F
fleeced
Guest
California: I need advice regarding a plumber. I called in several plumbers for an estimate on pulling a gas line for my cooking range. One contractor gave me a good price. I asked him to write a contract & he said he could not if he were to give me that price. I told him that I was a 1st time homeowner & did not know what the job would entail.I asked him about how to get the permit & I went to the city to pull a permit. He appointed a day to start the job & cut out my kitchen drywall. After that he told me he would be back in an hour after understanding the details from the inspector who wrote the permit. That one hour has become more than one & a half months. He didn't turn up and cooked up a story. He said the city is making him wait. After the city supposedly gives him a green signal he increased the cost of the job by another $500.00.(Please note that there is no contract, or any other paperwork done, this is all verbal). He never returned any of my calls & now he wants us to sign a contract with no details on the job, has no lien release clause, etc. Realizing too late that he's been trying to play around with the job, when I told him to call off the job -he said he will send me a bill for the time he has spent at the city & the cutting of the drywall.He has made my kitchen a mess & instead of patching back the drywall -he wants to send me a bill for cutting the drywall and making trips to the city. Can he claim anything from me? What legal protection do I have? Please advice.