I told myself I wouldn’t complain about The General being deployed. This has kept me from posting for the last few weeks. However, this story I felt needed to be written.
To start I have to go back to about a month before The General left. We had decided that we would move closer to family and move back into the house that I own and lived in before I moved for my job a couple of years ago. This would put me closer to family and would end the constant string of troubles I have had with the 3 families that rented the house. So we made the move and were able to get the house fixed up and livable before The General had to report for duty. And my old roommate moved back in to help supplement costs.
About a week or so after he left, we starting having a ton of rain and I noticed a leak coming from the roof. Now I’m pretty sure this leak is the same one that I had “fixed” about 3 years ago. So I find the paperwork and on the invoice all it says is “repair roof.” No explanation at all so I can’t go back to those people and argue that they did a crappy job. So I moved on to the next thing. I called a couple of roofers and had them come out and do estimates. One guy was referred by my roommate. That was the guy I decided to go with and we talked on a Wednesday and he told me that his guys would be able to do the job that Thursday or at the latest Friday. All was good.
However, no one ever came to work on the roof and this guy never called me. Now I realize that I that I could have called him to ask what was going on but I did not. That Saturday it started raining again and it continued to rain through Tuesday. Well on Saturday I was having lunch with my neighbor and we got to talking about the roof. He told me that a few months back there had been a series of strong storms and quite a few people in the neighborhood had to have their roof replaced due to wind and hail damage. So he gave me the number of his friend who just happens to be a roofer and explained that I might be able to get a whole new roof for just the cost of my insurance deductible. (I had not thought to file a homeowners claim since I figured a leaky old roof was just my responsibility – the roof is the original so it’s about 17 years old).
Anyway, this Roofer #2 came to the house on Tuesday afternoon (still hadn’t received a phone call from Roofer #1). Roofer #2 said that indeed there was enough damage to make a claim to have the entire roof replaced instead of just repairing the area where the leak was coming from. This sounded like a good deal to me. Roofer #1 had estimated $450 to fix the leak and Roofer #2 would replace the entire roof for my $500 deductible. No brainer, right? So on Wednesday morning I called my insurance and made the claim and an appointment was made for adjuster to come look at roof the next Tuesday.
Well I leave town Friday morning to go see my family. Friday afternoon I get a text from my roommate asking if I was expecting someone to be working on the roof. Turns out Roofer #1 had finally sent his men to repair the leak – 10 days after he had promised. So I called Roofer #1 and explained that I was very unhappy and irritated that he had not called prior to just showing up at my house and working on my roof. His explanation was “we’ve been real busy and I was too busy to call.” Not a good answer. I apologized for not having called him but in my mind it was his duty as the business owner to call 9 days prior and explain why his men didn’t show. Or he should have called any of those other 9 days – he should definitely not have just showed up at my house. I explained to him about having filed an insurance claim and waiting for the adjuster. Luckily his men hadn’t gotten too far – so I told him they needed to put everything back the way it was and get off of my roof!
My dilemma now is which roofer am I obligated to use? I haven’t signed a contract for either. I’m going to feel bad either way even though I’m still not sure this is my fault. This is just a lesson in proper communication.
I hate not being able to talk to The General and get his opinion on the matter. I’m hoping the whole thing will work itself out somehow.
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