That sucks... What a dirt bag >:-(

So sorry to hear this happened to you. On this forum, you hear a lot of crooked contractor stories but there's no shortage of crooked clients out there, either.

That stinks! What an *sshole.

“He may call and change the installation date,”

Who cancelled the first installation date? You use “he” and “him” interchangeably in the OP so it’s hard to tell. I wish you’d just used “I” when talking about yourself.

Bummer Joseph. They are out there.

So sorry. As a small business owner I can really understand. Not possible to tell cc co that deposits are non refundable?

Under Florida law, only custom made products are non-refundable. This lucky b!^@h ordered a stock Kohler.

Ugh - so sorry that happened to you!

That sucks. Hopefully they'll break their counter when they attempt to install your sink!

Why do you deliver the sink beforehand?

"Why do you deliver the sink beforehand?"

Because it's the most efficient.

Not sure about Florida, but in NJ you have a 3 day waiting period, and within 3 days if the customer changes their mind you must return 100% of the deposit (the wording is included in every contract). So when a customer signs a contract and gives a deposit, nothing is ordered until the 3 day period is up... Unless they sign a waiver that they read and understand the law and they give the contractor "the-go-ahead" to order and start the work right away.

If there are no such laws in Florida to protect a consumer and a contractor from this type of action, I would suggest you revise your contract and add some clause to prevent that from happening.

With that being said, if you have a contract, even if it's written on the toilet paper, you still have an agreement between both parties "you proposed and the customer accepted" you still have the legal right to do the job and make a profit on it and even if they don't want you doing the job, you still have the right to your profit.

Cases like this involving small amounts are more about principles than monetary rewards... But if there is no written contract, it's a different story.

Good luck.

Sounds like you got taken by a pro scammer....I'm so sorry you had to deal with this.

I am a fabricator ... and I understand your pain. Unfortunately if you deal with the public you will occasionally come across the person that is either crazy and/or dishonest. It's rarely worth the time or cost to pursue it legally and there is no guarantee a judge will side with the contractor no matter how ridiculous the claim(s) of the consumer. Now that I am mostly retired I have the time to pursue things in small claims court. Years ago we added a statement to our fine print that requires any disputes to be resolved on our local courts no matter where the job is so we don't have to waste a whole day driving and we eliminate the possibility that the judge is the crazy customers cousin Billy Bob. (we do a lot of work in out state rural areas).

Wait. This guy has “your” sink in his house and won’t return it? Can’t you show up at his door with a cop?

Start with a preliminary lien notice, not needed to lien as you have a direct contract with him, but it might generate resolution. I know its more work than its worth.

Related, my daughter & I have discussed a customer rating system based on phone numbers available to restaurants, etc. "Warning, the owner of this number doesn't tip." or "leaves mostly poor reviews" etc.

My advice... eat your loss and move on.

You have a small monetary loss, it absolutely sucks, however, avoid the temptation to add worry, trouble, time and more money to your loss. You could absolutely win in court and that would be a great waste of time, money and effort. The juice just probably isn't worth the squeeze.

Dont have sinks delivered to customers, unless they’re the ones buying them. All sinks purchased by the business must be delivered to the business address.

I suspect Joseph knows his business well enough to run it.

However, I will note that drop shipping is incredibly common because it moves the risk of loss and damage to the distributor and off the retailer. In the end, the question for Joseph is: does a customer steal a sink more often than it gets damaged while in Joseph's possession? Even if that answer is in his favor there is still a cost of handling and storage that may well exceed the rare cases of this happening.

Good businesses mitigate net expenditures and losses not just losses.

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ETA: This also wouldn't happen if Joseph only accepted Cash. Sure he would be a lot poorer, but he wouldn't get screwed over like this...

Some folks seem to have no conscience and they can still sleep well at night. I don't understand it. To me, a man's word is his word and a handshake is a handshake.

"Wait. This guy has “your” sink in his house and won’t return it? Can’t you show up at his door with a cop?"

The cops would call this a civil action and wouldn't do anything.

I've had several hundred sinks delivered; this is the first one that's been stolen.

She just called and told me I can pick up the sink. So I'm supposed to invest another hour and a half in drive time. I'm done; gotta put a tourniquet on this bleeder.

People suck. I’m so sorry.

Go and retrieve the sink. But make sure you’ve stepped in dog poop multiple times before entering the house.

"Wait. This guy has “your” sink in his house and won’t return it? Can’t you show up at his door with a cop?" unfortunately, no. I have learned that if a customer stiffs a contractor that contractor does NOT have the option to reclaim the items not paid for. The contractor can file a lien or take the deadbeat to court but cannot enter the deadbeats home and remove cabinets, countertops, or whatever. Some people know this and will enter the project fully intending to cheat the contractor. I don't know how a person like that looks in the mirror in the morning.