My name is Peter, and I have been a General Contractor for over 30 years. Over the years, I have come to meet many wonderful people along the way, some of which even became good friend. Unfortunately, along with the good come the bad, the freebie seekers, and the deadbeats.

It used to be that the contractor had some ammunition in the fight against deadbeats. I have myself filed liens on a couple of properties because of lack of payment from the owner, and gotten the D.A.’s office involved on bounced checks, but times have changed. Many states have placed a minimum cap on liens, and so many loops on bounced checks that makes it almost imposable to recover small amounts. And let’s not forget the canceled check trick, or disputed credit card charge…

My latest adventure was a bad review on a well known national site I had just joined about a year ago. This lady had purchased a 60-year-old property we had worked on, FIVE years ago. We had remodeled three existing bathrooms, and the kitchen for the agent who was flipping the house, which in turn told the new owner that our work came with a guaranty.  The work was done very well, and the house was beautiful, so she proceeded with the purchase and waved the inspection. Over the 4 years I would get calls from her blaming us for everything from existing electrical problems, to… get this… “you need to come back and cut my bathroom door because it rubs against my new floor mat”. To make a long story short, about two years ago I was contacted by her lawyer demanding I would repair the plumbing in the house for free. As it seems, whomever first built the basement bathroom, did not vent the plumbing correctly, and since we replaced the toilet, in her mind, we should have known this. I tried to explain to her that all we did was remodel which means changing tile, toilet, vanity and faucets, and that we did not build the bathroom originally, but even after presenting before and after pictures proving that the bathroom existed before any work was done to it, she kept trying to get something for nothing.

This lady, this physiatrist who is a freelance advisor for NSA by the way, took it upon herself to get on line and write up a totally fictitious, and malicious review on a national referral site, the same site I had just signed a marketing campaign with for a year, for over $ 22,000.00. Her review rated us F, all across the board, and on stuff we didn’t even due in the house. Since I keep all my emails, I tried to get the review deleted by submitting everything I had and making a case with my campaign rep, but they refused to remove the review. Only after commissioning a lawyer, and months later under the threat of defamation legal action, she finally agreed to delete the review.

It’s called freedom of speech, and in the instant gratification world we live in, it’s easy for anyone with a smart phone to wipe out years of your hard work, and good name. We are at a legal forked road. No lawyer or judge wants to touch the first amendment on online defamation cases. No one wants to set a precedence.

That’s when it occurred to me. Freedom of Speech works both ways. I wish I had a list of all the deadbeats in my area to refer to even before I submitted a proposal. This is why I created this site. Please tell us your story, and how you handled it. If you seek advice, other members may be able to help. Let’s create a file with all the deadbeats in our areas by name and city. This may in turn help someone else. Sign up, and come back often, it’s free.