When Someone Else’s Incompetence Becomes Your Problem, Somehow

I work for a company that installs insulation into homes. We get a call from a contractor that hires us frequently, asking about insulation that was installed incorrectly into a home they built, and trying to get it fixed. Looking up the address, I see that we quoted the job but didn’t do any work there.

Me: “It looks like we didn’t actually install the insulation in that project.”

Contractor: “I know. Your quote was quite high, so we hired [Competitor] to do it, and they did a really bad job…”

He spends several minutes describing the problem again.

Me: “Okay. We can come out and get you a quote for repairs.”

Contractor: “But I thought there was a guarantee. If we need repairs, you are supposed to do it for free.”

Me: “Yes, we guarantee our own work, and if we had installed something incorrectly, we would fix it for free.”

Contractor: “Well, [Competitor]’s work is also guaranteed, so don’t you have to fix it for free?”

Me: “No, they have to fix it for free. We don’t guarantee work that we don’t do.”

Contractor: “But I don’t want them to do it. They did a really bad job. I want you to do it!”

Me: “We will do it — for a fee. We are happy to come out and have a look and let you know how much that will be.”

After another twenty minutes of this, he finally agreed to have us quote an actual price to do the work. The owner decided to take a little pity on him, as he does do a fair amount of work with us, and the quote ended up being less than $300, which would cover the materials and most of the labour, although we would probably end up losing a little money on it.

After the work was complete and the bill was paid, he emailed us a bill for $4,200! It was for the removal of the damaged areas, the assessment, and the replacement of the finishes. My boss ended up calling him and spending forty minutes explaining to him why we were not responsible for the damages to a house caused by other people doing work poorly.

No good deed goes unpunished.