Jose Briceno

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Jose Briceno responded to an ad on Craigslist we posted for the following services: painting a wall, hanging two tvs, shelving, and hiding wires behind the wall. We agreed that the job would take 2 days and that he would be paid $150 after finishing the painting an additional $150 after finishing the rest of the job. On the first day, he completed the painting and actually did a nice job - we provided the paint. On the second day, we also asked him to help put together some furniture, and I offered to pay him an additional $150 for this. In the end, he only put together half of the things we needed to have done, and I finished the rest, but I still paid him $150. He wanted to come back the next day to finish the rest of the job, primarily the shelves, the second TV, and the wires. I paid him another $150 after day 2. On day 3, he completed just the shelves and the second TV and had to leave early for another job, but promised to come back to fix one of the shelves that was already de-attaching itself from the wall. I paid him a final $150 because I didn't want to send him out empty handed, but I said that he really needs to fix all of the shelves - I measured them after he left and informed him via text that none were level and 2 of the 5 were coming out of the wall. And we still had the matter of the wires to be hid. This was on a Friday and he agreed to come back the following Monday at 6pm (I have a text message conversation confirming all of this). Well, he never showed up, so in summary, we paid $450 for a job originally priced at $300 and, of all the services agreed upon, he had completed the painting and the TV wall mount. The remaining jobs, the shelves and the hiding of wires behind the wall, remain either undone or in need of serious repair, but he has failed to return to finish the job. After several texts and emails that he ignored, I threatened to bring him to court and publish negative reviews of his work and the experience if he didn't come back to finish the job or didn't return a portion of the money paid to him. In response, he called me "a brat" and told me to "bring it on" with respect to a lawsuit. He then texted my girlfriend with the following texts:"Pp*ssies like u dont face me f*g...U mention my daughter..Its on b****..Its on...I dont have time for p*ssies like u mother f*cker.." and then "ur a sad case and a b*tch..send me ur lawsuit so i can wipe my a** with it f*g" His reference to his daughter was because I said that I felt bad that his daughter would be learning morals and ethics from a man who possessed neither. Just to be clear, in no way did we ever threaten his daughter. It should also be noted that during the three times he was in our apartment working, we offered him meals and drinks, as I feel this is customary to do in all cases where someone is working for you. So much for a reciprocation of hospitality... Conclusion: Jose Briceno is, first off, an incompetent handyman. His skills are minimal at best, evidenced by his inability to install a simple shelving unit. But he's also a crook who takes advantage of the generosity of others and who lacks any professionalism, as evidenced by the way he spoke to me and my girlfriend. Further, I now consider him both violent and aggressive and, given that he knows where we live, will likely be pursuing a restraining order. This experience has been a nightmare, and I urge you all to never hire this man or let him into your home.