Price Gouging and Fraud
I got a call from an older lady who said she got my name from the phone book and wanted a quote on putting gutters up around her small home in downtown Ayden. I’d like to think I was the first call she made but she said she called several service providers and not one returned her call except me. This lady was in luck and let me tell you why.
First, I have to tell you that I am a bit embarrassed to tell this story and when we get to the end you will understand why.
I set up a time to meet at her home and take a look at her problem. She likes planting flowers around her house and every time it rains the flowers get washed out. After taking some measurements and estimating the cost of materials and labor I gave her the price of $550.00 and she looked a bit puzzled and took a minute ….looked at me and said, ” Five thousand dollars is a bit more than she had expected.” She is an older lady and had not heard or understood so I quickly told her that I had said Five Hundred and Fifty dollars not $5,000 dollars. She beamed at me and said that is great when can you start. I had another sub contractor with me at the time and we both commented that a dishonest contractor could have told her $2,500 after that and she would have thought she had a deal. As we were talking she started mentioning that she hoped her flowers would not wash away any more and I told her that if she would get some mulch and put around the flower beds that it would help the problem as well.
I asked her about using the outside outlet during the work and she said that it wasn’t working and had not for some time. She said she needed to call an electrician to get it fixed. I shared with her that 9 times out of 10 when an outlet does not work that somewhere in the house one of the ground fault circuit interrupter circuit breakers (GFCI) has tripped in an outlet. [su_note note_color=”#c3c7e9″ text_color=”#161212″]Just for your knowledge a GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit preventing potential electrical shock.[/su_note]
She did not understand what I was telling her so I asked if I could go in and take a look at her receptacles. She invited me in and sure enough in the bathroom the circuit had tripped and I pushed the button to reset and like magic the outside receptacle was working. 
She was grateful and asked me what she owed me for fixing it. I told her that she didn’t owe me anything and showed her how to take care of it if it happened again and suggested that she check them regularly to ensure they are working. Here was another instance where someone could have easily taken advantage of her or she would at best have paid a basic service fee for an electrician coming out to evaluate and repair.
She thanked me again and we left. Later in the week, the work was completed and I put an invoice in the mail to her home address. After a week or so the invoice was returned to sender and I got a little worried about getting paid. I called her number several times and went by the house but no one came to the door. I did notice that she had taken my advice and there was fresh mulch around the flower beds.
When I was talking to a friend who takes care of his own elderly parents he said something that made me think….”Maybe she is in the hospital or sick”. Sure enough, a few days later I got a call from one of her church members to tell me she had fallen and broken her arm and was in the hospital for a while. She had asked her friend to give me a call and tell me that as soon as she got home she would take care of the invoice. She was as good as her word and she paid promptly once she got home. I really felt bad that I was so concerned that the bill would not be paid that it really did not cross my mind that she may be injured. “I learned a few lessons here and want to share them with you:
I learned a few lessons here and want to share them with you:
1- Everyone has to sign a contract…even very nice little old ladies
2- Always assume positive intent – Don’t always jump to the worst case scenario
3- Protect your older parents and grandparents from potential fraud and over charges. Ask them to involve you in those types of transactions so that no one takes advantage of them.
If you’re looking for a builder you can trust then you’ve found one…… give me a call.
