It’s finally happened. Except for a business dispute with a former “partner” nearly 20 years ago, I haven’t been ordered to appear as a defendant in court until now. I found a business card from the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office Civil Process Server, Ms. Diane Blakely, taped to my front door; she’s coming over tomorrow morning. An offer of legal help from a local attorney came in the mail the same day; such is the information age.
I was called to fix a cracked Corian solid surface top, a job I’ve done hundreds of times and usually with outstanding results, occasionally not so much. According to the homeowner, he dropped something where the three cracks meet. Had the sink cutout had all the tool marks removed as DuPont, Corian’s manufacturer, requires, there would have been no stress riser in the raw sink edge for the blow to take advantage of and cause the crack. This failure is due to fabricator error, not manufacturing defect, nor customer abuse.
I’ve removed the sink, cut the crack to the front edge and ripped the break to the side edge. This customer has obviously ignored this break for years judging by the contamination level of the crack and the gunk lying on the dishwasher insulation. He’s been ordered to get it repaired by his realtor as a condition of listing his home for sale. He’s gotten estimates for stone top replacement for six and seven thousand dollars respectively. I’m trying to get him fixed for 10% of that plus the cost of a new sink. Since the old sink is shallow builder-grade junk and has to come out anyway, it’s kind of foolish to not apply the installation labor to a deeper replacement. He agreed, and as I removed the old sink, he went to purchase the new one.
The severity of the contamination cannot be overemphasized. Corian is essentially Plexiglas (clear acrylic plastic) with Alumina Trihydrate filler which is absorbent. The ATH has sucked in the gunk. Even if the broken edge is abraded and cleaned with acetone, the brown gunk is stuck inside the Corian. Uncontaminated breaks seam together inconspicuously.
I’ve mixed a decent color matched adhesive. The Rotozipped front edge kerf will require an insert repair to cover.
Not bad considering what I had to work with. Notice how much better the repair gets the further you get from the contamination. If you look closely, you can see that while the particulates and their dispersion match on the front edge insert repair, the color does not. That’s because the repair piece was stolen from a backsplash that sat under the shade of a cabinet for a decade or so. It may not even be numerically sequential to the run number of the top; there is no way to know and no other repair material available. I’ve had cutting boards that didn’t match. I’ll swipe cooktop crack repair stock from a cooktop cutout itself if the cooktop flange will cover so I know I’ve got a match. There is no material to swipe at this sink cut out.
The crack has reinforcement solid surface blocking adhered underneath, per DuPont specifications. While not the prettiest, the top is strong and sanitary and ready for all the use a new family can dish out until they decide to replace it. The new sink is operational and looks great. With my bill at $900.00, I’m only 4 points over my goal compared to the cost of replacement tops. The shutoff valve for the customer’s reverse osmosis system under the sink didn’t work, so I had to tape a kink into the PEX line to be able to disconnect it from the faucet. When I reconnected it, the reverse osmosis system leaked elsewhere, so I had to leave it disconnected.
Since it was early evening and the photographers for the realtor were arriving, and the homeowner was literally carrying my tools from the kitchen to the garage, I suggested he call a plumber in the morning, as I was out of time and had nothing to do with the leak. He became enraged that “he would have to go a night with no water for cooking” (the sink and faucet worked perfectly), he didn’t like the repairs, and he wasn’t paying me anything. He subsequently filed a complaint with homeadvisor, the internet lead service that referred me to him. They made a good effort to mediate, but he wasn’t budging even though I was.
The homeowner wants to pay me nothing for the repairs and the sink and faucet installation and be reimbursed by me for the $165.00 that he paid the plumber to replace his bad shutoff valve and stop the reverse osmosis leaks. He also wants to be reimbursed the $200.00 cost of the sink, saying that by installing it with silicone at the flange instead of plumber’s putty, that I’ve essentially ruined it should it ever have to be removed, plus another $200.00 for another replacement sink. He complained that I ruined his old sink at removal, but why would I remove an obsolete sink slowly, running up his bill, when I know he’s returning with a replacement? Mysteriously, he’s not asking for reimbursement of his $185.00 court cost. I don’t think the court allows it.
After I read his affidavit, I emailed him the sink manufacturer’s installation instructions which require silicone, not plumber’s putty and linked to the Franke sink installation video so he could watch the silicone being applied by the manufacturer. As gently as I could, I reminded him that he has filed a false affidavit with the court and that there could be penalties for doing so. I offered him a lien waiver for dropping his suit, no payments by either of us and his word that he wouldn’t say not-nice things about me on the internet. He didn’t budge. I warned him that when he’s unsuccessful in court, I’m going to have to turn my meter back on to recover the expenses of responding to his frivolous lawsuit.
No matter the legal outcome, in the internet age I have to live with the verdict of public opinion. An unpopular response on my part, right or wrong, could result in a loss of business far exceeding any verdict or resolution here. “The customer was not charged” is a nearly universally acceptable response to a poor online review, hence my willingness to fold so early and easily. I’m playing the long game here; I’ve got a few years to go until retirement.
