KB Resurfacing

Horrible experience. Lawrence Diehr (AKA Manning Diehr) met with us approximately one week prior to the work to give us an estimate. He quoted us $600 to do the job and took $250 up front to order supplies. After a few days, we did not hear from him, and were unable to reach him by phone. He called a few days later, telling us his phone was destroyed and he lost our phone number. Lawrence called on the morning of the work at approximately 8:00 a.m. and said that he would arrive soon. He arrived around mid-day and began work. We left him alone with his assistant to do the work and asked him to call us when he was done. He called at approximately 9:00 p.m. and said he was done. When I arrived to review the work and pay him the remaining balance, the job was far from complete, and Lawrence asked me for money so that he and his associate could get dinner. I gave him $20 and asked him to call me when he was done with the job. He called me again at approximately 11:30 p.m. I went back to the house and, again, the job was not complete. He told me he was almost done, so I stayed at the house for about an hour while he finished the job. After an hour, he was still not done, and said he needed to return in the morning at 8:00 a.m. to complete the job. I agreed that was fine. He then asked me for $200 toward the final payment. I told him that I only had a check for the remaining $350, as I assumed he was done when I came to the house. He asked that I give him the check and made many promises to return the following morning at 8:00 a.m. to finish the job. Not wanting a problem, I gave him the check. The next morning, Lawrence did not return to finish the job. I tried repeatedly to reach him by phone and text, but got no response until the afternoon, when he informed me that his car was broken down and he was trying to get it fixed. I looked at my online bank account and saw that he cashed the check early that morning. I reached him by phone at approximately 8:00 p.m. and he told me that his car was fixed and, while he could come out and finish now, he would prefer to wait until tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Again, I told him that was fine. The next morning, Lawrence did not come to the house and I was unable to reach him by phone or text until early afternoon. This time, he told me that his car had been stolen, along with all of his equipment and money. He told me he was tracking the car through his cell phone in the car, and that he would try to get the car back later in the day. At this point, I told him that I just needed him to finish the job and was losing patience. I also asked if he had notified the police about the car, and he said he didn't want to do that. Later that evening, I noticed that Lawrence posted a new add on Craigslist seeking new jobs on the day that he told me his equipment had been stolen. At this point, I asked Lawrence to refund half my money so that I could get someone else to finish the job. I also indicated to him that I had learned that he has a pattern of taking money from people and not doing the work. Lawrence later sent me several text messages, swearing at me and calling me obscene names, and threatening to sue me for harassment. In the end, he has left the job unfinished and did not deliver the services as promised. He also left a mess in my house, and I am in the process of many hours of work, and additional expense, of cleaning up his mess and working to get the job completed. I hope that this review spares someone the difficulty that we have experienced with this fellow this week.