The Sledgehammer Contractor Update with Amber Trucke

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[00:00:11] Amber Truckee:. But yeah, so the guy who came to my house and destroyed my property, because I did not pay him within 24 hours, decided not to pay his lawyer, uh, . Sweet irony. Yeah. Uh, and there's a really great clip out there, um, from K.

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[00:00:33] Amber Truckee: the, the ability to play it Cause it's pretty hilarious.

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[00:00:38] Eric Goranson: our cameras for the first time. Do

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[00:00:48] Eric Goranson: this. Quote is the quote of the

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[00:00:56] Jason McDaniel: comes to remodeling and renovating your home there,[00:01:00]

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[00:01:31] Eric Goranson: Yeah, we're gonna talk about the update here. So the first two segments here in the show, we're gonna talk. The team that actually repaired her shower and rebuilt it. So we've got William White and Jason McDaniel that went out there to actually rebuild the shower with a whole team of people. Now, Carolyn and I had been talking to them here, so we're gonna get into that, and then later on in the show we'll be talking to Amber and find out the update for this whole.

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[00:02:15] Eric Goranson: Brother, thanks for coming on today. Thanks for having me. And then of course, we got our good friend William White. From Art , absolutely . So anybody out there that has been watching this crazy story out there and you know, I've been in the kitchen and bath design world, uh, for 30 years. I've had people rip me off that didn't pay for kitchens, and not for a second did I think of, Oh, I'm gonna go take it back.

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[00:03:15] Eric Goranson: Yeah,

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[00:03:37] Jason McDaniel: And, uh, and so, uh, you know, obviously the, the comments start coming in and then you realize that this is not a joke and this actually happened. So, uh, you know, I didn't, I hadn't really thought about it much after that point. Got on a plane, got home, uh, just. You know, had a really interesting moment where I was sitting at the island and, and you know, Kim was kind of standing across from me and I just was like, [00:04:00] Man, I've got this overwhelming feeling like I have to reach out to this woman and, and try to find her, try to, try to, try to track her down.

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[00:04:32] Jason McDaniel: So, you know, the next day, check my email, check my email, and, and nothing came through. And obviously I, I started feeling really anxious. You know, my, my ate thought was if I have to watch somebody else, Do this bathroom. I'm going, I'm gonna, I mean, it's good. I'm not gonna be okay with that. So, um, so then I thought, okay, how can I, how can I find, you know, Amber?

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[00:05:12] Jason McDaniel: I don't wanna be a part of it. . So I, I found her and, uh, and, and I, I, I pretty much put the same message out there. I had to pay the 60 bucks to. Become a pro LinkedIn person and send her the message in. You know, that, that message just, um, it basically said Deathstar tractor beam. It said, uh, I'm Jason McDaniel, and I told her my credentials 2018 Rock Star Award winner, certified tile installer evaluator, blah, blah, blah.

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[00:06:03] Jason McDaniel: Um, finally, finally getting closer. Yeah. So, so then, um, you know, I, I knew, and William knows this about me, if I can get you in front of me or get you on the phone, it's, it's done deal. And I just thought, I gotta get her on the phone. And, and, and I'm, and I, you know, it, my passion will come through and, and it'll work out.

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[00:06:47] Jason McDaniel: Oh,

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[00:06:47] Eric Goranson: was, I was jumping on defender around stuff because, Things have posted up and I'm like, Oh, this is the same, Amber, wait a minute. And cuz their social media thing is not the same. And so her and I ended up becoming social media friends that way. [00:07:00] So there were two separate

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[00:07:03] Eric Goranson: said that homeowner didn't wanna pay.

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[00:07:07] Jason McDaniel: then there was Amber's side, which was, she had already paid. , you know, and she just wanted to see the job

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[00:07:21] Jason McDaniel: put eyes on it. Yeah. And the, the, the story, the, the real story about what happened, you know, with all of that is that they had glass in their contract or whatever you want to call it.

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[00:07:53] Jason McDaniel: She was having that feeling. It was just the day of that, that they left, that they're asking for money. I mean, they didn't even, like [00:08:00] I give my customers an opportunity to, to sit in the space for a minute. , I mean, by the time my customer goes into the. They're like, When can we pay you? And, and that's really what, Yeah.

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[00:08:26] Jason McDaniel: We'll pull it out of the contract. And that's when Amber said, Look, I gotta get home. And, and we'll evaluate and we'll talk about the. And that's when he said, I'm on my way to your house. I'm gonna take back my work. Um, and that, so that's what really happened. You know, obviously now that I'm, I'm, I'm sitting, you know, 15 feet away from the bathroom.

