Alan agreed to $65/hour for grading yard and moving soil around. Soil was to be provided by us. He came for a "consult" and to drop off his equipment. Was here maybe 15 minutes. After that we didn't see him for three weeks.
He showed up three more times. All three times we were here when he arrived and kept track of when he started working and when he stopped, also what work he accomplished in that time.in those three times he was here for a total of three hours (one hour each time). The last time he was here, he showed up in the morning and we had to leave for work but told him to just continue working. That evening when we arrived back home he was gone.
He came by that night to "square up" the bill. He didn't let us know in advance he wanted payment (it was previously agreed to pay at the end of the work). He then gave me an invoice for almost $2000! He wasn't able to tell me what time he left at that afternoon. He just kept saying he was here for "the better part of the day." Even if he was there from the time we left to the time he came back we wouldn't owe him anywhere near that amount. I tried to give him a cheque for the hours that I had recorded but he refused to take it. I checked with some neighbors and they said he left after 3-4 hours. He kept saying that he offered so much free advice and that he was giving us a deal. He also said "How would you like it if I raised the price to $95 an hour?"
He called the following day and said he take whatever we were willing to pay him and we told him that we were only paying him for the 7.5 hours we had recorded. He agreed and told us to send him a cheque. I had our lawywer draft a release form he needed to sign before we gave the cheque and he wrote a letter back saying he now wanted $1200. I found out later from the person who referred us to him that they've never actually worked with him before... Just that he was a personal acquantince and that they were really sorry because they had found out he did this to someone else they had referred to him. Those people just didn't want to say anything because they thought he was a close friend. Never use this man, you will regret it.
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