Need small claims attorney for claim made by plumbing company

Member since 2018 · 4 posts · 1 vote

A plumbing company sent me unqualified technicians for plumbing work . I was told i was getting a licenced plumber and i did did not. Was charging by the hour . It took them a long time .They did not fully complete work they agreed to do. Now he wants me to pay for all the hours. I refused. He wants to take me to court. Any recommendations for an attorney? I would really appreciate.

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Sergey A. Petrov

Real Estate Consultant · Seattle, WA · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 784 votes

an attorney will charge you $500 just for the first hour. attorneys also cannot appear in small claims even if it goes that far. and i can almost guarantee you the plumber you hired won't be hiring their attorney to go after you, especially if there is nothing in writing anywhere...tell them you won't be paying them and move on or negotiate something reasonable and move on. $85 is not that much of a difference to agree on ($85/hr; he wants six hours, you agreed to pay for five so the difference is just one hour or $85)

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Kevin Sobilo
Realtor · Hanover Twp, PA · Member since 2018 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
4y
@Hanna Assefa, first off what kind of money amounts are we talking about? If they think you owe $2k and you think you owe $1k, that is probably not enough of a difference to justify using a lawyer for. Small claims court is simpler and less formal and made so that people can handle claims without lawyers in most cases.
I also would not worry about it until you get served. A lot of people threaten to sue but don't.
You are taking issue with the number of hours billed for the plumber versus technician. You also state they were working by the hour but didn't finish the work. If paying by the hour you would owe for the hours whether they complete a task or not unless its spelled out what they are to complete for payment. If you stopped them because you were dissatisfied, you would still owe for the hours worked.
Do you have a signed contract spelling out the details? For anything substantial there should be a contract because that is usually required to pull a permit to do the work.
Also, how do you know what hours were worked and by whom? What is the discrepancy in hours between you and the plumber?
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Hanna Assefa
OP
Member since 2018 · 4 posts · 1 vote
4y
There was no written agreement. All on the phone. The owner who told me he was a licensed plumber the job which was shifting a sink plumbing for a vanity so that it abuts the wall . Then plumbing vanity and with fixtures and attaching countertop to vanity and attaching vanity to wall. He implied he was coming. Instead he sent unlicensed people ( even though i requested several times for licensed plumber because i wanted it to code.) When they came ( 3 people) cannot speak english well. I asked which one is the licensed plumber they pointed me to one of them who did not speak a word of English. I need valves and asked him which valve i need and sent me a picture which home depot told me cant be used for sinks. Did not leak test till i told them to. At the end they installed the faucets without gluing countertop or attaching vanity to wall.
They left. So i had to bring someone else more handy to install the cabinet and countertop. To do that he had to undo some of the plumbing and redo.
i asked him ( the boss) to knock 2 hrs off costs. Because i paid 200 dollars for the work the handyman charged me to finish what they did.
Now under advise of a lawyer i said i would pay for five hrs versus the six he is requesting. Now he says he wants his lawyer to deal with it and she will add her time and he wants full amount. His charge is 85 dollars an hr.

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Sergey A. Petrov
Real Estate Consultant · Seattle, WA · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 784 votes
4y
an attorney will charge you $500 just for the first hour. attorneys also cannot appear in small claims even if it goes that far. and i can almost guarantee you the plumber you hired won't be hiring their attorney to go after you, especially if there is nothing in writing anywhere...tell them you won't be paying them and move on or negotiate something reasonable and move on. $85 is not that much of a difference to agree on ($85/hr; he wants six hours, you agreed to pay for five so the difference is just one hour or $85)
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Isaac S.
Member since 2018 · 563 posts · 562 votes
4y
I am gonna charge more for reading this post....licenses are meaningless without integrity...you will go through many crappy vendors and truly know when you have a winner that will be a member of your dream team.
An hour difference is nothing, and if you have no written contract, the vendor has little to no recourse, but sometimes it's just cheaper to pay people to STFU, just sayin....I am not a lawyer and this not legal advice....good luck!
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Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
Moderator
Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
4y
@Hanna Assefa
Ignore them no one will sue over $85. Even the judge will laugh them out of court. If there is no contract it’s they said you said. If you pictures of their shoddy work that would also be your smoking gun
Don’t sweat it.
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Hanna Assefa
OP
Member since 2018 · 4 posts · 1 vote
4y
No its 85 per her. They are claiming 6.5 hrs.
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