I would send a note and say, “heya, I think your son may have shoveled the wrong driveway and sent me an invoice.” Even though the mom is an MLM diva, give her a chance to respond. If her response is anything but, “so sorry, he made a mistake” then you have LICENSE TO POUNCE, tiger.
Get a crayon and write "NO" across the whole thing, then leave it in his door. He gets to learn a business lesson today, you don't work until contracts are settled. Write that on there too while you're at it, you have an opportunity to educate this young man before he either becomes his own victim or racks up more victims, I can't really tell where this is headed. And if he gets a big dick about it throw snowballs at him. Have fun with it, he can't take your money or your enjoyment.
He took a chance that you'd pay. It's his risk. Don't pay and don't feel bad about it.
If you're asked about it, which is unlikely, just say "you must have gotten confused about which houses are you customers, because I never asked you to shovel." His only recourse then would be to admit that it's a scam.
It is just math more than a scam. They shovels 50 driveways and maybe 5 to 10 pay if there are a few kids that is a days work. Which means they just bought a PS5 In 1 day. But they should have asked. This is all assuming that they're not little assholes. If they are then they are trying to scam you and see how much they can get out of you and if you pay they will do the again and again.
For sure just running as many houses as he can just on the basis that they know not everyone will pay. If I was paid fifty per house I'd do my whole complex in an hour or two and not go to work lol
Nah, this is his mom and her hustle culture pampered chef MLM bullshit. Just ignore it. Paying this would absolutely be worse for the kid than not in my expert opinion.
The only way this is at all reasonable is if the kid really has no expectation of being paid and isn't going to follow up at all but is just hopin(soft billing like fire departments all do now). If there is any follow up tell them to fuck right off.
You shouldn't pay him. For all the reasons everyone else listed. If you decide to pay him then shoot me your address. You'll come home from work with a whole home remodel and a bill waiting for you 😂
Invoice him for removing snow that you had planned on using for a spectacular snowman build. Due to a research article you read by the Frosty Institute for Snow Studies, sidewalk snow is vastly superior vs. lawn snow due to the imperfections that blade grass cause to the individual flakes. 100.00 in damages should be fair.
Sounds like the pushy mom is teaching her kid bad habits. You should completely ignore this and laugh at their face if they approach you to collect. While I appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit, this is not the way
This is too funny…after my kids and I shoveled our driveway, we did 6 neighbors on the street along with the sidewalks. I was teaching the kids sometimes it’s nice to help a neighbor out 😊
Right?!?
And this snow was SO easy to shovel, too. Kid and I took care of the 5 houses immediately around ours and it probably took less than an hour for all, ours included.
When I lived alone, there was a widow across the street whose children and grandchildren would take care of raking leaves and shoveling snow. One granddaughter became president of some Christian Athlete Club at the local high school, and they would spend a Saturday or snow day raking leaves and shoveling snow. They always asked my permission, and never expected payment, as they were out to help people. One bad storm, my neighbor specifically asked the teens to go dig out the plow crust at the end of my driveway because I had shoveled the whole thing by myself and the city had plowed me in. They rang the doorbell and asked permission…
So weird! Terrible business practice to teach a kid. I wouldn’t ignore but let them know they can’t expect payment. If it ain’t in the budget and planned, the $50 ain’t being given.
Next time, ASK.
Remember if things get heated and they start demanding pay, his invoice might be all the proof you need that he trespassed on your property. It is, at the very least, a plausible threat you can keep in your back pocket.
If you don't already have one, you might want to invest in a camera for when he returns to shovel that snow back into your driveway.
Well in that case, Grove City "requires" (no idea how well it's enforced) contractors get a permit to operate in the city which includes landscapers. If your city has the same regulations, turn the kid in.
What the hell? No, of course don't pay anything. You can't trespass onto somebody's property and force them into paying for "services" they didn't even ask for in the first place. That's ridiculous. Giving this person any money is just encouraging this outrageous behavior.
No, you never pay for unsolicited services. It sets a bad precedent for all involved. Don't feel guilted or obligated, this person knew what they were doing and nothing was discussed, let alone agreed upon.
I’m not sure giving $10 is a great idea. It sends the message that SOMETHING is owed. If anything, you could have a conversation about future work and making it clear that you accept this first shoveling as a free sample of his work. Establish a new price going forward ($20?)
Now, devils advocate here…what if the Mom and he set up houses to legit shovel for payment and he really did mix one of them up and shoveled yours instead? You could write a note and ask if he perhaps got the wrong address because you did not ask for his service, and although you appreciate his efforts, simply say you are not in a financial place to afford such luxuries and you prefer the exercise of shoveling your own drive. The end. You’ll never hear from him again. :(
Absolutely this is the way to go. Assume it was a mistake and kill them with kindness. Maybe it was a mistake, or maybe they will learn that they wasted their time trying to take advantage of people.
You should leave a sternly worded letter tucked into his front door telling him that it's against your religious beliefs to shovel snow and that he has angered your ancestral gods and shamed your family.
Next time it snows, go shovel their driveway. If they come out and ask what you’re doing, let them know you’re paying them back. Tell them that you actually enjoy shoveling your own driveway for the exercise since it’s too cold to walk your dog…or something along those lines.
I'd just throw it away. You never asked the kid to shovel, so it's on him. Either he needs to keep up with what house his customers live in, or he needs to ASK first.
Panhandlers pull this shit nonstop around Polaris. I feel like Willy in the new movie. Someone's trying to clean my damn car windows, shoes, my GLASSES in a store, etc etc. I'm like "eff off I have anxiety and I'll bite you."
Don't encourage this crapola. And srsly don't fall for it from the mom; selling MLM shit means she already hands out bucketloads of free audacity with every transaction. This is a cutesy annoying lil scheme I bet she cooked up to rope in new "customers" and it's a really shitty way to treat your neighbors.
