I have a nice 3BD/2BA condo that I rent short term. It's only 5 miles from Disney and a very nice place in a great neighborhood. I've had one cleaning crew for the past 3.5yrs that has been awesome. The owner works with the cleaning crew, so we've met many times and have a pretty good relationship.

I decided to do a refresh on the place - resurface kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets and countertops in the kitchen and baths, replace all door hinges and install new hardware with nickel handles and drawer pulls, recaulk bathrooms, etc...

The owner of the cleaning crew says my brother does this type of work he can do it. I call him, he comes give me a fantastic quote and I say let's do it now. He says I'll get it done in 2 days. I laugh and say no way. It will be at least 4 if you have workers. I tell my tenants 4 days, they agree to be disturbed for this timeframe. The guy came tore the cabinets doors down and grinded down the counters then called me asking for money. I paid 1/3 after I've already given him supply $$$. He did not return for 3 days. He finally came back did 1/2 day work and called saying can I please send him more $$$ or he can't come back because his auto insurance is canceled and he can't drive without it. This asshole is holding me hostage at this point saying he can't come if I don't give him $$$ he hasn't earned on a project less than 1/2 way done. I send the $$$ and say I know you're gonna "F" me. This story always ends the same you tear my house apart so it's unusable, get all the $$$ and never come back or drag this out for weeks/months making excuses. He promises that won't happen and how he wouldn't screw me over, great relationship with his sis blah, blah blah. BS!

Take a guess what happened-------YUP! This fucker disappeared FOR 2 WEEKS. Left his tools, the house full of dust and dirt, cabinet doors removed and primed, countertops grinded and prepped and my tenants PISSED at me! He ignored my calls/texts. I text the thief to come get his stuff and that we're done and I take 3 days of vacation time and go to the condo and complete the work myself.

The sister went to clean the place yesterday and said nothing about the work. My tenant tells me she showed up with the thieving brother and they cleaned the place together. He still has not responded to me and but had the freaking nerve to show up yesterday with her.

I fired her company today, changed the keypad codes and now after 3.5yrs of great service I'm looking for a cleaning crew. No way I'm gonna let someone have access to my property that has proven to have zero values. The sister has to know what happened and had to know what kinda fucker he was when she referred him to me, so she is viewed the same as him now as far as I'm concerned.

People have no integrity these days, the handshake and look a man in the eye shit is long gone. People will steal your wallet while looking you in the eye and shaking your hand.

Once again it's been proven to me that if you want it done right you'll have to do it yourself because pride, integrity, morals, ethics, values and just plain old being a good man of his word IS GONE!

Well I guess my ethics are in the toilet too because I would have changed the locks, tossed his tools in the dumpster, told him and his sister to go fuck themselves and moved on. Let him prove his tools were there. Fuck that guy. Try doing your job with no car and no tools.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Well I guess my ethics are in the toilet too because I would have changed the locks, tossed his tools in the dumpster, told him and his sister to go fuck themselves and moved on. Let him prove his tools were there. Fuck that guy. Try doing your job with no car and no tools.

I REALLY wanted to do it this way too. Age has calmed me down quite a bit. I realize now that these type folks just come back and bust the windows out at your property and destroy what you have. A man with nothing to lose acts that way. Clearly, he has very little.

Of course your approach is the proper one. I might have put up cameras and then when he broke windows I would have called the cops on him. My way would be much more satisfying.

I would also trash the hell out of the sister and her business on any next-door, yelp type app. You would be doing a favor to her next victim if it keeps them from hiring her.

Your experience is my fear of contractors.
It is why I do as much of any work myself as I can.
So sorry.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Your experience is my fear of contractors.
It is why I do as much of any work myself as I can.
So sorry.

Yeah, I've had a bad run dealing with contractors for about a year with a couple rental properties as well as my primary home. The hard part is investing the time to do these things myself. I am lucky to be capable, but prefer using that knowledge to make sure it's done right vs doing it myself.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Of course your approach is the proper one. I might have put up cameras and then when he broke windows I would have called the cops on him. My way would be much more satisfying.

