Non Payer

[Con]

20 hours ago, peds said:

The pragmatist in me would probably draw a line under it, take it on the chin, and move on; but I am keen to hear on what our resident eastern European representative has to say on the matter.

It involves duct tape and cable ties

[Stubby]

Just now, Con said:

It involves duct tape and cable ties

Pliers and a blow torch and get medieval on yow arse ! 🙂

[Con]

Please don't let him get away with it. The more people that do, the more common this sort of thing is becoming.

And anyone on here asked to go and look at it, put the dickhead straight.

[Steven P]

If you haven't seen him face to face in the garden, tell him you need the opportunity to finish a good job and get him to meet you there, if he refuses then that should give you a better standing in the small claims court that you are being reasonable.

[woody paul]

If he can't be bothered to meet you and show you what he is on about, and you have all quotes and invoices worded properly. Then only opinion is small claims court most people don't like it if you tell them that's what going to happen, as it black marks there credit score.    

[Rich Rule]

How much are we talking ?

 

He sounds like a chancer.  Keep a record of the site visits and dates etc plus his correspondence.

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

On 20/11/2024 at 18:44, Stubby said:

Pliers and a blow torch and get medieval on yow arse ! 🙂

Usually we in Eastern Europe use  iron 😬

[Rough Cutter]

Typical poor job as that's hardly removal.

Not ground out properly and roots and mess left behind.

I wouldn't pay for that either 

Would of probably been a good idea to have it in writing you were only going to skim the stump off a bit for turfing over.

Move on with life and set out in future with customers what exactly you are doing.

 

Edited November 22, 2024 by Rough Cutter

[Mick Dempsey]

1 hour ago, Rough Cutter said:

Typical poor job as that's hardly removal.

Not ground out properly and roots and mess left behind.

I wouldn't pay for that either 

Would of probably been a good idea to have it in writing you were only going to skim the stump off a bit for turfing over.

Move on with life and set out in future with customers what exactly you are doing.

 

I agree.

 

[maybelateron]

Slight derail, but not really. Years ago I felled a couple of small trees in an old woman's back garden. Quote made no mention of dealing with stumps in any way. Soon after, she rang me to say one of the stumps had a horrible smell from some decomposing material on top of it, and that she had nearly tripped and broken her neck on the other stump. I politely explained I had fulfilled the terms of my quote, but she kept on hassling me and threatening small claims court etc. This was in 2006, and the invoice for the work had been £50.

I went and looked at things. The offensive "decay" was fox or badger poo; wish it had been on her carpet. The dangerous stump was in the corner of the garden where you would have no reason to be walking, let alone breaking your neck. 

I told her it was not my responsibility to clear up the poo. We went back with the grinder to shut her up, but had fun doing so. Made laminated notices about trip hazards for the steps in her garden etc, and kept knocking on the door to warn her of these hazards. She told the young lad with me she thought I was being silly - you just can't win. I think was a tight old sod who didn't like the look of the stump and wished she'd asked to have it ground out.

From that point on every quote for tree felling from me includes "cutting stump close to ground, or higher if requested on the day". For stump grinding I again specify the depth I will grind to, and that this does not include chasing roots, unless customer wants to pay more for that.

Rant over, but often we learn from these really annoying customers how to prevent a recurrence.