QUESTION
Is there a "cooling off" period for an agreement to have a broken sewer line replaced?
Asked on Jun 09th, 2017 on Breach of Contract - Florida
More details to this question:
Agreement was signed on a Friday evening while sewage was backing up into my house. (A great opportunity for a dishonest plumber to take advantage). We called and canceled the following Monday (Memorial Day) after learning the quoted price was nearly 5 times that of another reputable plumber. The signed document was sparse with no cancellation policy outlined. Simply a "we authorize xyz company" to do the job. Now being told that in the two weekend days that passed after signing, the plumber is "out" nearly $3k in material, equipment, and manpower costs. I priced the material myself and it's less than $100. Don't see how a well established plumber would have to incur expenses for equipment and scheduling labor. They've cited this was treated as an emergency but I would argue that most plumbing situations are. I believe their claim of losses is inflated just like their estimate. Do I have rights to cancel and/or dispute their claim of losses?
1 ANSWER
Consumer Debt Collector Harassment & Abuse Attorney serving Tampa, FL
Partner at
Tischhauser Law Group
2 Awards
"you would argue" all you like - BUT - bottom line is you signed some documents and then cancelled on a holday, so not sure what that entails. You of course have the right to dipsute anything you want to. However. rather than "arguing" you may want to focus on resolving the dispute in some fashion, bearing in mind that at some level, if this esacalates the expense of dealing with it in court and with lawyers will possibly exceed the amount in dispute. There should be little doubt that you owe the first plumber some money especially if you had them come out on a holiday weekend. IN the future - don't put your signature to deals you don't intend to abide by. Signing up with one plumber and them searching for a better deal aftwerwards is NOT the way to properly handle such issues for the reasons you now see.
As to whether one plumber or the other is more "reputable" no one can tell until the a comparison of work is made and the job performed. By example, many times people accuse the LICENSED plumber that pulls proper permits as being "inflated" and go for the cheaper and illegal unlicensed plumber doing unpermitted work. Cheaper for obvious reason, unless some thing goes wrong.
Answered on Jun 09th, 2017 at 5:24 AM
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