I want to warn everyone not to work with Roger Bello, the owner of Bello True Star. It's unfortunate, because he was recommended to me by a neighbor and his work is good. But the bad experience I have had with him of being jerked around and him changing prices mid-job and then lying to me is unbelievable and I would never recommend him to anyone. He submitted a formal proposal on company letterhead for 3 projects and I hired him to do work worth over $9,000. He quoted painting/refinishing of the cabinets of my kitchen, my master bathroom, and my home office. He also said that for an additional $300, he would paint the walls of my kitchen, foyer, staircase. This was his hook. I was getting higher quotes from other workmen to paint these walls, and he was offering to throw it in at a lower price because I was hiring him for all three projects. Everything seemed great, then he started changing his story. The first thing he did was to tell me he forgot to add $500 of materials. Ok, I thought it was an honest mistake, I accepted that. Next, he asked for a deposit of $4,600, or 50% of the entire job, even though he said I could give him half of the kitchen project, and pay him more later. So now I had paid 50% of the entire project. When he was almost finished with kitchen & MB, he said he needed to be paid an additional $2500, or "the difference". I asked why, if the deal was that I paid him 50% of the whole job and the balance when finished. He hadn't even started the office. He gave me a song and dance about needing to pay his workers and started backtracking about being able to do the office. Against my better judgement, (because I wanted him to return to finish all 3 jobs plus painting my kitchen and foyer) I paid him the $2,500. That was my biggest mistake. From that moment on, he became arrogant, unreliable, unresponsive, and started to blatantly lie to me about the work he had committed to do. He wouldn't show up, didn't install the new kitchen cabinet handles, claimed he never told me he would do my office or paint my foyer and kitchen - even though I showed him his official letterhead quote and our texts where he clearly says he will. Then, he said he would return to do the office, but only if I paid him another $2,500 upfront, which was now a higher quote than before. He claimed again that materials were not included, even though the proposal said they were. I replied that I wouldn't make the same mistake twice of paying him in full before he was finished, and that I wouldn't pay him more than the quote. He then made the most unprofessional comment I have ever heard: " I don't understand this, [you have] a $4-million-dollar property and we are having issues over $200 dollars?". (It was $700, not $200). First of all, no way my property is worth that much, but even if it were, what would this have to do with his official quote, his pricing, and his changing his story every day, other than to show that because I live in Coconut Grove he thinks that this gives him the right to overcharge me and cheat me? I will be reporting him to the Better Business Bureau. This is called price gauging and he admitted it in writing. The end of this story is that I had to pay another handyman for work he should have done and hire someone else to paint my office cabinets. It has been a mind-boggling experience of how unprofessional and dishonest this man is. Avoid Roger Bello of True Bello Star! read more