California Surveyors Forums

Recently a good client of mine sold a property of hers in a nearby incorporated city. As part of the sale agreement, she was to process a right-of-way dedication to the city as part of their future city redevelopment project.

We obtained a "latest" example copy of a recent dedication format and prepared the exhibit plat and legal etc. We submitted the package along with all documents required (such as prelim. . .etc) to the city. After two weeks, we did a follow up call to check status on the dedication and were told that it was sent to the city surveyor for review.

Two more weeks went by . . . nothing.
My client informed me that her escrow may fall through if the dedication could not be completed in on one more week. Two attempts to contact this City Surveyor resulted in no response.
My client took it upon herself to visit the City and met with the "Surveyor". The City surveyor told my client that the reason her dedication package was delayed was because of "My" lack of cooperation with him and that "my" company was incompetent and did SH!++y (crappy) work. [note; we never spoke]

My client then inquired if She could at least get a preliminary review and take the matter up with me. He promised the redlines for the next day.

The next day, my client came in to my office, told me the story of her encounter then presented me with the "redlines".

The redlines were almost "nil" just a couple capital letters on street names.

I have not yet confronted the individual. What would some of you do ?

"good" and angry

He made up the bad work story to cover for himself sitting on the file for a month.

I love that car dealer commercial where the customer was going to have the salesman face Thor in a deathmatch in a ring of fire if his option requests weren't met. I think it was Saturn. When the salesman says everything is included, the customer tells Thor to pack it up and he gets this dejected look on his face. One of my favorites.

Good: remember the Source ... there may be a spin you have not thought of.
The CS may never have said anything of the sort...

Like Andy said, finish the job, submit it, ensure it gets approved, and get paid.

After that, go meet with the City Surveyor and get his side of the story. It may be vastly different. Is it possible that your client might be looking for a reason to not pay you?

If you find that he, or someone from his office was badmouthing you, let him know that if it were to happen again, he can expect a defamation suit as a result.

Either way, expect to ride herd on anything you submit through that office in the future by following up not only via email and phone, but also in person.

Good,

I agree with the others. Try and set up some time to talk with the "City Surveyor" to find out more information. That way, you will have first hand information on what you are dealing with. At the minimum, it will be good face time.

"Good Marketing"

Sorry to hear that a City Surveyor "may" have characterized your company in that manner.

Definitely follow up and disprove the impression in any case ...

Completely inappropriate if it happened. Don't know why the client would jeopardize her deal so I have to believe there is some truth to it.

Meet with the city surveyor....if there's no remorse or change move on up the line.

No matter what I think of a person's work they get the same turnaround, the same treatment but maybe a bit more scrutiny if they're known for their lack of 'detail'.

Gary said it well, and that is completely inappropriate behavior, no matter what the circumstance.

In my review process of any project, if the client or surveyor contact me to inform me of a critical timeline, I have never failed to meet their request. At least not yet. In fact I take pride to attempt to expidite all work which needs to be expedited, and to comply with the Professional Land Surveyors Act.

Definately meet with the individual, and get a feeling for why he potentially said what he said. Ask him for an example of your work where he feels it is substandard. Either way, he should not be bias for any reason.

If your not satisfied with the meeting, there are individuals up the ladder to discuss the situation with. I'd start with the Director of Public Works.

My Client has a great reputation . . .and I have worked with this City Surveyor off and on for over a decade. One of my staff broke out an email which stated " plot and route the Mylars" "good job as usual for $#%& Company" (the $#%& was not swear words) :-)
We were shocked at the sudden outburst from the City Surveyor, especially when there were virtually no redlines.
Our company is not without its "Boo Boo's" no company is. After some rationalization and digesting the responses here, I'm surmizing that the City guy plain forgot about the project, didn't know who had prepared it, made a coverup story in person to my client then quickly processed the PKG.

The next project that I process in his jurisdiction will be delivered by me personally, directly into his little palms.

"good" . . . . I love the ring of fire. . . .just my style too :^)