Bryan's Onsite Touchup and Repair

Description of Work: Refinished a pub table and two "post office chairs" and repaired some minor scratches on a side table.

Description of Work: I hired Richard Bryan who set up a time to come over on the following Wednesday. He did not show, and when I called him, he said he thought it was for the next day, Thursday. But then, rather than agreeing to come on Thursday, as I said he could, and as that was the day he thought he was to come anyway, he wanted to change it to Friday so he could get another in-house job done. This irritated me, as I wondered why he would start on an in-house job and let it interfere with a job he was planning for the next day. But I agreed to Friday. Friday morning he did not show up. He said he was stranded at the DMV, and that what he thought would be a half-hour or 45 minute process turned into almost 3 hours. I asked him why he had not called, and he said he didn't have his cell phone on him. I found this strange, as all the workers I hire carry cells and let me know if they will be late or if they can't make it at all. I was very irked by that time, but agreed to let him come and do the work after I returned from a 9 day trip. | |He made several calls over that period of time and seemed very eager to do the work, insisting he was right for touching up my furniture. So when I returned I decided to give him another chance. I called him back and he came over the next day. Again, he was late. He said he'd be there by 11 but did not arrive until nearly 11:45. He set to, however, as I had a lot of little touch-ups, and he was there all day, til after 7 | |He brought his dog with him, and this dog barked and howled all day out by the van, which was very disconcerting to me, wondering how annoyed my neighbors must be, and it was not pleasant to hear. Mr. Bryan borrowed a bowl so he could give his dog water. I went up to my office to work, and suddenly I heard the sound of the dog's toenails on my hardwood floors downstairs. I went down, and there was his dog in the house, bounding all over. Mr. Bryan was out at his van at this time, so I called out to him that I did not want his dog in my house. I had left the back door ajar so my cats could go in and out, and his dog had found that entrance and come in, because Mr. Bryan had decided to set him loose in my yard. He tied him up by the van again, but I was very surprised at his unprofessionalism in bringing his dog in the first place, and actually letting him loose in my yard. We endured the dog's crying and baying all day as he stayed tied up out by the van. | |The work he did is satisfactory. In one case he went above and beyond the call of duty, seeing that my bed posts were sun-bleached, he applied an alcohol stain which restored their beauty. I am very pleased with that, as it had not even been on my list. But the other work is only good, not great. I had once hired a furniture doctor back in West Amwell, NJ, to repair dented and damaged furniture, including my piano which had been damaged in a move, and when he was finished I could not even tell where the work had been done. That is not the case with Mr. Bryan's work. I can see most of the touch-ups, even the one on the edge of my piano, which had once more been damaged in a move. So though everything looks much better, it is not restored to perfection, as he had led me to believe it would be. | |His work is good enough, however, that were it not for this man's lack of professionalism, I would probably hire him again. As it is, I probably would not.

Description of Work: I had an older bed and dresser with some nicks and scratches repaired.