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[00:08:58] Jason McDaniel: And I, and I said, I [00:09:00] think that's great. I think you should. And, and I basically, Use me as an outlet. If you have questions, you can call me. I can still try to get the materials provided, you know, I've got connections, so it's all good. And she said that a couple tile contractors from Colorado were gonna come over and, and, and look at the bathroom just in about 30 minutes.

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[00:09:40] Jason McDaniel: We'll get back to

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[00:09:58] Amber Truckee: Hand

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[00:10:02] Amber Truckee: to

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[00:10:05] Amber Truckee: Yeah, we love Eric

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[00:10:26] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. We've been talking about the Sledge Hammer contractor at Colorado Springs, that whole story. Now let's get back to the conversation with Jason mcd. And William White telling the story of how this all came about. And then we'll talk with Amber Truckey with some really big information on where it is now.

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[00:11:00] Jason McDaniel: And, and she said, Are you willing to kind of, to head this out? Are you willing to kind of take the lead and, and, and run this thing? And, and so I was. Done deal. And we kind of made a pact, to be honest with you, Amber, you know, I was freaked out. I mean, if I'm being very transparent, like I was like, I don't want, I don't wanna lose this opportunity.

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[00:11:39] Jason McDaniel: And it was like, so for a couple weeks we had a, We talked every day. Yeah, we talked every day. Um, and then, you know, obviously Matt, uh, Coppo and Jeremy Johnson, the Colorado guys were involved and he, we started a, a three way, uh, group chat. And then we started figuring. What we needed to do to get this thing done and that those are the things that, [00:12:00] that, that people are never really gonna know about this project is, is all of the work it took from Portland to make this thing happen.

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[00:12:29] Jason McDaniel: Uh, you know, where, get the fan going. We got the, the window was bought cuz we had to replace and put it in a new window. Um, so we hit the ground, you know, William and I, uh, William had to sit at the airport and wait for me on, uh, on Mon Monday night, Monday night or Monday night. Yep. And, uh, and then, you know, we, we, uh, uh, got here.

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[00:13:14] Jason McDaniel: They're gonna pay for the CTI test. I really had worked a, like, hard, you know, I'm the one. Is the social media guide. These guys, they don't do a lot of it. So I wanted to do everything I could to, to get them as much love as possible. And um, you know, by the time I got here, Amber, I had arranged for her to meet with the tile shop.

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[00:13:47] Eric Goranson: a little scary at the same time when you're ordering tile from Portland,

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[00:13:50] Jason McDaniel: Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah. So, yeah, so we, it, it, I mean, Like now that it's, uh, I don't even know what day it is. It's, it's Saturday for you guys. Um, . [00:14:00] Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. Um, now that it's Saturday and, and, and, uh, you know, um, super bummed Williams not here to be honest with you, but, uh Oh. You'll see him in a couple days.

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[00:14:30] Jason McDaniel: So,

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[00:14:33] Jason McDaniel: um, as you started to do the demolition and you started to

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[00:14:39] Jason McDaniel: what, what did you find? Um,

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[00:14:51] Jason McDaniel: I mean, I'm not, I'm not even

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[00:14:53] Amber Truckee: I'm talking about the structure

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[00:14:58] Jason McDaniel: Yeah. I mean, I, you're give, you're giving him [00:15:00] a lot of credit for being raped. I think he was married three or four .

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[00:15:03] Jason McDaniel: brother. Amen. Uh, you know, I mean, um, yeah, it was awful. It was awful. And, and you know, there's a part of this that, that we have to be aware of is that it doesn't make me, I mean, I dislike this guy for bringing a sledge hammer into a female's home.

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[00:15:37] Jason McDaniel: It wouldn't matter the fact that the sledgehammer came into the house. There's no more dialogue about, we shouldn't even, we don't even have to talk about anymore. The, these people out there that are siding with him or saying anything about anything, they need to look in the mirror and ask themselves, like what insecurities they have to make them say, make themselves say that.

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[00:16:19] Jason McDaniel: There is a huge problem with, with, with this industry when it comes to certain trades. Tile, I think is at the top of those traits. We don't have, The only thing you have to do in tile is a flood test. And, and a floor heat inspection, and we didn't even have to have a floor heat inspection here in Colorado that is shameful to this trade.

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[00:17:01] Jason McDaniel: It was the worst thing I've ever seen. It makes me really sad that, that, that, that, that this, these people that they thought and they, you know, really, they probably didn't think it was okay. They were just desperate to, to get some money. Yeah. Right. Gotta pay rent. And, and we also, Amber, last night we kind of sat here and talked.