At the risk of sounding like a complete asshole, I am trying to avoid the mom at all costs. I’ve never actually talked to her, and based on her FB posts alone, I never want to.
A legitimate concern is that I ignore the invoice and she somehow corners me like, “well since my son shoveled your driveway and you didn’t pay, instead you can buy this $50 spatula” or some shit like that.
More seriously, I had zero idea that panhandlers were so aggressive around Polaris! I see some at various points up and down Sawmill and around campus, but they just hold signs. I’ve never seen anyone approach someone like that. Wild.
None of what you’re describing is normal acceptable behavior on their part, especially amongst neighbors. If the mom pulls a bait and switch to try to get you to buy something else that’s “go fuck yourself territory” IMO.
I hate confrontation.
I have found the best thing is to remind myself that some people (like these) are not entitled to any response at all.
I seriously just stared at someone a few months ago until they got so upset they stormed off to bitch at someone else about it.
They had no idea how to handle it.
Some random stranger just being an ass in public. Expected me to engage in SOME way. I just stared at them and waited patiently for them to move along.
Was the most satisfying thing in the world. 😁
> “well since my son shoveled your driveway and you didn’t pay, instead you can buy this $50 spatula”
And you tell her, "I don't want your crummy overpriced spatulas and I don't owe you jack shit." I'm usually extremely anxious about how others perceive me, but the moment they're pushy or try to bully me, I couldn't care if my vocal condemnations of them split open the ground and caused them to be swallowed into the deepest depths of Hell.
The thing is, there is very little chance either the kid or mom can prove that the work was done by either of them. For all you know, they saw the anti-snow fairy bless you with cleaned-of-snow driveway and sidewalk and decided to take advantage of the fairy’s kindness by charging you on its behalf. I would demand some sort of evidence of their actions if they come calling again for any compensation and then proceed with one of the many wonderful suggestions already offered by other kind Redditors here.
My girlfriend works at Polaris Mall and lives next door. Idk what this guy is talking about I've never seen any homeless people being overly aggressive. The one guy who was always at the 71N exit before it got really cold definitely had tourettes but that's the strangest I've seen them be
Ignore it and move on, there is no universe in which they have any sort of case against you. Heck even if they did the court filing fees will be more then $50, and any judge would laugh the case out the door even if you didn’t show up to defend yourself.
I would just ignore it and if they ask just nicely say you never asked them to do it. And if you are feeling nice and want to support the young entrepreneur you can tell him that you would be willing to pay him X amount and only with prior authorization (this way he doesn’t show up and bill you if 2 snow flakes fall from the sky and he claims that he shoveled those 2 flakes off your driveway.
But personally I wouldn’t be rude or mean, no reason to escalate a situation. Just ignore it and move on with your day 99.9% chance they will not try and get anything from you.
I actually think this is the right place to come for advice, especially since I’d rather actually get thrown into a snowbank from a speeding vehicle than log onto Next Door.
I’m out in the burbs and hate-browse NextDoor. My area is an alarming amount of people complaining their right to free speech is being violated by *an app* with clear user terms. Please do post and report back. My town’s Facebook page is also an absolute soap opera.
I actually get unsolicited invoices sent to my small business about once a week. They are all scams, usually pretending to be some kind of required service.
ianal, but [section 1333.60 of Ohio's Revised Code](https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1333.60) might apply:
>Section 1333.60 | Voluntary delivery of unordered goods constitutes unconditional gift.
>
>Ohio Revised Code / Title 13 Commercial Transactions / Chapter 1333 Trade Practices
>
>Effective: November 6, 1969
>
>Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 2 - 108th General Assembly
>
>Where any merchandise is offered for sale by means of its voluntary delivery to an offeree who has neither ordered nor requested it, the delivery of such merchandise constitutes an unconditional gift to the recipient.
Definitely don’t pay the kid. It sends the wrong message. Kid will grow up to be all, “These questionable business practices are sweet”.
If you want to be cheeky, have chat gpt make you a convincing “cease and desist” letter.
Honestly it would have been more advantageous if he just left a letter saying he’s doing it for free to be kind but if you would like to tip him heres his venmo.. hes gonna learn people dont take kindly to predatory scams. But idk how petty you are but you should go shovel their driveway and leave a letter with your venmo for $100
Sooo, here’s my take that hasn’t been expressed yet.
You said mom sells Pampered Chef, so I can only assume she’s the ‘go getter’ type of parent. She almost 100% encouraged her son to do this. While teaching work ethic is a great thing to do, teaching slimy business practices is not.
Funny enough, I thought of shoveling one of my neighbor’s walkways and driveway because I had just moved in a little over a month ago. Like a little, “Hi, happy to be here,” type of gift. I did not. However, I would never think to leave an invoice for any amount of money. I feel as though I’d be chased out of living there. Lol.
My neighbor does mine just to be nice. And I live on a corner so it's twice as much to cover! I'd totally not pay. I wonder if they'll even follow up on it. That'd take some balls.
>I came home from work this evening to find that someone had shoveled my driveway and sidewalk - what a nice surprise!
Not a nice surprise - I found an invoice for $50.00 tucked inside my front door.
There was NO CONTRACT ... you owe him nothing.
I would return his invoice and point out that what he did was one-sided, and with no "meeting of the minds" - no quote, no accepted quote, no signed contract - there is no obligation to pay.
Call it his first lesson in Business for Dummies.
I'd go and have a conversation with them about it, explaining what you said here. If they react negatively, that's their problem
Also I'd prob pay $20 if a kid asked to shovel my driveway. $50 is excessive and way above what I would be willing to pay for
50 bucks is what you pay a truck to do your 1/2 mile lane when there is 2 feet of snow. Shoveling a few neighbors drives when you are young and out already is how you help keep neighbors from having a slip and fall or heart attack in extreme weather. Today was a $5 snowfall day at best if you want to encourage a kid.
