I'm sorry this happened to you. It has probably happened to all of us at one time or another. Let your guard down for a second and bam, they've got you. One thing I've learned is it is not easy to get ethical and honest workers in this area. I've had a lot of no shows and no calls or follow ups from handyman. If someone shows up looking for work they are probably not a legitimate business.
Many years ago when we lived in SE FL we had a neighbor who was an electrician do a lot of work for us. He came back later to do more work and believe it or not I paid him for the job up front $600, and never saw him again. He was a neighbor and had eaten at our table with us, so I was shocked. Lesson learned.
More recently I had a mechanic work on our car. We had just moved and I didn't know anyone so I let this person work on our car. I had the car towed to him. When I called a couple days later the car wasn't ready. A few more days and it still wasn't ready. Finally the car was ready and he would only take cash. This turned into a nightmare. He wouldn't let us have the car back. I called the police. Since I hadn't paid him he didn't have to give the car back. Really??!! I am a caregiver and that is the only car we have so I felt stuck. I called an attorney who I paid to send him a letter demanding the car back. She also discovered other shady things about him. He brought the car to me the next day.
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