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[00:17:28] Amber Truckee: I gotta ask a question guys. How did Amber come across this contractor and how did

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[00:17:38] Jason McDaniel: Okay. Eight. Wow. Eight. Only three of them called got in touch with her. Yep. All three bids. One of one of them like kicked her dog. Which the dog is red. . What? You're out in my book? Yep. My God. Yeah. And um, and then the all see people are saying, Well, you get what you pay for and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All three of the quotes were in a very similar line [00:18:00] of cost, so it wasn't like she said, I'm gonna pick the cheapest one.

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[00:18:19] Eric Goranson: heard that after the fact.

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[00:18:26] Jason McDaniel: So, and yeah, so the, and the company was also

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[00:18:31] Jason McDaniel: came to meet with her was a female. So there's a sense of the safety, having. Female owned business for a single female. Like there's

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[00:18:42] Eric Goranson: Yep. Now when we come back, we'll be talking with Amber about the update where it is through the legal system, just as soon as around the house returns. Welcome back to Around the House with Eric G. We've got special guest in the studio here, and if you went back and listened to our [00:19:00] previous episode, 1229 of the podcast.

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[00:19:26] Eric Goranson: And we had a bunch of friends come in that are friends of Ambers. Friends of mine came in and and made that wrong. All right, and now, Amber's been going through the legal system with this chap. Welcome back to Around the House Amber. Thanks.

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[00:19:42] Eric Goranson: Yeah. You have the story that just keeps on giving.

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[00:19:55] Amber Truckee: Yeah, it's, it's amazing cuz it's been a year and it's still, um, [00:20:00] Gets brought up a lot. My friends, I think, uh, enjoy telling it to people when we meet people, and, um, you know, the, the legal stuff is still going on, so that keeps coming up.

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[00:20:26] Eric Goranson: Well, considering how shocking that video was to people and how over the top that situation was.

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[00:20:43] Amber Truckee: that is. Yeah. I mean, that was my first experience of hiring a contractor, so I don't, Oh, I don't have much to compare it to. I mean, I would hope that that doesn't happen every time, but you know, I don't, No, I don't have the same life experience to be able to even, I guess, realize how crazy [00:21:00] it is.

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[00:21:02] Eric Goranson: your experience should have been more like what Jason and all those other guys were. That's more of your typical contractor experience. The guys that came in and cleaned up that mess, cuz I mean, they could just as a home improvement expert. They didn't do anything right in that whole space.

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[00:21:27] Amber Truckee: Yeah. I mean, I remember looking at it and, and you know, I've, I've said this before, my stomach just sank. And I just remember thinking I could have actually done better than this. And that is saying something.

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[00:21:53] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And I guarantee you would've, I mean, cuz you would've done the research, figured out how to do it and not just do everything [00:22:00] wrong.

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[00:22:11] Amber Truckee: yeah, it's been kind of a mess. Um, it's crazy to me that it's taken this long. Um, you know, it, they, they were charged with, um, they're both charged equally with felony burglary, um, felony criminal mischief, and something else was on there, some, some misdemeanor charge.

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[00:22:50] Amber Truckee: They don't have time to, you know, they don't wanna take it to trial. It's just, it's a pain. Um, yeah. So they, they plugged down. Jordan has no criminal history [00:23:00] whatsoever. Um, and so her, she will get, she's already been sentenced. She gets two years probation. She has to take a class, uh, called Making Better Life Decisions.

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[00:23:17] Amber Truckee: good. Um, but I mean, clearly, you know, probably. Hopefully gonna be a helpful class for her. Um, it has to, and then also anger management. And I think it was like 150 or 200 hours of community service. If she completes all that and keeps her nose clean for the two years, um, basically the charge just gets taken off her record, so she'll be back to having no record.

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[00:23:51] Eric Goranson: think I saw something that Colorado pulled her license though, right?

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[00:24:00] Amber Truckee: They had basically told the news here that if they would've suspended it initially for, um, them not pulling permits cuz that's all they had at the. That it would just be a suspension. And they're like, rather than do that, we'll just wait for her to be convicted and then we can pull it permanently. So they did pull it.

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[00:24:23] Eric Goranson: talk about bad life decisions. You're not the only victim now either. No.

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[00:24:37] Eric Goranson: names and addresses, correct?

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[00:24:43] Amber Truckee: Um, Okay, got it. Apparently he was caught on Cam. It's just, it's like, I can't even say this without laughing cuz it's that absurd. He was caught on camera destroying somebody else's property. Um,

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[00:24:59] Amber Truckee: No, [00:25:00] I, You, you would think if you're awaiting court. To be sentenced for destroying someone's property.

