Hi All,
Any help really welcome!
I don't want to go to a lawyer yet, not until we can see if we can sort things out for ourselves. I contracted a bloke to do a job, which he said he could do and what is more, said he could do it in 60 days. 6 months later, he has still not completed the job and when I have pushed him gently to find out if he needs extra help and who would then pay/organise this to, to finish the job? He has attempted to defend and justify the last 6 months. He has indeed produced something I can use, but it doesn't do what I want it to do and have stated clearly to him from the beginning (and in the contract) what I have wanted it to do...so, the job is not finished according to the contract. He is arguing that I wrote 'just like' and not 'Exactly like this, or nothing else is acceptable'. To me 'Just Like', is the same as 'exactly'...and there was no mis-understanding at the beginning of the job...I also went on to show him directly and email the exact process...
Of course, it's all my fault and I have delayed the project etc, by essentially trying to accommodate his understanding of how the job should be done, with how I wanted it done from the beginning. He has been learning as he went along and I have tried to be as accommodating and as helpful/patient as possible - but, now I just want it finished and it doesn't work properly! He now wants a meeting to go through previous emails etc...which of course solves nothing and is a total time-waste - as both sides can be argued and I am sure they will be at this meeting! I have had his wife on the phone telling me how she has had to take up extra work to cover their income defecit due to his working on this project and how she never sees her son anymore...??!! Bear in mind I have also been spending days/weeks researching things to help him out with...so we, as a family, have suffered also! But, this is emotional nonsense as far as I am concerned and has no place in a business deal. If you are contracted to do something that you have said twice you can complete - then this is up to you to complete - whatever. If this sounds heartless, then apologies, but i am more rational/logical than I am emotional, when it comes to business.
I have it in an email, him stating his ability to do the job even after over 30 days of trying to achieve the job, but in a totally unsuitable way. He has assured me that he had researched the job for a whole weekend and is comfortable that he has everything he needs - he has not ellaborated on this, however. I didn't ask, as I trusted him, as the expert, to have done what he wrote. I wouldn't have understood a big explanation of the process anyway at the time - this is why I hired him.
So, before the meeting - it would be good to know my rights in spain? Can i threaten/do a denouncement? Should I speak to a lawyer? What can I use, if anything, for leverage at this meeting and what may I need to actually follow through with?
Thanks in advance!