How would you handle this?

[CBR Shadow 53]

I had a contractor from craigslist (bad idea) remove a shower liner and add tiles instead. He gave me a sob story the day before he was finished about how he needed the cash that day, so I finally gave in and stupidly gave him the cash. The next day he of course didn't show up, and I noticed he took all of his tools home as well, so after a phone call and yelling at him he finally agreed to come finish the work. Anyways he came back and spent 20 minutes caulking and doing very poor finishes and then disapeared never to return. His work was crappy, but at least his price was really cheap. I ended up fixing some of the work myself and now am paying another contractor (who was recommended) to fix the rest of the finishes.

It has now been a month and I'm in Texas on business. I get a text from the original scumbag contractor saying "I left my saw at your house. I'll be by tonight at 9:00 to pick it up". I text back saying I dont have his saw. He's insistent that he definitely left it there and getting a little aggressive saying things like "I'm coming to pick it up. End of story. Leave it out on the lawn where I can grab it.". I really dont have his stupid saw.. I know he left with it because I checked the garage when I thought he wasn't coming back.. plus it seems a bit weird that a month later you realize you dont have your saw?

Anyways, at this point I'm getting a little nervous about him coming to my house since my wife and dog are the only ones there and this guy seems pissed. I call wife and explain the situation and tell her to go to our friends house for the evening. The guy sent a few texts that seemed threatening like "Tell your wife to set the saw out on the lawn or you're going to have a serious problem" and "This is your last chance". If I was in town these would be empty threats to me, but I feel helpless since I'm out of town and the wife is there alone. She's nervous, I'm nervous, etc.. So I send the wife to her friends house and the contractor ends up texting me saying he's in front of my house and that he wants his saw now. I called the cops (from TX, mind you) and explained the situation. They show up at the house but he had already left. I gave them his cell phone number as well, so they called him and explained that he can't show up at my house anymore and that he needs to take me to court if he has proof that I have his saw. This guy is a nut.. some of his texts were saying that he's going to make me take a "lye detector test" aka polygraph..lol. He's a twirpy 23 yr old kid who wouldn't be intimidating if I was at the house, but like I said I was out of town and who knows what his dumbass is going to do while I'm gone. Since the cops spoke to him he sent only 2 more messages.. 1 saying "you can keep the saw I found a better one for $50 online! HAAA!" (no response from me) then his 2nd message said "on second thought you can use the saw to rip down all the work I did.. there's a leaky pipe and 12 inches of water and mold behind there that I covered up. Have fun".

That's the last I heard of him in 2 days now. I'm back home from my trip tonight. I'm sure in a month I'll come out to my slashed tires or broken window in the morning.

If this was a few years ago when I had much less to lose I'd just go kick the sh*t out of this guy and be done with it, but now I have a good job, wife, house, etc.. and I dont want to deal with his dumbass.. If he slashes tires I have insurance, but i'm sure there will be no proof that he did it. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Sorry for writing such a book. I tried to keep it short but that didn't go well. I'm just frustrated!

[lbsrdi 1,078]

The first thing I would do is have a camera installed. I am a GC and would never treat a customer like this, sorry for your luck.

[chevyman097 2,579]

If its really worth the trouble and time you could always take him to civil court to get your money back for a job not finished. Then file criminal charges against him for a restraining order. But honestly there really isnt much you can do past a restraining order in our system until crazy kid actually does something stupid.

 

+1 for the cameras. If you can catch him on tape trespassing then you would have much more against him.

Edited November 11, 2011 by Chevyman097

[Salmonking 149]

I don't know how state law works where you are, but you may be able to get this douche for being an unlicensed contractor; he doesn't sound like he'd put forth the effort to get an actual contracting license. Getting a motion activated light system in front of your house can do wonders at keeping away tire slashers (along with that camera idea, but that's quite a bit of scratch).

 

 

Honestly, you can't do much until he actually does something. If you wife/family feel threatened enough by him, you could always file for a restraining order, howver that's just a piece of paper.

[longhorn 81]

I don't know how state law works where you are, but you may be able to get this douche for being an unlicensed contractor; he doesn't sound like he'd put forth the effort to get an actual contracting license. Getting a motion activated light system in front of your house can do wonders at keeping away tire slashers (along with that camera idea, but that's quite a bit of scratch).

 

 

Honestly, you can't do much until he actually does something. If you wife/family feel threatened enough by him, you could always file for a restraining order, howver that's just a piece of paper.

 

Nevada has some very strict laws concerning unlicensed contractors. Posting on Craigslist would be proof he is advertising. I would look into that for sure. Also, I would have told him to come over and had several friends there to greet him when he showed up.

[yakdung 2,926]

Call the cops and relay your concerns. I would be willing to bet he has a criminal record.

 

Yakdung

[Shandlanos 1,470]

You're in Texas. Pretty sure you are very strongly protected in that state if you use force to protect yourself on your own property. If he shows up again while you are there, give him one opportunity to depart your premises without causing harm.

[Dad2142Dad 6,559]

I would do the camera, but I doubt he'll be back. Don't take this the wrong way, but you do get what you pay for. Sometimes going cheap can hurt. Karma will get this dickhead anyway.

[patriot 7,197]

Go for the camera. Document EVERYTHING. Keep the cops in the loop, ask their advice. Remember, if he pulls anything, Texas has Castle Doctrine too.

