Even though her neighbor apologized to her several times, the woman was determent to get revenge on him. This time, her neighbor took it way too far.
But what she didn't know was that someone had leaked her photos online, and now her neighbor had incriminating evidence.
The Beginning
When Kristopher Hess found out that his best friend, Mark, was going to visit him over the Independence Day weekend, he requested some time off work.
When Mark arrived, the two friends decided to buy some fireworks for the Fourth of July.
Bad Experience
“To be fair, I have had nothing but bad experiences with fireworks, so I had no idea how this would be any different,” Kristopher said later.
Kristopher and Mark went to the store and purchased cakes, bottle rockets, sparkles, and Roman candles.
An Idea
When they arrived home, Kristopher proposed an idea, “Why don’t we mess around with some sparklers since it’s still not dark yet?”
Of course, his best friend agreed. Little did they know, they were in for a big surprise...
Fire
"One of the little sparkies from mine and my friends' sparkler made contact with the ground and made two small fires," Kristopher recalls.
"I ran as fast as I could to grab the garden hose and quickly started spraying down the fire. It was no use. It was spreading faster than I could spray it." The dry grass caught fire and quickly spread towards his neighbor's fence.
Too Late
Mark and Kristopher called 911, but it was too late. The damage had already been done.
As you can imagine, Kristopher's neighbor Patricia was devastated when she saw the state of her property.
Quotes
The next day, Kristopher came home to two quotes from Patricia: one for $6,000 to replace the burnt lawn and another for $4,000 to cover the cost of a new fence.
But Kristopher didn't have that kind of money. He showed his father the quotes that the lady typed out on a Microsoft word document, and his dad was surprised to see there was no company name or logo on them.
Rude Note
“Son, don’t you give that con artist a single dime,” he told Kristopher. Patricia also attached a rude note to her quotes, “I will also be having you pay my water bill for three months because the new yard will need lots of water.”
Kristopher couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Not Right
He turned to Reddit to express his frustration, "Now the fence this woman had before was raggedy and falling apart. Her yard? Dead grass, weeds everywhere, never mowed it."
"Now, looking at this paper, she wants a mahogany fence and a brand new backyard with flowers and trimmed hedges? I said, 'I need to get an estimate myself, this doesn't feel right.'"
In Terrible Condition
Kristopher got in touch with a contractor friend. He and his father were confident that Patricia's lawn and the fence had been in terrible condition for years before the accident.
But the fire damage caused by the sparklers made it difficult to prove.
An Advantage
Fortunately, Kristopher happened to know a guy who could build a mahogany fence, fresh lawn, trimmed hedges, and flowers for a low price.
So, he arranged a meeting with the contractor to give him an estimate, but things didn't go as planned.
No Permition
The next day, the contractor arrived at Kristopher's house. But before he had the chance to show him the damage, Patricia ran out of her house yelling, "I did not give you permission to get an estimate on my fence!"
"Well, technically, the fence separates the property line, so the fence belongs to both of us," Kristopher explained.
Police
Realizing that her plan was falling apart, Patricia threatened to call the police on Kristopher.
“She calls the cops on me for having a contractor, and they ultimately can’t do a single thing because I’m on my property,” Kristopher wrote.
The Estimates
"He quickly finishes the estimate off at $1,200." The lawn estimate was about $800 and not $6,000.
“After I get these estimates, I give copies to the woman, and she is having none of it,” Kristopher continued.
Not Listening
When Patrica saw the estimates, she shouted, “I don’t know these people. I don’t want them near my house, they’re probably really bad contractors!”
Kristopher tried to calm her down, "No, I know them personally. They are really nice people and do great work." But Patricia didn't want to hear it. This is where the story gets even more bizarre.
No Rest
"I ended up working a 16hr shift that night and got home at 8 AM, and this woman comes knocking on my door at 9 AM and demands I speak to her," Kristopher continued.
"I explained, 'I would really love to do this, but I just got home, and I have to be back at work in less than five hours. I need to sleep."
Disrespectful Behavior
"She goes 'what kind of lazy jerk sleeps in until 2 PM?'"
Kristopher had had enough of her disrespectful behavior and decided to teach her a lesson.
$2,000 Or Nothing
"At this point, I had about lost it, and told her, 'you can either accept my $2000 for my quotes or get nothing." Kristopher wrote.
"She stood there for a while with her mouth open, but she accepted my offer and planned to meet down at the notary the next morning."
Not Over Yet
Thinking that this nightmare was finally over, Kristopher spent the evening gathering $2,000 in cash and writing a contract.
But the battle was far from over.
Not Enough
The following day, Kristopher went down to the notary to meet Patricia. But she didn't show up.
"I get a message from her saying, 'I'm sorry, the $2000 isn't enough, I'm having my guys start work on this project, and you will be paying me the full price,'" Kristopher wrote.
Waiting
“After that, I did not say a single word to her, and I watched for a few months as these guys turned her backyard into an oasis, complete with a small pond, brand new sod, flowers, the whole nine yards,” he continued.
“I come to find out she had plans to remodel these things for a long time and was just waiting for the opportunity to go through with it.”
Big Mistake
Kristopher apologized to Patricia several times for burning down her yard. He had made a terrible mistake, and he admitted that.
He was willing to pay a fair price to cover the damages, but Patricia didn't think $2,00o was enough. In his last effort to get justice, Kristopher opened his laptop.
Incriminating Photos
He came across a community Facebook page that Patricia didn't know he was a member of. There, Kristopher saw the incriminating photos, and he was shocked.
Now he knew why Patricia wanted to scam him.
Expensive Vacation
“She used her remodel funds to go on a trip to Hawaii. You know how I found out about this? She was bragging about it on the neighborhood Facebook group and didn’t know I was in it,” he wrote.
There, Patricia uploaded photos of herself and her friends hanging out in a five-star hotel in Hawaii drinking expensive cocktails.
Revenge
"Are you ready for the revenge?" he addressed the Reddit users in his thread.
"Now, four months after the fire and all the remodels, I get served papers to go to court for $10,300. At 18 years old, I'm having to hire a lawyer to work my case," he wrote.
Out Of Your Mind
"When we finally do get into court, I lay everything out: the quotes, being harassed multiple times, not showing up after agreeing to a deal, not wanting me to get my own quotes (required by law, by the way), the photos, and her bragging about conning me out of money… and I have proof of all of this," he continued.
"The judge looked at her and said, "Ma'am, with all due respect, you're out of your dadgum mind!"
Lies
"Not only did this young man tell the truth about what happened, but he also offered to pay you more than he was supposed to," the judge continued.
"Your lawn was already dead before the fire occurred. Therefore he is only responsible for the fence at $1,200. I will also deduct from this his lawyer fees."
In Debt
Patricia was shocked by the judge's response.
"She took a huge financial loss from this, not sure how much the Hawaii trip cost her, but she was in serious debt. She ended up having to sell the house because of it and moved into a smaller apartment. Haven't heard anything from her since," Kristopher wrote.
Traumatized
"To this day, I still do not use fireworks, because we could've really hurt someone. What I have learned through this though, is it's best to take responsibility for your actions right out the gate," he continued.
As for Patricia, no one knows what she is up to these days.