A/C company did shotty work, turned me over to collections

[Flypilot]

So I hired this air conditioning company to do some work on my new home I was building. They sent in some rookie kid and he screwed the first phase up. I fired the company and got three other bids for the whole job. The company I hired had to re-do half of the work from the first comapny. They gave me a discount but still charged me $500 to fix the work.

The first A/C company sent me a bill for double the amount agreed (verbally). I told them I was subtracting the repair cost from the first agreed amount and that is what they would get. He threatened small claims court and I said..... see you there. 9 months went by and now I get a collection notice for double the amount.

1) There is no signed contract by me for the work period.

2) I have all of the reciepts from the second company that had to fix their work.

I contacted the A/C company and his office girl admitted they do not have a signed contract with me. She said they would settle. I said you will settle for what I am willing to pay and IF this crap hits my credit report, I will be seeking damages from you...

Trish, where do I go from here. I have about a week to respond to the CA.

Flypilot

[Trish]

I don't think they have a chance. If they have NO written agreement, they don't have anything.

Also it's great that you have the info from the second company that had to come and clean up after them.
I think the first step would be to send the CA a DV letter (be sure to send it CMRR). See what they come up with for proof. I doubt they have anything.

Give them 30 days to respond.
Be sure to come back and update this thread. I'm curious to see what their answer is.

[Trish]

Oh.....and p.s. At this point I don't even think you should settle. They obviously sent someone completely incompetent to do the job.........and then try to sick a CA on your for double the amount?
No...IMO, they lost their chance at getting ANY funds. They could have handled the situation much differently.