I would also trash the hell out of the sister and her business on any next-door, yelp type app. You would be doing a favor to her next victim if it keeps them from hiring her.

I'm blessed enough to move on and grateful for it. If I were to go tic for tac with these folks my tenants would move out, trash my reputation online and that would just snowball into me losing my thriving rental business' reputation and income. NAH, I'm perfectly happy moving on. I've learned to use all the tools I've acquired in my lifetime to diffuse situations instead of just using the sledgehammer approach that makes me feel good.

It's unfortunate that the sister had to go too. She was actually very good at taking care of the places.

Yep

This is why once you find a good plumber, HVAC guy and general contractor they are worth their weight in gold to me and I’m always going to them first.

It’s crazy how some companies just don’t seem to give a shit. I’m looking to have this large hickory tree in my yard trimmed and I was given a local tree company’s name and the person raved about them and how wonderful they were.

Well, apparently they aren’t that wonderful because I can’t get these assholes to return my call no matter what. I gave up after four tries and went with another local tree company where the guy was extremely receptive and responsive, and gave me a very good vibe and a good quote. All their Google reviews are really good too.


It sucks that he screwed you AND you lost your good cleaning crew.

PASig --- Yeah, you're spot on. I have the great plumber & HVAC guys already but I can't get a general handyman that's trustworthy and solid to save my life. I even told this dummy about 3 more projects he could immediately help me with for good money and that I have friends/older neighbors that need help too. He could have easily gotten a business going from meeting me and some of my elderly neighbors and other friends that have rentals.

Successful people EARNED IT and losers have also EARNED IT. There is no luck involved. Folks that say you're lucky don't understand all the work that goes in to being so lucky and never will.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Your experience is my fear of contractors.

We tend to stick with established companies that have a reputation to maintain, rather than small, one-off contractors.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
It is why I do as much of any work myself as I can.

I do that, too.

Up here in the Yoop, they have been jailing quite a few "contractors" for defrauding clients. Looks like you either get a great contractor or a shitty one. No happy medium.

I actually think people who supply accurate next door/yelp reviews are doing everyone a favor. Yes, throwing out his tools is my childish response. Warning others of shoddy workers is just the opposite. If you had read your review you would have moved on to someone better. It’s a civil service you would be performing instead of letting him pull the same bullshit on the next people.

I was kidding about the tools, I’m not kidding about a bad review publicly.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
I actually think people who supply accurate next door/yelp reviews are doing everyone a favor. Yes, throwing out his tools is my childish response. Warning others of shoddy workers is just the opposite. If you had read your review you would have moved on to someone better. It’s a civil service you would be performing instead of letting him pull the same bullshit on the next people.

I was kidding about the tools, I’m not kidding about a bad review publicly.

I didn't find him online. He was referred by his sister that has cleaned the places for 3.5yrs and done a great job. He has no online presence. If he did, then yes, I would post what happened for everyone to know what kind of person he is.

Ok. You missed my point which is perfectly ok, it’s just my opinion. People without an online presence means nothing. Many people prior to hiring someone will check online. Next Door, Yelp, simple google search stuff. If a poor yet accurate review is out there then someone will see it and get an option to move past this individual.

Whether they are active on the Internet or not is a moot point in today’s internet age. You have an internet presence even if you never go online.

Like I said, just my opinion. My sister in Texas just went through a very similar scenario but involving a landscaper. Horrible. Took nearly a year and he ended up with thousands of their dollars. And never even came close to finishing the job. I encouraged them to write a bad review on Next Door just to warn the next guy. They didn’t. They just wanted it to be over, which is completely understandable. It just won’t help anyone else avoid this nutbag.