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[00:25:12] Eric Goranson: might wanna tap the brakes, right? Yeah. Tap

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[00:25:26] Amber Truckee: Separate incident, separate victim, another criminal mischief for another misdemeanor, criminal mischief for slashing his neighbor's tires.

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[00:25:37] Amber Truckee: Yeah. Um, and so the last time, not this last time, but the time before when we were in court, um, his lawyer had tried to withdraw from counsel. And when the judge asked why, um, he explained that he had not been paid,

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[00:25:56] Eric Goranson: Again, , another pattern, .

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[00:26:21] Amber Truckee: And so the, the judge granted that. And so we showed up, uh, this past week for sentencing and sat there for an hour only to finally realize that Terry's lawyer didn't show up to his apparent shock, um, cuz he still didn't pay him. So . So the judge, uh, had to reschedule his sentencing and get him a public defender because he qualified for one and he applied for one.

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[00:27:11] Amber Truckee: Decided not to pay his lawyer. Um, .

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[00:27:16] Amber Truckee: Yeah. Uh, and there's a really great clip out there, um, from

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[00:27:23] Amber Truckee: do you have the ability to play it? Cause it's pretty hilarious walking out of court Thursday unprompted.

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[00:27:28] Amber Truckee: cameras

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[00:27:31] Amber Truckee: You know, there's people kidnapping babies out there and selling dope. Right. That's pretty great. M so

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[00:27:42] Amber Truckee: maybe the year's not over and we still have another court date, so, Yeah. True. Um, you know, and the thing is, is he knew the cameras were rolling. He looked right at the camera and you know,

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[00:28:01] Amber Truckee: I just, I can't. And you know, I, I post on Facebook privately just to my friends and family to kind of update them on what's going on. And people just, every time are like, You're lying. Like, it it, like you said, it's just the story that keeps on giving. It never ends. It just, they just keep giving us more.

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[00:28:31] Amber Truckee: Hide your babies. Hide your kids. Hide your dope. Uh, yep. So, so hopefully this will be the last of the legal stuff.

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[00:29:05] Amber Truckee: I've just decided I'm not gonna bother suing them. I, I don't think they have $4,000. I don't really want to have to pay to garnish their wages. I don't really wanna check for $25 every month. Um,

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[00:29:34] Amber Truckee: And that's exactly it. It's, it's, there is no, there is no money to get from them in, You know, if there, if I thought I was going to get it in one lump sum, would I still, I don't even know, to be honest with you. I look at the bathroom I have now, I think about how beautiful, grateful, and blessed I am. So many people.

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[00:30:11] Amber Truckee: Horrible things that they have to get fixed and nobody's coming to their, their rescue, nobody's coming to their aid. So do I really wanna go back to court and sue some people who aren't gonna have the money? And it's just, it's not worth it to me. So, yeah, hopefully after the time thing, it'll, it'll just be

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[00:30:27] Eric Goranson: Yeah. But you know what the problem is, is I gotta gut hunt. So he's gonna go out and do this again. And we'll be watching more of

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[00:30:48] Amber Truckee: Um, they were in Texas though. And so the way it was explained to me by a few people in Colorado is that Texas' legal system. Kind of wonky, and it's a lot of work to convert, uh, criminal, [00:31:00] uh, convictions from Texas to what we would equate it to here. And so the d had basically said to me, I've told them that if they decide to take this to trial, we will convert those charges and this will, he will be.

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[00:31:32] Amber Truckee: And so she suggested, Well, why don't we let the judge decide if you get jail or not? And I guess he feels like there's no way the judge will give him any, uh, jail time. So he said, Sure. Great. Yeah, let me roll the dice and see what the judge comes up with. Um, which is interesting since he has two misdemeanor criminal.

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[00:31:52] Eric Goranson: I'm just that guy. Can't read a room.

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[00:32:16] Amber Truckee: Him, I feel like. being charged with felonies wasn't enough to keep him from doing it to two more people, so hopefully some jail time, even if it's a few weeks, I mean, Anything will help. Yeah. You, you can't just go to people's property and destroy their property to bully them and intimidate them. Like that's not like an okay thing to do.

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[00:32:35] Eric Goranson: that's where I don't, I don't have a lot of hope for this guy. Cause he's got two felonies. He's done it two times after you. I think he's gonna go until he's off

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[00:32:59] Amber Truckee: Mm-hmm. , [00:33:00] I'm worried that once he has this on his record, cuz his will not be expunged, so he will have this on his record permanently. Um, I'm worried that once this is on his record, And he is having a hard time finding a job and he's stressed out and the next time he decides to rage out on somebody, maybe he, you know, whatever it was that was holding him back from taking it further, maybe that that just disappears.

