Kansas/Missouri (we live in kansas. the contractor lives in Missouri)
We hired a contractor to build a concrete patio under our deck and an additional walkway around the house to the driveway. Took contractor an unnecessarily long time to do this job, seemed to be like weeks between each phase of the job. He was always hard to get ahold of, and if we were able to leave a message on his home or cell phone, he would never return a call for days or weeks. He would never let us know what the job schedule was on the job or when he might be back next.
Well, to get to the point, he hasn't completely finished the patio, well, he has some touch and clean up work to do. But, we paid him the rest of the bill in full and at the same time, we paid him 1/2 down payment of the next job which was to ad some dirt around the walk way and patio to even up our landscape to the patio edge.
Now here's the concern. We haven't heard from him for a month since the 1/2 down payment. We try to contact him by his cell, but it is TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE, and no one answers the home phone. He has contacted us through his wife's phone, but that phone also says, TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE. He won't answer his emails, either! He has called from his mother-in-laws once before, so we tried to contact him through those means. But we get a really nasty reaction from the mother-in-law when asking for any contact with this contractor.
In summary, we think this guy ran, and we're afraid we won't be able to get our money back, or get the work he owes us done.
What can we do legally to get back what he essentially stole from us?
Thanks for any advice
Will
We hired a contractor to build a concrete patio under our deck and an additional walkway around the house to the driveway. Took contractor an unnecessarily long time to do this job, seemed to be like weeks between each phase of the job. He was always hard to get ahold of, and if we were able to leave a message on his home or cell phone, he would never return a call for days or weeks. He would never let us know what the job schedule was on the job or when he might be back next.
Well, to get to the point, he hasn't completely finished the patio, well, he has some touch and clean up work to do. But, we paid him the rest of the bill in full and at the same time, we paid him 1/2 down payment of the next job which was to ad some dirt around the walk way and patio to even up our landscape to the patio edge.
Now here's the concern. We haven't heard from him for a month since the 1/2 down payment. We try to contact him by his cell, but it is TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE, and no one answers the home phone. He has contacted us through his wife's phone, but that phone also says, TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE. He won't answer his emails, either! He has called from his mother-in-laws once before, so we tried to contact him through those means. But we get a really nasty reaction from the mother-in-law when asking for any contact with this contractor.
In summary, we think this guy ran, and we're afraid we won't be able to get our money back, or get the work he owes us done.
What can we do legally to get back what he essentially stole from us?
Thanks for any advice
Will