I live in a townhouse development in PA and today our neighbor had his roof done. Most of us have had our roofs done around here and the various contractors *always* put tarp down so they could slide the removed shingles safely into the yard. The roofers that were out today were throwing the shingles whereever and our yard was completely covered (and yes, I know I should have taken pictures right away but I hadn't had coffee yet!). Anyway, they damaged a $250 collector's edition birdbath (some very noticable scratches and a chip in the resin which means that it can no longer stay outside because it will now crack in the winter when it freezes). The owner of the company came out and immediately told my mom that our home owner's insurance would cover it to which, of course, we said that it was his responsibility and that our insurance had no need to even be contacted. He became very beligerant and yelled to the point where the owner of the house (a very nice guy) came over and tried to settle him down. The roofer said he would do nothing until we contacted our insurance co. and they came out and gave an estimate and so on. I also had given the roofer a copy of the catalogue with the birdbath in it so he would have a physical copy proving how much it cost. He said after our insurance got an estimate he would send it to his insurance company. We insisted that was not how it worked and he just yelled and said we weren't going to listen so he didn't care, threw the paper on the ground and then yelled he'd been a roofer for 35 years, he knows how it works... to which my mom responded she didn't know how he'd been in business with that attitude to which he replied that was it, we weren't getting anything because how dare she say that. I said I was going to contact the police as he stormed off, he said go ahead. He then told the owner he would give us a check for $250 if we gave him the birdbath so he could smash it in the middle of the street. We didn't agree to that obviously. Basically this owner had the "I'm a man and women are stupid" attitude and boy, did he mess with the wrong women. I looked up the BBB and the company is listed and has had 12 complaints against them in the last 36 months and 8 in the last 12 months - no details were given however.
I called our insurance company and she said that absolutely not would our homeowner's insurance be involved. Roofers are insured for things like this and it is completely his responsibilty. I also contacted a engineering company who does construction that I sometimes work for and the owner of that company told me to call the local Building Inspector and file a police report about his yelling at us to at least have things on record.
My question is... what are my options? What avenues can I take this through without it costing a fortune in legal fees (which I am sure we'd win). It really came down to the principle of the thing and then his complete lack of care nor respect for either one of us. He is the owner of this company - if this is how he runs the business people need to know what he is all about.
Thank you in advance.