Inaccurate information (home air system)

[acvoet]

Hi,

I have been really unfortunate with the air system I had installed in my home. This week, someone came to verify my system claiming to have been notified by Maytag. Of course I believed them. With his inspection he notice a few things wrong. I was leaking freon and that my attic where my furnace and hoses weren't well insulated. He proceeded to tell me what was needed to be done to correct the situation. We filled out a work order to have the necessary repairs done. I took the opportunity to contact Maytag through their online help line to see whether they had indeed sent this company to me. Unfortunately, I did not hear from them until after the work was done. And unfortunately, Maytag did not contact them To make matters worse, the technicians did not complete the work as specified. Can I stop payment on the cheque I gave them for falsely representing themselves? They did not complete the work according to everything in the work order, am I just to stop payment on the cheque I gave them? I need help ASAP before cheque clears.

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by acvoet Hi, I have been really unfortunate with the air system I had installed in my home. This week, someone came to verify my system claiming to have been notified by Maytag. Of course I believed them. With his inspection he notice a few things wrong. I was leaking freon and that my attic where my furnace and hoses weren't well insulated. He proceeded to tell me what was needed to be done to correct the situation. We filled out a work order to have the necessary repairs done. I took the opportunity to contact Maytag through their online help line to see whether they had indeed sent this company to me. Unfortunately, I did not hear from them until after the work was done. And unfortunately, Maytag did not contact them To make matters worse, the technicians did not complete the work as specified. Can I stop payment on the cheque I gave them for falsely representing themselves? They did not complete the work according to everything in the work order, am I just to stop payment on the cheque I gave them? I need help ASAP before cheque clears.

Probably not.

You completed a work order, which serves as authorization for these people to work on your air system. If there was any concern as to whether or not Maytag actually sent them to check your system, that needed to be handled BEFORE you signed a work authorization. Once you signed, that's all these people need to enforce the contract to complete the work as indicated on that order.

If you try to stop payment on the check now, you may face both civil and criminal penalties for doing so - civil, for failing to pay on a contract that you authorized; and criminal, for promising to pay and then withholding funds on a perfectly good check.

Your best recourse here is to have ANOTHER technician come out - someone completely unrelated to the current service providers - and verify what was and was not done on the work order, and give you an estimate for the cost to finish the job that these people failed to complete. Present that estimate to the service provider and demand that they finish the job they started, and tell them that you will sue to recover any additional costs you incur to complete the work you already paid them to do. Then FOLLOW THROUGH to ensure they do that work and/or sue them if they refuse.