[termite 463]

A good used CCTV camera can be had on e-bay for cheap, most have the twist to connect connections, but adapter to RCA jack is only a few dollar. Hook it straight to the back of your VCR, if I remember correctly, put it on channel 3, set the tape for long play and go to sleep. Then if things go bump in the night, a S12 with 00buck will remedy the situation. We have as a security system here at the house, with 4 cameras plugged into it, that start recording when it's tripped, they also are set to record on motion activation. When we got broke into last year, the driveway camera filmed a 10 second clip of the guys car pulling up the drive, then the living room camera got 3 frames of him when he opened the door from downstairs into the dining room, that one I didn't give to the sheriffs, but by letting it be known around the hood that I had the recordings that they where time stamped by the system, and that I now have a picture of his face, it's AMAZING as HELL how quite it has been around here. I've been asked SEVERAL times by the neighbors as to who it is, and all I tell them is that "when the time is right, his ass is mine, because I see him go up and down the road from time to time". But bet your sweet ass, when the time is right, he's mine, because all the legal system will do is slap him on the wrist and say now you go be a good boy, which leaves us open to more shit from him. Also, teach your wife to use the S12 or a good handgun and NOT be afraid to use either, I don't think there's a snow balls chance in hell that if she shoots this prick, or any other one, while she's at home alone, that there will be any charges what so ever. My wife sleeps with a Judge on the night stand and me with a XD40, 1911 and S410. She's a better shot than me.

[Paulyski 2,227]

I recently picked up a 4 camera system with motion sensing, night vision & a 500 GB DVR for $405.00

 

Also, you have text message threats from his phone # saying he's in your front yard & have your wife come out?

File a restraining order. Do it today.

At least you'll know he'll not be able to buy a gun before he comes around.

 

Also, it looks like you have Angie's List in Texas... Write a review; http://www.angieslis...panylist/us/tx/

 

The guy sounds like he has Axis II borderline personality disorder traits with emotional control issues.

Usually they're all talk, but it's just as quick to throw a cup of gasoline on your house as it is to slash your tires, so I'd take the offensive

Rather than accepting the fact that he's a douche-bag, he's demonizing you to make you the bad guy in his mind & you never know when someone like that will snap from the pressure in life that he brings on himself from being a loser & you get to be the one he retaliates on.

[storm6490 2,768]

Did you learn your lesson on hiring the cheapest labor? Next time, get multiple bids if you can't do it yourself. Make sure they are registered with the state and are a licensed, bonded and insured contractor if you don't personally know them.

 

If the douche bag comes back for the saw, make sure he's inside the house before you blow a hole in his chest.

[Shandlanos 1,470]

A restraining or protection owner will not prevent him from obtaining a firearm, unless you were his intimate partner, or child of his intimate partner. It is still a very good idea.

[Fallschirmjager667 729]

Call the cops and relay your concerns. I would be willing to bet he has a criminal record.

 

Yakdung

 

i agree, that kind of behavior doesn't start all of a sudden, there have probably been similar incidents

[ChileRelleno 7,071]

Dumbasses who pose a threat like that should be taken very seriously.

Even down here, with our Castle Doctrine, sometimes it is best to be proactive and Shoot, Shovel & Shut up.

 

But you should do every thing legal like.

Edited November 12, 2011 by ChileRelleno

[CBR Shadow 53]

I wasn't very clear in my first post - I was in Texas on a business trip and the wife was home alone (with our Rottweiler) in Illinois where we live.

 

I definitely learned my lesson about going super cheap on a job like this.

 

Also about having friends wait for him at my house... no need.. he's probably 145 lbs skinny twirp and I could manhandle him easily, but that's not the point. I could kick the sh*t out of him but that wouldn't solve my problem.. he'd more likely just valdalize my house or call the police on me and then I'm the bad guy haha.

 

If I hear from him again I will get the restraining order. He seems to have calmed down now and hasn't texted or called at all. It's just a really weird situation since he never contacted me at all over a months time after "finishing" the work at my house.. 1 month after he starts blaming me for his missing saw. Weird.

 

My uber-liberal wife's first sentence when I got home tonight was "Ok I thought a lot about it and I would like to have some sort of handgun available for myself". I call that progress! At least 1 good thing came from all of this!

Edited November 12, 2011 by CBR Shadow

[ChileRelleno 7,071]

 

My uber-liberal wife's first sentence when I got home tonight was "Ok I thought a lot about it and I would like to have some sort of handgun available for myself". I call that progress! At least 1 good thing came from all of this!

AMEN!

[apick65 1]

if you haven't deleted the text where he says to use the saw to fix the mess he left; get hold of better business and show them the texts with his number.

[DrThunder88 912]

 

My uber-liberal wife's first sentence when I got home tonight was "Ok I thought a lot about it and I would like to have some sort of handgun available for myself". I call that progress! At least 1 good thing came from all of this!

AMEN!

Hear hear! It's sad that it takes the threat of violence to get some people to realize that having a gun isn't a bad thing, but it's good that Mrs. CBR Shadow is taking a well-reasoned first step toward ensuring her safety for the future. Just as long as she doesn't get into the "talisman" mindset about the gun, that's definitely a good outcome.

[GeorgiaPD 408]

Definately save the text messages for future reference. They can help establish a pattern of harrassment if you need to take further action in the future.

[CBR Shadow 53]

Thanks guys for the info. I saved all of the the texts from the guy so I can use them later if needed. I think he's done now though..hopefully.

I'm actually going tonight to hold/fire some handguns w/ the wife tonight. Also I'm considering getting one of those camera systems for around my house outside and on the driveway.. they've come down in price and you can have them record like a month of video on a harddrive.