Missing Handyman Business

Hired My Handyman to install a modular shower enclosure (already bought) at a beach cottage I rent out. Owner, Tina Gleisner, told me 3 hours at $84/hr unless they had problems & I authorized more. They were to do decorative trim work (none done). No mention of trip fees or other add-ons. For this double-market rate hourly fee, they were to provide 2 skilled craftsmen with a minimum of 15 years experience each (on franchise website). Only one inexperienced, unskilled young man showed up. I met the guy Friday to pay and walked into a disaster. The job was not finished (no trim or shower head), and done wrong (the drain leaks into the sub floor; permanent drip from the old leaky water control valve that was patched with solder instead of replaced, as we had specified), the floor destroyed and in pieces in front of the shower, and the shelving all removed and damaged, laying on the floor of the cabinets next to the shower. The old insulation above the shower had been ripped down and was nailed back up, hanging in tatters along the walls. The handyman presented me with a bill for over $1,400. I was alone; when I refused to pay he became intimidating, and demanded I sign his accounting sheets without modifying them. I thought the problem was just a bad employee who spent Wednesday and Friday at the beach instead of working at my cottage. I thought the franchise guarantees ( satisfaction guaranteed before you pay and 1-year guarantee on workmanship ) meant something. Long story short, they got my credit card number and billed over $1,400 after receiving my complaints, despite the franchise guarantee not to bill until you are satisfied. I called her franchise owner, Mr. Handyman International, since they get a huge up-front franchise fee AND a percentage of every job shouldn't they make good on the 1-year guarantee when the local owner ignores it? Their reply: "they talked to Ms. Gleisner and she blew them off too, so I was on my own." I started research and found Ms. Gleisner had a previous NH handyman company, which closed after complaints to the NH Dept of Justice, which were referred to litigation. Her web site claims My Handyman has been in business since 2003, but actually this one was just established 3/28/08. I tried putting reviews on local web sites; she contacted the administrators and threatened them, and my reviews were removed. Ms. Gleisner writes long letters defending her handyman s work even though she refused to send anyone to look at the damages, and she describes what my job was like even though she has no construction experience and never visited the site (and the kid she sent had NO IDEA what he was doing).