John A. Hughes Painting Company, Inc.

John A. Hughes was hired to paint and remove popcorn ceiling. Took and cashed check for full amount and did not return to finish job.John A. Hughes was hired to paint our master bedroom, adjoining sitting area, and 2 closets. He was also hired to remove the "popcorn" texture ceiling from the above mentioned areas, seal with an oil based primer and apply 2 coats of ceiling paint. He began work on Monday, July 14 and finished on Wednesday July 16. He called us in to inspect his work. It was late afternoon, and the only light source was overhead lighting which was not very bright and cast shadows. We told him from what we could see it looked fine and gave him a check for the entire contracted amount of $1457. I also asked him if when I was able to see things in a better light and found any problems if he would come back and fix them. He said he would. The next morning, with natural light coming through the windows and bringing a lamp into the room I was shocked at what I saw. The ceiling was gouged in several dozen places and areas of the texture were still there. Some areas in the closets did not even have one coat of paint on them and other areas had only one coat that you could see through. He had not lowered any of the ceiling fixtures and there was popcorn texture all around them. I called him and told him there were some things that need to be fixed and asked him to come back. He was in Greenville working but said he would stop by that afternoon. He later called back and said he couldn't make it but would be here Friday morning at 9am. He did show up Friday morning and we pointed out the things we felt needed fixing. He went out to his truck and got some supplies for patching and sanding and was here for less than an hour when he said he needed to go because he was leaving for [redacted]. He said I can be back here either Sunday morning or Monday morning. I told him Sunday morning would be fine so he said he would be here at 9am. He didn't show up so around 10:30 I called him. No answer, just his answering machine. I proceeded to call him a few more times throughout the day; still no answer just the answering machine. I called again Monday morning; same thing. Needing to get this job done before our new carpet was being installed in a few days, my husband started getting prepared to work on the mess himself and I went over to [redacted] paint store to buy some ceiling paint. I told the manager about the situation I was in, even showed him pictures I had taken, and that I need to buy a gallon of the same paint John Hughes had used on our ceiling. His computer showed that John Hughes had bought 2 different kinds. He called him to see which one he had used on the "[redacted] job". The [redacted] manager said John told him which one it was and also told me that John was just trying to get hold of a sheetrock guy to work on our job and he would be calling me back that afternoon. So I left without buying the paint thinking he really might be coming back. Afternoon came and he did not call. I tried once again to call him and again just got the answering machine. At this point I realized he just told the [redacted] manager the story about the sheet rock guy to save face. My husband spent about 11 hours sanding, scraping, and patching Monday. Tuesday morning I vacuumed and cleaned up the dust and debris from all the sanding and scraping and taped all the ceilings for repainting. That afternoon my husband continued with more sanding, scraping, and patching and put a first coat of paint on the repair areas. He worked until shortly after midnight. Wednesday he repainted the closets that were only partially painted and painted all of the ceilings. He finished that afternoon.I called John Hughes once again and left my final message on his answering machine. I told him that we had worked for 3 days to repair and complete the job that he started. I told him that I thought it was unethical, and possibly illegal to take our check and cash it and walk off the job. I asked him to call me and we could discuss this. Again no answerDesired SettlementI would like for John Hughes to return an amount of the money we paid him that would compensate us for the 3 days of work we put in fixing the mess he left us with and also approximately $60. in paint and supplies we had to buy.