This was my day - How was yours?

7:45 am this morning there was a knock on the door. It was the roofing company that I had cancelled the contract with wanting to start the job. WHAT! I cancelled this job!
8am the other roofers show up to finish the job they started yesterday.
Talk about a HUGE problem.
As I am trying to explain to the questionable green card holders that I had already cancelled the job and they need to leave, I get a phone call. It is that company's owner. One of the immigrants called and said I would not allow them to start work. I explain that I had cancelled the job and was a bit upset that out of the blue they just show up (they originally said they were booked until mid October). The owner proceeds to tell me thay are not honoring any cancellation and I owe the wages for the crew and the cost of the materials (this is in addition to the downpayment they kept on me for me cancelling). I told him no and was informed his attorney would contact me since I will be sued for breach of contract.
Well....9am and what do you know. The lawyer calls. I will be getting served papers and they are going to put a lien on the house and attempt to garnish my wages.
Talking was getting nowhere. So, now I need to get an attorney. Meanwhile nothing is getting done, I had to call work to tell them I may not be in, and stressed like you wouldn't believe.
At 10:00am I got a hold of the attorney who is willing to take this on.
Basically, it's a stand off now. The company I cancelled should not have shown up after me cancelling and the demands are ridiculous. Great...Now make it go away.
I finally got to work at around 1pm this afternoon but this is still being worked out. I now have to deal with lawyers (and costs), the company that started the work yesterday will not finish it because of the dispute (they don't want to get stuck in the middle) so my roof is torn off, no work will be done in the near future, and I am facing legal action.
What a BAD day.
Who the hell ever heard of a roofing company not honoring a cancellation after telling you that since I am cancelling the job I lose the deposit and then send a truck load of Mexicans to your house demanding they do the work or get paid off?
This sucks and will probably cost me a small fortune by the time it's done.

get them to pay for any court fees if you are to win... Good luck though... dang. NOT a good day at all. *pats*

Steve,
I am sorry you are stressed and hope things go better for you soon and that one way or another you get a roof over your head.
Ordinarily in todays world, those sorts of contracts spell out pretty specifically what happens in case of cancellation. What does your contract say?
Hang in there.

It states that I have 72 hours from the time I sign it to cancel it without losing my deposit. Any time after 72 hours I lose my deposit. If they start the job and I cancel at that time, I owe them for labor and materials up to that point.

I cancelled 5 days after signing and was informed I would not get a refund on the deposit. That was fine since I knew those were the terms.

To just show up out of the blue AFTER I cancelled and try to start the job to get more money and say they are not honoring the cancellation is just BS.

Steve, 'after they start' can have a lot of different meanings; sometimes it has been held to mean after they purchase and set aside the materialsfor your particular job and can be considerably in advance of the day they head out to your place.
Getting an attorney's advice is a good idea.
I am hoping all works out for you. And I hope they are not BSing you for more money. And if they are I hope they lose.

Aww I'm sorry Steve you had to go through this...
The company overreacted, it's just stupid.
I hope it all gets better for you.

Interesting.
I was informed by my attorney that even though this company showed up expecting me to let them do the job after I cancelled they did NOT have a permit.
How can you start work if you do not have a permit?
The company I did hire however DOES have a permit. The ONLY permit issued by the town for the work.

If it is any consolation it looks like you're lucky they didn't do the work.


Edited for using the wrong word: I am having a bad day too.

Steve,
These guys are trying to intimidate you into paying them without having to file a suit. Don't do it. They're threatening you with legal action, but they won't take it because they don't have a case. I was talking with my attorney last night, and I told him your story (as it has been posted), and his comment was that the owner of this company would have to be a moron to try to sue you over this because they will lose for sure. Screw 'em.

Steve, if it makes you feel any better my day started off really sucking bad!

I was woken up at 4:45 am by barking dogs and a tow truck. Ford Motor credit has taken my truck over a dispute of 279 dollars, now I have called and left messages with every entity known to man and can not get anyone to call me back!

So why is it when you owe someone money and want to take care of it, they no longer will take your calls? The East coast to west coast time does not make my life any easier.
What really irks me....there is a member of this forum who still owes me money and has disappeared, again!