Story time — I’ve had a really weird time lately dealing with some small business owners that I thought were all just isolated incidents but I’m becoming more convinced that they’re dicking me around cause I’m a girl, I don’t come off threatening, and they think they can just fuck me over without consequence. Also if anyone has any input as to the legal implications in these please share!!!
Situation #1 The Pool Guy Thief.
I’ve had this young guy servicing my pool for awhile and he was unproblematic until around maybe April. I live in a large house in an affluent neighborhood with only one roommate (one of my best childhood friends who absolutely is not a suspect in this). My ex stays here every time he’s in town and last time he stayed he left his watch... his very expensive watch valued at $22k and told me to just keep it safe until he came back a month later. This is my fault, I should have hid it somewhere much better, but I’m home all the time or else my roomie is, I have 2 huge guard dogs, and I rarely have visitors over. So I just kept it in my jewelry box and didn’t really check on it cause I just kind of forgot about it. During this month period me and my roommate had ZERO visitors over, and when time came around my ex was arriving lo and behold... the watch was gone. I was absolutely devastated as my ex goes into insane rages, he didn’t get physical with me but man did I pay for my absent mindedness with incessant verbal abuse for weeks after. Then he went into a paranoia and started accusing me and my roommate that we were the ones who stole it. We flipped the entire house upside down looking for this watch it was nowhere I wanted so bad for it to show up I was desperate. So I go over who else has access to the house, it wasn’t an all out robbery nothing was amiss nothing else was missing.
The only other person who has been on the property in that one month period was the pool guy. He comes and goes whenever he wants to, he’s not afraid of the dogs as they already know him well, and it’s a regular habit of mine to leave the back door open in the mornings so the dogs and come and go in and out. I will even leave the back door open while I leave to go to the gym, because my roommate is still home. I suspect that that’s what happened, is that I left to go to the gym, the pool guy sees my car is gone, and my roommate was either in the bathroom or sleeping, he goes in the house straight to the bedroom where my jewelry box is very obviously just right there on the dresser, opens it and the first thing he sees is this huge gold Rolex, snatches it then leaves. I suspect it was him because he always comes by once a week without fail, but when I thought about it I hadn’t seen him for the past like 3 weeks.... and the pool was super super green. My roommate said the same, that he didn’t recall seeing him for 3 weeks. I texted him saying that the pool was green and when he was coming by. No response, which is a first. He has always replied to me. I called him several times. No answer. WTF. I then ask my ex to call him from a different phone number and HE PICKS UP RIGHT AWAY. He didn’t start accusing him but he did say that the pool was really dirty and why he hasn’t been by the house. He said his tone was really sketchy and his excuse was that he was really busy, and that we had an outstanding balance of $80, so he stopped coming cause he thought “we just didn’t want the service anymore”... which makes no sense at all. Then my ex said that his watch was missing and he was just asking anyone and everyone who was by the house of its whereabouts or if he’d seen anyone wearing it, pool guy says “No I would never, I never go inside the homes of clients you guys are really good clients to me I remember you gave me a nice Christmas tip, I service over 100 pools in the area I don’t need to be taking a watch”
OKay. So.... we’re one of your really good clients. We always pay on time. We gave you a Christmas tip. But... we have an outstanding balance of $80 (that he NEVER even informed me of), you know we’re not hurting for money that we could easily pay the balance... but instead of just telling me, you just.... stop coming to service the pool... stop answering my calls... because you’re busy and thought we “just didn’t want the service anymore”??? RIGHT BEFORE POOL SEASON???? If you service over 100 pools and that’s how you treat your good clients you’d be losing customers left and right for that kind of idiotic thinking. Guy’s a fuckin clown and I suspect he’s been servicing pools and scoping people’s homes in the process for a long time. Finally I call him again and he answers only AFTER my ex told him I was gonna call him from my phone, and when I ask what the deal is why he hasn’t been by he says ... “You know what I’m just too busy.... what I’m going to do is I’m gonna send someone else to start servicing your pool going forward”
Someone else??? As far as I know, this guy is a one man business — it’s just him and his truck, he doesn’t have a brick & mortar, thriving pool business with employees under him, who the fuck else is he gonna send??? It was just too much not adding up, I know it was him, and I plan to file a police report to include for the jewelry insurance claim, I just haven’t gotten around to it cause I’m scared that the police will go to his home and investigate, and whether they find something or not he does something in retaliation because he knows where I live. I know that sounds far fetched but it’s still a valid fear of mine cause I’ve dealt with enough crazy irrational people too much to underestimate them. So until I move out of this house in January, I’m putting off taking legal action in the meantime.
