Tidewater Custom Homes and Remodeling

After repeated communication failures *** was fired from the job. Claimed deposit was returned but it hasn't, now avoiding communication.
*** President, was hired for kitchen renovation. We agreed on a scope of work and deposited *** cash on job estimated at *** We asked direct questions about pricing for specific items and were given incorrect answers. Also requested on several occasions an itemized list of the prices, something which other contractors had been able to provide, so we knew it wasn't an unreasonable request. *** claimed several times he would have it to us which never happened. We met with a kitchen designer whom he worked with to pick out cabinets. We had been referred to this designer by another customer prior to entering into negotiations with Mr ***. I asked *** on two occasions how much the cabinet selections we made would impact the price. He assured us "plus or minus 2%". We met with her on a Friday. The following Tuesday I received text from *** stating he had spoken with the designer and confirmed everything and that he had sent an itemized estimate to my wife. I reviewed the estimate and it was the same price so I asked *** again more than once if that was the final price including cabinets, countertops, etc. to which he answered yes. It sounded great to us and I thought he was really on top of things with his estimate and told him I could meet him two days later to sign a contract. The following day I secured financing for the estimated amount. Before we were to meet that day he said he talked with the designer and that the price would have to be refigured due to changes that were made in the cabinets. We were confused by this since we had met with the designer four days prior to him saying that everything was confirmed but had no choice but to wait. More than a week later we still hadn't heard anything so I called ***. He said he didn't have the figures in front of him because he was moving but said the cabinets were going to be *** more than the initial estimate. I expressed my concern at the price change and lack of communication. Immediately he became argumentative and asked what did I expect since we made the changes and asked if I didn't expect the price to change. I explained that I did expect it to but since he had sent the estimate to my wife AFTER confirming with the designer that those number should be expected to reflect any Ganges we had made. He argued that we made additional changes and when I assured him we didn't he simply said "well it's my word against yours, what do you want to do". I told him I'd speak to my wife and let him know. We decided we didn't want to work with somebody that treats customers so poorly to say nothing about the lack of communication and informed him by email we wouldn't be moving forward with his services. To this point *** had spent a total of maybe an hour at the house. All the design work was done by the kitchen designer, he had no time whatsoever committed to this project other than what was really the initial consult which his website claims is free. We requested a refund of the deposit by email. His response further reassured us our decision was correct. Off the *** he asked if I had "any idea how much time he had invested on this job". He also claimed that after he "hooked us up with MY kitchen designer" that we were cutting him out to save money. Clearly this wasn't the case since I was willing to meet with him until he acted so unprofessionally. Repeat email request for refund sent 10/9/17. On 10/19 having had no response I emailed again and told him we would take legal action if no refund was received. Within hours he responded and claimed to have been on vacation but that he has spoken with "***" before he had left about the refund and that it would be sent "in the next few day". On 11/3 another email was sent asking about the refund status. On 11/9 he responded that he spoke with her that day and it would be sent. No refund. No response to multiple emails or texts.