A Good Financial Advisor Story

[427Vette]

I have a quick story that has been driving me nuts lately and it might help me get over it to share it on the forum.



I did two separate service calls in a rental house that a local faith based financial advisor owns. A short while after the work was completed I mailed the invoice, after he received it he requested an itemized bill. We provided the itemization breaking down each individual part and the labor charges. the total came to around $400.00 for four hours work which required two trips and the required parts for the repairs. After he viewed the itemization he sent me a check deducting 1 hour labor because he didn't feel the service was worth that kind of dollar amount. He stated that the bill came to twice what he thought it should have been. I kindly explained to him that earlier that day I had the same experience when I filled my work van up with diesel fuel and it cost me $127.00. I thought that it should have been around $60.00 but I still had to pay for the whole bill. I also told him that I had that same feeling every month when I pay my commercial liability insurance but so far I have to keep paying the whole amount.

I wanted to get into the conversation about what he does and the fees that he charges and to see if he thought that his serivces were "worth that kind of dollar amount" but I thought better of it before I opened my mouth. Isn't it kind of ironic that a person who charges way to much money for doing way to little work would actually pull a stunt like this?

Thanks for listening!

 

[Texas Proud]

It takes time, but you can always file in small claims...

Way back when (we are talking 70s) my dad had his own business... anybody who did not pay their bill he took to small claims... never lost a case... never did not get paid... now, some people had their boat taken and then decided to pay up, but he got every penny... he just felt it was a cost of doing business... and we are talking bills of $20 to $50 for most items...

 

[Meadbh]

What is a "faith based financial advisor"?
Does he not believe in economics?
I would pursue him for the outstanding bill. You earned it.

 

[haha]

I have a quick story that has been driving me nuts lately and it might help me get over it to share it on the forum.



I did two separate service calls in a rental house that a local faith based financial advisor owns. A short while after the work was completed I mailed the invoice, after he received it he requested an itemized bill. We provided the itemization breaking down each individual part and the labor charges. the total came to around $400.00 for four hours work which required two trips and the required parts for the repairs. After he viewed the itemization he sent me a check deducting 1 hour labor because he didn't feel the service was worth that kind of dollar amount. He stated that the bill came to twice what he thought it should have been. I kindly explained to him that earlier that day I had the same experience when I filled my work van up with diesel fuel and it cost me $127.00. I thought that it should have been around $60.00 but I still had to pay for the whole bill. I also told him that I had that same feeling every month when I pay my commercial liability insurance but so far I have to keep paying the whole amount.

I wanted to get into the conversation about what he does and the fees that he charges and to see if he thought that his serivces were "worth that kind of dollar amount" but I thought better of it before I opened my mouth. Isn't it kind of ironic that a person who charges way to much money for doing way to little work would actually pull a stunt like this?

Thanks for listening!

Can you just get a mechanic's lien and sock it to him? What he charges and how he deals with non payers really is not relevant. What is relevant is that you want your money, and there likely are ways to get it.

Ha

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

What is a "faith based financial advisor"?
Does he not believe in economics?
I would pursue him for the outstanding bill. You earned it.

Some may remember I offered my services as a faith-based financial advisor here in these pages early during the previous administration. "Give me your money and pray you get it back." It was later used in the national press. Should have copyrighted it.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Can you just get a mechanic's lien and sock it to him? What he charges and how he deals with non payers really is not relevant. What is relevant is that you want your money, and there likely are ways to get it.

Ha

Yeah. Put a lien on the property.

 

[Texas Proud]

Can you just get a mechanic's lien and sock it to him? What he charges and how he deals with non payers really is not relevant. What is relevant is that you want your money, and there likely are ways to get it.

Ha

Yes, but if he does not want to sell you might never get it... but it is something else you can do to force the issue....

 

[EastWest Gal]

Small claims court would be easier, I think.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[427Vette]

I am aware of all the different avenues that there are to try to collect my money but sadly over the years I have realized that unless it is a substantially larger amount its simply not worth the time. I have been to small claims court and that seems to be a huge waste of time. It can easily take all day sitting in the court house to wait your turn in front of the judge and even if the judge awards me a favorable verdict I still have to try to collect my money. We are talking about $75.00, I couldn't justify driving 30 miles out of my way, spending all day and then still having to hire a lawyer to collect if he doesn't just write a check right there in the court room.

I could hire a collection company but they will take 50% of the balance for their fees. Again its not worth the time or effort to collect 37.50.

The point I was trying to make is that it is quite often mentioned on here about how people feel about FA's and their fees. They charge a management fee and it seems that they don't hardly do any work to justify their charges. whereas at this guys project I had to go there twice which is about a half hour one way from my shop, crawl in the attic on one of the trips, diagnose some do it yourselfer problems and make the repairs. Then its not over I had to talk to his city rental inspector to explain what repairs and why it was done the way it was done and then line up an inspection. Of course my office staff had the whole clerical part as well, all of this stuff takes time. However some how he thought that he was over charged. Ironically I felt overcharged too when I was paying a FA to maintain my portfolio but I wasn't given the option to only pay what I felt it was worth.

