Doing business in a Catholic manner

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I had a contractor come to my home to do some work. I gave him a depost, a second payment when he started the work and a final payment upon completion. He finished the work on Thursday (or perhaps Friday I forget). So, I noticed on Christmas eve (ie Monday), the work is not properly done. So, I call the bank and put a stop on the cheque. My thinking is when my parents had work done on their house that was not proper, they were advised to cancel the cheque since once a contractor has his money, he usually doesn’t care to fix anything he did wrong.

I email the contractor saying that I don’t like to inconvenience him after all the hard work was done and I list the problems and tell him I stopped payment on the cheque.

Well… I get a nasty email back saying had a call him he would have come right out to fix it (easy to say) and that cancelling the cheque was basically a stupid thing to do. Now he is mad because without my money he won’t be able to do his payments and his business and personal credit will be ruined. I emailed him asking him to watch his tone since he was scaring me.

He will be coming christmas day to look at it. Here is my dilemna
  • I want to be a good Catholic and be understanding he needs his money
  • I don’t want to just give money to someone who doesn’t do a good job
  • After the tone in his email, I really am a little scared. I don’t want to be intimidated by him
  • I am scared that if I do stand up for myself, he won’t fix in properly. I know nothing about handy man jobs and don’t want to be played for a fool by something looking good on the outside but is bad on the inside and after a few months breaks beyond repair. How do I trust a business man with a temper?
His temper really has made me feel like caving into a whimp and giving him what he wants. How do I do business fairly without letting his temper influence me (if that makes sense not sure I know how to word this)

Laslty, was cancelling the cheque really a stupid thing to do (like he says)? Part of me can’t help but think that the amount of my cheque is small enough it should have broked his bank
 
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cmscms said:
Laslty, was cancelling the cheque really a stupid thing to do (like he says)? Part of me can’t help but think that the amount of my cheque is small enough it should have broked his bank
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I’m not in the USA so I don’t know if it’s generally considered “outrageous” there to cancel checks after you’ve written them. But regardless of the payment method, it sounds to me like you were within your rights when you decided not to pay in full yet. Also, your contractor sounds like he’s trying to make you feel guilty by telling you this one check will affect his business operations and credit rating. If that’s true, it’s his own mistake for (1) getting himself into such a tight financial situation and (2) not doing the work properly if he needs the money so bad. So, as I see it, you’re not in any way at fault in this situation.

As concerns your fear of being intimidated by him, have some other guys (at least 1) present when the contractor comes over. Not to scare the guy or anything, just a friend or brother who can take your side if a heated debate arises.

Anyway, none of this affects your being a “good Catholic”. You’re fine, though for now your home isn’t. 😉

Merry Christmas.

P.S. This shouldn’t be in the “Traditional Catholicism” category. You can still change it for the next couple of hours.
 
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I’ve moved this to Catholic Living.

I’m in the US, for what it’s worth. I wouldn’t have stopped payment; I would have asked him to come back and correct his mistakes. If necessary, it would be appropriate to file a small claims suit in court as a next step or consult an attorney.
 
I am in Canada. And to be honest, most people use credit cards so his refusing to accept visa or mastercard is weird/possible a sign his credit was bad to begin with.

The reason I stopped payment is because it is quite common for contracctors to not come back to fix things once they are paid. It is a water leak and by the time this would have gone to court, there could have been damage and time is of the essence. Also, in Canada (and I apologize because this could offend Americans), the culture is to NOT file a small claims suit. That is a bigger offense than cancelling a cheque. Consulting an attorney is also expensive

Lastly, I guess my trying to be a good Catholic is more of a ‘how do I not engage and react when he is taking a lot of jabs at me and insulting me’. My first instinct was to point out all the little things he did wrong when he was working in my home (like criticising the other guy who came etc). I don’t want to be judmental of his attitudes. I want to keep it business like

PS thanks for moving the post
 
cmscms said:
And to be honest, most people use credit cards so his refusing to accept visa or mastercard is weird/possible a sign his credit was bad to begin with.
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I have worked with a lot of home repair contractors, such as roofers, deck builders, etc in USA and many of the contractors do not take credit cards. It has nothing to do with bad credit and everything to do with the cost of the credit card fee. Many of them do not want to deal with the credit card fees or go through whatever processes are required for the credit card. Those who take the cards are more likely to work for a larger business because the larger business will be set up to handle the costs of the cards and will have someone dedicated to handling administrative matters for a whole group of different contractors.

