Complaint Review: The Final Touch - Internet

Let me summarize the entire post below in case you don’t feel like reading it, do not use this company!  The post below was my experience with The Final Touch.

I was looking to replace my very small fence that was rotten and falling apart.  I was looking for a vinyl fence, and the only company that came up on Homeadvisor was “The Final Touch.”  I put in an estimate request, was called that day, and we made an appointment.  

The owner/contractor is a man named Jay Shine.  A few days before, and the day of the appointment, he called me (3) times to confirm that I would be there.   I thought that this was excessive, but I took it as a good sign that this was someone who would be very good about communicating.  

When Jay got there we looked at the fence, and he told me this would be a very simple job, and that he would be able to do it in one day on the Saturday coming up, barring any rain.  I believed the quoted contract price of 2704.04 was a reasonable and good price, and asked to enter into the contract.  I asked Jay for some materials samples, but he said that he would email me pictures of what he had.  I wasn’t too concerned about the brand, but I made sure that we were on the same page, and that he would install a: vinyl, 8ft privacy fence, with square column posts, in the color of gray with two gates.

While he was preparing the contract he informed me that he had lost his fingers during his time in Afghanistan.  I was taken aback by this, I am a veteran, and because I spent a brief period in the Wounded Warrior program in Maryland, due to severe illness from being in Iraq, I lost track of what was truly important in this negotiation.  I made some mistakes during the contract signing due to this.  These mistakes were:  1. I failed to get a copy of the contract, and 2. I didn’t take the time to investigate his company online, and 3. I paid him with a personal check for half of the contracted price, $1352.04.  I paid by check because he informed me that he didn't take credit cards since "people can reverse the charges."  It was very naive of me, but I made the assumption that he had customers reverse his payments in the past.  Upon payment, he left, and I waited until Saturday for his workers to arrive at 9am as we agreed.  

By 9:30 a.m. Jay's people had not shown up, and I did no one called me to tell me what was going on.  So, I decided to give him a call, and after (1) hour I had not heard from him.  I decided to send a text, and again waited another hour with no response.  This perplexed me as he had called me 3 times to make sure I would be home for his estimate appointment, but now he wasn’t calling to reschedule.  I decided to Google his company and discovered that there were many negative reviews that mentioned Jay Shine directly.  One said that he had stolen property from a homeless person.  Another stated that he had carried out the first stage of a job, in this case as movers, and proceeded to hold the person's possessions hostage and demanded more money.  When I read this my gut dropped, he also has an F on the BBB website for having disconnected phone numbers listed as business lines.  I then made more attempts to contact Jay, but he never answered by phone, or text.  

So, I made contact with Homeadvisor, and was able to get two other phone numbers.  I called these numbers and they were sent to some “Magicjack” voice mails.  I decided I was going to get him on the line no matter what, so I proceeded to leave him messages, 300 or so, and informed him that if he did not plan to fulfill the contract that he would be in breach, and that I would take him to small claims court.  I did this on all of the numbers I had found, including the one I got from the check image from my bank website (He signed the check with a scribble).  Finally, he called me back, within 15 minutes, and screamed at me on the phone about how he had told me if it rained the work would not be completed that day (It had barely begun to sprinkle that day when he finally called back.)  I informed him that he needed to calm down, and that I had every right to be worried.  I informed him I saw the many bad reviews online, and his F from the BBB.  He apologised for yelling, and I apologised for what I thought was maybe overreaction.  After speaking, I decided to give him a second chance, as the rain was a legitimate impediment to installing the fence, and it had been overcast, so it was plausible that the workers just didn’t show up, and that he assumed I would understand.  So we rescheduled for next week.  

When the time came for him to install, a man named Dennis came to the house and demolished the fence.  He said that materials were on order and that it would be ready for install on Tuesday.  This was a real red flag.  If Jay was actually ready last Saturday, then why were the materials still being ordered?  I decided to bite my tongue, since I now knew that I was in a scam, and decided to play this out so that at least I could show a Judge that I gave him every opportunity to fulfill the contract.  

When Tuesday came, I contacted Dennis, as Jay was not returning or answering calls unless I called him with a different phone number every time.  Dennis informed me that he had quit because Jay was a liar.  Now I had confirmation that this was not happening and that it was never going to happen.  I called Jay and asked what was going on, he said that Dennis had "stolen money," which I do not believe to be true.  Dennis seems like a good person who works hard.  

We again rescheduled, even though I did not believe this was ever going to happen, and when Thursday came, again no workers showed.  I texted Jay and he feigned outrage that I would think this was unacceptable and hung up in a huff.  He then texted and his tone was conciliatory. I could tell this was just a ruse.  He said that he was picking up the fencing but now he was over budget, and had spent $3842.11 on the material.  I told him that was too bad.  He then texted that Dennis was supposed to tell me that I would have to accept the new price.  Having studied contracts somewhat, I knew that an agreement was binding, and that to renegotiate the price I would have to consent.  Therefore I declined.  I informed him he was in breach.  As I have said, I wanted to show the judge in my small claims case that I gave him every opportunity to complete the contract, so I said he could complete the contract, but I would not pay anything else since I had not agreed to the price hike.  I decided to try to end this debacle amicably one last time, and asked for 600 dollars back, and that he remove the demoed fence.  The remaining $700, I told him, would be for services rendered, i.e., tearing down and removal of the fence.  It was really a stupid tax on myself, but he agreed.  His exact words were, “600 returned NO PROBLEM ill have my assistant write it up and we ALL MOVE FORWARD.”  He said he would pick it up on 17/06/16.  When 17/06/16 came, the fence did not get picked up, he did not and still has not returned any money.  As of this writing I am assembling all documents, and texts so that I can take him to small claims.