The bid went out to the members on June 24th, 2013. I lowered the original bid by around 900 dollars to meet their target budget as I do with many of my customers. We signed the contract on August 3rd, 2013. They and I both agreed on a 3,000 dollar down payment at this time. I told them I would be out in 5 weeks to start on the work. 3 weeks had gone by and I had a few free days between tying up some loose ends, fixing my truck, and traffic court. Please see the email attachment dated Aug. 21st where I state “… I'm anticipating about 14-20 days till I can start. I however, may plan to come up on a weekend or free weekday to dig out some earth and haul it a bit at a time. I'll give you plenty of notice of my arrival. “ Before the actual labor began, they deviated from the contract and decided not to do pavers anymore. They informed me of this on a phone call on August 31st, 2013. I had already purchased materials and rented certain equipment for the pavers. I had to go return all that stuff and purchase all new materials to set up the other way. I asked for another draw so I could make sure I had everything I needed for their job. (Please note: I asked for another draw and explained the reason I wanted it. I simply explained my situation and they said that was fine. It is even stated in my contract that no draws will be given unless all parties agree, and they both initialed next to this.) A two man crew went out on 9/3/2013 in the morning and started to grade the dirt. I ran into some issues when I realized that it was not clean dirt (clean dirt is dirt not contaminated by plant life, rocks, or other foreign debris) they had stated that the dirt was clean when I first saw the job. Info like this influences my pricing of the labor involved in the prep work. This meant an excessive amount of debris was dug up and hauled off a shovel at a time. There were multiple layers of sod, roots, and rock that I was not prepared for (no fault of my own). This is part of our job, but when we are made to believe that the area is one way and it turns out to be another way, this can often drag things on. But understand, I didn’t ask for a dollar more for the extra labor this dilemma created, or the dump fees that I was now being charged. (Please note: clean dirt is free to dump) We went out again on 9/4/2013 and worked in the morning, this was the beginning of a terrible heat wave. I will not put myself or my crew in danger. It is irresponsible, and unnecessary, and I stand by my decision 100%. I told them that until it got a bit cooler we would not be working on their job. I spoke with them again on 9/8/2013 and let them know that I had traffic court that Monday (9/9/2013). I went out there on 9/10/2013 and attempted again to grade the yard so a concrete substrate could be poured. Again, because of it not being clean dirt like they said it was, and the multiple layers of sod that they did not tell me about, it may not have looked like much was being done, but I guarantee you, we worked extremely hard preparing the dirt for the concrete substrate. On 9/11/2013 I woke up to find that my truck was making a grinding noise when I hit the brakes on my way over to their home. I took it into the mechanic. They said that I needed to have my breaks fixed. (Probably from all of the strain on my truck hauling dirty earth and debris away from their job) I attempted to call them and let them know what was going on, and it was then that I realized my phone was not charged. As soon as I got home from the mechanics and got to a phone, I called them and let them know what had happened, and the husband understood. The next day, 9/12/2013, I had previous arrangements to work on another job tying up some loose ends. I told the husband about these arrangements, and that I would try to make it out to their job by 11:00 AM. Some unforeseen things occurred that day, both on the other job and in my personal life, and I was not able to make it out to their job. I tried to send them a text at 1:00. A few hours later, he called me furious! He said that my phone had been shut off and that it was totally irresponsible of me. While we are on the subject of phones let me also say this. The wife said in her review that a number being previously answered as Leveline was now being answered by some lady who didn’t know who Leveline was. This is untrue. The number on our contract has not been answered as Leveline Tile for over 6 months, so I guarantee you they didn’t know who Leveline was! We changed phone numbers and have not gotten around to changing it on the contract quite yet. This is our bad, but I figured since they had copies of my business card with my current information on it, they would be wise enough to put that together, guess not. Every month my phone bill is directly pulled from my account. For some reason, this month, it turned my cell service off for no more than 3 hours. (For all I know, they were working on the cell towers or something) In that 3 hours they could not get a hold of me, they decided to come to the conclusion that I took off with their money. She called my work associates and anyone else connected to me and told them that I had ripped her off. I spoke with the husband for a while and told him that I would be out there the next day at 7 am to continue work on their job. At first he was fine with that so we hung up. Then, I got another call from him. Turns out his wife had convinced him to tell me I was no longer allowed to work on their project. Understand, I have been nothing but polite and eager to work on their project. I still don’t understand what I have done to warrant this treatment. So, if anyone is counting, that is contract breach number 2. I don’t think that their review should be allowed to be on my page because they wouldn’t even allow me to do the work. Then, he started demanding their money back. First of all, most of it was not money anymore, but materials, gas, and labor. It takes some time to go around to various suppliers to purchase and return materials. Not to mention, my profit for the time we worked. It’s as if they believe my time is worth little to nothing and they are going to decide what and how much it will cost. Please note, I was in touch with them every single day that I did not make it to the job and even when I did. Not one day went by without me telling them what was going on. I know some contractors that go weeks without being able to speak to their customers! But with them, they couldn’t get a hold of me for maybe 3 hours (more like 2) and they decide to write me an all F review? Come on! The husband could not tell me what he wanted but continued to berate me and tell me what a terrible person I was, accusing me of stealing their money. In this conversation I mentioned that I paid out $800.00 in labor so somehow they decided that was all they were going to take off of the bill. On September 17th I texted him and let him know that I would be needing to get my tools from their house and that I would be sending him an updated invoice for the amount that I would be paying them back. He said okay and that he would let me know when I could come out there. In the mean time, I had to pass up one job (on top of the multiple jobs that I passed up because they were on my calendar to do work and had signed a legally binding contract) and when the second job came around, I had to go and buy all new tools. Then, in the evening on September 27th the wife texted me and said “Jay, You can come tomorrow, Saturday at 10am to get the tools. They will be outside on the driveway on Olympic Blvd. Text my husband when you are there and he will give them to you. No later than 10am, please. Thank you.” You can see the back and forth exchange in the transcripts that I have sent along with this. Then she accused me of “disappearing” again. First of all, I never disappeared in the first place! If anything I disappeared for 2 maybe 3 hours, and in this case, I was waiting for him to get back to me and let me know when I could come out there; he had never called, texted, or emailed so I don’t know how I am being the evasive one. In conclusion, I have been willing to work with them from the beginning. If you take a look at their “resolution” in this case, it is not even a solution, it is just more complaining about things that I apparently did or did not do! Honestly, they should be glad I am willing to give them back any of their money. Not to mention, if he had to get a second job (see the text message transcripts) then I am glad that they didn’t allow me to complete the job because I would be done right now and they wouldn’t have any money for me. That leads me to believe that they realized they couldn’t afford it and kicked me off the job for that reason. Legally, all a judge would require of me is to complete the job. I am not the party who breached contract here, they are. My reputation should not suffer just because they decided to breach contract and I didn’t have their money right away. It takes some time to do things like return all the materials again. I have been up front with them and told them I am willing to pay them back minus my costs from day one! They just want to turn this into some crazy dramatic thing, and it is not that at all. I have a good reputation for a reason, and it is because I am professional, and I do great work. I’m not perfect, but I am certainly not the monster they have portrayed me as. I stand by that 100% and just because they breached contract and would not allow me to do my job, doesn’t mean that I should be penalized. I have included copies of the following for your reference: - All emails back and forth between the members and myself - The contract - The bid - The final invoice of all expenses - All text messages between them and myself Thank you so much for your time and consideration in this matter and please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions. Jay Prentay Ph: 562.726.7157. jay.prentay@yahoo.com levelinetile@yahoo.com