(Follow Up) Landscaper Did Service at Our House That We Did Not Approve of and Now Wants $$$

[romantico]

Last month I posted a question here regarding a landscaper who did snow plowing for us. Topic can be found here for those not familiar.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=9620309

Long story short. We had an ice dam on our roof and heavy snow. We called landscapers to get quotes,including the guy who did our snow plowing. We were looking for the best price and tried several. Well, about a few days later temperatures began warming up and we saw snow slowly melting. We were relieved because due to the forecast with temps going up, we no longer needed this service. Our landscaper without calling or confirming came to the house when he knew we would not be there and removed the snow. We were furious.We spoke to him just the day before and he did not mention one word about this.

Well, my Mom works for a company with a 'in house' lawyer. Her boss encourages employees if they have any questions to ask him. Mom asked the lawyer and he basically said what everyone here at DU said. He said he had no case at all.

Well, at the beginning of the month he sent us a bill. Not only did he charge us for the snow removal on the roof but he has charged us for days we have already paid him last month. We paid him what we owed him(we owed him $60 + 6% sales tax,he charged us $120 for just the plowing) We sent him a check for what we owed him plus a simple letter. We only stated the facts. We assumed he might show this letter to a lawyer so we gave details such as him not confirming,him accepting cash from us,speaking to him the day before,and us asking him for a quote,etc. Mom is gonna ask the lawyer for more advice but he will not be in the office until Monday.

Any further advice would be helpful. I'd like to add two things. Today we got a priority envelope from him with delivery confirmation. We were not home and I thought we had to sign for delivery confirmation. We have not opened it up and I would like to take it back to the post office and have it returned to sender.

The second thing is this. In our letter to him with our check we asked that he not call us. Any communication be in writing.(this could explain the envelope we got today)However,he called and left a message anyway.He said here is what he is gonna do.He is going to keep sending us a bill for 12 months. He charges $25 a month as a late fee. After 12 months he will take it to his lawyer.Now,If we made it clear to him that we are not gonna pay, isn't him sending us a bill for 12 months at $25 a month dishonest? IS this a way to bring the price up? He charged us $200 for the snow removal. The entire bill he sent us was $339.20

We are bringing all this up with the lawyer but since I got so much helpful advice last month I thought I'd see if there is any more advice I can get.Thanks again!

[Kali]

1. have "your" lawyer write him a letter

I bet he backs off pretty fast. Worth it even if you have to pay for it.

Did your letter to him mention that you had consulted an attorney? I'm betting not.

[romantico]

2. Yes

We spoke to the Lawyer at Mom's office. In the letter we said,'after seeking legal consultation,we have been advised not to pay'.

[Kali]

4. interesting

wonder what your attorney is going to say

[MrCoffee]

3. The double billing is one thing, the roof cleaning something else

If he's billing for work he's already been paid for, he can go hang.

Based on your original post, it's unclear whether you agreed to have him do the roof or not.

Why are you pretending you didn't get a letter from him?

This story is making less and less sense.

[romantico]

5. Sorry

Sorry if I was not clear. We asked him to come out and give us a quote. We had many other landscapers come out and give us a quote. We made it clear and all the other landscapers seem to understand. If we decided to go forward,we would call and go from there. Our snow plower gave us a quote but when he did the weather was warming up. We made it clear that if we wanted the job done we would call and set up an appointment. Communication was never a problem before. He decided to do do the job without calling or confirming.

We are not pretending to not get a letter from him. He said he was going to send us a bill every month for 12 months. Each month we do not pay he will charge us $25 for a late fee. I am assuming what he sent us today is our first of 12 bills. Since we have made it clear we do not intend on paying, why is he going to continue sending us a bill each month for a year? I wonder if he needs to build the amount up and $339 is not enough to waste his or his lawyers time. So, he needs to find a way to build the bill up. Sounds very dishonest.