Not sure how it works in Canada, but I’ve worked with several good contractors who only took checks. I would also add that the cost of what they were doing was high enough that most people i know wouldn’t have had enough credit to charge it anyway.

As for how to deal with this guy, be kind, but firm.
 
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cmscms said:
Laslty, was cancelling the cheque really a stupid thing to do (like he says)? Part of me can’t help but think that the amount of my cheque is small enough it should have broked his bank
Click to expand...
I don’t think “stupid” is the word I’d use, but I certainly would have called him first , and given him the opportunity to fix it. As for the amount of your check, you don’t know his expenses or budget. I really can’t blame him for being mad.
 
As a general,builder and carpenter by trade in the UK I would suggest that when you finally choose a builder or tradesman you pay a deposit to allow the builder to buy materials, partway through the work you pay a illtle more to help with costs and then on completion you pay the balance less say ten percent retainer. The retainer is to cover unforeseen problems such as shrinkage and any other problems which may come to light.

In other words I don’t advise paying the total amount due for six to eight weeks or so after completion to allow for snagging.
 
cmscms said:
most people use credit cards so his refusing to accept visa or mastercard is weird/possible a sign his credit was bad to begin with.
Click to expand...
You do realize the credit card companies charge businesses for using them, right? And then they have to raise their prices to cover that?
I’m perfectly happy to do business with local folks who don’t take credit cards.
 
I am in Canada too and have had this problem before. I didn’t stop the payment. I called and explained the issue and the contractor came and fixed it. Now it wasn’t the same day it took a few days for him to come and fix it. Anyhow I tend to be trusting in such things. It is your personal choice how you deal with it.
 
First I want to thank everyone who told me it is common for small contractors to not use credits cards. I didn’t realize that. Home repairs are not something I do often and let’s face it, have no knowledge of how things work.

Well, the guy just came by and let’s just say, as much as it went better than I though, it still was not good. And I must say I am greatefull I stoped the cheque because now I know he has incentive to fix it.

Let’s call this guy Bob to make the story easy. He had his wife with him and she even said she could easily see the problem and how it could be fixed. So it was obvioiusly an oversight on his part. He will be by tomorrow to fix it.

What shocked me was that Bob told me ‘this is not something I normally do and I don’t see why you are making a big deal out of it.’ If he had his money, I doubt he would fix it.

A different contractor came by to do some other work and a few days ago, Bob pointed out a bunch of stuff he felt the other guy did wrong. I personally though Bob was being picky. Well, today when Bob came over he kept repeating ‘Did you get the other guy to fix his mistakes’. I replied that what happens with the other guy is between me and the other guy. Then Bob gave me a 10 minute lecture on how he was sick and it was Christmas and he didn’t like dealing with this. He also told me he didn’t think the communicate was good between us and there was a bunch of stuff I didn’t prepare properly before he started and how now he will have angry staff Thursday because he now can’t pay them. I just listened politely.

After I said ‘I took a turn listening to you may I please have a turn to speak.’ He said OK (but kept interupting me) and his wife even said ‘let’s not escalte this’. I am grateful for her presence.

I tried to tell him that it is a well know fact single women are not handy men and he should have told me if this was outside of his scope. I felt that it was normal for me to expect things to work properly after a contractor leaves and he should have told me if there could be issues that were not his to solve. I also tried to tell him that it is not my fault if his finances are so tight that one cheque for $3000 is going to cause this much trouble.