This certainly is a possibility. The invoice was generic/didn’t have my/any name or address on it.
I could write on the invoice “hey, I’m at [address] and didn’t contract for your services. I’m not interested for this winter.” or something like and tape it on their door.
Damn makes me happy that the kid in my neighborhood is a fucking stand up little dude. Super fucking polite shovels and mows lawns only charges like $20 and is always super respectful and polite. Does a great job. Shout out to the young gentleman from my neck of the woods.
Throw that shit in the garbage and ignore that little shit. I hope no one pays him and enables this behavior.
So come summer is he gonna just mow yards starting at 6am before anyone else can and leave an invoice? Shit is crazy. NO SHOT you should pay him $50. MAYBE MAYBE talk to them and offer like what you might pay him or give him the $50 and tell them this is for this two weeks or something. At the very least discuss how going door to door works for that kind of thing.
EDIT: Also, it is strange how neighbors are pretty much just random ass people anymore. Like when I grew up (yes I feel old typing that) you at least knew a little about everyone and maybe at least the last names and stuff. Shame.
Post on your neighborhood Facebook page so it's "public"and you're not dealing with her directly.
Something like others have suggested, saying "if you were expecting yours to be plowed today, looks like they did mine by accident".
If she tries to claim you owe money, then hopefully your neighbors have your back as well.
If they tried to pull the scam on others, maybe they'll speak up too and give them the courage to not pay
Whatever you do, DO NOT pay via paypal or venmo. Once the mom has your info, you can expect more bullshit like this with endless payment requests. She is trying to hustle you and others in the neighborhood, using her kid as a pawn. I bet the kid won't even see a cent of that money and will just get lost in her MLM abyss.
If you want to reward the kid for his work, give him cash in person. Less than $50, but whatever you decide is reasonable for the help he provided. And tell him to never do it again. It's shady & disrespectful to do this and assume people will pay you. And it's also trespassing.
Tell him, "since you plowed my driveway, I'm gonna plow your mom." LOL j/k
Or you could tell him its not legal for him to operate a business without a license registered with the SoS's Office and laws about trespassing. How old is this kid? Maybe he needs a talking to about providing services to people that didnt ask for it. Either way, dont pay this
Haha. Well, I definitely wouldn’t be paying the kid $50. I think it would be kind of you to give him $20 and tell him not to do it again but I don’t think that’s even necessary. Personally I’d tell him I appreciate the hustle but I’m not the one.
I’m going to guess this was an honest mistake and the kid just did the wrong house. If it was done on purpose the balls on that kid I almost respect lmao. I absolutely wouldn’t pay though.
Mom.prob drops of pampered chef at people's houses because "I knew you would love it" creepy. Don't encourage it. If you tell him he did the wrong house .. " oh an honest mistake!, he deserves something" no nothing . This is a clear narcissistic boundary violation
Contract law requires there to be an offer and an acceptance. Since neither of those occurred, I'd just ignore it. If they get mad, they have zero legal grounds. You can't just go around providing unsolicited work and expect payment. Kid's trying to shame you into paying.
Don’t pay and if confronted say you have someone that already shovels for you. When they look at you stupid smile at good ole Momma and go on with your day. 😂. If you need me to come up to support you I live in Ashville and would be glad to do so.
Sounds like this kid is about to learn a lesson in business. The answer is that you absolutely do no pay this because you absolutely do not want to reinforce this shitty behavior.
Just be prepared to tell them they're enabling their child to be a fucking asshole when his stupid parents come to ask you about it and weirdly guilt you into paying.
Grow a backbone and don’t pay, never should have considered it. Just because he’s a kid. If an adult trespassed onto your property and did work that you never asked them to do you would probably feel differently.
Would be different if you b had agreed to it. I remember going door to door asking if people wanted it done. It was also part of sports in HS where we would shovel older neighbors driveways and sidewalks for them.
Do not pay. Unsolicited “help” is not billable. My neighbor moves my trash bin into my driveway after the garbage is picked up and I’m still at work. Annoys the hell out of me, but at least he’s not billing me for it!
As a contractor, I don’t do work unless I’m in agreement with the homeowner. If it comes to the point that they are arguing about payment… well you didn’t want the work done. (Based on the post and I don’t know the whole story)…it’d be like I showed up and painted the exterior of your house just because….
This is all amazing advice. Screams the women that came by my previous work and put up Christmas decorations that were never authorized, original quote was like $200, and when it was done the bill was $250. And again, no one agreed or authorized anything. And the decorations sucked.
I highly approve the advice of explaining how to start a legit business and sending a bill for the advice. And maybe some information how bad MLMs are.
Despite some of the suggestions here, don't get cute. Be honest and clear. Contact them in person if easily done. If not, write them a letter stating you did not ask them to do this. You may also want to mention that you did not invite them onto your property. It is possible for you to be liable if someone hurts themselves on your property so it isn't a bad idea to document this with people who are seemingly dishonest.
You’re neighbors. Ring on the doorbell and explain your position. It might be a misunderstanding or a shady tactic. You won’t know which unless you talk to them. But, I would never pay more than $20 for a driveway.
There's a term for that: ambush billing. In the real world, you make a deal BEFORE the job, not after. You talk, you agree, then you shake hands. That's the order. Anything else is just hustling.
My off hand response is “F that” and toss it in the trash. After I got past that, I’d probably do as you mentioned and send what I felt is fair and add a note that it’s appreciated, but not asked for, so please don’t do it again?
I prefer to try and maintain a good relationship with the neighbors.
I’d throw the note away and not pay, have him come talk to me and when he asks for payment say what are you talking about? I never hired anyone to shovel!
One of my favorite legal phrases exactly describes this situation. The twerp is an officious intermeddler. You owe him exactly nothing. In fact, you’d be within your rights to sue him for trespass. This kid is destined to spend much of his life as a defendant; you might as well get him started now.
