Clark's Electric Inc

Arnie- as he prefers to be called first gave us an estimate in late June before he began doing the work, his estimate was $1500-1800 if he did all the work. $1000-1300 if we did the hard labor. We purchased a new home and needed to have the electrical meter moved outside of the garage in order to have the power turned on. We got with the electric company and had new lines put in-with us doing the digging of the trench not the electrician. We also spent the time and energy doing a few other parts of the job including burying the cable, and driving the ground rods into the ground. All Arnie had to do was string wire from one side of the garage to the other and through a hole, put up the box, and make the connections. Three weeks ago he was all but finished, we had paid him $700 down and waiting for the final cost. My boyfriend waited for him at the house on several occasions in where he did not show as he said he would. Yesterday I finally called him and told him we really needed the electric on and I was not going to wait any longer, that if he was not going to do his job that I would go elsewhere, I again asked him for the amount that we owed him and he said he could not remember, he had left the bill on his kitchen table. A few hours later he calls my boyfriend and instructs him to bring his checkbook and he would meet him at the house. My boyfriend gets to the house and Arnie refuses to do any more work until he is paid in CASH, though he had instructed my boyfriend to bring the checkbook he now was insisting on cash and cash only, he would finish the job when he got the cash. He then shows my boyfriend the bill which is asking for over $900 in CASH. We do not have that kind of money laying around after everything we have dealt with in purchasing this house. I wanted to end our business agreement right there. I was not happy with handing over that much cash for something I did not think he earned in the first place, but my boyfriend insisted we needed to pay the man and have him finish his work. This morning my boyfriend brings the CASH, every penny we have plus $300 borrowed from a friend. But that was no longer good enough, he took the cash and said he would only turn on our electric if we paid him an additional $150-$200!!! If he gets the money on Friday he MIGHT finish the job on Saturday. When we hired him he was well aware that we were on a deadline. Well two actually. We had other buildings we wanted to get placed on the land this year but that deadline has come and gone, the second was the start of school. We needed to have the work done, no ifs ands or butts about it, with enough time to get moved in before school started as we are moving into a new school district. I reminded him of this when I spoke to him yesterday. School starts in 13 days and there is no way we will be in our new house before then, and with him taking our every last penny and then some, we won't be able to afford to move there anyway. He charged nearly double his original quote. He does not show up to work when he says he is going to. Demanded money in CASH after ordering my boyfriend to bring the checkbook. Tells us "this is the final payment, I will finish the work when I'm paid" gets paid that exact amount and then demands MORE money. Completely unprofessional and out to rob people. We are STILL waiting for him to finish his work.