Scenario.

Our basement flooded (again) on June 1. We called a water cleanup company that night to come out. They did, and over a few days dried our basement out. A month or more passed and we had yet to receive a bill. My wife called, apparently they lost all of our documentation and needed to come back out and re-measure our basement to send a new bill. The owner came out and did the measurements, and assured us the new bill would be in the mail the following week. That was mid-July. Fast forward to yesterday, we FINALLY get a bill in the mail. $3300, just in time for the holidays.

My question is, is it unreasonable to request, or even demand that they lower the bill before we send payment? If so, what would be a reasonable discount to ask for? I feel like telling them I'll send them a check for $2000 right now and we'll call it even, or they can wait 6 months like we had to.

That is ridiculous. Can you set it up through your bank to send them $1 checks daily for the next 3,300 days? I would look into that.

I would point out to them that if you hadn't called them in the first place, they would have received $0.  

How much were you expecting the bill to be?

posted by BRF

How much were you expecting the bill to be?

We were expecting roughly $3k, but expected the bill to show up in a reasonable time. Not 6 months after services rendered.

I'd pay at your own leisure, but asking for $1300 off is laughable. Bottom line, they performed the services.

Yeah, I think it’s too much to ask for $1,300 off your bill. They performed the service, and at a cost that you were expecting. Getting a delayed bill isn’t reason for a massive discount. 

I'm aware that it's a large amount to ask off, I was just throwing out a ridiculous number because I find it ridiculous that they couldn't be bothered to send out bills in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think asking for 15% off (~$2800) would be unreasonable to ask. Either way, the worst they can do is say no.

This is actually our second time dealing with them, because our basement has flooded twice. The first time, the person doing the work was a nice guy, but apparently gave us bad info. He asked for a claim number and said they would work with our insurance to get the remainder of our bill, we just had to pay them our deductible. Made sense. Well, fast forward a few months and we get a call. "This is so-and-so from X company. We were wondering when we were going to get your payment for your outstanding bill." We never received a follow up bill, we thought it was all cleared through our insurance, so we were completely unaware that we owed them money.

I know that they had recently been fighting with a country club in the area that refused to pay them on a 6-figure bill. I'm not sure what the circumstances were surrounding that, but the owner was telling my wife about it back in July when they had to come back out to our house. 

Bottom line, they seem to be completely disorganized as a company and will be getting poor reviews on various sites if they refuse to work with us on our bill.

How much is your insurance deductible?

I would wait until January and pay the bill. Let them know that you waited 6 months for the bill, they can wait 2.

I don't think it would be proper etiquette to ask for a reduced bill just because they sent it late. They did the work satisfactorily and in a price range you expected.

I'd pay it off in 6 months or take COA's suggestion.  Fuck them.

posted by jmog

I would wait until January and pay the bill. Let them know that you waited 6 months for the bill, they can wait 2.

 

I don't think it would be proper etiquette to ask for a reduced bill just because they sent it late. They did the work satisfactorily and in a price range you expected.

Well, I'd say it's not proper etiquette to send a bill 5+ months late. 

You have no real leg to stand on for a discount. If they want the money they are entitled to get it. You can try, but that’s a ridiculous amount. 

Interesting mix of responses here. It's essentially either screw them or screw you. Ha.

posted by justincredible

Interesting mix of responses here. It's essentially either screw them or screw you. Ha.

They are definetely entitled to be paid, but I don't see the problem with taking 6 months to do it.  

posted by like_that

They are definetely entitled to be paid, but I don't see the problem with taking 6 months to do it.  

Agree with this, pay it over 6 months.

Sure. My problem is that they are likely to want their money ASAP, even though they couldn't be bothered to send a bill in a reasonable amount of time. Any way you slice it, sending a bill 6 months after services were rendered, after screwing up once, and then assuring us a bill would be in the mail the following week, is ridiculous. I don't think trading a discount for prompt payment is an unreasonable ask, but it appears some do.

posted by justincredible

Interesting mix of responses here. It's essentially either screw them or screw you. Ha.

You're getting honest responses.  You didn't have to ask for the bill.  You could have just let it be, and maybe even never have seen a bill.  The timing of them sending the bill (holidays) isn't the best, but they DID give you the bill, just like you had asked.  It's actually nice for you, that they allowed you to wait this long without having to pay.  

Lots of different ways that you can approach this scenario, both in your favor, and in their favor.  Ask for whatever you want.  Worst they can say is "no."  I got 1/2 my auto bill paid for, when in the grand scheme of things, I was the idiot.

I'm not complaining about the responses, I appreciate the honesty. It's why I started the thread.

That said, I wouldn't say it's nice for us to have a bill we had all but forgotten about sprung on us right before the holidays.

posted by justincredible

I'm not complaining about the responses

Then I don't understand the "Screw you" part of it.  The timing of their bill is not ideal, but the amount is what you anticipated.  If they took you to court and demanded you pay right now, then I get the "screw you" part of it.  But returning the same gesture seems to be fair (on your behalf).

posted by ernest_t_bass

Then I don't understand the "Screw you" part of it.  The timing of their bill is not ideal, but the amount is what you anticipated.  If they took you to court and demanded you pay right now, then I get the "screw you" part of it.  But returning the same gesture seems to be fair (on your behalf).

It was a joke. Hence the "ha."

Someone on their end didn’t do their job. I would think a small discount is reasonable. This probably isn’t a huge corporation like a big hospital where you can offer a much lower cash settlement now and wipe the rest away.

I would call and inquire nicely. Tell your end of it. Holiday timing is bad and that isn’t your fault. See if they offer anything. If not I’d pay it off in 7-10 months just to be slightly irritating but that just satisfies you some because they clearly weren’t missing your $3300 so you paying $350 a month instead of $550 really won’t affect them because it’s still decent money coming in.

Why no insurance coverage? This has happened to us once on return from vacation and we just paid $500 and I can’t even fathom what the actual bill was. They were in our entire house for 2 weeks with 14 blowers running and removed and replaced carpet throughout 75% of the house.

posted by justincredible

It was a joke. Hence the "ha."

posted by Ironman92

Why no insurance coverage?

Your deductible can't be this high