Unauthorized Gutter Repair - Invoice Received!

We have had a local guy (we chose him because he was recommended on MOL) to clean the gutters in the Spring and Fall. Shortly after Thanksgiving the gutters were cleaned ($198) and a few days later I was just leaving the house and reversing down the drive when he turned up out of the blue in his van with a crew of guys; he said that a gutter leader alongside the garage needed replacing so I agreed to it. This cost $145.

Last weekend I received this from the gutter guy in the mail:

"Mrs..........

I was working on your street and saw that the front gutter and leader had come partially down. I repaired it for you"

Invoice: $110 + tax = $117.70"

I am not very happy.....I had a look outside but can't see where any work had been done and certainly hadn't noticed that the gutter and leader had come partially down. I can't believe he had just gone ahead with doing some work on the house without any prior notification or authorization!

Btw; come to think of it, whenever he's been here he's always asking if we need any jobs doing such as indoor painting. I'm wondering it he doesn't have enough work on and needs money?

What would you do? Thoughts?

I am no expert, but cannot see how you can expect to be paid for work a homeowner did not authorize or even know was going to be done. I have to imagine the law is on your side. And also that you need to look for a new gutter guy.

Legally, I doubt you have to pay. The remaining question is if you have any allegiance to the guy. Did you like his work in past? If so, a conversation about how things are supposed to be done would be in order.

If I don't pay him, could he sue me and win?

I certainly don't have any allegiance to him and will be looking for someone else to do my gutters now!

ApplePie said:

If I don't pay him, could he sue me and win?

I certainly don't have any allegiance to him and will be looking for someone else to do my gutters now!

He can do nothing. He trespassed on your property at the very best and is trying to rip you off at the worst. I personally would guess the latter is the case.

The bill is utterly ridiculous. Tell him if he calls to collect the next call is to the cops. If someone I worked with, with whom I had no service contract pulled that, firing would be the least of it.

Not a penny. If he mouths off, hang up and file a police report.

He's basically like a squeegee man. Can you imagine if I drove by your house, claimed I trimmed your hedge and sent you a bill? What a racket!

tell him if he tries to collect, you will swear out a trespassing complaint with the court

Sounds like he made an assumption since you had approved previous work. I would simply explain that since you didn't see the damage and didn't approve the work, you are not going to pay for it. You'll need to find a new gutter guy and lesson learned for him. End of story. Doubt he'll come after you for payment if it is who I think it is. I'd hardly compare him to a squeegee man since he was a reliable contractor you paid previously until this mistake on his part.

I don't know that I'd make any threats at this stage. I'd probably just ignore any letters and calls, and if does reach you, simply say he's putting you in a difficult position asking for money for a job you didn't discuss or authorize. Hopefully he'll take that as a clue to move on.

I have a great gutter guy, and find that his price for repairs and services are so reasonable, that if he was here and in addition. Fixed something, I'd pay it without question. I trust him and am glad to have him do work here.

I'd pay the bill, it's not outrageous, thank him for looking out for you (you do realize the cost of replacement would be many times higher than the small repair cost), and let them know in he future to please call or speak with you before work is done.

I am pretty sure I fell for the same scam 10 years ago when I lived on Yale St. A gutter cleaning company with a very high profile in SOMA. Sorry I don't remember the name!

Best Regards,

Ron Carter

Keep the letter since it proves he did the work without getting approval from you. If he tries to sue, submit a copy of the letter as evidence.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I can't believe this.....the doorbell rang 10 minutes ago and there he was with another copy of the invoice in his hand!

I am such a coward.....he asked if I'd received his other invoice and I said yes I had and my husband is going to deal with it but he's away this week. I said that he's not happy. He pointed up to the gutter and said "look it was hanging down so I came and fixed it for you".

I just re-iterated that my husband isn't happy and will get in touch with him when he's back from his trip. I felt that he was quite pushy, but I didn't feel inclined to write out a check on the spot.

if he comes back, don't open the door and call the police. his behavior is overly aggressive (only a week before harassing to pay the bill). i would not feel safe opening the door myself. i wonder if he reads this!

outright ignoring it could trigger a lawsuit. I don't know if this would qualify for a 'mechanic' type lien on the house. even if you formally refuse to pay, you could be sued, but the court would likely raise more questions if you had just ignored it.

