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Originally Posted by Lea N
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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Just an FYI - in Massachusetts, when you leave a vehicle for service, the shop owner has an automatic 'mechanics lien' on it. That means you CANNOT get it without paying for it. Yes, they can hold it hostage. You got lucky since this is common and legal.