Extremely Unprofessional and Disturbing Experience with Benjamin Gomez…read more
I had a deeply troubling experience with this contractor, Benjamin Gomez. I hired him to repair a small set of stairs and a handrail. The stairs were completed by two workers he brought in, and that part was acceptable. However, Mr. Gomez did not complete the handrail repair as promised, skipped important steps, and left the work sloppy and unprofessional, yet he demanded full payment for the partially and unprofessionally completed work on the handrails.
At the beginning of the project, I paid half of the total cost as a down payment per his request. When I asked for a receipt, he claimed he did not have it with him and would email it, which he never did. He then asked me to write checks without anything in the memo line, stating it would "mix up his taxes." Midway through the work, he requested additional cash payments ($500), which I paid for materials. Again, when I asked for receipt confirmation, he promised he would email it but never did. When I repeatedly asked him for receipts or confirmation of payment, he kept making excuses and eventually refused to provide any receipts for the checks or cash he received. He also kept changing the agreed price and the agreed steps of the work throughout the project, making the entire process unreliable and frustrating.
Eventually, I asked him to finish the job before releasing the final part of the payment. At that point, he showed up at our door unexpectedly, forcibly entered the house, and demanded full payment for the handrails, which in my experience were only partially and unprofessionally completed. When I explained that I could not pay the full fee under these circumstances, he threatened to hurt me and my family and to damage our home if he did not receive the payment. I made the payment online to de-escalate the situation, but as his aggression continued to rise, I told him I would contact the police. The incident was handled through law enforcement, and he quickly left, but on his way out, he damaged the handrail with the metal scraper he had brought.
Based on my experience, Benjamin Gomez was unprofessional, unreliable, and threatening, and made me feel unsafe in my own home. I would strongly recommend avoiding this contractor.
Disclaimer: This review reflects my personal experience and opinion. Others may have different experiences.