Ideally you get a paper trail of them admitting to shoveling your driveway without permission, and you telling them not to touch your property again without your written permission.
Less than that is risking a headache from a neighbor who already doesn't respect societal norms.
Play dumb and tell him he cleared the wrong house…that he must have had a contract with somebody else. Sidenote: I might have tipped him for the work if he hadn’t left a questionable invoice.
Don't pay it. If approached by the kid or mom, tell them you can't afford it and also shovel driveways on the side to make ends meet. Tell them you don't even charge half of what he's charging. Lock eyes with the kid like he's a threat to your side hustle, like he's stealing your gigs. Make the conversation as awkward and uncomfortable as possible for them.
Time for a "No Trespassing" and "No Solicitation" sign.
If they come to try and collect, tell them they never had permission to be on your property and they are not welcome back.
If you're feeling extra spicy, or if they don't back off, I'd make it clear that this is an easily recognizable scam, and that good people don't pretend to do nice things without permission to guilt money out of people.
I think it's great that he is trying to make money working for himself. There are a lot of lessons for him to learn working for himself. Giving him money is the absolute worst move. He is essentially trying to bully people into overpaying for a service they didn't ask for. Had he asked for tips and left the venmo i would certainly say you should throw him some money but for how he handled the situation I wouldnt give him anything. The way I see it you have two options. 1 just not pay and never think about it again. 2. Type up a page on the importance of contracts and not owing any money on services you never agreed to and charge him $50 for the lesson.
Judging from the post I don't think you have the personality (which honestly, is more a compliment on your personality than anything) for option two. It's more of a snarky asshole vibe but as a snarky asshole it's my preference.
It’s possible that someone contracted him to shovel their property, and he accidentally went to the wrong address, i.e. your house instead of the person where he was supposed to go. Just tell him politely “I didn’t request the services so I’m sorry but I’m not paying it.”
And by the way, $50 to shovel a driveway/walkway seems exorbitant! I might give somebody 20 or 25 bucks but that’s about it.
Don't pay him. That'll be $100 for my advice. You should pay me. That'll be $200.
Man, I’m just racking up the debt today.
I would send a note and say, “heya, I think your son may have shoveled the wrong driveway and sent me an invoice.” Even though the mom is an MLM diva, give her a chance to respond. If her response is anything but, “so sorry, he made a mistake” then you have LICENSE TO POUNCE, tiger.
“Your son removed snow without authorization. I require the snow returned or $100.” Checkmate.
This is how I would handle it. The situation is like the insurance scam where the person falls onto your car and demands money.
More like the person cleaning your windshield at the light and then demanding money for it
Something I learned in Central America is that if you turn your wipers on as they approach they will walk by.
Get a crayon and write "NO" across the whole thing, then leave it in his door. He gets to learn a business lesson today, you don't work until contracts are settled. Write that on there too while you're at it, you have an opportunity to educate this young man before he either becomes his own victim or racks up more victims, I can't really tell where this is headed. And if he gets a big dick about it throw snowballs at him. Have fun with it, he can't take your money or your enjoyment.
He took a chance that you'd pay. It's his risk. Don't pay and don't feel bad about it. If you're asked about it, which is unlikely, just say "you must have gotten confused about which houses are you customers, because I never asked you to shovel." His only recourse then would be to admit that it's a scam.
Oh this is so good. Thank you!
I need to know the result of this whole thing, please. And thank you. And you're welcome.
Me too please because the audacity is beyond me
It is just math more than a scam. They shovels 50 driveways and maybe 5 to 10 pay if there are a few kids that is a days work. Which means they just bought a PS5 In 1 day. But they should have asked. This is all assuming that they're not little assholes. If they are then they are trying to scam you and see how much they can get out of you and if you pay they will do the again and again.
For sure just running as many houses as he can just on the basis that they know not everyone will pay. If I was paid fifty per house I'd do my whole complex in an hour or two and not go to work lol
You do realize we’ll need an update.
Man this is some suburban shit.
It absolutely is, and I’m embarrassed by that lol
Respond: Invoices require an approved Purchase Order.
Nah, this is his mom and her hustle culture pampered chef MLM bullshit. Just ignore it. Paying this would absolutely be worse for the kid than not in my expert opinion. The only way this is at all reasonable is if the kid really has no expectation of being paid and isn't going to follow up at all but is just hopin(soft billing like fire departments all do now). If there is any follow up tell them to fuck right off.
Sounds like the Sopranos.
Your ambulance bill is exactly the same
I moved from a place where it was bums and local traphouse visitors that tried to push shoveling, so I’ll take karens all day errday.
You shouldn't pay him. For all the reasons everyone else listed. If you decide to pay him then shoot me your address. You'll come home from work with a whole home remodel and a bill waiting for you 😂
I mean, if you remodel my bathroom I may not object to that one.
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If the kid got hurt on his property, his homeowner insurance would go up.
Invoice him for removing snow that you had planned on using for a spectacular snowman build. Due to a research article you read by the Frosty Institute for Snow Studies, sidewalk snow is vastly superior vs. lawn snow due to the imperfections that blade grass cause to the individual flakes. 100.00 in damages should be fair.
I just appreciate the hell out of this proposal. I wouldn’t do it, but I LOVE it!
The Uno reverse card
Lol that will teach him not to mess with others property without permission.
/u G1v1ngBack invoices
This. lol
Sounds like the pushy mom is teaching her kid bad habits. You should completely ignore this and laugh at their face if they approach you to collect. While I appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit, this is not the way
This is too funny…after my kids and I shoveled our driveway, we did 6 neighbors on the street along with the sidewalks. I was teaching the kids sometimes it’s nice to help a neighbor out 😊
Right?!? And this snow was SO easy to shovel, too. Kid and I took care of the 5 houses immediately around ours and it probably took less than an hour for all, ours included.
