Need advice: Taking a company to small claims court?

renbee

So I need some wisdom - has anyone ever taken a case to small claims court? I apologize for the long story...

I had a company replace my roof, and they screwed me over. The roof was covered under my insurance, but they promised some upgrades like better shingles and new flashing including around my chimney, even though that wasn't what the insurance included on their scope of work. I also paid an extra $1k out of pocket for work to our chimneys, including tearing down one chimney and installing a custom chimney cap on the other.

They did the roof towards the end of April. Literally the next time it rained, we had a leak in the ceiling in our bedroom. They come out and say it was because of the chimney flashing. Turns out they did not replace it but reattached the old stuff. They recaulked around it and we haven't had issues since, but I'm still upset that they didn't do what they said. Although it took about two months of badgering them, they did send a painter that repaired and repainted our ceiling.

I fought them over the flashing issue, and they won't budge - they say it was not covered under insurance so that's why they didn't do it. But I have a scope of work that they emailed me saying they would include it.

Now it's been three months, and they still haven't installed the chimney cap. The rep from the company continually blows me off. If I do get him on the phone he says he'll call back at a certain time with answers, and he never calls.

I was going to let the flashing issue go, but now that they haven't done the cap I paid for either, I'm thinking about taking them to small claims court. Do you think I have a case? Anyone have experience with something like this? Should I consult a lawyer or do you think I can do this on my own?

Tl;dr - a roofing company did a shitty job and didn't complete the work they said they would and I want to take them to court. Advice?

Also, please don't quote - I may come back and dd if I decide to pursue this.

renbee

mrsmechanic1 said:

Do you know someone who works in a law office?  Even seeing something with letterhead on it can sometimes make them realize you're serious and not dropping it.  It can be a very basic letter, and it may cost a few dollars, but my guess is that the issue would be quickly remedied.  Then you don't have to go down and file in SCC, which at least here costs money to file (even though it's not much) and is a hassle.

I definitely think I will try this before filing anything in court. I'd like to avoid court if at all possible. I don't know anyone who works at a law office, so I'd have to figure out who to see about it. I am just concerned that seeing a lawyer will be costly.

I also need to decide if I want to pursue them redoing the chimney flashing and the cap, or just doing the cap and being done with it. It will be a bigger fight to get them to do the flashing, as I already fought them over it and then kind of gave up because they were being completely impossible. I also don't really trust their work at this point, which makes me think I should try to get a refund so I can have another company take care of it.

white318

Did you find the repair company through your insurance company?  Or was it on your own?  If it was through the insurance as a recommended vendor then complain to them.  Even a letter drafted with a CC at the bottom to an attorney can get a response sometimes.  Also, BBB... file a complaint if you have documentation.  Do they have a website?  A web listing on any sites that you can write reviews?  If so, complain there... hopefully your noise will get some action without have to go to small claims court.

Many people I know have had luck with getting judgments against tenants in small claims court, but collecting on them is difficult.  If you have the time, and have no other luck with anything else it doesn't hurt to try it as the filing fees are pretty reasonable most of the time.  Good luck !!

renbee

@fredalina - that's great that you won! The cost of flashing and chimney cap would be about $2k, so ever if it takes several days it would be worth it to me.

@white318 - unfortunately it is a company I found on my own, so I don't think insurance would help me. I feel the fact that part of the job was paid for by insurance could hurt my case. It just makes it really complicated.

spotco2

Did you have a signed contract with the contractor detailing all of the work that was to be performed? If not, then you only have "he said, she said" and depending on your judge and the contractors reputation with the court system you might not have much luck with anything more than just having the roof replaced. I hope you did not pay them in full already also. Paying in full is the equivalent of accepting the work as being completed to your expectations usually.

Small claims is not a bad process and you do not need a ton of legal background to win. Common sense will usually get you a judgement. With that being said, a judgement just means you win and does not guarantee that you will get paid.

There are several legal ways of forcing someone to pay through the court system. One that works well is taking out a FIFA warrant against the individual or contractor and having the Sheriff's Office seize property that belongs to the contractor and selling it at public auction to satisfy the debt owed. The only real problem with these is if the contractor was a small business that really does not have any assets.

Something else you can do is visit your local Clerk of Superior Courts office and search for any existing liens that have been placed against the contractor and if they were ever satisfied or not.

BBB is almost worthless and so are negative web reviews.

Without more details such as if you had a signed contract detailing the scope of the work to be performed (not just an email), your state and if the contractor was a legitimate contractor that was licensed to perform the work and properly insured or just Jim's Fix-It, it's difficult to tell you exactly what your best options are.

renbee

@spotco2‌ - the "contract" that I signed said almost nothing on it besides my contact information and that they were replacing the roof "per insurance". I also have a separate one that we signed for the extra chimney work. Neither had any detail on scope of work or materials used, so I asked them to send me all of that in writing through email since they had promised a lot of things. I did all of this the week I miscarried and was not quite in my right mind at the time. Not proud of how careless this was, but the company is owned by the relative of a good family friend, so I thought I had nothing to worry about.

I did pay in full - they had finished replacing the roof and I thought everything was done, didn't know until it leaked that they hadn't done the flashing properly. They told me they had ordered the chimney cap and it would be installed in 10 days. Again at that point everything seemed great as they had been easy to work with, I had no reason not to trust them.

spotco2

I'm very sorry to hear about that.

I'm also sorry that you were taken advantage of by a lousy contractor. I hope it works out for you.

From this point forward, never sign a contract that is not very detailed. Some contractors will ask for 1/2 up front so they can purchase materials and cover some overhead. Never pay the complete balance until their work is completed and you are satisfied with the results.