It can be really hard to know who you can trust to handle household repairs. I’ve had multiple experiences where I hired a contractor, and it was simply awful.

Does anyone who works in construction tell the truth?

You’re about to read another story that makes you wonder who you can trust. In this case, a handyman wears a shirt that has “plumbing contractor” printed on it. He clearly wants clients to think he’s a contractor, but he’s not.

When one homeowner learns the truth, she immediately realizes he’s breaking the law by charging more than he can legally charge for a day’s work. Now, she wants her money back, and when he doesn’t return it, she makes some phone calls.

Keep reading to see if you think she went too far.

AITA for going after a handyman posing as a contractor?

So (I didn’t know this at this point in time), my mom hired a guy off Craigslist to do plumbing work on an obvious leak from the upstairs bathroom.

I came home and found him wearing a plumbing contractor t-shirt. I assume he’s contracted because he wants $750 for the fix. He does everything in about 3 hours, so seems right.

He finds a screwdriver head sticking out of the drain to the shower, crazy weird. Turns out this isn’t the problem it’s the hot water valve failing. Maybe seal, maybe seal, maybe part not sure even now.

But then she realized he wasn’t actually a contractor.

Go to pay him, he wants zelle.

This is alarming because I realize he’s not a contractor licensed or insured. I found out he’s a journeyman moonlighting while wearing his contractor t-shirt.

He charged me 750. In CA 500 is the max a noncontractor can get paid for a single job.

I initially did pay him 750. I waited till the next day, and he asked to come do a minor fix. That minor fix would have added a day, making his total for the job up to 1k, 500 per day.

But I still had a major leak, and he priced a minor pvc job as if he’s a contractor wearing a contractors t-shirt.

They went back and forth about the issue via text.

I declined and told him about the law and explained I’m mad cause I felt deceived, I sat on it for about 10 hours after showing him the law and explaining why I’m so upset.

We exchanged a number of texts, all I told him was effectively he violated laws and deceived me and I left the door open for him to make it right.

He never offered money time additional fix nothing.

I thought he understood what I was saying as in person he spoke perfect English as if it was his first language but in text it seemed he didn’t know how to read, Maybe, it was weird.

She sent him a text with a clear ultimatum.

Honestly I would have accepted many forms of owning a mistake including an I’m sorry I didn’t know, he never attempted anything till I sent this 10 hours after informing him of the law

“You have 24 hours from this text to Zelle me 250, I will be contacting ****** plumbing to report you using their trade dress while working. If you do not zelle me the money I will report you to the san diego plumbers union as you’re for sure under them as a journeyman.Then I’ll report this to cslb.

All you had to do was apologize and accept making a mistake instead you stood your ground.”

I did not ask for all of my money back as he did do work needing to be done, but I gave him the opportunity to be legally in the clear to be at 500.

She’s wondering if she went too far.

I contacted his company and informed them of the whole scenario and explained that I assumed he was a contractor because he wore their trade dress. And currently have more damage then before.

He responded, saying he didn’t know contracting law, which maybe is true, but I highly doubt as it’s extremely strict in CA AND he’s a journeymen with 7 years experience.

Am I a jerk for getting this guy fired and possibly getting him jail time over misrepresenting himself in my home as a contractor? (I still have to pay a contractor to fix the remaining work and a drywall guy to come fix half the ceiling now)

I assume he may not have known the law, but he shouldn’t have been wearing a shirt saying he was a contractor because that’s clearly misleading.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who walked away from their lease after the landlord hassled them over renting month-to-month.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say.

This person clarifies the law.

Another person says you get what you pay for.

This person doesn’t think the plumber was deceptive at all.

To be fair, her mom is the one who hired him.

Why did her mom hire the guy but she’s the one dealing with paying him? She should’ve found someone to fix the leak instead of her mom. Maybe that’s a lesson for next time.

It seems that everyone in the comments thinks OP is in the wrong and that the plumber didn’t actually do anything wrong.

She should just let it go and do more research before hiring someone next time.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.