non paying customers

[gibs]

I am a one man band , a jack of most trades(a master of none..thought i'd get that in before you lot could..) I do a good job for low prices and am an all round good egg...unfortunately recently I have come up against a complete TO..ER! for whom I fitted a complete bathroom.
I wont bore you all with the saga of how he treated me in doing so, but the upshot being despite 3 attempts to put his tiled floor right(had an unlevel floor which was a Bi..h to put right...he was fully aware of the problems I was facing to rectify...he has gone from being all smiles on our departure to being the biggest Git I have ever come accross...needless to say as some of you may have encountered ...I have had to remove myself from dealing with him having had the "I've sought legal advice about this.....blah blah...if you dont come back immediately to put it right etc..." conversation.....if I am to ever meet this person face to face I will do him some harm....now I am not a violent person but he has annoyed me so much it's untrue! So the question of getting paid arises, I have sent him a letter stating that even though things were left like this he still must pay me(accepting that if some other poor unfortunate has to attend to rectify the floor to his satisfaction that that should be deducted) I have not yet had a reply...I am owed 3.7k all in all to include a floor tiled elsewhere in the house which looks great....has anybody any good advice or experience in dealing with such scenarios.

 

[gcol]

What's wrong with the floor? What was it like, and what did you do to it?

 

[bikerm4]

Its happened to me twice.Took both cases to the small claims court and won both cases, still waiting to be paid out for one of them though because i had to put a charge on his house. Go to your local county court and explain the situation and they will give you the neccassary papers to get the ball rolling. There is a small charge depending on the size of the claim but this is added to amount you are claiming. You can also claim interest on the amount which accrues daily.

 

[securespark]

You have to be a bit crafty here. Arrange a meeting with him. Ask him that, excluding the disputed floor finish, is he happy with the rest of the work. If he says yes, insist he pay the bill for the work he is happy with.

He cannot withold payment for the work he is satisfied with. And he can't very well suddenly tell you now if something else is not right, having omitted to tell you so far, can he?

I assume you have some T & C's - eg my estimates & invoices had "Payment Terms - Strictly Seven Days" on them, along with "In accepting this estimate, you accept these T's & C's"

Tell him you are going to send him a letter to this effect, requesting immediate payment for the work he is not disputing. Tell him that payment for undisputed work has been outstanding for XX days and that you will instruct a solicitor to recover your fees & costs if he does not pay. CC this letter to your solicitor, & cross your fingers.

 

[gibs]

Thanks for the advice.....with regard to the floor, I had to rip up the old floorboards for access to do the piping etc...this was replaced with chipboard and overthis a thin layer of ply to provide a more even finish.
the bathroom floor has a dip in it as is quite common where a main floor joist has stood fast whereas the outer walls have obviously moved in time,thus causing the problem...when the floor tiles which are large are layed they can't sit flat owing to the slight bump in the floor.
owing to this and there being slight flexion in the floor, I had trouble getting the tiles to stay stuck down, in the end I used dunlop flooring adhesive to keep them down.....the big problem is the flexion or bounce that the middle of the floor had, thus causing the tiles to move and some of the grouting to crumble.
But to put things into perspevtive, this guy moaned at everything...all the other tardesmen on site said the same and were sick of him asking for extras etc...and couldn't wait to get out of there...
Why didn't I level up the floor before plumbing in the bath and doing the tiling etc..I hear you ask?
Owing to the size and constuction of the bath(v large with no legs...flat bottom ) this is easier said than done....in order to get to the baths waste etcc you need access underneath...hence the need for open joists to get arms and tools in etc...So it had to be done that way.
The flush actuators weren't in the place the woman wanted, the shower head wasn't tight enough to the wall, the tiling.....you name it they moaned about it.....in essence the guy expects a moben bathroom for joe bloggs and his donkey money!.....having said that the job is decent and good value for money....however the floor was a problem and could have been better....but its still not as bad as he makes out.....
Anyway, I've been whingeing on for ages now, it's good to talk.......

 

[gcol]

No matter what you get paid, there's no excuse for cracking grout. If you know what you're doing, you can, and should have been able to spot the problems before you started tiling the floor. If the tiles were too big for the floor then you should have mentioned that you had concerns before you started stickin' em down.
The thing is, you need to think that the customer knows absolutely nothing and that you NEED to tell them what you can and can't do. All you can do now is go round and have a word and try and get money for what you've done. If you've dropped a bol.lock then you need to hold your hand up and accept the cost of putting the floor right - if that means you pay for the tiles then so be it. Customers demand perfection, and if you can't deliver that then they aren't happy.
I only had one customer that complained about the grout cracking between his tiles - he ignored my advice about preparation and adhesive and wanted to do things on the cheap and so supplied the materials himself. Then after 4 months when his grout cracks he complains to me. I got paid when the job was finished though.

 

[markie]

You've heard of the saying " the customer is always right " well if you want to get paid that is

 

[Stulz]

gibs, without wishing to sound harsh or impinge your reputation in any way, I am sorry to say that I feel, from reading your posts, that you have created this situation.

When you became aware there was a problem with the floor, you should have discussed this with the client in a professional way and explained that without additional works the floor could not be made level and then explained the effect this would have. If the client did not want to pay for this extra work, then you simply put your objections into writing and state clearly that unless he agrees to you proceeding, and accepting the responsibility for the unlevel surface, you cannot proceed and will not be responsible for the condition of the floor.

A professional tradesman, regardless of field, will be capable of explaining to a client the problem they face and the best way to get over the problem. Should the client choose to ignore that advice, that is their look out, but without this in writing, the onous is on you.

The simplest way to level a floor is latex..seems to work for the professionals..

As I said, sorry if it seems a harsh reply, I appreciate your situation, but maybe he is simply looking for you to accept some responsibility and rather than get angry with him, get even..insist he pays you for the materials, so your not "out of pocket", and then state you will discuss a solution to the floor problem and meet him half way on costs so long as he is prepared to accept the labour charges for all your work EXCEPT the work on the floor..