Frustrated!!!!!!!

Well, we finally got a call from the contractor who worked on our patio. I say worked on, because it was never finished. He started on it in March, 2005. We paid him a large chunk of the money, then all but the last $1000 30 days later, then we were supposed to pay the last $1000 when it was completed.

Do you all remember the horrific rains we had in March, 2005? We remember them well. They had cut off the eaves on the back of our house a week before and had assured us that they do this all the time, rain would not be a problem. Well, at 4am when Scott got up, we heard dripping...in the walls. Our bedroom wall was soaking wet, top to bottom, the other side of which is in the kitchen. The other side of our kitchen was also wet, though not as bad. Also, water was dripping through the top of the window ledge in the bathroom and above the shower. Basically, the entire back of the house. Well, the workers came, ripped up the carpet, brought fans in to dry it up, tore out the drywall, patched and replaced, repainted and continued on. The guys worked on the outside of the patio as well. They almost got it done. It took about a week to hotmop the roofing materials because of our wind that we get out here, but that got done, too. Then they disappeared. Scott got in touch with the contractor. Trying to find the roof tiles.

A month goes by...
two months go by...
Scott leaves a message for the guy.
Three months go by.
Another message.
Fast forward to present day.
At least a dozen messages have been left and not one returned.
I finally call a friend who knows these people (how we found him to begin with) and she calls the wife/office manager and tells her we are VERY upset and ready to sue.
I get a message on the machine!
Scott calls her back last night, explains the situation. She says her husband remembers us! He darn well better! She tells us he couldn't find the roof tiles. And that the problems Scott has mentioned that are wrong with the patio (caulking separating, pieces of the windbreak need to be re-attached, etc.) are no longer covered by the one-year warranty. Scott says, "Well, it hasn't been completed yet! How can the warranty be up?" Reply: "The warranty started when the work was STARTED." Never heard of THAT before. "So, have your husband get back to me."

Scott gets a call this morning on his cell phone voice mail. "I am not interested in coming back to complete the job. The $1000 that is still owed should be more than enough to have someone finish it."

That's it? You leave us hanging for over a year and that's it? No, that isn't it. He doesn't know me very well. When all is said and done, he will likely be sorry he didn't just come over and finish it. But he had the opportunity.

My biggest question is why? I am pretty likeable and agreeable. But from day one, this guy would not return my calls. I would call and leave a message on his cell phone and he would call Scott back. He refused to talk to me. Then Scott would call me and relay the message. I had his workers in my house and on my roof and he wouldn't call me back! I never understood that, but just dealt with it. Then pretty soon he wouldn't even call Scott back. Not good business practice if you ask me!

I made a call to a roofer in the phone book and they are coming out tomorrow to give us an estimate. And she put me in touch with a local roofing supply place that has these tiles. Amazing. The phone book. Who would have thought.

Now all I have to do is find all the documentation on this, contract, checks, etc. Hmmm. I am sure I filed it somewhere...which box?