Well I’ll say this … It’s pretty simple it’s either your at fault , or your not at fault.
I wouldn’t give the guy any info unless he lets you over to evaluate that.
That’s pretty much what a lawyer is going to tell you.
Either way the guy wante your insurance , doesn’t matter how rich he is.
So if he doesn’t let you determine yourself if your at fault. Don’t make it easy for him. Let him pursue it in a court of law. Then they will determine. it will be the same outcome.
Forget his wealth - it’s the insurance companies that will duke this out. Tell him to have his homeowners insurance contact you and you will pass it on to your insurance.
Likely, he is trying to do this without his insurance company finding out. This way they will not find out about the damage and possibly affect his rates.
This should reveal how seriously he believes his own story.
It also occurred to me that if the gutters were cleaned and water was coming out the downspouts at the bottom, he could have a foundation issue that came to light. Either way, not your fault.
Contact your insurance agent and explain what is going on and ask for his professional opinion.
Go from there.
I had a lawyer customer accuse me of standing on his water spigot to clean one window of 7 that were next to each other. They were all in a row that I used my ladder for but the spigot below the end one burst while I was cleaning the one next to it. I turned the water off at the street, finished the job then called the customer to explain I had to turn his water off because of the leak. He asked me to recommend a plumber which I did. He later called me to say it cost $900 to repair and he expected me my insurance to pay for it. I went to look at it when the plumber was there and that was when he accused me of standing on the spigot! I may have blurted out “YOU’RE A LIAR!”, so I let my insurance handle it from there. My local Rep called me and asked me to explain all that transpired from the time I entered the property to the time I left as he was going to record it. I did that and it was the last I ever heard of it again, and my deductible never got charged. I think the Rep proved to the lawyer that he was a LI…er…wrong.
Probably because he has a bunch of claims everywhere .
Talk to your insurance company and ask for advice . Maybe they can talk to their in-house attorneys for advice and take it from there .
Did he overly ask you about your insurance before he hired you ?
I once had this guy ask me a lot of times if I was insured and smell the shadiness, and I just made some dumb excuse why i couldn’t do th job
He didn’t ask anything about insurance before I did the job.
I told him I was advised I need to check out what happened before involving my insurance. His response.
Don’t reply to him anymore till you talk to you insurance/ attorney
I think you’re handling this wrong.
You should have already been there to check out what his issue might be. From there you can decide how to move forward 1st things 1st.
I am trying to get him to let me come see what happened but he is demanding insurance first.
I feel for you bro, this is one of those knightmare situations we all try to avoid as business owners, but to be honest if youve been in business long enough itll happen. Someone is always gonna try and make your life hell and take from you for their personal gain. Keep your composure and be as professional as you can be. Dont let this jerk intimidate or push you into doing anything. If he persists get a lawyer and tell him to speak with your lawyer for now on.
Joe
Worst case scenario is you’ll have to put in an insurance claim. It won’t ruin you , but if it’s a result of something you did , then thatd the way it goes
This is a very simple situation. This guy is being a dick. He needs to just have you come over an show you it was your fault.
I don’t understand why he is being such a jerk off.
But just let him know you have no problem standing by your workmanship, but only if I can come over , an see for myself what went wrong.
I would go ther with someone who knew about construction/ home improvements.
I would go there intending to water up those gutters an you want to see water coming in.
After investigation, If you believe you had nothing to do with this, then state that to him this is not my fault , an leave an tell him the ball is is in your court. That’s it.
If the guy could nail you To the wall right now he Would.
Go there and ask to look at the complaint. If he refuses then you are done, go clean some windows and don’t look back.
Just tell him this:
“Look, I need to come and asses the situation. I need to see the damage, AND look over the work I did. If you are unwilling to at LEAST let me see what has happened and what might possibly be the problem, then you don’t want to resolve this. Continuing refusal of allowing me to come asses the situation is going to do neither of us any good. If you want to move forward in any way at all, these are the terms.”
Leave it at that. If he refuses or doesn’t respond, move on and don’t look back unless you hear something. Just make sure you DOCUMENT the whole conversation and e-mails from the day he first contacted you for service, until you hear nothing more.
And whatever you do - if you set foot on the property assume your conversations will be recorded. Anything you say can and will be used against you. Speak professionally and admit NO responsibility. Treat it like an auto accident.
What really does not make sense is 2 weeks ago you perform the service which he claims the gutters overflowed dumping water too close to the foundation allowing water to leak into the basement but never did ask you to immediately come out re clean the gutters so
It does not happen again.
When trading services for money anything can happen, you are exposing yourself to most anything.
This is also why it is important for those who believe they don’t need to be set up legitimately especially with insurance.
An price !!!
The expectation for gutter cleaning is to have clean gutters, not a dry basement. The most he should expect is a refund for unsatisfactory cleaning. Clogged gutters can only contribute to an existing problem but are not the cause.
