work done they stopped payment on my check

[ilovetigger]

I did the contract work and they think I'm not "not" worth what I billed them out for so they stopped payment on my check. Now what do I do?

 

[ilovetigger]

did the work-stopped payment on check

I thought I'd expand just a little on what happened.

They had a problem with thier electricity, some lights wouldnt work and the living room receptacles wouldnt work thus they called me, my husband and I are both Master Electricians. We came to look at thier project, It wasnt obvious what the problem was, They didnt want a 'by the hour' bid, they wanted a "min. and max" bid.

It could take me 10 hours or it could take 15 minutes to find the problem. So I gave her a bid of $500 min and $700 max. I told her while I was taking off the devises I would replace them with new ones if she would buy them. She said great. She had her cousin let me in at 8:30 am and then he went down to the local hardware store to buy the receptacles and switches.

My husband and I along with our 15 year old son went to work to find the 'Problem'. We took off every receptacle (except one), every switch, and every light, and every ceiling fan. While we had them off we grounded each one (none of them were grounded properly) and put on the owner purchased devises. She ran out of them so we used a box of receptacles and several switches and one GFI off of my truck.

I put in the GFI in the kitchen for her safety and fixed the single pole switch her cousin had put in where a 3/way switch needed to be, making the second 3/way switch work properly.

I billed her out for $718.60. $700 bid and $18.60 for the devises I used off of my truck. She paid me the same day and then emailed me the next morning stating that she feels I wasnt worth the money she paid and would stop payment on my check and reissue me one for what she felt my work was worth. She felt I was only worth $200-$300. I wouldnt have charged her the full max of my bid if I hadnt taken off every devise and light and ceiling fan and my son hadnt spend a large part of the time in the attic tracing out electrical wires.

I am worth it because I had the knowledge and the know how to fix the problem when her cousin couldnt fix it and had to call a "real electrician". Now she has stopped payment on the check making an overdraft in my account, causing much anguish for me and then she sends me a check for $600 and says go ahead and cash it. I think she didnt want me to take her to small claims court so she sent me that amount just to make it not worth my time to fight. The check was written out to my company so it is not cashable.

What do I do now? Do I take her to small claims? Can I charge the max? 3x the check price? Please help!! Thank you for your time.

Lynn

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I thought I'd expand just a little on what happened.

They had a problem with thier electricity, some lights wouldnt work and the living room receptacles wouldnt work thus they called me, my husband and I are both Master Electricians. We came to look at thier project, It wasnt obvious what the problem was, They didnt want a 'by the hour' bid, they wanted a "min. and max" bid.

It could take me 10 hours or it could take 15 minutes to find the problem. So I gave her a bid of $500 min and $700 max. I told her while I was taking off the devises I would replace them with new ones if she would buy them. She said great. She had her cousin let me in at 8:30 am and then he went down to the local hardware store to buy the receptacles and switches.

My husband and I along with our 15 year old son went to work to find the 'Problem'. We took off every receptacle (except one), every switch, and every light, and every ceiling fan. While we had them off we grounded each one (none of them were grounded properly) and put on the owner purchased devises. She ran out of them so we used a box of receptacles and several switches and one GFI off of my truck.

I put in the GFI in the kitchen for her safety and fixed the single pole switch her cousin had put in where a 3/way switch needed to be, making the second 3/way switch work properly.

I billed her out for $718.60. $700 bid and $18.60 for the devises I used off of my truck. She paid me the same day and then emailed me the next morning stating that she feels I wasnt worth the money she paid and would stop payment on my check and reissue me one for what she felt my work was worth. She felt I was only worth $200-$300. I wouldnt have charged her the full max of my bid if I hadnt taken off every devise and light and ceiling fan and my son hadnt spend a large part of the time in the attic tracing out electrical wires.

I am worth it because I had the knowledge and the know how to fix the problem when her cousin couldnt fix it and had to call a "real electrician". Now she has stopped payment on the check making an overdraft in my account, causing much anguish for me and then she sends me a check for $600 and says go ahead and cash it. I think she didnt want me to take her to small claims court so she sent me that amount just to make it not worth my time to fight. The check was written out to my company so it is not cashable.

What do I do now? Do I take her to small claims? Can I charge the max? 3x the check price? Please help!! Thank you for your time.

Lynn

You can take them to small claims, but let's go over the facts.

(1) What was your $500-700 estimate based upon? Was it hourly?

(2) If you go to small claims court, you should not file for triple the check amount if you have no basis for asking for that amount. Small claims is not a place to be rewarded a windfall but to do justice.

(3) Why isn't the check cashable? If this wasn't a "company job" then why not get another check from this lady? It's up to you if it's worth settling for this amount or whether you really feel that she should be hauled into court. If you don't have much of a basis for establishing the $700+ amount, you may want to take the $600 and call it a day.