Contractor Blacklist

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
Is there any such thing as a contractor blacklist? I find it inconceivable that I can't get anyone to work for me whether it carpenters, plumbers or handymen ever since I sued one for bad workmanship. I won my case, then had to put a lien on him for non-payment of the judgment. They have nothing to fear from me if they do a good job for a reasonable price.
 

debodun said:
Is there any such thing as a contractor blacklist? I find it inconceivable that I can't get anyone to work for me whether it carpenters, plumbers or handymen ever since I sued one for bad workmanship. I won my case, then had to put a lien on him for non-payment of the judgment. They have nothing to fear from me if they do a good job for a reasonable price.
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Yes there is. http://www.customers2avoid.com/ There are also other sites too, that list bad clients.

Have you tried using YELP, to find someone that will service you? http://www.yelp.com/
 

debodun said:
Oh, yes I have, but I can't find anyone "locally". They are always 30 or 40 miles away.
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Well, maybe your only alternative will be to contact someone outside your area then. Do you have any friends that have a handyman as a husband or son that would do the work for you?
 
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debodun said:
Is there any such thing as a contractor blacklist? I find it inconceivable that I can't get anyone to work for me whether it carpenters, plumbers or handymen ever since I sued one for bad workmanship. I won my case, then had to put a lien on him for non-payment of the judgment. They have nothing to fear from me if they do a good job for a reasonable price.
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You Betcha! If you live in a more rural area, you can bet that virtually every service or repairman knows all the others, and they talk among themselves. If you sued one of these guys, you can bet that you go to the very bottom of the list when you need someone to fix something. Most of these guys have plenty of work lined up, and they are not going to want to fool with someone who might sue them.
 
Gemma said:
Well, maybe your only alternative will be to contact someone outside your area then. Do you have any friends that have a handyman as a husband or son that would do the work for you?
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Hiring someone's relative or friend can be risky. They probably aren't insured and if they get hurt doing something for me, I am the liable party.
 
Don M. said:
You Betcha! If you live in a more rural area, you can bet that virtually every service or repairman knows all the others, and they talk among themselves. If you sued one of these guys, you can bet that you go to the very bottom of the list when you need someone to fix something. Most of these guys have plenty of work lined up, and they are not going to want to fool with someone who might sue them
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Got that right
 
I was told once by a medical professional that filing a medical malpractice suit - successful or not - will make it very difficult to find a doctor in the future. Could be the same for contractors
 
gennie said:
I was told once by a medical professional that filing a medical malpractice suit - successful or not - will make it very difficult to find a doctor in the future. Could be the same for contractors
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Oh yes indeedy. Years ago in some city in Georgia, the local obstetricians had been sued so many times, a bunch of them started refusing to accept the wives of attorneys as patients. That didn't last long, but it gave a message.
 
debodun said:
Hiring someone's relative or friend can be risky. They probably aren't insured and if they get hurt doing something for me, I am the liable party.
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I hired friends of Rick to build my new deck. They did a great job...BUT...I will never use them again. I will only hire out professionals or something in the future. I felt I was being taking advantage of with their price quotes (I talked them down and said take it or leave it).
They would come out, work 2-3 hours and leave. Very slow. Only one of the guys drove, so if HE could not drive the two others, I was SOL. It took almost a month to do a job they said would take less than 2 weeks. Then they kept asking when they would get paid, even though we agreed in writing that they would get paid when the building inspector came out and passed the job.
I did tekk them after that for future work I will be looking elsewhere.
 
Many years ago we added a master suite to our house. Halfway through the general contractor went belly-up. Fortunately we weren't hurt financially, but neither hubby nor I had any building trade experience. I found this out on a Friday afternoon and let's just say it was a very scary weekend. A huge area of our home was an absolute mess. No worries. The plumber, electrician, tile setter, etc., all showed up on Monday morning, contracts in hand for us to sign (cost us less than using the general) and they continued to work for us quite seamlessly. I paid them directly.

The plumber told me that the subs had a meeting over the weekend when they found out about the general. There were at least half a dozen jobs in process, most of which the subs declined to continue with. They opted to finish our house and one other because we'd been so nice to them. (I kept a refrigerator in the garage stocked with soda and bottled water for them, let them swim in our pool as they wanted, and had our preschool age kids bring them plates of homemade cookies and other treats when I baked.)

People want to work for folks who treat them well, are patient, and don't hassle over pennies.
 
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That's an issue that bothers me about contracting. Oftem the person who first shows up and makes the deal is not the person that will be doing the actual work. One time my mom hired a mason to point up the chimney. She thought he would be doing the work, then a teen-aged kid showed up with a ladder and a bag of Quickrete. She was not happy to gave a 15-year-old climbing up on the steeply pitcherd roof and wouldn't allow him to do the work. Later the first guy showed up in a dither and yelled at my mom "You have no idea how the contracting business works!"

Another time a contractor ordered much more materials than he actually used. When he was done and started to load the "leftovers" into his truck, I accosted him and said that those were my materials since I paid for them and I wanted him to leave them. He was not happy, but he did leave them after he kicked them around my yard.
 


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