Last summer, a local roofing company, did a job for my
extended family. They proceeded on the job, after submitting a signed
contract and had appropriate city permits filed.

Half of the contract amount was paid before the start of the job and
the agreement was to pay the balance upon completion and passing
inspection.

End of July, 2009 the final payment was made and contractor sent an
invoice dated 7/31/2009 showing zero (0) balance and a large stamped
text PAID (stamped sideways) over the body of the invoice.

Now fast forward to January 27, 2010 as contractor sends a new
Certified US Mail with another invoice claiming "Serious Past Due
Account" and they show a balance of few hundred on this invoice which is
also dated 7/31/2009. This new invoice shows a new item being added to
the original invoice with the resulting new balance.

This latest invoice was never presented to the family and has never
surfaced until now, 7 months later.

(1) What makes the contractors new bill legitimate over the previous Zero
Balance invoice?
(2) Why did it take 7 months to present this new invoice?


*Over here in this part of the country we have some of those new
contraptions called telephones. If you send me the information I could call
the company and ask them.