Hiring Edward was a HUGE mistake that ended up costing me more money & a lot of wasted time.
Let's start this disaster from the beginning. I needed my sliding door track replaced as well as a new screen door, several tiles replaced and a leaky air gap repaired.
I made it very clear to Edward that my main repair concerns were the door track, cracked tiles & kitchen air gap leak, and he assured me he could repair all of these issues effectively in one working day. He told me his hourly rate is $70 & one full day of work wouldn't exceed $560.00. He tried to up sell me on his full day rate & said he would return to complete any projects not finished at no additional cost.
I paid him a $400 deposit which he was quick to pick up, then afterwards I texted him a question about the track part. He never replied to my texts nor my emails so I called him & left several messages, still no reply. Literally 4 days pass & still no reply, so I sent him an email stating if I don't hear from him w/in 24hrs I will assume he has stolen my $400 deposit & I would take legal action if needed. Guess what? He finally replied & gave me excuse after excuse about why he couldn't return my many texts, emails & phone calls. Then he stated he can cancel the job & return my $400 deposit as well as give me the track to have it installed by someone else, although minus $120, which he stated was for ''his time in acquiring the track''
He placed me in another bind & regardless of him unjustly keeping the $120 (with no work being done), I should have trusted my instinct & observed the many red flags & took the loss, then hired a real professional. However, hindsight is always 20/20.
He showed up w/ his assistant 20 minutes late with more excuses, as well as unprepared in materials to complete the projects he was hired for. I had to run all around town to buy the materials, and then his dry vac stopped working so I had to provide them w/ my vacuum.
His assistant wasn't experienced & Edward had to constantly advise him on how to install the tiles. Then his assistant tried to sell me an energy drink that he sells on the side, some type of multi-level marketing shenanigans (No joke). At this point I was beginning to think this was some major cosmic joke & I was expecting Ashton Kutcher to show up saying I've been Punk'd! It went from bad to really bad....
At 3:00 Edward proceeds to tell me his day is complete & it's time for them to pack up. I've never heard of any "full day rate'' end at 3:00, at least not in America, and a typical full work day ends at 5:00, esp when there are still unfinished projects that were promised would be repaired. According to Edward, the standard full work day ends at 3:00, and any work performed after this time will be billed hourly.
So, I paid him $650 for the track replacement & $560 for a ''full day's rate'' to complete the other smaller projects, and NONE of the repairs they did were finished properly. I told him the air gap was still not fixed & he started to express a negative attitude, as if it was my fault he didn't manage his day well & kept leaving the job to answer phone calls.
He looked over the air gap then proceeded to only tighten it quickly, not seal nor replace it as we agreed. He assured me it was fixed then said he would return in a few days to install the new screen door as well as adjust the track & clean up the glue strips, then he abruptly left.
After he left, I ran the sink to test if the leak was still present, and it sure was, nothing was improved! He knew he didn't fix the air gap leak properly which is why he left so quickly.
Then hours later the grout they replaced started to crack & flake, looking worse than before. I called him & left a message explaining I was disappointed in his lack of proper repairs as well as the grout cracking & the air gap leak that wasn't fixed. He never returned my calls so I emailed him. Days later he responds telling me he will not do anymore repairs to my unit & the tile grout cracking is due from it being non-sanded, not sanded grout. So, he basically took no responsibility for his choice in using the wrong grout. Any decent experienced professional would of never used non-sanded grout for my tiles, let alone refuse to repair the shoddy work performed. This is common sense repair knowledge that he should of used.
He then tells me he will not be returning to install my new screen door & to find another contractor. So, after spending a total of $1,210.00 I was left with cracked grout, uneven tiles, a leaky air gap, an unfinished track that needed adjusting, no screen door & wasted time.
Edward is a parasitic con man who will sell you any story to get the job, then he'll show up late w/ his inexperienced assistant who will try to sell you a questionable energy drink, then do a shoddy at best job, then take your money & run, never taking responsibility for his inferior work.
If you value your money & time then avoid this schmuck like the plague! read more