He told me the communication was not the greatest between us because of how I was ill prepared and listed a bunch of things I was suppose to do before he came. I asked him to please show me the email stating those things. He replied ‘Not everything can be in an email’ To which I snapped ‘Why not’. That is when he said he would be by tomorrow to fix it.

I guess I just don’t appreciate how he wants sympathy for his personal problems of being sick and having a bad shoulder and being down to his last dime. I want this to be business and just have the work done in a proper manner. I resent the guilt trip he is laying on me
 
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OK. “Bob” has problems. I am sorry you ran into a guy like this, but unfortunately it happens. My mother used to have guys come to fix stuff and occasionally she would get a “Bob” who for whatever reason messed something up and then wanted to blame everybody else but himself.

I too am a single woman and even when I wasn’t single , my husband was not good at picking out contractors and making arrangements, meaning that I myself had to almost singlehandedly arrange (so far) for three roofs, three rebuilds of porches, a new bathroom and major pipe installations in the basement. (We have multiple properties so this wasn’t all one house.) At this point, I choose contractors by reading reviews very carefully and getting personal recommendations from friends I trust. Where possible, I like to have a written contract regarding the work before we go forward with it.

At the first hint, sign whatever that some guy is going to give me an attitude, I do not pick him for my job. Also, be very wary of anyone who says they can do things cheap, as they will cut corners.

Get rid of this guy as quick as you can and if the work still isn’t done right you may need to pay another guy to come in and fix it to be the way it should be. Do not get into arguments with this guy. It won’t get you anywhere.

Finally, stopping payment on a check right before Christmas is a pretty heavy duty power play move. It’s best to just not send the final payment till you’re sure everything is right. The guy is likely relying on your check to pay his employees and his Christmas bills and then all of a sudden the money isn’t there and you made him mad and now he doesn’t really want to work with you. I understand why you did it, but making a contractor mad is unlikely to produce quality work.
 
The cheque was the final payment so it was my last chance to not pay i full until the work was done right. Also, since my place is small, most contractors won’t come out because they just want the big jobs. The fact I found him was in a way lucky for me
 
You did the right thing. He wouldn’t be likely to have come to fix it if you didn’t. The idea of going through the courts is beyond ludicrous. The cost alone would most likely be more than the whole job.

Next time let him have his rant. Smile and repeat I am sorry you feel that way. Don’t engage - it is simply not your problem. Being catholic shouldn’t make you a push over.
 
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He came by and fixed it. I gave him $150 more than he was owed to help him out. I also separated it into 2 cheques. One for most of the money dated today and one for 20% dated in a week. If there are problems again, I will cancel only the smaller cheque.

I hate the guilt trip of being assertive
 
One more tip. In the future, you need to really look at the work done before handing over the final payment. You should have looked at his work to see that everything was as it should have been. Then, if there was something wrong, he could have fixed it correctly before you paid for it. By paying, you are giving your okay to the work.
 
Yes, lesson learned. Like I was tellig my mom, since I rarely have need to do home renovations, these are all things I unfortunately had to learn the hard way.
 
Don’t worry. You’ll be good at it soon and able to coach other people how to do it.

It’s unfortunate that there aren’t practical ways to learn how to do stuff like hire contractors, buy a house or a car, etc. One learns by watching others, and if the situation has not come up in your life before or someone else handled it without involving you, then it can seem daunting. After you’ve been forced to do whatever it is a couple times, it gets more easy peasy.
 
Well you successfully played hard ball with this guy, even though I doubt I would have cancelled his cheque. Nevertheless, it all worked out for the best and now you know how to use this amazing strategy. I’m curious if it will come in handy somewhere else in your life? Imagine, some business people spend days doing this sort of stuff!

My only tip is that any creative work usually requires a return trip. Lots of things improve when adjustments are made on a return visit.
 
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