Situation #2 The New Pool Guy Dickhead.
So after the Pool Guy Thief ghosts us, the pool obviously falls into algae chaos very quickly very fast, it was a total swamp and I looked up a new guy via the Thumbtack app. Thru the app he estimates me at $225 for a full cleaning, then comes by the house and says it’ll be $250, and his monthly service is $100 going forward. I give him $100 deposit, he says he’ll have it ready in a week which I’m ecstatic about because I wanted to have a BBQ before Memorial Day. He also asks if I could leave him a 5 star review on the app (before the job is even done), which I do because I fall into the habit of pre-tipping for better service.
Well Memorial Day comes and goes, it’s still not ready. He comes by several more times over more than a 3 week period and the pool STILL looks like shit!!!! I ask when is it gonna be ready, and he doesn’t even know, he’s just like... playing it by ear. I mean he’s trying... I think he just doesn’t really know what he’s doing. My ex is getting super impatient at this point and tells me I need to hire someone else. I call another pool guy who comes by... charges me $100 and HAS THE WHOLE POOL READY IN 3 DAYS. I text the other pool guy basically hey I found someone else, thanks but no thanks. He then asks if I could pay the rest of the balance because he used a lot of chemicals. I’m like whatever okay send me a statement. He sends me a statement in the mail for..... $350. FOR DOING NOTHING. Trying to overcharge me for a job that wasn’t even near complete. And then texts me yesterday asking again to please send him the payment. I’m so fuckin irritated at this point I don’t even wanna send him anything and the $100 deposit more than covers his shitty work. BUT I also feel scared that he’ll retaliate by coming into my backyard and fucking with the pool motor or something when I’m not home, because he knows where I live. I’m going to send him $125 (the remainder for what I was originally estimated on the Thumbtack app) with a note explaining that the job was not complete and I consider the matter closed. It’s like I feel compelled to pay for fear he’ll do something crazy, he mentioned that he was in jail for awhile and he’s just super weird and awkward in general.
Situation #3 The Psychopath Vacuum Salesman.
So about a few weeks ago I went in to have my vacuum repaired at this old shop I’ve never been to. The old man working was super nice, but he wasn’t the owner, the owner is his friend who was out of town for vacation. He then convinces me to trade in my old vacuum for a $50 discount on a newer better one, which I agree to and I’m happy with. Maybe a week and a half later a number I don’t recognize calls my phone (which I never answer unknown #s and I have a bad habit of not checking my voicemails cause I get a lot of cold callers). Calls several more times over a week period and leaves a voicemail so finally I get around to checking it and it’s the owner back from vacation saying his friend undercharged me and if I could come into the shop and pay the correct amount. I didn’t even realize so I checked my bank statement and lo and behold he only charged me $28.45, which the total was supposed to be $328.45. Wow $300 undercharge. No big deal, I was gonna send a check but didn’t get around to it as I was super busy and kept forgetting. I didn’t give him a call back which was my bad but it just wasn’t a huge priority for me I assumed he would just cut it as a loss, I would send the check the following week once I got all my bills and shit organized, he’d be pleasantly surprised and it would be done.
Nope. Barely a week goes by and this guy calls me again from a different number, then get this... TEXTS ME A PICTURE OF MY MOM’S OLD HOUSE. Mind you I haven’t lived at that house in 9 years, the address is likely accessible somewhere out there on the internet, I have no idea who lives there now. And leaves me a voicemail saying “I hope you got the picture of your house. You have until Monday or Tuesday to come in and pay for the stolen vacuum or else”
What in the actual fuck???? Is he kidding??? Is this some kind of vacuum mafia shakedown???? Now I’m super pissed but also hilariously entertained and I don’t even wanna send him shit anymore just for threatening me like an asshole. Some people are telling me to file a police report and don’t pay him anything. I definitely am filing a report I might just send him a copy of that with $50 and a note saying here’s $50 I was gonna send the full payment this week but that insanely brazen unprofessional threat cost you the rest.
Sorry that was so long. I am just so irritated because I wonder would ANY of these guys try to pull any of these antics if I were a man??? It reminds me of like when shady mechanics try to overcharge women whenever they come into the shop. These so called businessmen think I’m naive enough to get taken advantage of and frightened into submission. Which sucks but in a way it’s true.
All I know is that I never ever want a pool again.



Reply With Quote



Bookmarks