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A lot has to do with the value of the services (or goods, too, involved). A naive, younger me, once contacted a law office about my options in resolving a dispute over a custom-ordered car part which was paid for but never delivered.
In a nutshell, the services rendered by an attorney will more than cancel out the judgment you would stand to receive from such work. Your friend's contractor can choose to pursue it out of principal if money is not the motivating factor. Or pro se in a small claims court if he needs to collect.
Unless he was painting built-ins, I'm not sure this would hold water, but can anyone advise if placing a lien similar to a mechanic's lien is an option for your contractor?
Hopefully the painter left a bill so the customer can pay next week.
Does the long time neighbor know this painter on a social level too? It's a bit unusual that a contractor would share this info. We had a friend do stump removals and he got more work from 2 other neighbors, but never came back to tell us any details about what he charged or how/if they paid.
Does this painter always require cash for payment?
What causes people to be short-sighted in their thinking, in that they are willing to receive extremely short term gain at the expense of any long-term relationship?
Here is an example. A friend of mine has a new neighbor, who noticed my friend's painter one afternoon doing interior painting work. New neighbor asked my friend's painter if he could come over and paint a bookcase. They agreed on a cash price and painter performed work that same day. When it came time for payment, new neighbor had all kinds of excuses (e.g. may I wire you the money next week) why they could not pay. My friend and I are incredulous that someone who just moved in to a neighborhood would sacrifice short term gain for any future relationships. Painter learned a tough lesson in trust and new neighbor knows that painter is legally powerless. Do people not realize that bad reputations travel fast and they have just lost any future social capital?
Not short term thinking, or age related but rather a sponger or mooch and they don’t care about short term or long term or being neighbourly.
Lesson learned is never do a job without a written agreement and down payment, no matter how small the job, or who it is. If any customer balks at a signed agreement and cash deposit then you know to run a mile.
The OP said that they agreed on a cash payment, not that the painter "wants cash."
You are making a lot of negative assumptions about painters!
No, I think I interpreted it correctly. The OP said they agreed on a cash price, which to me implies they don't want to take a credit card like a legitimate licensed business would.
We're not hearing the new neighbor's side, maybe they really didn't agree on a cash price, maybe the painter assumed they would pay cash and got angry and threatening when the new homeowner wanted to pay a normal way with a check or credit card and that's why they offered to wire the money.
I very rarely have much cash on me and I don't think that's uncommon these days.
What causes people to be short-sighted in their thinking, in that they are willing to receive extremely short term gain at the expense of any long-term relationship?
Here is an example. A friend of mine has a new neighbor, who noticed my friend's painter one afternoon doing interior painting work. New neighbor asked my friend's painter if he could come over and paint a bookcase. They agreed on a cash price and painter performed work that same day. When it came time for payment, new neighbor had all kinds of excuses (e.g. may I wire you the money next week) why they could not pay. My friend and I are incredulous that someone who just moved in to a neighborhood would sacrifice short term gain for any future relationships. Painter learned a tough lesson in trust and new neighbor knows that painter is legally powerless. Do people not realize that bad reputations travel fast and they have just lost any future social capital?
1) Most people do not care what their neighbors think. It's not their method of making friends.
2) Most neighbors won't care if they hear the story.
My neighbor tried to cheat me out of a whole ceiling when water from up here damaged her bathroom ceiling. I didn't tell anyone but my friend, but I don't think anyone else would care.
People gossip all the time and no one knows who to believe and again - they don't care.
This is between new neighbor and the painter. And he could go get his money w/o going to court.
In the future, when people see an obvious problem with the socially uncouth neighbor's house (e.g. big irrigation leak in front yard) that needs immediate attention when they are out of town, the socially aware neighbors are most likely going to mind their own business vs if the new neighbor was pleasant.
Yeah my neighbors have burned bridges. It isn't even about sociability, it is about keeping a stable trusting community that is safe and beneficial for everyone. Without trust community is fractured.
Oddly enough these neighbors pretend they haven't caused problems and act like everything is fine - particularly if they want something. That is a classic strategy of scammers, moochers, narcissists, etc, it is a form of gaslighting. They think they can make you believe the wrong things they do aren't so wrong, using manipulation tactics, up to the level of making poor me excuses and trying to make you feel sorry for them.
Their minds don't work like your average decent person, they always think they can get one over on you and they have a bag of tricks at the ready.
[quote=KaraG;56698747]Is it possible that the new neighbor was telling the truth, that he didn't have that much cash on hand, maybe he didn't expect the painter to have time to do the job so quickly the same afternoon? I don't understand the wire comment, who wires money for small local workmen? Perhaps he meant a service like Zelle, where it is simple to transfer money quickly.
Honestly, I think your neighbor shouldn't have shared this with you or anyone else. It's gossip and it's negative and you don't know if the neighbor has paid, all you know is that he didn't have cash that day and was discussing payment options with the painter.
Why not gossip about the painter, who wants cash, who probably is unlicensed and not paying taxes? Just a thought.[/quote]
That's a very valid thought. Not paying taxes, not paying child support, etc, etc, etc.
So what OP knows, I guess essentially, came from the painter him/herself...right? Perhaps new neighbor wanted/needed a paper trail, wanted to write check, or wanted a receipt for services rendered, etc...
And OP...you don't know that painter didn't get paid...you just know he/she didn't get paid that day...right?
No, I think I interpreted it correctly. The OP said they agreed on a cash price, which to me implies they don't want to take a credit card like a legitimate licensed business would.
We're not hearing the new neighbor's side, maybe they really didn't agree on a cash price, maybe the painter assumed they would pay cash and got angry and threatening when the new homeowner wanted to pay a normal way with a check or credit card and that's why they offered to wire the money.
I very rarely have much cash on me and I don't think that's uncommon these days.
Right. It sounds like the neighbor agreed to pay via PayPal/Venmo/zelle, but for whatever reason could not do it immediately. It might have been that the painter did not have an account set up or they used different services. Usually if I pay people “cash” I use a check or a service, not actual cash. I am not going to have cash on hand the same day to pay a laborer.
What causes people to be short-sighted in their thinking, in that they are willing to receive extremely short term gain at the expense of any long-term relationship?
Here is an example. A friend of mine has a new neighbor, who noticed my friend's painter one afternoon doing interior painting work. New neighbor asked my friend's painter if he could come over and paint a bookcase. They agreed on a cash price and painter performed work that same day. When it came time for payment, new neighbor had all kinds of excuses (e.g. may I wire you the money next week) why they could not pay. My friend and I are incredulous that someone who just moved in to a neighborhood would sacrifice short term gain for any future relationships. Painter learned a tough lesson in trust and new neighbor knows that painter is legally powerless. Do people not realize that bad reputations travel fast and they have just lost any future social capital?
No. They find another victim soon, that's no problem at all. There is no painters meetup or black board where crappy customers are listed as far as I know. Just like you get usually screwed by half the painters/handymen who are around.
I just never understand why people do that for amounts that aren't even that high. They hide and lie and have to come up with excuses, get yelled at - and what for, for $200? Is that really worth it, what kind of life is that to be defending yourself and stiffing people? Whenever you are out in a store or restaurant you have to worry you run into them. You never know if someone will sue you. I don't understand that mindset.
I also don't understand the mindset of handymen - I have fired and hired probably most in my area. They show up too late, leave too early, do crappy work. If they would do what they promise, I would rehire and recommend them and they would have the greatest success and income. But they don't seem to care to get cussed out and yelled at and leave disappointed customers behind.
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