ever again come back to AskMeHelpDesk, for support, rather than emotional abuse. Hello again, jally:

I'm happy to see you leave... But, I have a final statement too... We've been rude before. We've abused people emotionally before too... But, I re-read our posts here, and I see NONE of that. I see nothing but HELPFUL and RESPECTFUL responses...

The ONLY rude one here is YOU for giving me a reddie. Later, dude.

excon

I'm not a Moderator but it will never be safe for you to come back without a risk of having your feelings hurt. No one can ever guarantee what responses will be nor can anyone control anyone else's responses.

I see that the moderator of Small Claims is biased toward rudeness, since that's twice already that two of my posts were deleted.

Well DUDEs (to quote you), you should know that people who come to these forums are in PAIN due to bad stuff happening to them.

So when the moderator sides with rudeness and redundant comments, rather than with those who are in need of practical advice, and when the moderator indiscriminately deletes posts even when they're SEPARATE issues, hey, I think moderator school is in order.

And you, DUDEs, only add salt to the wounds.

You'll notice my recent posts on other forums did not deteriorate the way the above has. So who's at fault here?

As for "reddie", I assume you meant my clicking the disagree selection, which IMO was quite courteously worded! In fact I refrained from stating the full degree of how you really made me feel at the time). I thought that's offered by these forums so that people can register how they feel about a response?

Correct me if I'm wrong.