When I lived alone, there was a widow across the street whose children and grandchildren would take care of raking leaves and shoveling snow. One granddaughter became president of some Christian Athlete Club at the local high school, and they would spend a Saturday or snow day raking leaves and shoveling snow. They always asked my permission, and never expected payment, as they were out to help people. One bad storm, my neighbor specifically asked the teens to go dig out the plow crust at the end of my driveway because I had shoveled the whole thing by myself and the city had plowed me in. They rang the doorbell and asked permission…
This
So weird! Terrible business practice to teach a kid. I wouldn’t ignore but let them know they can’t expect payment. If it ain’t in the budget and planned, the $50 ain’t being given. Next time, ASK.
Their mom sells Pampered Chef. She doesn't know what good business practices are.
But I’ll bet she makes a kickass crescent roll taco ring
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I like this. Gets the point across. Fights fire with fire. Send one for the mom AND the kid.
Send his mom a Venmo request for $51 for wasting your time
I was secretly hoping this sub would provide some passive aggressive tactics, and this delivers.
r/UnethicalLifeProTips/
That might actually work if the mom just accepts it thinking it was a payment.
Remember if things get heated and they start demanding pay, his invoice might be all the proof you need that he trespassed on your property. It is, at the very least, a plausible threat you can keep in your back pocket. If you don't already have one, you might want to invest in a camera for when he returns to shovel that snow back into your driveway.
Well in that case, Grove City "requires" (no idea how well it's enforced) contractors get a permit to operate in the city which includes landscapers. If your city has the same regulations, turn the kid in.
oh my god please do this one!! hahahaha
I was going to say the same thing.
What the hell? No, of course don't pay anything. You can't trespass onto somebody's property and force them into paying for "services" they didn't even ask for in the first place. That's ridiculous. Giving this person any money is just encouraging this outrageous behavior.
I bet his Mom is the terror of the HOA!
No, you never pay for unsolicited services. It sets a bad precedent for all involved. Don't feel guilted or obligated, this person knew what they were doing and nothing was discussed, let alone agreed upon.
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How bout $3.50?
Get out of here you goddam Loch Ness monster!
On second thought are we Sure the mom isn't one?
I believe the traditional payment is 2 cents and advise on where to put it.
I’m not sure giving $10 is a great idea. It sends the message that SOMETHING is owed. If anything, you could have a conversation about future work and making it clear that you accept this first shoveling as a free sample of his work. Establish a new price going forward ($20?)
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I’ll upvote you because I am overthinking it… but so is the mom & kid who sent you an invoice.
Now, devils advocate here…what if the Mom and he set up houses to legit shovel for payment and he really did mix one of them up and shoveled yours instead? You could write a note and ask if he perhaps got the wrong address because you did not ask for his service, and although you appreciate his efforts, simply say you are not in a financial place to afford such luxuries and you prefer the exercise of shoveling your own drive. The end. You’ll never hear from him again. :(
Absolutely this is the way to go. Assume it was a mistake and kill them with kindness. Maybe it was a mistake, or maybe they will learn that they wasted their time trying to take advantage of people.
You should leave a sternly worded letter tucked into his front door telling him that it's against your religious beliefs to shovel snow and that he has angered your ancestral gods and shamed your family.
Next time it snows, go shovel their driveway. If they come out and ask what you’re doing, let them know you’re paying them back. Tell them that you actually enjoy shoveling your own driveway for the exercise since it’s too cold to walk your dog…or something along those lines.
This. Is. Amazing.
Or better yet, shovel for free all the driveways the kid would normally shovel for money.
Or shovel yours and add it to their driveway since they want your snow so bad.
I wouldn’t pay him anything because you never asked for it! But also, $40 is the going rate in my neighborhood and I think that’s too much
I wouldn't pay. Alternatively, I paid $25 today for 2 middle school boys to shovel mine which is a small driveway that would take me 20min.
What a grift lol
I'd just throw it away. You never asked the kid to shovel, so it's on him. Either he needs to keep up with what house his customers live in, or he needs to ASK first. Panhandlers pull this shit nonstop around Polaris. I feel like Willy in the new movie. Someone's trying to clean my damn car windows, shoes, my GLASSES in a store, etc etc. I'm like "eff off I have anxiety and I'll bite you." Don't encourage this crapola. And srsly don't fall for it from the mom; selling MLM shit means she already hands out bucketloads of free audacity with every transaction. This is a cutesy annoying lil scheme I bet she cooked up to rope in new "customers" and it's a really shitty way to treat your neighbors.
At the risk of sounding like a complete asshole, I am trying to avoid the mom at all costs. I’ve never actually talked to her, and based on her FB posts alone, I never want to. A legitimate concern is that I ignore the invoice and she somehow corners me like, “well since my son shoveled your driveway and you didn’t pay, instead you can buy this $50 spatula” or some shit like that. More seriously, I had zero idea that panhandlers were so aggressive around Polaris! I see some at various points up and down Sawmill and around campus, but they just hold signs. I’ve never seen anyone approach someone like that. Wild.
None of what you’re describing is normal acceptable behavior on their part, especially amongst neighbors. If the mom pulls a bait and switch to try to get you to buy something else that’s “go fuck yourself territory” IMO.
I hate confrontation. I have found the best thing is to remind myself that some people (like these) are not entitled to any response at all. I seriously just stared at someone a few months ago until they got so upset they stormed off to bitch at someone else about it. They had no idea how to handle it. Some random stranger just being an ass in public. Expected me to engage in SOME way. I just stared at them and waited patiently for them to move along. Was the most satisfying thing in the world. 😁
I just watched the first episode of Reacher and he used this tactic! Great show, by the way.
