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"Thank you for your service" gone wrong


Last May, I had a neighbor approach me about he and his construction company wanting to help me by rebuilding a retaining wall that had started to fail. I was a bit skeptical about it, because nothing in life is free and, as I told my neighbor, we didn’t have the money to fix it. He assured me that this was a gift to a veteran to show the appreciation he and the company had for the service and sacrifice that servicemembers give. I finally agreed. He told me that he/his company had partnered with/hired another construction company that had built many retaining walls. That turned out to be a falsehood and he soon “fired” that company. After that, everything went downhill. It seemed that he did not have the knowledge necessary to build the wall and only had unskilled day laborers as workers. Once I realized he wasn’t getting anywhere on the wall and the mountains of dirt were not moving at all, I called around to other local contractors in the retaining wall business to get quotes. I figured if I did all the leg work and could find a decent bid, I could approach the “neighbor” with a deal where I take out a loan and we could split the cost and we could help each other get my yard back to useable (at least where it was before he offered to help). I found an amazing company and contractor that was willing to charge only labor if we had all the material needed and “neighbor” supplied the equipment from his company. I took out a loan and thought this would soon be over and an expensive lesson learned about life. However, the first day that the new construction project was to start, the new contractor saw the equipment “neighbor” brought and said it was too large for our backyard/project and the neighbor stepped away from the project for good. He quit! After ripping out a wall and dirt and completely “taking away” our backyard. He told us to take him to court. I used the money I had borrowed for the labor costs and hired a lawyer. That “retainer” was used in its entirety through correspondence to “neighbor’s” lawyer. They agreed several times to fix the wall, but would somehow backout every time. This brings us to today. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t have any more money to give a lawyer to take him to court, especially as I already went that route and “neighbor’s” lawyer just seemed to stretch it out to his (obviously wealthier) client’s benefit (I know, that is his job). I have called around to other local lawyers and asked about what it would take for them to take this case; I cannot afford it.   I am now asking for help to get a retaining wall built, because I don't have the money to take him to court.
Our oldest daughter got a trampoline for her ninth birthday and still hasn’t been able to set it up and enjoy it, because we have no place for it. Our youngest daughter has never played in the backyard, because she isn’t a mountain climber… yet. If you can help, please do, even if it is just sharing the post.
Thank you

Organizer

Travis Bramblett
Organizer
Tulsa, OK

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