A & J Custom Painting

Review: I hired A&J Custom painting ([redacted]) to paint the inside of an apartment. I gave him a set of keys to the property so he could have access to the apt to do the job. Not only did it take him a week longer than it was supposed to but when they were finished they left the place a mess! There was dried paint splattered all over the floors, light fixtures, and door knobs. When I pointed this out to [redacted] he refused to take responsibility for the mess claiming it was "old paint" and that it was there when he started, which is a flat out lie. He eventually agreed to clean it up. Before the job was complete I asked [redacted] if he would mind replacing the old switch/outlet plates on the wall with new ones since he had to take the old ones off the walls anyway to paint. He agreed to do so. When I asked him how much of an additional charge it would be he said "not much". I anticipated paying him for the materials plus an additional reasonable amount for the labor of having to go out and buy the switch/wall plates. When he was finished he tried charging me a ridiculous amount for the additional work. I asked him for a receipt of the materials and told him I would pay him whatever they cost and tried to discuss a fair price for the labor. He hung up on me and ignored my emails. In the mean time, I paid him by check for the original amount of the proposal hoping we could agree on a resolution for the additional work. A couple days later [redacted] (without my permission or notification) snuck back into the apt and took all of the switch/wall plates off the walls without putting the old ones back on. I then had to pay someone to change the locks (since he still has not returned the keys to the apt) and also had to pay someone to put the old switch plates back on. [redacted] is a dishonest criminal who does sloppy work.Desired Settlement: I would like to be reimbursed the money I had to spend to have the locks changed due to his refusal to return the keys to me as well as the money I spent on paying someone to put the original switch/wall plates back on the walls (which he should have done as part of the job on the original agreement). Total reimbursement cost is $205.98