This is not a fully honest or fair complaint. The client did not contact us within the 10 day cooling off period to cancel the contract, which would have been fine by us in accordance with the law. She, in fact, contacted us on the 11th day, and asked for a postponement of the work. To us that was acceptable. She later requested the deposit back in the interim, which was the first indication to us that something did not quite add up in the client's story. A postponement does not usually call for a deposit to be returned. (Perhaps a competitor enticed the client with a lower price as often contractors are desperate for work in the springtime, and thus she was trying to get her money back before actually requesting cancellation. That's just a guess but not uncommon.)
Our response was that the deposit is generally non-refundable, and that we'd happily postpone the work until they were ready - within a reasonable time frame of course. It was when we advised that a deposit was not refundable, that the client became more antagonistic and requested a cancellation. We tried to explain to the client that we were beyond the legal cooling off period that allows for cancellation, that it was a job signed in good faith, that we were counting on the work after a long winter of little to no work for the men, and that the salesman and others involved had already been paid, and so too the had other work within our organization taken place to put the job in progress. As such, the job had already started to cost us money. By returning the deposit we would be in a financial loss. We pointed out that it was our understanding that in law a deposit serves exactly as a guarantee against breaking contracts. Whether its the Federal government cancelling a helicopter contract, or the provincial government cancelling gas contracts, the injured party is usually compensated for the breach, and so as we know, the Feds and Prov govts have had to pay heavy penalties for breaking signed contracts. The same applies in the private sector. Contracts are binding. What would happen if we, as the contractor breached the contract - for example if we promised to put high quality ice shield or shingles, and then cheated with lower grade materials? Would that breach of contract be acceptable? A contract is binding two ways. We have done absolutely nothing wrong, morally, ethically, or legally. There was no misrepresentation whatsoever by our salesmen, or unexpected delay of work by us, to warrant the client losing faith in us and saying she wants to cancel the contract. We had and still have a binding contract with the client to undertake their roofing work. We tried to work with the client to suggest options to delay even up to 2 years, in case they were genuinely in need of the money right away or something like that, and we could give them a break on the timing of doing the work. However, the option the client chose, sadly, was to cancel the contract and to forfeit her deposit - and we have that in writing from the client. We still tried to re-assure the client even after that, that we would still rather undertake her work than just keep the deposit. The next we hear about this, the client has written to Homestars. But this is an absolutely unfair review, as we have not even been given the opportunity to step onto the client's property to do her roof replacement. So what work is being reviewed? This is nothing but a sad attempt to hurt the company's solid reputation when it is the client trying to breach her contractual obligations and using Homestars as a pressure tactic. Her complaint is disingenuous. Such unscrupulous behaviour should not be tolerated from any party to any agreement, whether homeowner or contractor. and we should not end up penalized because of that dishonest review.
