Family concerned about relative who signed contract

What do you do if you have a relative you believe is not competent and should not be signing something such as a contract? That’s the issue facing one Savannah family. Ethel Jackson called me saying her daughter, who is 100 percent disabled from the military and who also suffers from multiple sclerosis, had recently signed a contract for nearly 48-hundred dollars to have a local company build a sunroom at her home.

Jackson says her daughter, Lavonia Erkins, does live alone. Erkins is a mature woman in her 40's, but Jackson says that her daughter relies on her and her husband for help as well as visiting nurses. She also says that Erkins takes a lot of medication and is sometimes confused.

Erkins signed the contract on February 19, after the company put a flier on her door. "I called the number on the flier and someone came out," Erkins told me. The contract indicates she agreed to have the sunroom built and that she would pay for it in four monthly installments, the first would be due when the room was complete. She would then owe the additional money in payments over three consecutive months. (It should be pointed out that at this point, no money has exchanged hands.)

Her parents found out about the contract at the end of February at what they call their regular "family" meetings. "We make sure we look at all the financials once a month for her," Jackson tells me. "When we found out, my husband and I were really concerned, it's a lot of money."

I asked Erkins if she understood how much money she had agreed to pay. She hesitated for a few seconds and then said "I do now but I didn't at the time." Erkins also told me she had signed the contract.

Jackson says she called the company on March 1 and indicated she wanted to cancel the contract on behalf of her daughter. She says she was told the materials had already been ordered so the job couldn't be canceled. The company offered to reduce the cost of the job, Jackson says. But she told them she just wanted the contract canceled. Both Jackson and her husband say materials may have already been delivered, but they believe they could be used in other jobs.

On March 2, Jackson says her daughter got a letter from the courthouse saying that a contractor's lien in the amount of $4786 had been placed on Erkins home. "I didn't know what being served meant so I showed the letter to my mother," Erkins told me.

Ross Howard from the Better Business Bureau looked at the contract and the lien. "The lien is pretty standard," he told me. "It's filed by the contractor just in case they don't get paid." Howard also told me the contract appeared to be in order and clearly indicated in bold writing that the cancellation period was three days.

One of the owners of Vinyl Industries of Savannah, Juan Avendano, told me when he received a call on March 1 from Erkins mother, he was at first reluctant to even discuss the contract. "We had dealt with Erkins and had confirmed our order with her on February 23, after our installer had gone to her home to take measurements," he says. "Erkins indicated no problems at that point so that's when we ordered the materials for her job."

Avendano says he could try to use the materials on other jobs but says that doesn't always work. "These measures were specifically taken for her job," he says. "I told Mrs. Jackson when she called on March 1 that 12 days had passed and it was a little late to cancel, mostly because the stuff was already ordered and delivered," he told me.

Avendano also told me he had spoken with the salesman who visited Erkins home. I also talked with the salesman who told me he "did not think Mrs. Erkins was impaired and that he had talked with her at length." Avendano says his company has found itself kind of in the middle between what their people believe and Erkins' parents. "no one whou had contact with her felt she was not capable of making decisions about this," Avendano told me. "Erkins is an adult and she seemed to know her own mind."

Avendano says they would "like to do the job if they still can and will continue to offer to do it at the reduced rate." He told me "I can forego profit but I would like to be able to pay the commissions to my people."

Ross Howard of the Better Business Bureau says while Erkins family has concerns, he says "a relative can't make decisions for her without some legal document such as a power of attorney." Howard says if a person appears to be of sound mind and signs a contract, then it's legal.

Howard also says that Vinyl Industries of Savannah has a good rating with the BBB. "I can't see anything they did that they shouldn't have done, but because I know the family is concerned here and because no money has changed hands, maybe we could get the two sides together," he told me. "Let's work this out and see what the real solution could be."

Both Avendano and Mrs. Jackson told me they may be willing to meet with Howard. Meanwhile, Howard says this story does bring up the issue of what actions relatives can legally take if they feel someone may not be competent. "well, first they need to convince that person not to sign anything without a family member present," he told me. "and then after that, maybe they need to consider doing something more such as getting a power of attorney."

The issue of a contract is for "both sides involved" Howard says. It's supposed to protect the consumer and the company.