Bob Lynch provided a competitive bid to renovate our basement. He told us he had 30 years of experience and that he was hard working and reliable. The project began in early September. We provided him with a deposit of $6,500, which represented almost 1/2 of the project fee.
The project began with demolition, which went reasonably. Even though he had not completed all the work associated with the 1st payment, he requested a second payment to purchase the supplies needed for the next phase of the project. He said with the additional payment, they should everything done within 2 1/2 weeks, which would have completed the project around October 23rd. We gave him another $3,500 as things seemed to be progressing reasonably.
This is where everything went wrong. The work crews stopped showing up or came for less that a few hours and Bob was no where to be found. I was leaving messages and emailing to try to find out what was going on.By early November, I was leaving messages asking for a refund. At that point, Bob apologized and said he'd been dealing with a personal matter and his phone had trouble, but he'd get everything done to our satisfaction. Of course, no one showed up the following day and the whole drama of calling daily began again.
Some work was done, in mid-November, but then the same problem reoccurred. No one showed up regularly and Bob could not be reach via phone or email. A few days before Thanksgiving he said a worker would be by to do work right after he took his brother to work. No one showed and I couldn't reach Bob until the day after Thanksgiving at which time he advised that the brother he referenced before Thanksgiving worked in Florida. He had many, many excuses as to why his workers never showed up.
Finally, by early December, I told Bob he had to finish the work or provide a refund of a portion of my money. He said he would show up everyday beginning two days after our conversation and work from 8 - 3 everyday until all the work was completed. He never came, although he did send a couple of workers for a few hours a day, one of which was a worker he said he had previously fired. Bob asked for another check, believe it or not, but I told him that he had 2/3 of the fee for the project, and not one item was completely finished. I told him that until any significant work got done, the well was dry and if work was not done I was marching right to the local court house to file a complaint. That seemed to get his attention and work was furious for about one week. He still, however, did not completely finish one item on the work list of items. He asked for another check and I gave him a list of unfinished items from the two payments already made and advised he would not get any more money until those items were completed, however, that because other items were done that were part of the third payment (e.G., he laid a portion of a floor) I would give him another check the moment items from payment one and two were completed.
I did not hear from Bob and called him Monday, December 28th (remember, the project was suppose to be complete by October 23) to see if the window, which was part of the initial deposit and according to Bob, had to be re-ordered because it broke while in storage in his garage, was in and ready for installation. He said he would call me back within the hour. I never heard from Bob again. On January 6 I sent Bob an email stating that he was prohibited from returning to my property.
While I have no way of knowing if I got $10k worth of work (some of the work done was part of a third payment that I did not make), Bob left my basement in a shambles and I have had to hire another contractor to complete the work. I will probably pay more to get this project done than expected, but the anguish and stress Bob caused was unnecessary and his dishonesty should be known by anyone considering him to work.
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