Homeowner finds and calls contractor's mother when he takes 50% payment up front and then never shows: 'I became an internet detective and found his mother's contact information'

• Contractor upset when ghosted client calls his mother

  
  via BRINoCo
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  via Jimmy Nilsson Masth

  _{The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• When this homeowner hired an electrical contractor after carefully comparing different bids, they felt that they had made a good match and felt more than comfortable paying the requested 50% up front. They agreed that the job would start in two weeks, but two weeks later, it was postponed at the last minute. 

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  via BRINoCo
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  via Raze Solar

  _{The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• When the rescheduled day came and went, the contractor didn't show and stopped responding to any calls or messages entirely. This drove the homeowner to take matters into their own hands and appeal to a higher power: the contractor's mother. Having the desired effect, this finally got the contractor to respond. And the homeowner is now hoping that they'll either have the job done or their money back. 

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  via BRINoCo
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  via BRINoCo
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  via BRINoCo
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  via Getty Images

• Everyone has heard a nightmare story or two about someone who hired a contractor who either did a laughably terrible job, like it was their first day on the work site, or otherwise just never even came back to finish the work, sometimes even making off with the advance payment. Sometimes, it's through straight-up ghosting, and others it's through moving goal posts of expectations and repeated broken promises of when the work will be done. Meanwhile, the homeowner is living in the midst of whatever unfinished work is keeping their house from fully functioning in the way that it should. 

  I'm sure most contractors are honest, trustworthy folk, and that this reputation in pop culture that you can never get a contractor back to finish a job is created by bad experiences with the worst few that then get shared widely and turn into pop culture folklore. 

  But the pattern that these stories take is usually quite predictable. The homeowner diligently goes through the paces of what they have been led to believe is the "right" thing. Having covered their bases, they then feel safe letting the carefully vetted contractor have some cash up front. Everything seems professional at first, and the contractor gives a rough estimate of a timeline of when they'll start and finish the project.

  Usually, from there, the project will be started, and then the contractor will just stop showing up. They'll still respond to text messages, saying they'll be back on some given day that never eventuates, and as the days, weeks, and then months go by, they stop responding at all. Rarely do you get egregious cases like the one in this story, where the contract just takes the money and runs. 

• The responses

  
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