sir, is this what you do for a
living?
Are you a reupholsterer?
>> Yes, ma'am.
I've done it for 33 years, and I
trained under the man who built
John F. Kennedy's furniture.
>> Judge Judy: You just
reupholster boats?
>> No. I do furniture --
automotive, as well.
>> Judge Judy: Is it your own
business?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: Do you employ
anyone other than yourself?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: How many people?
>> Two.
>> Judge Judy: Are they
full-time employees?
>> Part-time.
>> Judge Judy: Either one of
these two people your employees?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: Are they both
your employees?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: So, these are the
two people?
What is your last name?
>> Geyer.
>> Judge Judy: How long has she
been working for you?
>> Couple months.
>> Judge Judy: This gentleman --
when did he start working for
you?
>> About a year ago.
>> Judge Judy: Prior to this
young lady starting to work for
you, how many employees did you
have?
>> I keep -- average two of
them.
>> Judge Judy: Two part-timers?
When you say, "Part-time," how
many hours a week?
>> Anywhere from 20, 30 hours a
week.
>> Judge Judy: Just enough so
that you don't have to pay
anybody benefits or anything
else, right?
Okay, good. Okay.
Mr. Barnhill, where did you get
this boat?
>> I think that I found it on
Craigslist maybe seven or eight
years ago.
>> Judge Judy: And the boat
itself is 20 years old?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge Judy: How large a boat
is it?
>> It's a 17.8-foot.
>> Judge Judy: When did you
bring the boat to Mr. Adams'
shop?
>> I first took it to his shop
on February 22nd.
>> Judge Judy: February 22nd?
>> Yes, ma'am, and that was to
get him to appraise it.
>> Judge Judy: Prior to
February 22nd of 2016 --
I want you to listen carefully
to my question -- when was the
last time this boat had been in
the water?
>> The end of the summer --
maybe a couple months.
I mean, I'd been using it
constantly.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
So, you took it to his shop, got
an appraisal.
>> Yes, and after that
appraisal, I wasn't too sure
about the price that he gave me,
so I took it to another shop in
Greensboro.
Honestly, they said that they
couldn't get nowhere near the
price that he offered me.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
And what price did he offer you
to reupholster?
>> The job was actually for him
to take everything apart and off
the boat, reupholster it, and
put everything back together in
the boat in its place.
And the price for that was
$2,200.
>> Judge Judy: That seems like a
very, very reasonable price.
How much did the other place
want?
>> They wouldn't even tell me a
price.
I told them what his price was,
and they said, "We can't touch
it.
You should take it back to him,
but you get what you pay for."
>> Judge Judy: That's right.
Okay. So, you brought the boat
back to him.
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: On what date?
>> The very next day,
February 23rd.
And at that time, when I pulled
in his shop, I was corresponding
with him through phone.
He met me out in front of his
shop, and he told me to pull it
around the back.
He told me to back it into a
position where I backed it into.
However, he had me back it up a
hill like this, and like any
boat, pretty much, on the face
of this planet, your drain
hole's in the back.
Your boat has to be elevated,
the front of the boat, to where
any water that goes in it
flushes out the back drain hole.
I notified him of that, but all
along, he's acting like he's a
boat expert.
"Oh, I know. I know."
And I said, "Well, I brought
some cinder blocks.
I've got a bad back, and I can't
lift the front of this trailer.
But I've got these cinder blocks
so it needs to be elevated, and
he had two employees standing
off to the side, and he said,
"I'll have those guys do it.
I'll have them take care of
that."
And that was that.
We went inside.
>> Judge Judy: Which two
employees?
>> Neither one of them.
Every time I've been to his
shop, he's had different people
there.
But at that time, he said, "I'll
have them lift it up and put the
cinder blocks under it.
Don't worry about it."
We went in the shop, we did the
paperwork, and I gave him the
$1,200 down.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
So, the job was $2,200, and now,
sir, I want you to tell me what
you're suing him for.
>> Just the quality of the work
he did.
I brought a piece as an example.
One of the main things, if I
could show that to you, is that
the first thing that I have to
show is that he used metal
staples, and we all know that
metal rusts when it gets wet.
This is a boat.
You're gonna get it wet.
And I brought a magnet just to
prove that these staples are
magnetic.
He was supposed to use
stainless-steel staples, which
are not magnetic.
They don't rust.
>> Judge Judy: [ Laughs ]
>> So, all of these staples are
gonna rust, and all of this
upholstery is gonna pop loose.
And, also, just even from this
angle, you can just see --
You see these trim lines.
You've got this one here.
Look at the alignment of this
one.
You've got the yellow here and
then the yellow here.
Everything's off.
Every single piece is just out
of whack.
Like I told him in our phone
conversation, it looked like a
teenage apprentice did my boat.
And when I inquired --
>> Judge Judy: $2,200 job.
>> Yeah, but when I inquired of
him, he was talking about, "I've
been doing this for 30 years.
I'm the best in the business."
>> Your Honor --
>> Judge Judy: Just wait one
second.
That's the job he did for you
for $2,200?
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: And you're gonna
use the boat with those seats
for a season or maybe two, and
the next time you want to have
this 20-year-old boat
reupholstered, if you ever want
to do it again, you'll take it
to somebody who says,
"I can touch that."
You want a $2,200 job?
Go get a $2,200 job.
You're gonna get seams that
don't exactly match, and you may
not get the right kind of
staples.
Byrd, would you turn that seat
around so I can see the top of
it?
'Cause nobody looks at the
bottom of the seat.
People look at the top of the
seat.
>> But I would not have hired
him if I would have known that
was gonna be the quality.
He said he was a master
craftsman.
He made me think he was the
Picasso of upholstery.
>> Judge Judy: Listen to me.
That's what we call "puffing."
>> Yes. Exactly.
>> Judge Judy: And you are not
an unintelligent man.
Thanks, Byrd.
You're not an unintelligent man,
sir, so if I take it to another
upholsterer who wants your
business and they say to you, "I
can't even touch that," I would
say, "Well, maybe he's not the
master upholsterer that he
thought he was."
So I would think about it.