 

[frayne]

Praise Jesus and take him to small claims court.

Note to self; faith based FA equals red flag.

 

[Fishingmn]

Leave negative feedback about him on social media like Yelp & Google + regarding his financial adviser business. To me that would potentially impact him more.

 

[427Vette]

Leave negative feedback about him on social media like Yelp & Google + regarding his financial adviser business. To me that would potentially impact him more.

That is a great idea but I would be afraid he would do the same thing therefore impacting my business too.

 

[REWahoo]

I wonder if his financial advise to his clients is "always negotiate the bill"?

 

[target2019]

I would write a letter back, explaining the fairness of the bill. Offer him a discount of 5% if bill is paid immediately. If he doesn't pay the bill you could hand over to collections and say goodbye to the customer.

He uses faith-based to market his advisory services, but it is really about the bill. If he paid the bill you wouldn't care about his business or how he markets himself.

Probably a good idea to also let him know that future service calls will be $X minimum, plus parts.

 

[pb4uski]

Agree with others. Keep billing him for the difference. If after a few months he doesn't respond or pay, send him a letter explaining that if the amount due isn't paid that you will file a small claims court action. If he doesn't respond in 30 days, file.

 

[athena53]

Another financial advisor story: DS is a claims adjuster for a major insurance company. When he was settling claims from people who'd had their cars totaled, he had one claimant whose Cadillac Escalade had gone up in smoke when the shop where it was being detailed burned down. DS' company insured the shop, which of course was responsible for reimbursing him- minus depreciation. The guy made all kinds of noises about that, threatened to get a lawyer, and mentioned several times, "I am a Certified Financial Planner." It turned out he was upside down on the car loan.


DS' down-to-earth observation to me: "I'd never let a guy who was upside down on a loan for a $75K car manage my money."

 

[Big_Hitter]

What is a "faith based financial advisor"?

the kind you cant sue because you go to the same church

my old boss had his eyes ruined in Lasix by a faith based eye surgeon

 

[REWahoo]

DS' down-to-earth observation to me: "I'd never let a guy who was upside down on a loan for a $75K car manage my money."

Along those same lines, the CFO of the company I worked for had his Mercedes repossessed - from the company parking garage in the middle of the day. He tried to claim it was stolen...

 

[Silver]

Was an estimate of costs requested prior to completing the work?

 

[Sojourner]

We are talking about $75.00, I couldn't justify driving 30 miles out of my way, spending all day and then still having to hire a lawyer to collect if he doesn't just write a check right there in the court room. I could hire a collection company but they will take 50% of the balance for their fees. Again its not worth the time or effort to collect 37.50.

Seems to me that if you do nothing and just let the guy skate, then you're probably setting yourself up for more of this in the future. Anytime he owes you money he's going to use as much creative accounting as possible to try to short you. He has to know there will be repercussions, or he'll just keep doing it. Human nature, really... people often do as much as they can get away with, right up to the point of feeling the negative consequences.

I do get your point about how subjective these things are when we have to pay for someone's time to work on our behalf. I hired a fee-based financial planner several years ago and it was not cheap. When the bill came, I certainly felt it was pricey and would have loved to be able to deduct a few hundred bucks. I paid it in full, of course, because I had a written agreement as to the fees and estimated hours, so none of it was a surprise. Frankly, it irks me far more when I go to the doctor for a routine, follow-up exam on an injured ankle (for example), which generally just involves a couple x-rays and the doctor spending maybe 5-6 minutes with me. Then I see my insurance company was billed over $200 for this minimal amount of work. I wonder how your faith-based FA client would deal with that situation if he had to pay the whole $200 out of his pocket. Maybe he'd try to pay only for the one x-ray pic the doctor actually looked at?

 

[MRG]

Doesn't surprise me at all. I'd probably post on the community/church FB page and call it even. I don't have to live there so it's easy to be a real butt head. Maybe a bill with "WWJD" hand written on it.

 

[travelover]

....... It turned out he was upside down on the car loan...............

Cars depreciate so fast that I think being upside down on your car loan is pretty common. Isn't there gap insurance specifically for this?

To the OP, I'd pursue it on principle. If this guy screwed you, he probably does it on a regular basis. Consider it a service to humanity to burn his ass.

 

[aaronc879]

Was an estimate of costs requested prior to completing the work?

I was going to ask the same question.
If you are going to charge someone $100/hr you should let them know that before so they can find someone charging a reasonable amount instead. I'd be pissed if I got charged $100/hr by anyone other than a surgeon.

 

[athena53]

Cars depreciate so fast that I think being upside down on your car loan is pretty common. Isn't there gap insurance specifically for this?

Yes, there is. Apparently he didn't have it so he figured that the insurance company should pay him what he owed on the loan, not what the car was worth. My feeling is that if you' have any financial smarts, you either understand you're taking that risk, or buy gap insurance to cover it, or else don't borrow so much on the car in the first place.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

What is a "faith based financial advisor"?

Here in Wisconsin, Thrivent is a big operation that mixes faith and finance. I think they were founded by Lutherans (Wisconsin Synod, I'd guess) but judging from their website, they're striving to be more ecumenical.