I’m not one to look a several thousand dollar windfall gift horse in the eye, but I do believe paying for things I agreed to pay for. But I cannot seem to pay what I owe, not for lack of trying.
We had a soft water filtration system installed on our 30 year old Arizona house to deal with the issues of desert relentless “hard” water. The installers were on time, courteous, did a great job, and we now have smooth showers and no more calcium carbonate residue in our pots and pans.
But this work was done 7 weeks ago, I paid with a credit card number called in, and I have yet to see a charge. I called the company that did the work, and they say they have been paid, and provided a credit card authorization number. But my credit card company says that no such payment has been made, so duh, it is not on your statement.
I don’t know what else to do. We have the cash in our savings account saved up to pay for this, but no one wants the money, so I will hang on to it.
On the other home repair front, the long saga of our pool restoration more or less ended and we have a decent looking pool, though from the job start in early June, we got a grand total of 2 swimming days in (September) before the night cool downs made it too chilly to use.
I must share that a complaint lodged with the Better Business Bureau seems to have some big weight. This company does not want this letter hanging out there, and I keep getting pestered by a rep asking if “I am satisfied with my pool” (more or less) and the work done (“most unsatisfied” as I again recapitulate their bait and swap bid practices, lack of communication during the work, refusal to provide an itemized summary of work done when paid (which later I had to come back to them with proof that had overcharged $1100 for work not done), just to name a few. They keep asking me what it wil take to saitsfy me (“Can I have my summer back?”) yet not offering anything. Today, the lady dropped a “compensation” refund for a few pesos lower than what I think is worthy. Even if they offer a reasonable amount (not exactly a gift horse), I refuse to accept money if they ask me to recant my complaint. I stand by it, and at this point, love to see them squirm and be subjected to my whims, just as I was during the summer.
It is only money, but there are principles too.. in theory. Or I live in some sort of fantasy land (no snide remarks about second life 😉
