Patriot Windows and Awnings

Description of Work: This "company" is actually a one man band who consistently tries to squeeze more money out of his customer throughout the job. He came to perform an estimate on Feb 29,2012. I had to go pick him up because he was afraid to drive in the snow. We chose to pay him for labor only. We were to supply all the materials to install 20 windows including exterior coil. From the beginning, he displayed a "know it all attitude." My husband was trying to shop around to find the best priced windows possible. After 2 weeks we chose to purchase the windows from Norandex. During the 2 week period we received several calls from Mr Patriot, pushing us to buy a much pricier window from a company called ABC. He stressed that he was doing us a favor by finding the windows for us and wanted us to give him the money to buy the windows,sight unseen. When my husband told him we were looking into another company he stated"this is getting kinda weird!" When we told him we were getting the windows from Norandex, he was stupid enough to tell us that he can't do business with them anymore because he owes them too much money!! He started the job @ 3/24/12. At that point,he brought us his contract, which was higher than the verbal agreement we had made. The difference was $350.00. We decided to move forward, thinking the contract would at least firm up the price. He had to borrow a break from a friend, which he charged us $65.00 for in addition to the agreed upon price. He also asked for a down payment of $700.00 before he drove the first nail. We politely declined. As the job progressed, he became inconsistent in his attendance. and many days only worked on our house for a few hours. At one point he told me that the hardware on the inside had to come off the windows. He said he would remove and replace it for $45.00 per window!!! Imagine that! Needless to say, I took the hardware down myself. My husband had to go out and buy a $200.00 ladder to do the second floor windows because John didn't even own a ladder!! We paid him sporadically along the way as he told us personal information that we didn't need to know such as needing the money to pay child support, rent, car insurance, down payment on a truck, or to pay his cell phone bill. At the end he wanted the final payment before the job was done,stating that the work that was left was not in the contract. We declined that move, and showed him his contract which included the mentioned work.In reality, he simply didn't have the skil saw needed to cut the trim involved. Sooo, my husband lent him one!:( Almost every time he spoke to us he referred to our job as a "monster" and told us over and over that he under bid the job and that it was worth much more. He asked if he could have the old aluminum for scrap, yet was unable to remove the debris form the job site!! We kept the aluminum and removed our own debris. The job took him an entire month! And, honestly, it was a month long nightmare!!