I am a handicapped, senior citizen who was cheated by a local handyman.
This handyman, Mr. Wali Atkeison, charged me $305, which is a totally absurd amount of money, based on my experience, to install a 25-inch window air conditioner in a bedroom window. He gave me a bill for 4 & hours of labor, for $225, and $80 more for materials. I believe that this outrageous act is nothing more than a way to extort money or to rob someone who is disabled and vulnerable, and at a tremendous disadvange to protect himself.
This simple job involves screwing a metal clamp (provided) to the window sill, screwing the air conditioner case to that clamp, sliding the air conditioner into the case, and then attaching a board above the air conditioner to seal the window. My apartment is on the ground floor and this is a simple, easy job for an "expert, " which is how this handyman described himself as he was badgering me to pay him. Furthermore, he did not do any extra work, such as building an outside platform to support the air conditioner.
By phone, I had agreed to pay Mr. Atkeison $50/hour to install this air conditioner in a bedroom window in my apartment at 1632 Eucalyptus Drive; #9; in Solvang. Although this is obviously an extremely high hourly rate for a handyman, I agreed to this rate because the bedroom was very hot, and my wife had become bvery sick and had already gone to a medical clinic once, and to the hospital emergency room three times during the past week due to the heat. Furthermore, I already had five similar window air conditioners installed in the past seven years, with each of them taking from 45-minutes to an hour to install. Therefore, I reasonably believed that this installation would take about the same time as the others.
Mr. Atkeison arrived just before 9 AM, dragged out this simple job until 11:55 AM, spent another 20-minutes or so out by his truck, then he gave me a written bill (copy enclosed) for $305. After giving me the bill, Mr. Atkeison said he was charging me $50/hour beginning at 7:30 AM, when he says he went to a lumber yard to buy Melamine, which is particle board covered with white plastic. His labor charge, therefore, extended for 4 & hours: 7:30 AM to Noon. He said the $80 for materials was for the Melamine, screws, caulk, and a short piece of scrap wood.
A reasonable charge for this job would have been $50 for 1-hour of labor and $10 for material, at the very most. When I objected to this $305 bill as excessive (for a job that should have taken no more than an hour, and less than $10 in materials) he became belligerent and aggressive. I was concerned for the safety of myself and my wife, who was in the other room. He insisted that I pay him, and I was worried that if I didn't pay him, the hostile situation would accelerate, or that he might return later and cause more problems.
Therefore, I took out some cash (that I was going to give me wife for medical expenses) and I began counting out the money. He said since I was paying cash, he would accept $290. My concern at that moment was to get him out of the apartment to avoid a situation that I believed could likely turn violent. I should have been suspicious from the time he first arrived and commented that I was crippled, even more unnerved when I saw he was working unusually slowly, taking 3-hours to do a job that could easily be done in less than an hour.
The next day, June 24th, I went to the Solvang Sheriff's Office to report this and to file a complaint. However, the officer I spoke to said he thought it was a "civil" case, and not a criminal case because there was no weapon used. I do not agree with his, and I do believe this was a criminal matter because I was robbed of my money by the use of the threat of violence, which was based on this man's aggressive and angry manner, loud voice, and body language.
The Sheriff's Deputy told me that I should have called the police to come out to my apartment.in retrospect, I should have refused to pay this outlandish bill, and I should have called the police. However, at the time this happened, I was under tremendous emotional duress and I just decided to pay the money to end the potential violence, and get this man out of my apartment.
One of the clerks at the Police Department told me I should have gotten a flat rate for the entire job, rather than agreeing to pay an absurd $50/hour. This is certainly true, but at the time I did not believe that a local handyman would come into my apartment, turn into a thief, and rob me in this way. He did not use a gun or a weapon, but I was absolutely robbed.
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