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[00:33:34] Eric Goranson: think, here's my guess, My guess is he's gonna do like when he left Texas. He's gonna go to another state that doesn't do any research on the contractor records.

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[00:33:58] Amber Truckee: or they'll just work without even a [00:34:00] license.

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[00:34:17] Amber Truckee: Now that's a couple of years from now. I don't think that they can leave while they're on probation. Yep. You know, they could probably get away with having people hire them to come work in their houses without any kind of checking, even while they're on probation. So,

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[00:34:36] Eric Goranson: You didn't get hurt. You've got a great bathroom now. And these guys have a long, horrible road of doing bad things ahead of 'em unless they change their ways. So you get to move on with life

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[00:34:59] Amber Truckee: [00:35:00] Cause everybody wanted to see that, right? Everybody wanted to see me take them to court and win and get my money back. But, you know, I've got a career, I have a house, I have a dog, I have friends, I have stuff I'm doing. I like to travel, I like to hike. I have all these great things going on in my life. And I had to think about the fact that like they, they don't, I mean, they really don't, their, their life at this point now has been at, at least for the time being diminished to dealing with this situation.

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[00:35:44] Amber Truckee: So I don't really feel like I need to prove anything to anybody. I know that they did terrible work. I know that I already, you know, paid half of it. I wasn't trying to screw them out of any money. Um, and I, I don't certainly think that I need to, you know, make them pay. Like they're, they're paying, they're paying.

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[00:36:00] Eric Goranson: why give them the satisfaction of robbing you of all that time that you could be out doing all the things you love while you're sitting there in a courtroom trying to. Hammer out something that you're gonna have a judgment and literally have no way to collect on it.

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[00:36:16] Amber Truckee: So, um, yeah, just seemed really pointless. Um, you know, and I wish more was given to Jordan. Yes. Do I wish more will be given to Terry than when he's probably gonna get Yes, but you know, they probably wish it was less so. Um, You know, the, the, the state is gonna compromise with them and get what they can get without having to go into a long, lengthy trial.

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[00:36:55] Amber Truckee: So.

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[00:37:03] Amber Truckee: William Allen White. If you are listening, , where are you are doing this? Talked about it a few times. Um, we've not made plans yet, but this is me officially calling him out. Um, let's get this and get it going.

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[00:37:46] Amber Truckee: So I've said that a lot. I feel like I

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[00:37:54] Amber Truckee: sure. Oh, good. Good. We go. You heard it. You heard William. [00:38:00]

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[00:38:09] Eric Goranson: Well, Amber, thanks for taking the time today to go through this, and I know it's not fun, but, uh, I think there's, so you can help so many people. By telling the story of your pain so people can learn that, Wow, look what happened here. I better do a better job of researching who I'm bringing into my home.

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[00:38:30] Amber Truckee: Yeah, definitely. Um, you know, I, it's weird cuz I think before this happened to me, I always thought people were just being really extra when they were like, I need references and actually calling them. I'm like, really? Hire somebody. Um, but I guess I did not ever think in my wildest dreams that it could go this badly.

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[00:39:09] Amber Truckee: You know, and now it's like, well, were those people, their friends, their cousins? Um, yeah. Yes. Yeah, right. A couple of those people reached out to me after this incident. Two of them actually, and apologized to me and said, I actually recommended them and I just wanted to say sorry. And I was like, Well, why?

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[00:39:43] Amber Truckee: Um,

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[00:39:48] Amber Truckee: Yeah. Um, and they just wanted to apologize to me and say sorry for recommending them. And I, I, I had to bite my tongue cuz you know, I'm like, I literally hired them because you recommended them. Um, but, you know, that I think [00:40:00] serves as a lesson. If I would've called those people and talked to those people on the phone, would they have said the same thing?

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[00:40:21] Amber Truckee: Call references. I mean, and you know

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[00:40:34] Amber Truckee: Yep, absolutely. Uh, Jeremy Johnson, one of the guys that did the, the new bathroom actually, um, asked me if he could use me as our reference.

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[00:41:01] Amber Truckee: So a good piece of advice that you're given folks to do that due diligence.

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[00:41:19] Amber Truckee: Yeah. Um, I don't remember the exact date.

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[00:41:23] Eric Goranson: probably. All right. Thanks again. And uh, stay tuned guys. We'll see what happens and I'll update you when I can. I'm Eric G and you've been listening to Around the House