Diana Ross a deadbeat?

[Spreadinglove21]

Take this for what it's worth as it's posted on an anonymous chat board:

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/31846046-diana-ross


Scroll down to Reply 96, which I've pasted below:

One of my friend's dad owned a popular construction company in Greenwich, CT in the 80s and 90s. He did a lot of home-remodeling work for many celebrities out there, and never had a problem with anyone - until Diana Ross hired him . According to him, at first she was very nice - going room by room with a list of changes she wanted to each room. [[He said she had bought a beautiful old mansion in Greenwich where her kids lived with her). The biggest jobs were to be her bathrooms and kitchen where she wanted complete upgrades, while keeping the historic architecture in tact. The rest was more cosmetic work in the other rooms. He offered her a proposal [[at around $750K) and she accepted and approved all the changes, materials, etc - and work began in late winter / early spring with about 6 months to finish. He said she put a small deposit down [[about $10K).
For most of the spring/summer she went on tour and left him and his crew alone. She returned towards the end of the summer, while he had about a month or so to go to finish the project. When she walked through the house with him, she threw a fit - inisted nothing was right, she didn't like what he did, etc. and wanted almost everyhting done over. Everything from the paint on the walls [[which she picked out and gave to him) to the kitchen counters, lighting, appliances - everything. Keep in mind, everything was her choosing and her approval before she left. He - a professional - ended up staying though the end of the year with her watching over him, and the price went up to nearly $2M [[as he said, it stated in his contract if she wanted any changes done after the job was done to her specifications, she was responsible). She was finally sastisfied with the project, but would not pay him for the extra work - only paid him for the $750K. This poor guy was mortified.
He ended up suing her, and after a few years of court delays [[due to her team of lawyers) they finally settled out of court, yet he was still stiffed about $500K in the end - so he didn't earn any profit. Years later [[mid-2000s) she called him - had the audacity to ask him if he would do more work on her house since the kids were grown and she was thinking to sell. She acted like everything was peachy between the two of them. [[No he didn't go back).

[RanRan79]

I can believe the story. If true, since it went to court, there would be record of it. A lot of wealthy folks do this kind of stuff. They often stay wealthy because they try to get over without paying as much as they can. Lol

Diana's generosity isn't a well publicized part of her lore, but the record shows she is freehearted to her family, friends and people who have meant something to her in the past. I guess the record might also show she don't always pay her bills.

[marybrewster]

I've NEVER heard of a contractor collecting $10k on a $750k job. EVER. Materials ALONE would be hundreds of thousands of dollars. At minimum, the down-payment should have been $75k to $150k. I also can't believe for a second Diana would just leave a crew in her house while she's on tour. Nope. Uh uh.

I can be pretty critical of Diana, but I don't see this happening at all. I took it for what it's worth and I call bullshite.

[daviddesper]

Whether or not it is true, it sounds like a certain ex-president of ours............

[RanRan79]

I've NEVER heard of a contractor collecting $10k on a $750k job. EVER. Materials ALONE would be hundreds of thousands of dollars. At minimum, the down-payment should have been $75k to $150k. I also can't believe for a second Diana would just leave a crew in her house while she's on tour. Nope. Uh uh.

I can be pretty critical of Diana, but I don't see this happening at all. I took it for what it's worth and I call bullshite.

The person does get rather specific with the numbers for someone who is getting the information second or third hand. The numbers could be wrong, the story still true. Also I wonder, if true, if Diana was getting a deal on the down payment because she was DIANA ROSS, as opposed to some no name. Surely Diana Ross would pay her debt in the end, wouldn't she?, might be how the contractor played it in his mind.

But you could still have a point. The entire story might be bunk.

[sup_fan]

I've NEVER heard of a contractor collecting $10k on a $750k job. EVER. Materials ALONE would be hundreds of thousands of dollars. At minimum, the down-payment should have been $75k to $150k. I also can't believe for a second Diana would just leave a crew in her house while she's on tour. Nope. Uh uh.

I can be pretty critical of Diana, but I don't see this happening at all. I took it for what it's worth and I call bullshite.

Agree. The down payment, the totally unattended work crew running free around her house for months.

Now maybe it’s just the details that are off. The overall story could be true. She is a true perfectionist and so it could certainly be accurate that she wasn’t satisfied. I could see her going room by room w a fine tooth comb making sure ever painted area, every detail was perfect. I could see her with a huge pad of post it notes or tabs making every flaw

And if they didn’t complete the job satisfactorily then she had every right to withhold payment until it was corrected. I’ve had painters or contractors that used the wrong whatever wrong paint or item. And they had to deal w the costs of correcting.

It can be a very sensitive and tricky situation

[Ollie9]

I wonder if like in 83 she circulated a letter saying their work and personal habits were unacceptable to her, urging anyone not to employ them?.
Knowing her volatile reputation, i think I might have given her a wide berth lol.
I agree with sup in that it’s horrible when such work ends up substandard. That’s why i now do all my own painting.

[TheMotownManiac]

I've NEVER heard of a contractor collecting $10k on a $750k job. EVER. Materials ALONE would be hundreds of thousands of dollars. At minimum, the down-payment should have been $75k to $150k. I also can't believe for a second Diana would just leave a crew in her house while she's on tour. Nope. Uh uh.

I can be pretty critical of Diana, but I don't see this happening at all. I took it for what it's worth and I call bullshite.

I was just about to write the same things. First of all, what kind of contractor would take $10,000 on a $750,000 bid? That is a lot of work that he has to pay his team up front, plus all the materials? Contractors don’t float that much. And there would be no reason for him to ask for such a small deposit because he would assume that if she owned that house and was getting all these renovations that she had some bucks so it wouldn’t be any big deal to do a standard deposit. Often there are progressive payments along the way after that.

unless she moved all of her private everything out of the house, I absolutely cannot imagine her letting a bunch of strangers run rough shot around her house for months and months unfettered. I would think she would be too private for that. Maybe be afraid that pictures of her TOTO Washlet would appear on Twitter.

I would imagine that once this case went to court, if she was unhappy with her choices and requested new ones, there would be very little to think about and her lawyers would advise her That it would probably be a waste of time plus she would get stuck for court costs attorneys fees.

I don’t believe it because it’s incongruous, but keep looking for a story that really has some good Ross dirt in it!

[RanRan79]

The way the storyteller makes it sound is that the renovation occurred after purchase. She wouldn't have stuff inside the house that she was fearful of leaving unattended, I would think. If I recall correctly, at the time of purchase Diana was living in New York or LA. Maybe she wasn't on tour at all, but in another state.

For anyone with the time and the means, it seems like an easy enough story to debunk by checking the court records of that area.