Sunday, October 17, 2004

Too much to ask? Part III

The blessed Friday finally arrives and EQ returns to hook up the dishwasher and reconnect the office. I explain the situation with the 120 in the crawlspace and suggest that he reuse that existing – and relatively recent – cable for the new dishwasher and then reconnect the office to its original circuit breaker.
"Nope, I like to use new circuits for appliances."
Fine, whatever. I've had it with this bozo and just want him the f#&k out of my house. After he reconnects the office circuit, I ask about the wire to the old range hood. Since you thought that was the only thing on the circuit, didn't you just leave it in the wall? Is that safe?
"Sure it's safe; I capped it off."
And the live 120 in the basement from the dishwasher?
"I don't have time for that".
EQ leaves and that should be the last we hear from the incompetent boor.

GC, however, submits an invoice to us for the full quoted amount, despite the fact that it included many items that were not done by GC or any of his crew. So we write a letter to explain why we aren't including the amount he requested. Among the handful of items in the list was "Work in this area was definitely not completed to our satisfaction. We took over the responsibility of installing our own lighting after seeing the quality of finish displayed in the electrician's preliminary work."

Not surprisingly, EQ calls us that evening. I answer the phone. Right out of the gate, he's belligerent.
"What the hell is this supposed to mean?"
I start to calmly go through the basis for our comments, but he interrupts with "That's it!? THAT'S your beef? What about all the time I spent putting up boards? What about all of the time I spent cleaning up the mess that the other guy left behind?"
I start to explain that the "mess" was from the kitchen, but EQ steam rolls right over that. A few futile minutes of trying to get a rational conversation going, I give up and hang up the phone. Our young son could sense my anger and frustration and was very concerned.

1 comment:

cat19 said...

How lousy an experience--but it does make a good story. I only wish I had a clue how to tell when a contractor was doing me wrong...