My husband Mark hired Josue Montano, via an ad he saw craigslist. Josue had claimed in the craigslist ad to be able to do electrical work such as uplight palm trees, which is what Mark contacted him to do. Josue came over to our house to look at the job, and convinced Mark he could do that job for 1000 dollars and he need a 500 dollars deposit right then and there on July 11, 2023, to be transferred to his account via Zelle. Josue was supposed to get the lights and return the next day. Every day afterwards for about 3 days he claimed that the lights were ordered but not available and were back-ordered. On about the 4th or 5th, Josue claimed his mother had a stroke and gave that as a reason for why he couldn't do the work. He didn't offer another day or even week that he would return to do the work. He didn't even offer to give back the deposit. Mark felt like maybe possibly Josue would show up so he gave him some more time. I finally called Josue after 2 weeks of this and Josue claimed he had 30 days "according to the law" to return the 500 dollar deposit to Mark for work he didn't even begin. That day has now passed by a couple days, with Josue still claiming he'll return it. What do you think the chances are he will return it? He has probably done this to others because most people are not going to want to go through the hassle of going to Small Claims Court. Let this be a warning to you!

Josue's and his brother Francisco Montano were referred by his cousin from Machinas Heating and Air Conditioning Oct 22 this year, who repaired our heating system. Josue agreed to take on the job of installing recess lights in all 5 rooms or our cabin in big bear for a sum of 4500. He did 80 percent of work, as agreed and was prompt and professional. Overall his work was clean and precise. On Nov 2nd, he had completed 4 of the rooms when he called me saying they had encountered a few "snags" and had to come back to finish the job at the end of the week. He also left whole in the wall in one of the bedroom which he promised to fix. He insisted that i pay home all the money for the contract. When i resisted saying there a room left to be finished, he said that he would leave the parts there in the house as collateral. I reluctantly gave him 4000$ of the 4500 contract sum. Unfortunately, he never showed up to finish the 5th room, a days worth of work, and the job remains undone as of this day. He made 3 appointments and for all of them he never showed up. ON the day of the first 2 appointment he typically did not take the call or respond to texts. Then he would call state a reason for not showing up and make another appointment. The latesT was this weekend, and he texted with A note that he had locked his tools in a work site. We blocked off our rental cabin off the market for one weekend during the winder ski season and 2. Tuesday and Wednesday for him to complete the job. Now we have been forced to hire a new contractor to finish the work at additional costs and hassle to us. Overall, I WOULD BE VERY WARY OF HIRING HIM, despite the fact that he appears to know his trade and does good work. We are very happy with the job he did in the other four rooms of our house.