If the tools were worth a shit, I would have kept/sold them.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Ok. You missed my point which is perfectly ok, it’s just my opinion. People without an online presence means nothing. Many people prior to hiring someone will check online. Next Door, Yelp, simple google search stuff. If a poor yet accurate review is out there then someone will see it and get an option to move past this individual.

Whether they are active on the Internet or not is a moot point in today’s internet age. You have an internet presence even if you never go online.

Like I said, just my opinion. My sister in Texas just went through a very similar scenario but involving a landscaper. Horrible. Took nearly a year and he ended up with thousands of their dollars. And never even came close to finishing the job. I encouraged them to write a bad review on Next Door just to warn the next guy. They didn’t. They just wanted it to be over, which is completely understandable. It just won’t help anyone else avoid this nutbag.

I didn't miss your point. I think you missed mine. I said directly and indirectly that I am going to focus on my properties and my tenants instead of spending my time chasing a crook looking for revenge. The only thing that will get me is this guy that has nothing to lose thinking of revenge against me, my tenants and the home.

The jails are filled with people that went back n' forth with a fool until it escalated to something on a whole 'nother level. I kept the supplies that I had paid for, the tarps and sealants, etc... gave his hand tools to his sister and fired everyone involved. I then made the repairs, refunded my tenants a few bucks to say sorry and the people that matter are happy.

The crook is without work and back to his ways WITHOUT any need to ever reach out to me again. I'll call that loss of time and money a lesson and go back to winning and living peacefully. You can't let the pennies cloud your focus on the dollars or focus on revenge or getting even with folks. It will never end. I came here to rant and release not get pumped up to go whup his ass.

Did you even read what I wrote? I doubt it. I quite clearly told you I was joking about messing with him or his tools. If you think leaving a truthful review is “messing” with him and you are afraid of repercussions then I don’t even know how to respond to that. Leaving a truthful review of services benefits everyone. If this guy isn’t online like you say, he wouldn’t even know it was there. Plus reviews can be anonymous. Enjoy applying your energies to positive energy and your tenants.

By the way leaving honest reviews of services isn’t revenge or getting even. It’s beneficial to the next guy, which you could care less about obviously which is fully your right. I’m also not even sure how you got “whup his ass” out of anything I said. Maybe switch to decaf.

Alcohol and drug addiction are often the cause of no shows. Lack of a work ethic factors in as well. I will NOT use the internet to find a contractor. Word of mouth around here works quite well. I prefer contractors who do not advertise. After Katrina devastated the area,retailers suddenly became roofers and the result was predictable.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Did you even read what I wrote? I doubt it. I quite clearly told you I was joking about messing with him or his tools. If you think leaving a truthful review is “messing” with him and you are afraid of repercussions then I don’t even know how to respond to that. Leaving a truthful review of services benefits everyone. If this guy isn’t online like you say, he wouldn’t even know it was there. Plus reviews can be anonymous. Enjoy applying your energies to positive energy and your tenants.

By the way leaving honest reviews of services isn’t revenge or getting even. It’s beneficial to the next guy, which you could care less about obviously which is fully your right. I’m also not even sure how you got “whup his ass” out of anything I said. Maybe switch to decaf.

What is this the 4th time you e tried forcing your way of handling this on me. Move on man. I’ve already done what I’m gonna do. I’m not scared of anyone I just handle things and move on. You should try it

Yup. Had the same thing happen to me more than once. Latest was a gate repair where 1/3 down was required, they wanted a third when they actually started, then a 1/3 when we were both happy at the end with a final deadline date to pay. They never finished, the gate is almost impossible to close, and I had finally paid in full just to get things moving along (also the online payment option only allowed payment in full).
Staircase to house same sort of deal where the guy just poofed 3/4 way through the job. Kitchen reface actually had harsh words for the lack of follow through.
It’s been a while since everything was finished completely and to my satisfaction. Even the window I had installed (and they did very well)..when I went out to look more closely at the work after they left, I realized they’d broken a basement window and punched a hole through my door screen in the process. Can’t win.

Otoh, my plumber and electrician have been great.