So I used a contractor to power wash the siding of my two walls of my townhouse, paint two of my dormer windows, and paint my rake board(the board between your roof and siding).  My square footage is 870 ft.  For anonymity sake, I shall call the business owner Cocaine Cowboy, and his worker that was sent over here Shemp. 

Shemp arrived on a Tuesday at around 8AM.  He told me that it would take 12 to 16 hours to complete, I told him that 16 hours seems bafflingly high and is that for a worse case scenario where things go very wrong.  He weakly said yes.  It was my first day off in 8 days so I tried to let him do his thing while not bugging him.  Cocaine Cowboy's company is valued at 4.9 on google reviews with over 100 entries, so I figured I was in good hands.  No contract was presented to me at arrival, and Shemp tacked on $75 extra that was not discussed over the phone call for using a power washer.  Ok, no biggie, got things to do.  As I worked around the house getting many things done I heard the progress outside, slow, but I had never had a power washing done in the house.  Besides again this company has a 4.9 on google, no biggie.  The work for the day was done around 5PM, and I had many obligations to take care of due to family shit.  Next day, I figured there was only 4 or so hours left.  After deducting what Shemp had done the previous day through messages I got during certain times of the day, and deducting where the sounds were coming from, Shemp had spent 7 hours power washing two walls of a 9' by 14' area, as well as a 26' by 25' side of the house.  And another 2 hours replacing a single board from my dormer window that had carpenter bee damage.  By the time I noticed what little was done it was already 4 hours into the paint, Shemp took another 4 hours painting both 3 and a half foot wide and 6 feet tall dormer windows, and another 4 hours painting the rake board which was only about 5 inches wide, and a total of 30 or 40 feet long. 

Shemp being the useless unethical fucker he is dropped a bombshell afterwards with a $2,638 bill.  They charged me $96 an hour, Shemp wanted to replace his solid gold buttplug he must have lost while on the ladder and charged me an additional $96 an hour for 7 hours for every hour over 12 feet.  This was not discussed, and tacked on at the end.  Shemp, ever the most helpful useless sack of shit and corrupted golden buttplug whore then told me "why don't you just write me a check for $240 and we can forget about the high ladder fee.  Just don't tell anyone, we'll keep it our secret and I won't tell my management"  I declined the shake down, paid in full to keep my legal options open.  I signed twice since my job requires no legal drama, and started calculating my next move.

I posted a very negative review online and 10 minutes later Cocaine Cowboy called.  After explaining that I was very unhappy and was not presented with the information that there was $96 dollar an hour additional high ladder fee on top of the $96 an hour already charged, he offered me the same deal that Shemp told me to be quiet about.  "Why don't we meet in the middle of the high ladder fee".  I expressed my displeasure and told him that I had googled how long it takes to power wash a small property, and that it was less than 2 hours, especially if it was only two wall, and he asked me to take down the review, and he'll get back to me the next day. 

He never got back to me and I turned the case over to the consumer protection department of the attorney generals office.  I reread the google reviews and it appears that many are likely generic and fake. 

2 weeks go by and the attorney generals office gets back to me.  Cocaine Cowboy does not want to part with his embezzled cocaine money, and submitted a falsified document with a forged signature, claiming its mine, dated the day of service, stating that I agreed to the terms that day.  I had not seen or signed paperwork until after work was completed.  In fact the work authorization on my original invoice is still dated on the day of completion. 

So if anyone got this far, does anyone have any advice on how to play it out.  I'm already trying to get the PDF of the document(the one I signed was a signature on an ipad).  I'm going to verify authenticity at the very least.  I have now realized that some sack of shit can sign your name on anything and it will be your word against theirs.

Last edited by fortinbras (2021-06-30 23:52:26)