contractor becomes victim of socialpath customer

i seem to have an issue with a customer of mine, after entering into a contract to resurface a set of exterior damaged concrete stairs,the job was started and completed in good faith as per the contract agreement. i have been paid for the job as agreed, and at that time the customer indicated that they were satisfied with the job. thru the duration of the job the customer (a lady) kept indicating how much she needs a man. i had absolutly no response to her comments. now 4 days after the job was completed and contract complety fulfilled, this customer has phoned my wife to tell her that the job was complete "s**t" and now has to find someone else to completly redo it and when my wife asked what was the issue with it, the client replied the same thing and refused to be specific when asked. keep in mind that i have done over 300 of these paticular jobs with complete sucess and not one unhappy customer, and know through expertise that there is absoluty nothing wrong with the job.
now after not returning my calls to see what the problem was she finally phones back to tell me that there is a water issue in her house (that was there previously and shows old water stains and damage over time and has nothing to do with what the contract that we agreed to.) now using an unrelated issue with her house she is annoucing publicly that the job i did is no good.
i have asked her out of good faith to let me come and look at the problem to see if it was the work that i preformed that caused this. (which i know it is not,other cause for water issue, not stairs) she refuses to give me the opper. to see if we can rectify the issue. but continues to complain, phone, harass. and publicly attacking me and my business. keep in mind that there is alot of untrustworthy contractors out there, and i do not concider myself as one of them. i take a lot of pride in my work and i will do anything resonable to keep my customers satisfied.
there are some people that no matter what u do u cant please them

now what options do i have , can i add something in my contract that would prevent them from publicly badmouthing myself and my business without cause?
this is a cut and paste from a section of my contract:

SECTION SIX
POSSESSION
Client shall not have possession, occupancy, build\construct on top, or use of the structure until such time as all payments or other obligations required to them as set forth in this agreement have been fully paid or performed by them. If possession or build\construct on top of or use of structure is taken by client before the above obligations are met, without the written consent of contractor, it shall be considered as acceptance of the structure, by the client, as complete and satisfactory.

now again what options do i have , can i add something in my contract that would prevent them from publicly badmouthing myself and my business without cause?

thanx

People are entitled to their opinions about you and your work; however if you can prove that she has somehow cost you an actual loss of business directly related to her actions you may have recourse. Might be tough to prove.
I would never except any contract that prohibited me from expressing my opinion of the work completed or the standards of the contractor. That's just silly and would probably put you into the catagory of those you don't want to be associated with.
It sounds like you have made all reasonable attempts to correct any problems. Make sure you have these attempts documented.
Keep up the high standards of your ethics and work and lead by example. I'm sure you have multiple references to counter any of her rantings. She will fade away.
We need all the honest contractors we can get.
Good Luck.

Unlike mileaway, I’m not going to make any judgments about you personally… although I will admit I’ve been on the other side of contractor disputes.

Two things:

First, you can contract for just about anything. Confidentiality clauses are quite common in contracts and settlement agreements. Most legal restrictions on such clauses revolve around the employer / employee relationship or contracts to do something that is “illegal” such as prostitution, marijuana sales, etc… Free speech does not apply to contracts. So, you technically can contract with your clients to keep the “satisfaction” level of your work confidential, with our without clause. You can even stipulate to specific dollar amount of damages for breach of contract since damages in such cases are hard to prove.

Second, you are in the business of construction, not litigation. You may be able to sue. You may even be able to put a lean on her property so that she’ll have trouble refinancing or selling it during the life of the lawsuit. However, if you have to resort to such a drastic action, it better be worth the legal fees! And it seldom is…

Mileaway is probably right that good references and a good reputation will outweigh the occasional negative review… no one is perfect after all, and no one in business for any length of time does not encounter the occasional unreasonable client!

Good luck!

i do agree with what both of you r saying, this is my 2nd year in business and this is the first time ive had a problem with a customer, i was shocked at the way this person has conducted themself. i take it very personal. 300 to 1 is not a bad record though. cant keep everyone happy all the time i guess.
but in this cut and paste of our contract it states that once the job was completed , paid for and used it is concidered complete and satisfactory, now wouldnt this be breach of contract? not that i would be taking action but i am curious.

SECTION SIX
POSSESSION
Client shall not have possession, occupancy, build\construct on top, or use of the structure until such time as all payments or other obligations required to them as set forth in this agreement have been fully paid or performed by them. If possession or build\construct on top of or use of structure is taken by client before the above obligations are met, without the written consent of contractor, it shall be considered as acceptance of the structure, by the client, as complete and satisfactory.

Technically, it sounds like it is a breach of contract because the Client took possession and did not pay you…

However, and there is always a “however,” a judge or arbitrator may consider it “unfair” in some way and still rule in her favor. It’s a risk. Most judges, arbitrators and juries like to “split the difference” in cases they view as morally ambiguous. Judges can find excuses like “it was your contract and the Client did not know what they were signing,” or yes you are right, but you breached some other clause, or a number of other things. That’s what makes Breach of Contracts cases on the small level hard to enforce and usually just not worth pursuing.

In fact, most of these cases are won or lost by default judgment, or basically one side not taking the matter seriously and loosing on a technicality.

Anyway, good luck with your contractor business and let us know if there are any other interesting developments!

thanx 4 the replies, im not going to pursue anything, just a little curious thats all
bye 4 now