Recollections may vary is the correct term to use with this client. We are happy to relate our side of this situation. We have kept all our documentation pertaining to this client who we know by another name on her contract with us, should she or anyone else wish to review the file.
“Fiona or Silvercola” signed a contract with us and gave us a deposit June 13, 2022, not mid fall as she reports.
Our staff began the administration process necessary to complete this contract. Complete working drawings were prepared for the excavation, asphalt and interlocking crews and all necessary work order files were prepared for each crew. Permits were applied and paid for, Locates were applied for. A significant amount of Guillotine Cut Armour Stone was placed on hold and subsequently not sold in a post-covid era of significant construction material shortages and backorders. Numerous meetings were held with this client to go over interlocking stone colour choice and to facilitate the delivery of many stone samples to assist her decision making. The scheduling department made several unsuccessful attempts to schedule this project.
Our project manager stated that he never said Natasha could cancel the contract at any time. He noted that she had amended the contract herself to mention “paver style and colour TBD” and made no extra notation of a promise of cancellation if she changed her mind. If this had been a condition of her signing a contract, I would think she would have added it when she added the other notation.
8 months into the contract “Fiona or Silvercola” changed her mind and wanted to cancel her contract and expected a full refund of her deposit. Who should be out of pocket and pay for all the expenses incurred in our execution of her contract to date? We were diligently fulfilling our obligations under the contract. Everyone who had worked on the contract thus far did not volunteer their time, they were all being paid to work. This is how we execute all of our contracts.
We did however as a gesture of goodwill refund her deposit April 11, 2023, less an admin fee of $1,000 to cover some of the costs incurred thus far.
This was deemed unacceptable by this client Natasha as she felt Northland Paving should cover all costs incurred by the time she changed her plans and wanted to cancel her contract 8 months after initiation, so she complained to the CPA. Contrary to her “recollections”, we fully co-operated with the CPA, and we have also kept all these files. Registering a complaint to the CPA or running a smear campaign on social media against a company that was working to fulfill a contracted project on her behalf still won’t change the facts.
Northland feels we were fair in our expectation to be compensated for work completed up to the point of her cancellation request 8 months after she had signed a contract.
Reply created 3 Jul 2024