Follow four basic steps to avoid grief, save money

I get a daily feed from Google that links to articles from across the country that mention the Better Business Bureau. They help me keep abreast of the kinds of scams and bad businesses plaguing consumers in other markets and how BBBs are dealing with them.

Three recent stories were disheartening and remind me that we have work to do in educating consumers on the most basic steps they should take to protect themselves.

A Phoenix man needed to have his roof replaced and just happened to spot a truck advertising such services. He struck up a conversation with the roofer and ended up giving the fellow $7,300 in advance as payment in full on the promise the job would be done. It never was.

What buying sins did he commit?

He didn’t check out the roofer’s record with the BBB, which had already given the company an F rating because of its failure to respond to earlier complaints.

He didn’t get multiple bids. After giving up on the first roofer, he found another one who did a good job for thousands of dollars less.

He paid for the job up front and in full. At that point, he lost all of his leverage in getting the roofer to honor his commitments.

The story doesn’t say how he paid, but my guess is he wrote the roofer a check. If he had paid with a credit card, he might have been able to get his money back by disputing the charge with the card issuer.

A Buffalo, N.Y., woman used $5,000 she inherited from her recently deceased father to buy new living room furniture. She said she would think of him every time she entered the room. She paid up front and in full by check and lost the money when the store closed abruptly a few months later without delivering her furniture.

A Missouri man handed over a $1,300 insurance check to a contractor for repairs to his house even though they had yet to sign a contract. No work was ever done.

He might have been out of luck even if he had a contract, but not getting one from the company should have been a red flag.

Unfortunately, local consumers make some of the same mistakes. I got a call from a fellow who paid a contractor more than $10,000 in advance for an extensive remodeling job that was never done. I recognized the contractor’s name immediately — he’d had an F rating with the BBB for years. The consumer ultimately got a judgment against the contractor, but it wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on.

The vast majority of businesses are reputable, but there are enough bad ones and more than enough scam artists that you need to take steps to protect yourself. How much due diligence to perform depends on what you’re buying and how much it costs, but following these four simple steps could save you grief and money:

Check the company out with the BBB.

Get everything in writing.

Don’t pay in full up front.

Pay with a credit card if possible.