Accidents happen, and when those accidents end up damaging someone else’s property, the right thing to do is to pay for it.

What would you do if you accidentally burned down a neighbor’s fence, but then she tried to get you to upgrade the fence and do a full backyard renovation?

That is what happened to this young man, and he wasn’t about to be taken advantage of.

Check it out.

Accidentally burned down my neighbors fence and she tries to milk me for $10k.

So it’s been about 4 years since this happened.

I was about 18 at the time, working for a Security company.

There were constant call offs and no shows, have no idea why.

But being so young and naive, i was constantly working 16hr shifts and not coming home until 8am.

Also i lived with my father at the time.

The time frame of this was around the 4th of July.

I finally had a day off and my best friend was back in town for vacation.

We decided to get together and chip in on some good ol’ American fireworks.

Fireworks can be very dangerous.

To be fair i have had nothing but bad experiences with fireworks so i had no idea how this would be any different.

We got home with the fireworks and we laid them all out on the floor; Sparklers, Bottle Rockets, Cakes, and Roman Candles.

I say “Why don’t we mess around with some sparklers since its still not dark yet”.

This is not going to end well.

Great idea! We go into my backyard, where it hasn’t rained in well over 2 months and it is extremely dry.

You see the problem here?

One of the little sparkies from mine and my friends sparkler made contact with the ground and made a 2 small fires that quickly spread to a large area.

I ran as fast as i could to grab the garden hose and quickly started spraying down the fire.

It was no use, it was spreading faster than i could spray it.

I handed my friend the hose and called 911.

What felt like hours was only 4 minutes and the fire was spreading to the neighbors fence.

The neighbor came outside and they were fairly calm to grab their hose and spray down the fence, along with the dead grass in her yard.

That was very nice of him.

The fire department shows up finally and i tell my friend “Only one of us needs to get in trouble, you should leave.”

He was reluctant to leave because he felt equally responsible, but I convinced him, I didn’t want him to get in trouble and have to drop out of college.

My neighbor was super chill about the entire situation at first.

I told her that we could talk about replacing the fence and get some quotes to repair it.

She was just super grateful that everyone was okay.

About 2 hours after the fire the Arson/Fire investigator came to question me about the fire.

I told him the “truth”, i said i was in the backyard by myself playing with fireworks and accidentally lit the ground on fire.

I had gotten off that day without being hit by any charges and was commended for being honest.

Here is where it goes down hill very fast.

About a week later i get a knock on the door from the neighbor.

I opened the door and she handed me 2 pieces of paper for me to look at.

There is no way he has to pay all of this.

There was a quote for the fence valued at around $4,000 and an estimate for lawn-care valued around $6,000.

These were really shady and just typed out on a Microsoft word document (No logo or company name).

She then adds, “I will also be having you pay my water bill for 3 months because the new yard will need lots of water”.

Now the fence this woman had before was raggedy, and falling apart.

Her yard? Dead grass, weeds everywhere never mowed it.

Now looking at this paper she wants a mahogany fence, and a brand new back yard with flowers and trimmed hedges?

I said “I need to get an estimate myself, this doesn’t feel right”.

She says “remember you agreed to replace my fence , and a real man keeps promises”.

I shut the door and called my dad to tell him about what just happened he flipped out and told me “Son, don’t you give that lady a single dime”.

He gives me the number to his handyman and tells me to take care of it.

The next day i had the guy come out for an estimate, and the neighbor ran outside flailing her arms “i did not give you permission to get an estimate on my fence”.

Technically it separates the property line, so it’s both of our fences.

She calls the cops on me for having a contractor, and they ultimately can’t do a single thing because I’m on my property.

Doesn’t she have insurance?

He quickly finishes the estimate off at $1,200.

I also knew a guy who did lawn care, from my time working at the grocery store.

He estimated the lawn re-seeding while she was away from the house to be about $800.

After i get these estimates i give copies to the woman and she is having none of it.

“I don’t know these people I don’t want them near my house, they’re probably really bad contractors”.

I said “no I know them personally they are really nice people and do great work”.

She shut the door in my face and i went on my way.

I ended up working a 16hr shift that night and got home at 8am, and this woman comes knocking on my door at 9am and demanded i speak to her.

I explained, “I would really love to do this, but i just got home and i have to be back at work in less than 5 hours. I need to sleep”.

She goes “what kind of lazy man sleeps in until 2pm”.

At this point i had about lost it, and told her “you can either accept my 2000$ for my quotes or you get nothing”.

She stood there for a while with her mouth gaped open, but she accepted my offer and planned to meet down at the notary the next morning.

I spent that night after i got off work, writing a contract and gathering the 2,000$ in cash.

The next morning i wake up, and grab this contract to meet down at the notary.

I was thrilled to finally be done with this broad, and never speak to her again.

I waited for her for over 3 hours and she didn’t show up.

I get a call from her saying “I’m sorry the 2000$ isn’t enough, I’m having my guys start work on this project, and you will be paying me full price.”

Oh really?

After that I did not say a single word to her, and I watched for a few months as these guys turned her backyard into an oasis, complete with a small pond, brand new Sod and flowers, the whole 9 yards.

Come to find out she had plans to remodel these things for a long time, and was just waiting for the opportunity to go through with it.

Never spend money before it is in your hand.

Also in this time, she used her remodel funds to go on a trip to Hawaii.

You know how I found out about this?

She was bragging about it on the neighborhood Facebook group, and didn’t know i was in it.

I have a different Facebook name than my real name.

Are you ready for the revenge?

Now 4 months after the fire and all the remodels, i get served papers to go to court for $10,300.

At 18 years old im having to hire a lawyer to work my case.

When we finally do get into court i lay everything out.

The quotes, being harassed multiple times, not showing up after agreeing to a deal, not wanting me to get my own quotes (required by law btw), and her bragging about screwing me out of money and, I have proof of all of this.

The judge looked at her and said “Ma’am with all do respect you’re out of your mind. Not only did this young man tell the truth of what happened, he offered to pay you more than he was supposed to. Your lawn was already dead before the fire occurred therefore he is only responsible for the fence of $1200. I will also deduct from this his lawyer fees” ($800).

Not bad at all.

So i burned this woman’s fence down and all I’m having to give her is $400? Cool.

She took a huge financial loss from this, not sure how much the Hawaii trip cost her, but she was in serious debt.

She ended up having to sell the house because of it and moved into a smaller house.

Haven’t heard anything from her since.

She thought she was going to take advantage of this guy because he was young, but it didn’t work out for her.

Let’s see what the people in the comment say about this story.

This person makes a good point.

Yeah, he handled it well.

It really depends on the fence.

Yeah, insurance should have covered it.

She thought it was her lucky day.

She got greedy and now she is getting nothing.

It is the way of the world – at least when it’s working right.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.