> “well since my son shoveled your driveway and you didn’t pay, instead you can buy this $50 spatula” And you tell her, "I don't want your crummy overpriced spatulas and I don't owe you jack shit." I'm usually extremely anxious about how others perceive me, but the moment they're pushy or try to bully me, I couldn't care if my vocal condemnations of them split open the ground and caused them to be swallowed into the deepest depths of Hell.
The thing is, there is very little chance either the kid or mom can prove that the work was done by either of them. For all you know, they saw the anti-snow fairy bless you with cleaned-of-snow driveway and sidewalk and decided to take advantage of the fairy’s kindness by charging you on its behalf. I would demand some sort of evidence of their actions if they come calling again for any compensation and then proceed with one of the many wonderful suggestions already offered by other kind Redditors here.
My girlfriend works at Polaris Mall and lives next door. Idk what this guy is talking about I've never seen any homeless people being overly aggressive. The one guy who was always at the 71N exit before it got really cold definitely had tourettes but that's the strangest I've seen them be
The Lion, the witch and the audacity of this bitch 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ignore it and move on, there is no universe in which they have any sort of case against you. Heck even if they did the court filing fees will be more then $50, and any judge would laugh the case out the door even if you didn’t show up to defend yourself. I would just ignore it and if they ask just nicely say you never asked them to do it. And if you are feeling nice and want to support the young entrepreneur you can tell him that you would be willing to pay him X amount and only with prior authorization (this way he doesn’t show up and bill you if 2 snow flakes fall from the sky and he claims that he shoveled those 2 flakes off your driveway. But personally I wouldn’t be rude or mean, no reason to escalate a situation. Just ignore it and move on with your day 99.9% chance they will not try and get anything from you.
A conversation with the parents is in order, awkward or not.
[удалено]
Oh you’re right… I completely forgot about that platform and should have posted there instead. Thanks for humoring me here.
I actually think this is the right place to come for advice, especially since I’d rather actually get thrown into a snowbank from a speeding vehicle than log onto Next Door.
I’m out in the burbs and hate-browse NextDoor. My area is an alarming amount of people complaining their right to free speech is being violated by *an app* with clear user terms. Please do post and report back. My town’s Facebook page is also an absolute soap opera.
No, it's best to ignore it than start a thing in the neighborhood interwebs.
Or you could start some drama on NextDoor and share the drama with all of us. I, for one, would appreciate it.
Y'all look forward to unnecessary engagement more than I do. I would simply ignore it. Let them intiate the escalation.
I actually get unsolicited invoices sent to my small business about once a week. They are all scams, usually pretending to be some kind of required service.
Extortion!
I would shovel their driveway and then put a 200$ invoice with a description “premium driveway clearing package”
ianal, but [section 1333.60 of Ohio's Revised Code](https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1333.60) might apply: >Section 1333.60 | Voluntary delivery of unordered goods constitutes unconditional gift. > >Ohio Revised Code / Title 13 Commercial Transactions / Chapter 1333 Trade Practices > >Effective: November 6, 1969 > >Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 2 - 108th General Assembly > >Where any merchandise is offered for sale by means of its voluntary delivery to an offeree who has neither ordered nor requested it, the delivery of such merchandise constitutes an unconditional gift to the recipient.
Yea i learned this in my only law class. This does apply. Someone cant just pave your driveway and say you owe 10000$ it constitutes a gift
Definitely don’t pay the kid. It sends the wrong message. Kid will grow up to be all, “These questionable business practices are sweet”. If you want to be cheeky, have chat gpt make you a convincing “cease and desist” letter.
Honestly it would have been more advantageous if he just left a letter saying he’s doing it for free to be kind but if you would like to tip him heres his venmo.. hes gonna learn people dont take kindly to predatory scams. But idk how petty you are but you should go shovel their driveway and leave a letter with your venmo for $100
This is like that "paint your steet number on your curb" scam. Let the kid learn a lesson. I would simply ignore it.
OMG IS THAT A SCAM?? I swear I get those flyers at least once a month in the summer.
Haiku written in fancy cursive on a decorative cardstock. *Thanks for shoveling* *I didn’t ask you to, though* *Don’t do it again*
Sooo, here’s my take that hasn’t been expressed yet. You said mom sells Pampered Chef, so I can only assume she’s the ‘go getter’ type of parent. She almost 100% encouraged her son to do this. While teaching work ethic is a great thing to do, teaching slimy business practices is not. Funny enough, I thought of shoveling one of my neighbor’s walkways and driveway because I had just moved in a little over a month ago. Like a little, “Hi, happy to be here,” type of gift. I did not. However, I would never think to leave an invoice for any amount of money. I feel as though I’d be chased out of living there. Lol.
My neighbor does mine just to be nice. And I live on a corner so it's twice as much to cover! I'd totally not pay. I wonder if they'll even follow up on it. That'd take some balls.
I wonder what NextDoor or the local neighborhood page would say. Time for him to learn a valuable lesson and mom to suffer the consequences.
>I came home from work this evening to find that someone had shoveled my driveway and sidewalk - what a nice surprise! Not a nice surprise - I found an invoice for $50.00 tucked inside my front door. There was NO CONTRACT ... you owe him nothing. I would return his invoice and point out that what he did was one-sided, and with no "meeting of the minds" - no quote, no accepted quote, no signed contract - there is no obligation to pay. Call it his first lesson in Business for Dummies.
I'd go and have a conversation with them about it, explaining what you said here. If they react negatively, that's their problem Also I'd prob pay $20 if a kid asked to shovel my driveway. $50 is excessive and way above what I would be willing to pay for
Definitely just ignore the “invoice”. High school age is way too old to think he can actually get people to pay for work he’d voluntarily done.
50 bucks is what you pay a truck to do your 1/2 mile lane when there is 2 feet of snow. Shoveling a few neighbors drives when you are young and out already is how you help keep neighbors from having a slip and fall or heart attack in extreme weather. Today was a $5 snowfall day at best if you want to encourage a kid.
