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OT: Somebody Called the Sheriff On Me



If you don't want to read a rant.  Stop right now and hit your kill key
on this thread.  This is a rant.  Its also not alarm related.

I was a licensed contractor for 23 years.  Never had a complaint on my
license (a real complaint) and only had two BBB complaints.  Both of the
later just didn't want to honor the terms they agreed to and their
letters just read like they didn't want to pay their bill.  After the
second time and the BBB listed me with a B while listing companies I
knew first hand engaged in fraudulent practices with an A I told them
they were prohibited from listing my company at all.

Well recently I had a customer pay for a custom job.  I told them up
front that there was about 16 weeks custom work already paid on my jobs
board, and that all jobs were done in the order they are paid.  PERIOD
NO EXCEPTION and I understand if they want to look for somebody else.

That is pretty much the standard in the market niche I work in now.
Some new guys do work on spec or take partial deposits, but they quickly
learn like I did that you get stuck with items on your shelf you can't
sell and can't get paid for.  Lots of guys don't tell customers how long
its going to take, and they don't respond to demanding emails at all.  I
tell them upfront and I try to always respond to their requests for
updates.  I actually had a customer tell me early on, "No Bob.  I will
pay you up front just like I would have to with anybody else decent in
the business."  I've been that way ever since.  I have about 14-16 weeks
work on the custom jobs board right now so obviously its a workable model.

The customer from paragraph two started giving me crap and being
demanding after about 8 weeks.  I told him that we were not close to the
terms he agreed to and pointed out it was sent in email and it was on
his invoice.  Well he went off the deep end telling me he had already
contacted his bank and they had refunded his money, and threatening to
"write lots of reviews."  He didn't have the nerve to actually say bad
reviews or slanderous reviews, but I thanked him for the warning and
asked him if he would so kind as to send me links to those reviews so I
could share them with all my happy customers.  He went off the deep end
again and threatened to sue me among other things.  I'm not sure exactly
what he would sue me for, but I let him know his reply wasn't really
coherent and I was blocking his emails.  I also told him that if he
tried to circumvent that I would consider a harassment (harassment is
criminal) complaint against him.  Within a minute or two my phone was
ringing.  I was in the machine room setting up a job, but when I went
back in the office I looked up the CALL ID and it was this guy.  I'm
glad I didn't answer.  He didn't leave a message.

I was a bit annoyed and decided to call it a day before I broke
something or worse hurt myself and everybody's jobs got delayed.  I was
sitting in my living room in my recliner sipping on a cup of fresh
brewed coffee and watch Ian of Forgotten Weapons on YouTube tell all
about how Samuel Colt was an interesting and very driven individual when
a local Sheriff's Deputy rang my door bell.

Apparently the guy had called his local Sheriff's department in Florida
and said I was trying to rip him off.  Now lets stop a minute.  If he
misrepresented things to his bank/credit card provider and took my money
back he has no financial claim, and I no longer had any obligation to
him.  If he did not tell that to the Sheriff's department he
misrepresented things at best.  To my knowledge there is no jurisdiction
in the USA where filing a false police report or making false statements
to law enforcement in the performance of their duties is not a crime.

They called my local Sheriff's Department and who sent a deputy to see
me. I explained everything, showed him all the pertinent supporting
documentation, and  emailed him copies.  He said the police report on
his end was going to be really short.  I'll be getting a copy, and also
the incident report number from the Florida Sheriff's office so I can
get a copy of their police report as well.

In the mean time I sent our friend in Florida one last email letting him
know that as long as he did not succeed in stealing from me I would
unblock him long enough to get proof approval on his job when I got to
his job on the board in about 8 weeks.  I also let him know the local
sheriff's department had visited with me, and I would be getting a copy
of both their and his sheriff's departments police reports.  "While I am
not sure you filed a false police report, under Arizona law even as the
victim I am REQUIRED by Arizona statute to report a crime if I believe
one has been committed."

What I should do for my own peace of mind is refund the guy and block
him forever, but I don't believe in rewarding bad behaviour.  Besides I
consider that a binding agreement to do a job goes both ways.  I am just
as obligated to complete his job as he is not to back out of it after I
have put the money to work making sure there is material to do it and
spent time figuring out the best way to get it done.

I never had a customer call the sheriff on me because I insisted on
sticking to the terms of an agreement and refused to be intimidated
until last Friday.  I'm still a little stunned.  Relieved too actually.
Law enforcement, atleast on my end, had no problem seeing the situation
for what it was.

As a contractor I had a couple customers I fired, but I never fired them
before completing the job I agreed to do, and I always covered the
warranty until the 366th day.  I think I will fire this guy ten seconds
after I ship his part.

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