Ruben's Handyman Service

it was horrible service! this happened exactly a year ago, on february 2016. i called ruben's handyman service to ask if it was possible to get a new door knob installed at my house, cause i didn't know how to do any of that stuff. and i saw this ruben's handyman service ad online for the bellflower area, where i live. saying no job too big or small! so i thought he shouldn't have a problem taking this on! it's a small job, but he says no job too big or small. so i called him, and he said okay sure, that he could do it. he said he would charge $20 to do that. price seemed very reasonable. i had already bought the door knob. so he came on the day that he said he would, and at the time that he said he would, so that was all fine. and he went ahead to do his job of installing the door knob. he had to first uninstall the door knob that was there, and it took him like a minute or so to remove the original door knob. then he opened up the new door knob package, and took out everything. he then went into the living room (where i was) and said that there were screws or a screw missing that were very important. now, i don't know if someone had bought that door knob beforehand, and had opened it and lost a screw from the package, and then returned it to the store, cause that could have happened. and the store sealed and taped the package back up to make it appear unopened and like new. that could have happened, i don't know. well anyway, i said to him just that, i don't know, i bought it sealed up, like new, i don't know if someone else had bought it, opened it, and then returned it. and he said well i can't go ahead and install the door knob with that missing screw. i asked if he had any in his van, he said no. then he said, you're gonna have to buy another door knob, or find that missing screw, so that i can come back later and install that door knob. i said well i guess if it's that important, i'll do that. and this all happened on a friday, and he said he could come back on monday, couldn't tell me what time, because he might have other jobs ahead of mine that he had already been working on, that he needed to finish before doing mine. so he said to call him at noon on monday, so that he could tell me what time he could come over. i said that was fine. then he said, but you're gonna have to pay now the $20 that i said it would cost. and i said to him, but you haven't finished the job, you're supposed to get paid once the job is done, (at least that's how i've heard it should be done) and he said, i spent almost an hour here working on this, and that needs to be paid, and you also have to pay me another $20 when i come back to finish up the job. he also said, if that screw weren't missing i would have already finished up the door knob installation, and it only would have cost you the $20 i had said it would cost, now it's gonna be $40 total. and i couldn't believe it, i didn't want to pay him the $20 for him just coming over and not accomplishing his task. i wanted to pay him whenever he came back again to finish the job, and just the $20 we had agreed on, not an extra $20 on top of that for next time. i said, can i please pay you the $20 next time when you come back, cause i don't think it's fair to end up paying you in the end $40 total. that's not what we had agreed on. and he said something like his time is money, and that i had to pay him. and well, i am a woman, and i am by myself, and i don't know if that's why he took advantage of that, and thought he could intimidate me, cause he did. he did start raising his voice at me whenever i told him that i could pay him the $20 next time he came back, and was demanding in a stern and angry voice that i pay him. he was also intimidating because he looked like he had been (or maybe was still involved) in gangs, or something like that. he was tatted up and looked like a gang memeber, with the shaved head and goatee and tash, and his clothing too. so, that's why i didn't want this to escalate into a full blown argument. the second time that he said to me that i had to pay him the $20 now, i said i would. frankly he scared me, he looked like someone that could do harm, and he was getting upset, so that's why i gave in, and i paid him the $20, reluctantly of course. so, during the weekend i went to the store to return the door knob, got it exchanged for another one, made sure that all the parts were there that were listed on the instructions manual. then, on monday, i called him at noon, like he had told me to. he answered, and i asked him when he could come over to finish the installment, he said either at 3:00 pm or 4:30 pm, the latest would be at 5:00 pm, so around those times, he would come over. i waited, till 4:30, i called, and he never answered his phone, i left him a message, and he never got back. long story short, he never showed up, but he got paid $20 for doing nothing, cause he never installed that door knob of course! in the end i got so frusturated, that i read the instructions on how to install the door knob. i read that you could just use a philip screw driver, didn't need any fancy tools, and that was it. and i went ahead and did it all, and installed the door knob myself. i had to widen the hole where the door knob had to go into for the new door knob to fit, cause the previous one was a smaller one. so with a flat head screw driver, i scraped the excess wood, until the hole was wide enough, it took some effort however, and i probably didn't do it like a professional would have, with fancy tools, but i did it. everything was put in perfectly, and it works. it's exactly a year later now, and the door knob is still there, working perfectly just like a door knob should. i'll try to learn how to do things on my own from now on and not trust just anybody. if i absolutely need somebody, i'll come to angie's list to look for professional people with excellent reviews. thank God for angie's list!