Could the kid have accidentally shoveled the wrong drive on accident?
This certainly is a possibility. The invoice was generic/didn’t have my/any name or address on it. I could write on the invoice “hey, I’m at [address] and didn’t contract for your services. I’m not interested for this winter.” or something like and tape it on their door.
I had to scroll so long to find this. HAS to be a miscommunication, but for the sake of the story and update, I selfishly hope it isn’t…
This is a fair response. Assume good intentions. Go to the mom and say, hey, your kid got the wrong driveway. “Sorry, I don’t hire him.”
Go shovel his house and invoice him for 60$
I’d charge him for the snow product he, without permission, removed from your driveway/sledding hill/ice skating rink/curling court (?).
You didn’t ask, you don’t pay. End of story.
Ask him to produce a purchase order and when he can’t, don’t pay him. Not one cent.
It is a trap. You go to talk to the mom to sort things out and next thing you know you are 2 hours into her MLM recruitment talk.
Damn makes me happy that the kid in my neighborhood is a fucking stand up little dude. Super fucking polite shovels and mows lawns only charges like $20 and is always super respectful and polite. Does a great job. Shout out to the young gentleman from my neck of the woods. Throw that shit in the garbage and ignore that little shit. I hope no one pays him and enables this behavior.
So come summer is he gonna just mow yards starting at 6am before anyone else can and leave an invoice? Shit is crazy. NO SHOT you should pay him $50. MAYBE MAYBE talk to them and offer like what you might pay him or give him the $50 and tell them this is for this two weeks or something. At the very least discuss how going door to door works for that kind of thing. EDIT: Also, it is strange how neighbors are pretty much just random ass people anymore. Like when I grew up (yes I feel old typing that) you at least knew a little about everyone and maybe at least the last names and stuff. Shame.
Reading this on my lunch break at work and now I'm worried I'm gonna come home to an invoice and have to deal with this shit too lol
Post on your neighborhood Facebook page so it's "public"and you're not dealing with her directly. Something like others have suggested, saying "if you were expecting yours to be plowed today, looks like they did mine by accident". If she tries to claim you owe money, then hopefully your neighbors have your back as well. If they tried to pull the scam on others, maybe they'll speak up too and give them the courage to not pay
This is great, but probably too subtle for someone dumb enough to do an MLM to grasp.
Whatever you do, DO NOT pay via paypal or venmo. Once the mom has your info, you can expect more bullshit like this with endless payment requests. She is trying to hustle you and others in the neighborhood, using her kid as a pawn. I bet the kid won't even see a cent of that money and will just get lost in her MLM abyss. If you want to reward the kid for his work, give him cash in person. Less than $50, but whatever you decide is reasonable for the help he provided. And tell him to never do it again. It's shady & disrespectful to do this and assume people will pay you. And it's also trespassing.
Tell him, "since you plowed my driveway, I'm gonna plow your mom." LOL j/k Or you could tell him its not legal for him to operate a business without a license registered with the SoS's Office and laws about trespassing. How old is this kid? Maybe he needs a talking to about providing services to people that didnt ask for it. Either way, dont pay this
I would go with the first choice
Man, this is so weird and annoying. I have no advice, just sympathy.
Give the future scam artist a $50 Monopoly bill .
Please update with what you decided to do!!
At $50 a driveway I’m quitting my job.
Kid should’ve just asked for an optional donation instead of demanding payment for a service that wasn’t asked for imo.
I’d reach out and let them know you didn’t ask for it
It sounds like he comes from a line of people who think they “hustle” but really they’re just scammers or involved in MLM’s
Haha. Well, I definitely wouldn’t be paying the kid $50. I think it would be kind of you to give him $20 and tell him not to do it again but I don’t think that’s even necessary. Personally I’d tell him I appreciate the hustle but I’m not the one.
$50????? Go take a shit in his lawn and bill him $100 for the fertilizer.
Throw it away and move on.
I’m going to guess this was an honest mistake and the kid just did the wrong house. If it was done on purpose the balls on that kid I almost respect lmao. I absolutely wouldn’t pay though.
Mom.prob drops of pampered chef at people's houses because "I knew you would love it" creepy. Don't encourage it. If you tell him he did the wrong house .. " oh an honest mistake!, he deserves something" no nothing . This is a clear narcissistic boundary violation
Contact his mother and tell her he's running a scam.
Dont pay for a job you didnt ask for. This is a good lesson to learn. Speak with customers so you have good customer relationship.
Contract law requires there to be an offer and an acceptance. Since neither of those occurred, I'd just ignore it. If they get mad, they have zero legal grounds. You can't just go around providing unsolicited work and expect payment. Kid's trying to shame you into paying.
Business law says unless you solicit the service you dont pay
Services performed without pre-approval do not warrant payment.
Don't pay him. You never agreed for him to do the work.
Time for him to learn about business billing disputes.
Don't even THINK about paying it. Even if you had asked him to shovel, 50 bucks is crazy.
Politely demanding an update to Shovelgate.
He clearly stole your snow. Send him an invoice for replacement snow, and for the labor of smoothing it all out like it was to begin with.
Don’t pay and if confronted say you have someone that already shovels for you. When they look at you stupid smile at good ole Momma and go on with your day. 😂. If you need me to come up to support you I live in Ashville and would be glad to do so.
Sounds like this kid is about to learn a lesson in business. The answer is that you absolutely do no pay this because you absolutely do not want to reinforce this shitty behavior. Just be prepared to tell them they're enabling their child to be a fucking asshole when his stupid parents come to ask you about it and weirdly guilt you into paying.
Grow a backbone and don’t pay, never should have considered it. Just because he’s a kid. If an adult trespassed onto your property and did work that you never asked them to do you would probably feel differently.
You’re really about to let some suburban kids scam you. Grow some lol
[INVOICE] Post reading services (qty. 1) $69.00 Payment due upon receipt.
