ComplaintsforBill Davis - Mr Fix It, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  03/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In March, 2021, we contacted **** *****/Mr. Fixit to arrange a consultation regarding remodeling our condo. We have 1 1/2 baths in our 2 bedroom condo, (1300 sq. ft.) and wanted to: a. turn the first floor half bath into a full bath, or b. add a full bath to our partially finished basement. We also considered kitchen changes.

  We had hired this company in November, 2019, to repair exterior of windows, and paid on completion of satisfactory work by *******, company employee.

  On March 30, 2021, we received a text from ***** ********, making sure we knew there was an “evaluation fee of $84.00.” This was not described as an hourly rate, but as a fee that would be go towards project costs if we reached a contract. When **** came for his visit, we walked through our first floor describing our goals, especially our desire to go from 1 1/2 bathrooms to either 2 or 2 1/2 full baths. **** said he didn’t have time to look at our basement due to other business.

  He returned after we called to remind, and we walked through possible changes to our basement, especially re full bath. We exchanged text messages and phone conversations during the spring of 2021, and had 2 visits by ****, an employee who had design experience.

  As of August 12, 2021, we had received no plans, nor had we had any indication that the $84.00 fee had now become an hourly fee. Nothing was offered to reach our goal of comparing first floor vs basement solutions or estimates. We gave up on the process when **** told us he couldn’t show us basement plans unless we were sure that was our choice.

  No record of hours or charges were presented until March, 2022, when we received an invoice of $1,386.00. When we responded that we had not received any plans or estimates, we were sent spreadsheets with no useful details. We asked for a corrected invoice for $84.00 evaluation fee. They sent an email claiming their charges were justified. We can supply text messages and screenshots.

  Business response

  04/11/2022

  From: <[email protected]>
  Date: Fri, Apr 8, 2022 at 2:40 PM
  Subject: RE: BBB complaint 169868798
  To: ***** Giere <[email protected]>
  
  Hi *****!
  
  This is ***** with **** ***** / Mr. Fix It. Thank you so much for the email!
  
  I am attaching some PDF’s, they are lengthy because I wanted to give you all the information we had to support our side.
  -All text correspondence with side notes
  -All email correspondence
  -Previous invoice from another job
  -15 variations of drawings
  
  Reason I am providing an invoice from a previous job with them is because they are not a new customer. They are portraying that they had no clue about our charges but we did work with them before. This was before I worked for the company. They did have awareness that we **** hourly. 
  
  I know **** mentioned, but this is a very shocking response coming from the *****’s. You will see their friendliness in all the messages. We thought we were working very well together, we enjoyed helping them but when the **** came, everything went the opposite direction.
  
  **** did not respond to my last email, instead she wrote the BBB complaint, we were trying to work with her to resolve the ****er but she was not interested in working with us or paying for all the work we did. It’s unfortunate this is the result of our service to them.
  
  Please let me know if you have any questions. We of course would like communication back as soon as you are able to let us know the status of the complaint and if that can be removed.
  
  We appreciate your time, please let us know if other documentation would be helpful for this case that I did not include. We track hours for our clients with an app and have a clock in and out system that is attached to the customer and the specific job we are performing for them. If you need the spreadsheet of hours or invoice, let me know.
  
  Have a Great Weekend,
  *****

  Customer response

  04/12/2022

  [If you do not say why you are rejecting the company's response, BBB must close your complaint.] 
  
  Complaint: 16968798
  
  I am rejecting this response because: 

  We contacted **** ***** to give us an estimate of the cost difference between converting a first floor half bath to a full bath, or installing a full bath in the basement of our 1300 square foot condo.  We had contemplated making this change for several years.  One outstanding company, **** ******, prepared complete estimates with specific charges, budgets, etc.  we were presented with a 4 page contract good for 30 days, and even had a Zoom call with ****.  He charged no fees at all.  We had two other companies send representatives, and each one sent drawings as a starting point, with no fee.

  We did hire Mr. Fix-it to repair window frames on the back of our condo, as I mentioned previously, and were satisfied with the work done by *******.  This was some considerable time before we contacted them about remodeling.  
  

  There are quite a few sketches included in their response.  We only saw one of these.  As is obvious, **** even sent them visuals he had done to help them, and provided measurements when the ones they took were incomplete.

  They state that the project kept changing.  Our basic goal always was centered on our wanting 2 or 2 1/2 baths instead of 1 1/2.  **** seemed to enjoy chatting about other ideas when he was here, which involved 2 trips because he didn’t allow enough time for the first visit, and came back for the basement.  Again, with a small condo built in the 70s, there were other areas that could benefit from remodeling.  However, our main goal never changed, and I only stopped the project when **** refused to do any basement drawings unless we committed to accepting those drawings, before he even did the drawings.  Since there was never an official written plan or statement along the way, I think **** may have gotten confused about what we wanted to accomplish.  We always wanted a rough estimate to compare first floor renovation to basement renovation to convert from 1 1/2 baths to 2 (first floor) or 2 1/2 (basement).

