I had planned on going drag racing this weekend but something terrible happened. I own a small home improvement company and I do a lot of small jobs in peoples homes. Last week I got a call from the police informing me that one of my helpers was accused of stealing a diamond tennis bracelet from one of my customers plus $200 in cash. I was flabbergasted to say the least. The detective asked me for my help in recovering the stolen bracelet. I told him that I would contact my helpers' mother (he is only 20) and tell her that her son was caught on video camera stealing from these people. I did just that, then she called her son and he admitted to stealing the bracelet. Later that day he returned the bracelet and I was able to return it to my customer. I had to take $200 out of the bank and give it to my customer, plus I am paying to have their locks rekeyed by a locksmith (about another $150.00). I also found out that he stole an ipod from another customer - I had to replace that too - another $205.00 out of my pocket, and then I got another call from another customer informing me that he had taken $30.00 from her 5 year old son's piggy bank.

The sad part of this is that this young man was a close friend of my family. I frequently fed and sheltered this young man when he and his Dad had a falling out. When I had work for him I gave him a job and paid him fairly and this is what I got.
Sometimes life really sucks......

I am stressed out over the damage to my business' reputation, I am celebrating my 10th year in business as of this past February and now this moron has jeopardized my livelihood and hard work with his actions. The customer that the bracelet was stolen from is not paying me for the work that I did for them and I don't have the ***** to ask them for it, so I am out another $1100.00 on top of the $435.00 I already paid out. The housing economy is so slow and I have done so little work these past few weeks, money is tight and now this.... Here's the end of the month, my bills are due and this kids family has not offered me one thin dime of compensation for his crimes.

I will survive this - what choice have I got? I will lose some business over this I am sure, hopefully it will not kill my business totally. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going! So here I go! But sadly, no money for drag racing this weekend.

Sorry Dave, no pictures from me at the drag strip for awhile.....

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That really sux. I'm surprised that your customer wouldn't pay you since you went the extra mile in getting their property returned. I suppose filing charges against the perp wouldn't do any good? Hopefully the word will get out that you did the right thing and it won't hurt your work too much. Good luck.

 

Ya, that's a tough spot alright. [&o]
So much for close family friends, I'd think they would at least make restitution for their son's actions.
So there were no charges filed, eh?
I'd hate to see the kid "go down" at such a young age, but dang, he needs to learn a lesson from all this. [:@]
Seems like it's the "good folk", that get the short end. It will pass in time, and you, having your integrity in tact, will pull through just fine.

Like they say, "what goes around....". There is something to this thing people call Karma, and you will reap your reward, maybe not in $, but it will be returned.

 

Hi DeeVeeEight, that is a sad story. Your young apprentice does not have a clue about getting thru life.
Someone once said "Give a man a fish and he'll eat tonight, teach him to fish and he'll eat forever". You gave him a chance to learn a trade and to make a living for a lifetime and he blew it!
You made good by returning the bracelet and paying for new locks, now the customer has to "Do the right thing" and pay you for the work you did. Send them a bill! They were mad that they got robbed, to not payfor the work,is to rob you. Two wrongs don't make a right!
Congratulations on making it 10 years in business on your own, you made it this far and you'll do even better in the next 10, every now and then there is a set back, just brush it off and move on to better days. PG.

 

I agree with pg. You were robed as well as your customer. They should be made to see it in that way and pay you for work done.
Also the 20 year young adult, (not a "kid" any more), should be made to pay you back for money you expended to cover his theft.
If he is not made to answer to his crime monaterily he will continue on this path in life. Only next time he will be looking for the cameras so as not to get caught.
As you can probably till I am an advcate of "tough love".

Hang in there your reputation is not in jepardy. Honest people and future customers will understand.

 

I would like to thank all of you for your words of wisdom, kindness and support. The more I look at this and as a few days have passed I am a bit more rational and less emotinal about it. I realize that even though this is a serious setback I will pull through this and hopefully learn a lesson from it too.

This forum is a great support group, thank you all again.

Lee

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I also own a business and had a similar circumstance. It sounds as though you have done everything you possibly could to rectify the situation. At this point I would not let the balance of these people's account go without at least sending a new invoice to them. While what happened was not acceptable, it should have no impact on the fact that a service was contracted,rendered and completed and the bill should be paid. Again you did everything you could to rectify it so don't think you need to do any more. If the people refuse to pay, as happened to me, you can simply file a contractor's lien on the house so at some point in time you will see that money. Being in a small business does not allow you eat the $1100contract. If you are worried about reputation, don't! You have done evrything you could and chances are you are not going to get a positive outcome from these people, so submit the bill and move on, as I did. BTW my customer finally paid me and my business has not suffered from the ONE negative encounter I had.