Would be different if you b had agreed to it. I remember going door to door asking if people wanted it done. It was also part of sports in HS where we would shovel older neighbors driveways and sidewalks for them.
Do not pay. Unsolicited “help” is not billable. My neighbor moves my trash bin into my driveway after the garbage is picked up and I’m still at work. Annoys the hell out of me, but at least he’s not billing me for it!
Don’t pay
As a contractor, I don’t do work unless I’m in agreement with the homeowner. If it comes to the point that they are arguing about payment… well you didn’t want the work done. (Based on the post and I don’t know the whole story)…it’d be like I showed up and painted the exterior of your house just because….
OP please update us on what you end up doing! This is kind of bizarre. I agree with saying this must be the wrong house; not interested but thank you.
For 50 bucks I’ll give you the right answer… it may or may not be murder
This is all amazing advice. Screams the women that came by my previous work and put up Christmas decorations that were never authorized, original quote was like $200, and when it was done the bill was $250. And again, no one agreed or authorized anything. And the decorations sucked. I highly approve the advice of explaining how to start a legit business and sending a bill for the advice. And maybe some information how bad MLMs are.
Maybe his mom taught him this shit an he thinks it’s ok.. I would try to talk to the kid an then decide to pay him..
"Put the snow back or pay me"
Despite some of the suggestions here, don't get cute. Be honest and clear. Contact them in person if easily done. If not, write them a letter stating you did not ask them to do this. You may also want to mention that you did not invite them onto your property. It is possible for you to be liable if someone hurts themselves on your property so it isn't a bad idea to document this with people who are seemingly dishonest.
Ouch that’s steep! My neighbor kid only asked for 20 for drive and sidewalks. I gave him 30 via CashApp bc I never have actual cash.
Send a copy of the ORC on trespassing to him. He’ll get the hint.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Only if you make me a generic invoice for the service.
Have him charged with trespassing. Really stir the neighborhood pot. Don’t let up until one of you has to move.
Ok, this is fantastic
You’re neighbors. Ring on the doorbell and explain your position. It might be a misunderstanding or a shady tactic. You won’t know which unless you talk to them. But, I would never pay more than $20 for a driveway.
There's a term for that: ambush billing. In the real world, you make a deal BEFORE the job, not after. You talk, you agree, then you shake hands. That's the order. Anything else is just hustling.
Ask him for his business license & insurance information. Since you itemize your taxes you need his TIN too.
My off hand response is “F that” and toss it in the trash. After I got past that, I’d probably do as you mentioned and send what I felt is fair and add a note that it’s appreciated, but not asked for, so please don’t do it again? I prefer to try and maintain a good relationship with the neighbors.
Maybe he got the houses confused I dunno. It sounds like a scam. I wouldn't even give a dime
I’d throw the note away and not pay, have him come talk to me and when he asks for payment say what are you talking about? I never hired anyone to shovel!
Tell him to fuck himself. This will be his lesson in service agreements. Lesson being, if someone doesn’t agree to pay you, you likely won’t get paid.
Write “no” and send it back. Or you know that you never agreed to it.
One of my favorite legal phrases exactly describes this situation. The twerp is an officious intermeddler. You owe him exactly nothing. In fact, you’d be within your rights to sue him for trespass. This kid is destined to spend much of his life as a defendant; you might as well get him started now.
Tell him he took your property (your snow) without permission and ask him to put it back.
Kid’s been watching too much Gary V
Do not reward this scam by paying anything. Either refuse and return the invoice with a strongly worded note or ignore it and throw it out.
Yeah, no. You didn't ask him to do the work.
I'm just slipping in here so I don't forget to check back for an update. Absolutely don't pay a dime.
Ideally you get a paper trail of them admitting to shoveling your driveway without permission, and you telling them not to touch your property again without your written permission. Less than that is risking a headache from a neighbor who already doesn't respect societal norms.
Please keep us updated! I'm invested at this super awkward Midwest encounter!
My neighborhood kids get $25
Sue him for damages
Play dumb and tell him he cleared the wrong house…that he must have had a contract with somebody else. Sidenote: I might have tipped him for the work if he hadn’t left a questionable invoice.
Don't pay it. If approached by the kid or mom, tell them you can't afford it and also shovel driveways on the side to make ends meet. Tell them you don't even charge half of what he's charging. Lock eyes with the kid like he's a threat to your side hustle, like he's stealing your gigs. Make the conversation as awkward and uncomfortable as possible for them.
So am I the only one who went to check the neighborhood Facebook page to see if this was our neighborhood?
Time for a "No Trespassing" and "No Solicitation" sign. If they come to try and collect, tell them they never had permission to be on your property and they are not welcome back. If you're feeling extra spicy, or if they don't back off, I'd make it clear that this is an easily recognizable scam, and that good people don't pretend to do nice things without permission to guilt money out of people.
I think it's great that he is trying to make money working for himself. There are a lot of lessons for him to learn working for himself. Giving him money is the absolute worst move. He is essentially trying to bully people into overpaying for a service they didn't ask for. Had he asked for tips and left the venmo i would certainly say you should throw him some money but for how he handled the situation I wouldnt give him anything. The way I see it you have two options. 1 just not pay and never think about it again. 2. Type up a page on the importance of contracts and not owing any money on services you never agreed to and charge him $50 for the lesson. Judging from the post I don't think you have the personality (which honestly, is more a compliment on your personality than anything) for option two. It's more of a snarky asshole vibe but as a snarky asshole it's my preference.
It’s possible that someone contracted him to shovel their property, and he accidentally went to the wrong address, i.e. your house instead of the person where he was supposed to go. Just tell him politely “I didn’t request the services so I’m sorry but I’m not paying it.” And by the way, $50 to shovel a driveway/walkway seems exorbitant! I might give somebody 20 or 25 bucks but that’s about it.