Advice on handling an unfulfilled plumber’s contract

[Laura Sullivan]

I made a rookie mistake. Yes I am stupid. Looking for advice to make the most of the situation.

I am currently undergoing a major rehab. A new heating system was put in so all the radiators were replaced with baseboard heating because that was a lot less expensive. The contract with the plumber specifically included the removal of the radiators. We have 10 of them in total on 2 floors and they are super heavy. When the work was done I stupidly paid the balance even though the radiators were still in each room. The plumber said he would be coming by to remove them. I had literally just had a baby days before so I wasn’t really functioning at full brain capacity. So here I am a few months later stuck with heavy radiators that I can’t move myself. Anytime I have contacted him he says he is looking into finding someone to take them and blows me off and complains about how heavy they are. My standpoint is he knew how heavy they were before he wrote the contract and gave me a price for the job. 

I am now at the point where all I have left is painting and I don’t want the presence of the radiators to put me behind in getting a tenant moved in. 

I was going to reach out one last time and give him an ultimatum to fulfill the terms of the contract or provide me with a partial refund to hire someone else to remove them. The entire job was $6500. Do you think $50 per radiator would cover getting someone else to come in and remove them.

What should I do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated for moving forward from this terrible mistake I made!

[Laura Sullivan]

Thank you for the advice! That sounds like a relatively quick way to remedy the problem. Do you think it is worth my time to pursue compensation for paying for work that was not done by the plumber or should I consider it a lesson learned? If the guy wasn’t such a jerk to me I’d have an easier time moving on without looking back! I guess I just need an objective perspective!