Next time tell him that you were thinking of getting your gutters replaced, and that the repairs were thus unnecessary at this time. Also let him know that you had been there but hours before he came, and didn't see anything untoward nor anything worth fixing, and thus he should not have taken it upon himself to fix without approval. If he persists; tell him your association with him is now over, and he should pursue in court if he wants the funds for the unrequested and unnecessary repair.

Next time he comes, do not open the door, do not answer the door. If he persists at door call police. Do not engage.

Yikes. Really you don't owe him anything, but as he seems to be in your neighborhood a lot, ignoring him might not work. After all, he's already approached you twice, including the driveway discussion.

Maybe your husband should call him, as that's the next step discussed. Explain that the process just isn't working for you - after all, plumbers, electricians, painters, landscapers etc. just don't show up and work and leave invoices. And they don't show up for payment. If he pushes, maybe negotiate something - perhaps half the amount by mail so everyone can move on. Given the thousands we pay for home repairs and renos over time, paying out $70 or so is kind of a rounding error.

Another option is to call MPD or SOPD detective unit and ask for their advice, explain you don't want to get the guy in trouble, but that you don't want to deal with someone showing up at your door asking for money. They might say there's nothing they can do, but they be willing to call the guy and explain that there's been a misunderstanding, and it might be best that he move on. Seems to be a better solution than calling them once he is at your door.

Why not send him an email? If you don't like personal confrontation take the time to carefully compose a note, including many of the points above. Don't threaten, just calmly refuse to pay for work you didn't ask for. Ask him to use email for all future discussions so that you can copy your husband in.

When I first moved here some guy rang my doorbell and said do you know the flashing on your roof is hanging off? I can fix it for you now for $40. I knew there wasn't any problem and I told him thanks but no thanks. He wanted me to come out of the house so he could show me and I refused. Later neighbors told me he's a scam artist who has a list of new homeowners and he tries to scam them (even though there's a no solicitation rule in my development). About a year later he showed up again with the same line. I told him, through the door, that I knew he was a scam artist and if he ever decided to show up again I would call the police. So far, so good.

ApplePie said:

He pointed up to the gutter and said "look it was hanging down so I came and fixed it for you".

That does not in any way give him the right to fix it for you. Maybe you were going to fix it yourself. Maybe you were going to hire someone else to fix it. Maybe you didn't care that it was broken. Maybe you have other spending priorities and were going to let this go for a few months. He has absolutely NO RIGHT to make your spending decisions for you.

Can someone come and mow your lawn and demand payment? What about a hairdresser who sees that your roots are gray? Can he force you into a chair and apply color?

You did not have a contract with him for this repair, you don't have to pay it. He won't sue.

While it is true that the Gutter Guy did not have authorization to do the repair. Maybe he did it because he saw a problem from one of his customers and thought he was doing the right thing.

How about you call him and have a conversation. If the work was needed, and he did the work and the price was fair. Pay the man. Explain that you appreciate what he did but in the future he must get your approval before doing any work.

We live in a world where it is almost impossible to get people to do their job and to do it right. You seem to have found someone that does good work and took the time to fix a minor problem before it became a larger one. A pulled downspout can put a lot of water where you do not want it.

Get all the information and then react.

problem is, no way to prove the work was actually needed...and he is being overly aggressive showing up on the door step a week after the bill was received looking for payment...that indicates there is something strange going on...pay him this time, next time it will be more. Maybe next time he will sneak on the property do damage and turn it into a few thousand dollar job that needs repair.

jmitw said:

if he comes back, don't open the door and call the police. his behavior is overly aggressive (only a week before harassing to pay the bill). i would not feel safe opening the door myself. i wonder if he reads this!

outright ignoring it could trigger a lawsuit. I don't know if this would qualify for a 'mechanic' type lien on the house. even if you formally refuse to pay, you could be sued, but the court would likely raise more questions if you had just ignored it.

Most likely, it would qualify as a small claims case. I can't envision how he would prevail in small claims court.

Before a mechanic's lien is issued, there has to be a judge's decision on a claim. I don't envision this scholar hiring a lawyer to proceed with this.