  ***** criticizes me for going to the BBB, but we were so far apart in the numbers and the basic issues involved that I didn’t know what else to do.  With every other company we have considered or consulted, free estimates appear to be the usual arrangement, and have been done without any fee.  ***** reminded us before **** came out that they had an $84.00 consultation fee, but gave no notice at any time until the invoice arrived that this $84.00 had converted to an hourly fee, apparently charged for any communication with us, even when we were helping them out with detailed screen shots, measurements, etc.  They could even have looked at ****’s drawings, figured what they would charge, and sent an estimate.  We are very sorry this has turned out in such hard feelings on both sides.  **** seemed so friendly, and appeared to enjoy talking with **** when he was here.  But surely if he had said that he would be billing per hour from then on, we would have ended the process immediately.  

  My thanks to the Better Business Bureau for your assistance in a very upsetting situation.  I think now the deviation from free estimate to a “consultation fee” of $84.00 should have been a red flag, and this has been quite a lesson.

  ******* *****

  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *****

  Business response

  05/17/2022

  
  

  
  
  

  Hi *********,

   

  The older emails of correspondence after reviewing are no longer available. **** had cancelled his wow account and by doing that, that also canceled and eliminated his wowway email associated. So, he lost all the data of that email account, which was used to communicate with the *****’s. It’s really unfortunate and a bit frustrating we can’t get that to you.

   

  I have created a new policy because of this situation. It does feel we have been taken advantage of, conversations **** had with the *****’s in person confirmed his agreement and he trusted them and their word. Which in business, we have learned does not hold up when the **** arrives. It is disheartening to see ******* avoiding the truth and not disclosing what she spoke with us about. My last conversation with her, she had mentioned **** was in a very bad place with his health and she needed to wait until things got better for him. The only thing I can think of is maybe their medical bills were so high they do not want to pay our **** anymore.

   

  So, there is no paper form I can give you, all we have in this situation now is our integrity and ch***cter and believe our emails and messages we shared display that. **** states in one of the messages I shared, “I want to keep this under 1k.” For us, that is very clear verbal proof from **** that he understood he was being charged or he would have not made that comment. As well as the other verbal comments I provided.

   

  I do hope that the *****’s can meet in the middle, we have lost a lot of money with this project. We pulled our team members off other projects and billable hours to support all their changes they were making, which we would have not done for a free service. We do give substantial discounts to people in need of repairs that cannot afford it and give out discounts to clients in sensitive situations, **** has taken out loans for clients. We do care about helping and at the same time, we need to also house and feed our own team. I regret fully not having them sign an estimate disclaimer and only accepting their verbal agreement.

   

  If you could please work on getting them halfway that would be great. We have recently signed up with a collections team, American Profit Recovery, who does not need a signed agreement for payment. If the *****’s continue to refuse, that is an option we can most certainly utilize.

   

  Please update when you can, thanks.

  *****

  Customer response

  05/19/2022

  
  

  
  
  

  This process has been agonizing.  By coincidence, our daughter ***** taught tennis clinics at Worthington Hills CC, and knew *** ***** from those days, so she reached out to *** for advice on our behalf.  He suggested Mediation, which all of you involved in our case rejected.  The process of Binding Arbitration is so daunting to me that I made the painful and frightening decision I might as well let Mr. Fixit take us to court.  Either way, I would need legal advice and probably representation.  At least Mr. Fixit and I would be on an equal footing, since all of you at BBB Dublin accept his claim that we knew they were charging $84.00 an hour, and we let the hours pile up while we supplied them with drawings, adjusted scheduled appointments when their time ran over elsewhere, did measurements for them, etc. Furthermore, there is an implication that the March invoice of of $1,386.00 should have been anticipated, and not the total surprise it was.  Yes, there was a mention in a text between ***** and ****, in which **** thought he was communicating with **** and was told that “right now we are at $1,528.80” followed by ****’s response: “that’s way more design time than I thought, already.  DON’T do any more design work for us.”  **** does not remember this conversation, but I believe his use of caps shows his dismay.  **** isn’t inclined to use caps.

  Your recommendation that we pay $1,386.00 indicates you believe the Mr. Fixit assertion that they earned this amount by supplying us with a product or services for which we agreed to pay $84.00 an hour.  The only service we agreed to pay for was the $84.00 evaluation fee quoted by ***** ******** in April, 2021.  

  You have referred to our payment of $74.00 an hour for labor when ****** worked 13.5 hours sanding and painting to repair windows across the back of our condo, and you say that $10.00 more an hour is reasonable.  It would be if we were doing the same project again, which we are not. The invoice for that project involving actual labor performed was 3118, dated January 14, 2020 at 3:42pm; the total was $999.00.  Our check in response to that invoice was dated January 15 and was check number 260 from our 5/3 account.

  I hope that provides some assurance for you of our lifelong practice of honesty in our dealings with every business, private or nonprofit, or charity we have ever been involved with; there have been many, and we appreciate those relationships now more than ever.

  
  

  ******* *****

  
  

  
  

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