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Aug. 15th, 2005 09:38 amWell, that’s it. I am now a gardener down, cos I fired him. When I told him this morning that I wanted:
1)the fence fixed, as per the original quote,
2)the steps re-done & new ones put in, as per the original quote, (and not the old ones extended, as he'd done)
3)the old flag-stones (he’d buried under half an inch of dirt) removed, so that the grass he planned on putting on (today) would stand a chance of surviving, as per the original quote, and,
4)the lower patio completed, as per the original quote
…he got all bolshy with me, threatened to rip all the stuff out, telling me, in no uncertain terms exactly what he thought of me. When I pointed out that I was the bloody customer, he told me I could stick it, cos I wasn’t in charge – he was - and he wanted to be paid for the full job, right now. In full. In cash.
Where upon I lost my temper and I told him that he could “get the f**k off my land before I call the police. You’re work has been substandard, shoddy and slow. The place is a sodding tip, and even those jobs that you claim that you’ve completed are dangerous, shoddy and onlh half-f**king-complete.” He then had a go at me for being “so bl**dy unreasonable, after all the fiddly jobs he'd done for me”, cos I’d seen the steps before & the fence, and NOW I’m complaining.
At that point, I snapped a bit. I rounded on him and told him that I was the bloody customer, he had given me a quote and his options were to either complete the work to the standard I wanted, or he could take the deposit money I’d already given him and he could leave. All of this was said at full volume and I ended up at full volume eyeball to eyeball, in traditional “I’m about to deck you” poise. In retrospect that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, cos hes a builder & I’m, an 84kg weakling (by the way – no change on this weeks weight).
But it seemed to work. He backed down a bit & started negotiating properly, and we eventually agreed that he’d done half the work (which, in fairness, he had), so he could get half the money (which I gave him). He then picked up his tools & cleared off, leaving me with half a garden, lots of debris and holes in my fence.
At least my headache is now cleared. Thank god.
S
1)the fence fixed, as per the original quote,
2)the steps re-done & new ones put in, as per the original quote, (and not the old ones extended, as he'd done)
3)the old flag-stones (he’d buried under half an inch of dirt) removed, so that the grass he planned on putting on (today) would stand a chance of surviving, as per the original quote, and,
4)the lower patio completed, as per the original quote
…he got all bolshy with me, threatened to rip all the stuff out, telling me, in no uncertain terms exactly what he thought of me. When I pointed out that I was the bloody customer, he told me I could stick it, cos I wasn’t in charge – he was - and he wanted to be paid for the full job, right now. In full. In cash.
Where upon I lost my temper and I told him that he could “get the f**k off my land before I call the police. You’re work has been substandard, shoddy and slow. The place is a sodding tip, and even those jobs that you claim that you’ve completed are dangerous, shoddy and onlh half-f**king-complete.” He then had a go at me for being “so bl**dy unreasonable, after all the fiddly jobs he'd done for me”, cos I’d seen the steps before & the fence, and NOW I’m complaining.
At that point, I snapped a bit. I rounded on him and told him that I was the bloody customer, he had given me a quote and his options were to either complete the work to the standard I wanted, or he could take the deposit money I’d already given him and he could leave. All of this was said at full volume and I ended up at full volume eyeball to eyeball, in traditional “I’m about to deck you” poise. In retrospect that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, cos hes a builder & I’m, an 84kg weakling (by the way – no change on this weeks weight).
But it seemed to work. He backed down a bit & started negotiating properly, and we eventually agreed that he’d done half the work (which, in fairness, he had), so he could get half the money (which I gave him). He then picked up his tools & cleared off, leaving me with half a garden, lots of debris and holes in my fence.
At least my headache is now cleared. Thank god.
S
